Ranges...What was used most in your area..

[akronman]

Cleveland and Akron OH

In city and suburbia, gas for heat and hot water always, then personal preference for the stove and dryer, I've always seen plenty of both. Out in rural northeast OH areas, plenty of LP for heat and hot water, then usually electric cooking and dryer. I lived in an all-electric home, built 1960 in what was then rural. By 1970, gas lines came through the neighborhood and everyone went for it, everyone.

 

Pure middle class brands, Sears Kenmore sold well, GE, Frigidaire. I remember one Caloric stove, and maybe Hardwick?

 

 

[ptcruiser51]

Gas, via Public Service GAS and Electric!

I never saw an electric range (except on TV) until we moved from the 'hood to the 'burbs. In the tenement my mother had an ancient Prizer (on legs!) that was gas, as was our boiler (no one called them hot water heaters). Around the corner my aunt had a gas-on-coal Breeze because it was also used for heat. She had the same gas boiler. Our house had a coal furnace (no automatic stoker).

When we moved to the 'burbs in 1960, the developer cut corners wherever possible. He didn't go for the expense of having gas mains run, so everything was electric except for the oil-burner furnace. We did have Frigidaire countertop range (PANK) and matching wall oven. We had a 24' rec room with exactly TWO electric outlets!

Here in FL I'd have my Whirlpool Gold electric range flat-bedded out of here tonight if I could get gas service! Honest!

 

[circlew]

I only knew of a couple of gas ranges on my block when I was a kid, and both were LP in older houses. All the others were electric. Ours a Westinghouse, but lots of Frigidaire, GE and Hotpoint. Now I don't know anyone on the block that has a gas range. The opinion in this area has long been that a gas range is not "modern", and is something that "country" people would have. One of the neighbors with a gas range replaced it with a GE Mark 27 in 1972 when the house was re-wired.

 

[retromania]

Hotpoint

Even though we were a big Frigidaire family, Hotpoint electric ranges were by far the most widely used. And as I have mentioned in other posts, they were sold almost exclusively through Duke Power.

 

[kevin313]

Here in the Detroit area, you would see a lot of Frigidaire and Philco-Ford ranges growing up...people worked in the auto industry and I was told that Ford employees got discounts on Philco appliances.

Whirlpool and Gibson were also made in Michigan, although on the western side. Seems like most folks in my neighborhood had electric ranges, although the lady next door had a Caloric gas range and used to light her cigarettes from the front burner!

 

[jeffg]

Growing up in southern CA in the 1970s/80s natural gas was much less expensive than electricity, so everyone we knew had gas stoves and ovens. And central heat. And water heaters.

IMO electric rules for ovens. The even heat is great, but I've never been able to handle anything other than fire on a stovetop (including radiant, induction etc). At least in our (Italian) family electric was considered more irradiation or heating of food than cooking.

 

[rustyspaatz]

Electric

Our 1960s cheap tract home subdivision did not have gas.
People heated with oil.
Everything else was electric. A lot of 40" ranges.
Accept the Teasdale's. They had a purple house which was spotless.

They had two of those standing, 4' tall propane tanks right outside their home, near the kitchen.

 

[norgeway]

I have never understood..

Why people like electric ovens better than gas, to me, gas bakes far more accurately and evenly than electric, especially older ranges with a modulating control.

 

[jeffg]

gas bakes far more accurately and evenly than electric

First time I've heard that claim. Also it's impossible even theoretically Gas+convection is more even than electric without convection, but otherwise it's simply a matter of element vs. burner size: elements are larger and therefore heat more evenly.

 

[norgeway]

BUT>>

Electric heat is on and off, often with a fairly wide swing between temperatures, the element has to heat up, then it puts out radiant heat then when the thermostat is satisfied,it has to cool down, permitting the temperature to overshoot the dial setting, with a old modulating gas thermostat, as the temperature gets near the dial setting the flame decreases, then gradually increases as needed, resulting in a much more even steady temperature,plus, the gas oven heats mainly by convection, the electric by radiant and convection, thus the gas oven makes a much more delicate crust on baked goods,..I think most people think electric ranges bake better because they read it somewhere or someone told them so, I remember something that happened that I was a witness to, recently I got a BOL Magic Chef from my hometown, 1949 with a match lite oven, I have been around this stove since I was a kid, the Lady who owned it was a family friend, Her Brother and his wife were also great friends, Both ladies were great bakers, both made angel food cakes fairly often, and both had long ago started using Duncan Hines Angel Food cake mix,consistently the gas stove turned out cakes an inch or more taller than the GE that the Brothers wife had, also the gas oven made a much more delicate crust than the electric range did, both ladies used 3-b Kitchen Aid mixers they bought in the early 50s..This I saw, it is not a he said she said.mainly, my opinion is that gas is a more moist indirect type heat, I have used both, and while my old Norge bakes fine, it still is not as good as the gas ranges I have used.

 

[cornutt]

I know that when I worked for Pizza Hut in the late '70s, we had some stores with gas pizza ovens and some with electric. The electrics consistently made better pies and were easier to adapt to higher/lower demand. With the gas ovens, the toppings came out over-cooked when business was slow, and under-cooked when we were busy and the door was being opened a lot. The electrics hardly cared if the door was open or closed.

In northern Alabama, pre-WWII homes usually had gas service (many of them converted from coal between about 1920 and 1950). Most of the gas ranges I remember were Ropers. THe '50s and '60s burbs were build back when TVA was going to make electricity too cheap to meter, and were all-electric. I recall mostly GE and Frigidiaire ranges. Upper-end houses had GE or Thermador cooktop/wall oven combos, or Flairs.

 

[chaskelljr2]

I was born and raised in Washington, D. C., and here in the Nation's Capitol, Gas is the fuel that rules here. And growing up, the Ranges that were popular here were General Electric, Tappan, Hardwick, Caloric, Kenmore, and Magic Chef.

In the more expensive homes, then you would've found Wolf, Sub Zero, Merrit O'Keefe (if this is spelled correctly) Chambers and Viking.

In the three years back in the 1970's when I lived in Columbia, South Carolina, the brands listed above existed as well, but since Electric ruled down there, Frigidaire and Westinghouse were added to the mix.

I remembered seeing a couple of Monarchs down there as well.

--Charles--

 

[mayguy]

Growing up in the 70's-80's most home in small town Lake City MN, most of them were gas.. Few are electrics.

GE was a common brand then since there was only a GE dealer there.

I had both gas and electric, I think gas and electric bakes about the same. I much prefer to cook on a gas stove top since there's better control of the heat.

One thing I have noticed that the electric don't heat the kitchen as much as gas since the vent opening are smaller than the gas.

 

[zipdang]

The most common set-up amongst people I knew in my area was a gas cooktop paired with an electric wall oven or double-ovens. I knew very few people with free-standing ranges, but do remember a few people who had Jenn-Air and Modern Main drop-in downdraft electric ranges. When I finally had my first free-standing range in a college apartment I thought it seemed like such a great idea to have the stove and oven all in one! Lol

 

[davey7]

I'll third on Chicago being a Gas is King City. Lots of Crowns in fancy apartments in the city. Growing up we had an ancient Sears and then an almond Kenmore. Downstairs neighbor had a '55 Magic Chef she swore by which was torn out after they sold their unit. My first apartment had a nasty Brown range. I've moved up to O'Keefe & Merritt now (apparently a special order by a German hausfrau who cooked up a storm) from a circa 1960 kitchen renovation.

I think a recent thread talked about accuracy of old gas ranges - my O&M oven holds the temp right on and is just slightly high (which I suppose I could adjust) - the flame modulates up and down unlike my old place with a new Kenmore which cycled on and off to keep the oven temp going.

 

[ovrphil]

Electric

By the late 50's and early 60's most had electric stoves ....my buddy's mom and dad had an old farmhouse behind us and their stove was gas. I was always fascinated by the flame and instant on. Funny how a gas flame is a friendly sight to a kid, til you see a house blown to smitherees from a gas leak.

I love that expression: " NOWWWW you're cookin' with gas". (must have followed wood stoves)

 

[ovrphil]

Ugh, try again - SMITHEREENS. LOL!

 

[danemodsandy]

It Changes Sometimes

I remember when I was little, my native Atlanta was an electric-range town, except for in-town locations where few wanted to live back then.

The reason was that Atlanta Gas Light's infrastructure was spotty out in the burgeoning new suburbs. Some places had gas, some didn't. The 1949 Cape Cod I grew up in was an example: We moved into it in August of '58, and when we took possession, there was an enormous LP gas tank out back. Many houses in the area still had them.

Fortunately, the gas lines had just been completed out our way, so we were able to connect to "city gas" and jettison the LP tank; we never used LP. Our range was electric, like most in the area - the Loewy-designed 1948/49 TOL Frigidaire I've mentioned here before.

Now, the gas network runs pretty much everywhere in that city, and Atlanta is heavy on gas ranges. But I well remember when it wasn't.

 

[polkanut]

The previous set-up of our home was a Frigidaire 1st generation smoothtop electric range, an ancient electric water heater, and an oil furnace.  About 4yrs before we bought our home (1998) the previous owner had natural gas run into the house, and switched to a Lennox Pulse gas furnace, but kept the water heater and range.  We had a new natural gas Ruud water heater, and Magic Chef gas range installed.  The reason for the changes were a) the old electric heater couldn't keep up with the demands placed on it and, b) we both had gas stoves growing up.  The old water heater was out of hot water after just one load of laundry.  In 15yrs we've only run out of hot water twice, and that was my own fault.  It's not feasible to run the dishwasher, washing machine, and take a hot shower all at the same time. duh 

 

[retromania]

Re-reading this post:

Gas vs other forms of fuel. I kind of got the impression from my mother that the stove thing was sort of an evolutionary process and also a status thing here where I live. She said that to say you cook with electric was really something. Like I have mentioned in other posts, my mother grew up in a house that had a wood stove. Later on there was a gas stove in the corner, but the wood stove stayed and was still used. Mama said the gas stove was to be used for holiday over-flow. Then when they moved to their new house in the mid 1940's everything was Hotpoint electric.