Terminology 101: Stove vs Range

[stricklybojack]

.
Link says they are not interchangeable...i was wonderin' about this myself.

Excerpt:

Many people use the terms oven, stove, and range interchangeably. However, buyers that plan to purchase a stove or a range should understand the purported meanings of each of these common words. First, the term stove technically refers only to the stovetop, which includes a number of burners (typically four to six) and is used for surface cooking such as boiling, frying, pan-searing, and other methods. The oven is an enclosed device that is used for baking, broiling, roasting, and other cooking methods. It employs concentrated heat within the enclosed area, which is usually delivered via heated coils in the top and the bottom of the stove. The term "range," as defined in Webster’s Dictionary, actually refers to the combination of stovetop and oven into one kitchen appliance.[this post was last edited: 9/19/2015-19:26]

http://www.ebay.com/gds/What-s-the-Difference-Between-a-Stove-and-Range-/10000000177628290/g.html

 

[tomturbomatic]

It might be that today people are calling cooktops stoves out of ignorance, but stoves existed long before separate cooktops and ovens. I think you see as many terms as possible used in listings to snag search results, often from ignorant searchers. eBay is notorious for sellers using a multitude of terms to get hits from searches. One of my favorites for bringing a sardonic snile (sneer/smile) is the term "Eames-era."

In my Websters, "range" is defined as a cooking stove that has an oven and a flat top with burners or heating elements. I think the first ranges were cast iron ranges and it was used to differentiate them from smaller cast iron stoves and heating devices with surfaces that could hold pots, but that lacked ovens. In historical advertising copy and in owners manuals, US manufacturers of large electric kitchen cooking appliances tended to use the term "range" more than "stove" for whatever that is worth. [this post was last edited: 9/19/2015-19:07]

 

[toploader55]

The term "Stove" always reminds me of a Kerosene, Wood or Coal fired appliance that was used to cook and heat the ( or a ) kitchen or room before the advent of the "Automatic Range".

I learned the term Range from our restaurant which I was practically brought up in. My Dad's Chef cooked on the Range. We had a Range in our home. But our neighbor had a Stove.  It was a Gas Stove with four burners, Oven, and then a Heater built into the side that was used in the fall winter or spring to take the "Chill" out of the room before breakfast.

 

I had a Wood Stove (Jotel) that strictly burned wood and heated an apartment I lived in 20 some odd years ago.

 

It was fun to split the wood, and do the manly thing to keep warm, but after awhile there is nothing like walking up to the thermostat and dialing up.

 

But back to the topic... That's my take.

 

[ptcruiser51]

Just a joke

Told to me by my dentist when I was about seven (1958):

Two flies in the kitchen, which one is the cowboy?

The one on the range.

 

[petek]

We always called it a stove but in store catalogs they always called them a range.  I had to double check,, yup the 1965 Eatons.. they're ranges. 

 

[countryguy]

My grandmother had a wood stove in the kitchen to do the cooking and provide the heat. There was a stove top as well as an oven. It was called a wood stove...not a wood range.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Just be like my wife:

She somehow calls the entire unit the OVEN!

 

I remember my district manager when I delivered the daily newspaper calling the furnace at the substation a STOVE--which was next to the water heater that I think he referred to as the HEATER...

 

It was a long, one-room, wall-less, partition-less building next to a barber shop... And the two businesses had doors that looked alike so as you would think you were going into either the paper station via the wrong center, or accidentally thought you were going into the wrong place for a haircut...

 

The barber shop had a beauty parlor in the back, which became no more--only the men's hair care up front, changing its typical clientele w/ the current demographic/population of our borough, while a number of failed sandwich/barbecue places tried to replace the newspaper depot...

 

 

-- Dave

 

[philr]

Pete, you got the 1965 Eatons? Could you tell me what kind of cooking and laundry appliances they were selling back then?!

 

[launderess]

Stove

Is nothing more than an enclosed heating source that came after (and was a vast improvement over) fireplaces, open pits and other exposed heating sources.

While they can and were used for heating by placing another design element on top you could cook, hence "stove" or "stove top" referring to almost any device that gives off heat and is used for cooking.

A range is nothing more than an oven and stove-top as one unit. Again this was invented to be and was a vast improvement over previous methods of cooking and baking in that one appliance provided heat for both (think AGA type ranges). Some ranges can and still do offer water and (limited) house heating besides. It is worth remembering many homes/places had stoves from which to cook and or heat but not an oven. You took your Sunday joint or baked goods round to local baker and used his ovens.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitchen_stove#Origins_of_the_modern_kitchen_range

http://ovens.reviewed.com/features/oven-stove-range-whats-the-difference-anyway

http://www.chowhound.com/post/stove-range-semantics-812493

What persons call things is heavily influenced by not only geographical area but quite simply custom or norm. My sainted grandmothers referred to their ranges as "stoves" even though both had appliances that were combined gas stovetop burners with ovens as one unit. Now Mother Dear was all modern and had a stove with separate wall oven. So when she said to put something "on the stove" there was no mistaking what she meant.

This is a range:

 

[kb0nes]

Geographical Area

Laundress brought up what I was thinking. I wonder how much of this nomenclature difference may be due to regional preferences?

Perhaps its akin to the Pop vs Soda debate:

http://popvssoda.com/

(I find this an interesting aside, no intent to hijack the thread!)

 

[wayupnorth]

Around here as a kid, we had mostly range/stoves that both heated the kitchen and mostly gas that you could cook your food in/on with oil or wood. Did not matter what it was called. But if it was the middle of the the winter, you wanted heat in the house and instantly be able to cook what ever it was mostly gas and an side oil heater you did not have to mess with, just kept you warm.

 

[midcentnurse]

They called this a "stove" at work go figure. The bottom door is for the small refrigerator. Apparently there was a cooktop that sat on the shelf for heating soups and what not. Probably some open element super dangerous device. Of course none of it works and it's just taking up space but at least they haven't thrown it in the dump yet. Non profit hospitals are a strange breed. Nothing gets done until everything gets done. I'll send a pic of the dumbwaiter next to it too.

 

[midcentnurse]

Pics of the dumbwaiter. Very cool and terrifying

 

[frigilux]

It's common to hear terms like stove, icebox, and catarrh out here in Agraria. You know you're not dealing with a local if they say, "Can I offer you a soda?"

 

[tolivac]

"saddle up the Stove Ma!!!" I am riding the RANGE tonight!"

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

SODA vs. POP (Sody Pop?!)

"I want POP..."

 

"You mean, you want DAD?"

 

 

-- Dave

 

[alr2903]

"Slide in" stoves seem to get labeled as "built in" ovens often on CL, around here anyway. -A 

 

[circlew]

Can yours see?

My Aunt Julie's range must be able to - it has eyes!