Anyone have experience with both newer gas vs. electric stoves?

[thestrangebrew1]

We just moved into our new to us house and the appliances are pretty dated. I believe the stove and stovetop are both originals. The stovetop is electric, and it takes forever to cook on it. We're used to natural gas, and we'd like to stick with gas, but we'd have to do some work to get a line to it. Can anyone chime in on their experience with the new(er) electric stoves vs. gas? It literally takes us 30 mins at minimum to boil a pot of water for spaghetti etc.

 

[gorcorps]

There will always be inefficiencies with electric, since you're heating a coil which is touching a pot which it has to heat (it's even worse if you have a glass top as there's a glass layer in between the coil and pot).

I took the glasstop out and got a gas range. It's better, and IMO well worth the effort to put in a gas line. I cook much more now than I did simply because of the speed at which things heat up. If you watch any cooking shows, they all have gas and they have it for a reason.

The more expensive option would be an induction cooktop. The rub there is you need to make sure you use correct metal cookware (ceramic won't work). However the cost of an induction cooktop I think would be more than a gas equivalent + running a gas line... so IMO a gas range is still king.

Another expensive option is dual fuel, so gas range + electric oven. If I had the money I'd do that as you get the best of both worlds. The downside of a gas oven is it has to vent, so you lose some heat in the oven and heat up your house more compared to an electric.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

Either way it shouldn't take 30 min to boil water.

Running a gas line can be pricey relative to the stove costs.

Love my gas stove and hope I never have to go back to electric.

 

[Subyman]

A newer electric oven would be much better than what you have now and you wouldn't need to run lines. A gas keeps a more even temperature and typically has more heating power than electric. From what I've seen they both cost about the same for comparable models. All things being equal I'd choose gas.

I agree with gorcorps, I like electric ovens more than gas ovens.

 

[NetWareHead]

Cost of install: gas is highest bc of need to plumb a gas line. Connecting an electric or induction is far easier and quicker to just run a wire.

Cost of operation: Probably a tie with gas and induction. Gas due to cheapness of the fuel. Induction due to the fact that only the pan generates heat. There is little heat that escapes into ambient like with electric or gas.

Safety: Induction by far. Can turn off the heat when it senses pan removal. Can cook with paper between element and cookware. No danger of burning oneself. Gas stoves can have a feature that can re-ignite the flame should it get blown out.

Gas offers the best control with immediate temperature response and a visual indicator of flame strength. I'd go gas if you do alot of cooking and need this trait.

Electric and induction can put out a tremendous amount of heat and boil water faster than gas. If you dont do fancy cooking and mainly boil water, this is probably the better bet. Ive tried to make sauces and even caramel on an induction stove and found that the element cycles to give the desired output. Something steady is preferred than the on/off cycle. Dont know if all induction behaves like this but it was a dissapointing trait that made it difficult to cook on.

Induction also requires pans that are flatbottom and magnetic (iron, steel). Aluminum wont work.

 

[thestrangebrew1]

Thanks for the info all. I may have someone come in and give us an estimate on running a line for gas. Then make a decision from there. Our gas water heater is just on the other side of the wall and down about 6' so it shouldn't be too hard to tap into that line.

 

[herm0016]

gas cook tops and electric ovens are best. i cant stand cooking on electric stove tops.

We have a dacor duel fuel.

 

[RagingBITCH]

We had a gas line tapped from the pool water heater down into our new kitchen. Believe it was a few hundred bucks.

I had gas at my old house, the current house but old kitchen was electric and I hated it. We now have a Jenn-Air gas cooktop and it is awesome. I will never go back to electric if I don't have to.

 

[Aikouka]

Cost of install: gas is highest bc of need to plumb a gas line. Connecting an electric or induction is far easier and quicker to just run a wire.

Hm... when I was getting some quotes for my kitchen, that wasn't what I experienced. It was actually about the same to get a 220V line moved from one side of the kitchen to the other and have a plug installed as compared to having a gas line plumbed. If you need to have a whole new line added for an electric range, that would be even more.

 

[gorcorps]

Hm... when I was getting some quotes for my kitchen, that wasn't what I experienced. It was actually about the same to get a 220V line moved from one side of the kitchen to the other and have a plug installed as compared to having a gas line plumbed. If you need to have a whole new line added for an electric range, that would be even more.

Very true. If you for some reason need to run a new 220v for the oven then it's not going to be cheap. I think most houses will already have that run though. It's the gas lines that seem to have become optional for some stupid reason.

 

[NetWareHead]

Hm... when I was getting some quotes for my kitchen, that wasn't what I experienced. It was actually about the same to get a 220V line moved from one side of the kitchen to the other and have a plug installed as compared to having a gas line plumbed. If you need to have a whole new line added for an electric range, that would be even more.

Are you saying it was the same price to move an existing stove outlet to the other side of the room versus plumbing an entirely new gas line?

I can run a new wire myself, install a new outlet and install a new breaker in one maybe two hours tops. A gas line requires black pipe, a pipe threader and labor for each section of pipe added. Not to mention hangers. Its far more labor intensive than running wire. I just had leaky gas piping replaced and after the bill (took all afternoon), I wondered to myself if it would have been more cost effective to scrap the pipe and run a circuit (cook stove in a rental) instead.

 

[Aikouka]

Are you saying it was the same price to move an existing stove outlet to the other side of the room versus plumbing an entirely new gas line?

Yes. In my experience, these home repair/service companies are a lot like car dealership service centers in that they have flat rates for everything that bake in an assumed level of labor and parts required. In fact, when I inquired with another company about how much a gas line would cost, they came back with the exact same price. I also watched the sales guy do pricing, and he just looked it all up in some book based upon what the job entailed.

I'm actually thinking about doing a bit of plumbing and electrical myself for the kitchen to avoid these somewhat high prices. Of course, if a job seems a bit too daunting, I'll leave it to those that know how... and I'll watch them to see how they do it! :twisted:

 

[bigi]

I inherited electric stove with the house I bought. Never had used electric before.

I like it even though it is an older model. The biggest difference as far as I can tell is the kind of pots I use. Some take longer to heat up, other do heat up very quickly.

I like lack of flames and gas line. Also, the top servers as great extension to cabinets when not used for cooking. It is not so with gas one that has burners sticking out.

I am sure that newer/est models are even better. One needs to plan their cookware purchase towards electric oven use.

 

[MongGrel]

I'm happy with the electric range and oven we have, but I do miss having a gas range a bit from the past. It is glass top and relatively new, so it is pretty fast.

Control is obviously a lot faster with gas, but in this part of Florida there are not many gas lines in general.

We almost bought a house decades ago here that had a large natural gas tank outside and used it and passed.

I'd like to have an induction stove myself to mess with, have thought of buying a counter type one to mess with but seems would just be needless.I'd think those would be great in a dorm room or traveling in general.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I've only ever used electric with resistive coils. Gas is probably better as far as cooking goes as it's almost like BBQing, but there's other things you have to worry about like venting out the CO/CO2 with a hood vent, which will create another point of heat loss in your house. And just the general safety aspect of having an open flame. Funny how insurance companies freak out about wood stoves but don't really care about gas ranges.

Personally if I was to upgrade I'd go induction, that is probably the most efficient as outside of the driver circuitry, most of the energy goes towards heating the pot and not the air around it. I'd imagine induction would boil water faster too.

 

[Mike64]

Whether you care much about this would depend on what and how you cook generally, but personally I hate cooking on coil electric stoves since they're so slow to change temperature. (Especially from higher to lower heat, imx, they actually heat up pretty quick.) Induction stoves obviously adjust quickly, and I have basically no idea how fast other types of electric "burners" can adjust. Yes, you can work around it by having a couple of burners going at once, at different temperatures, but that's still a PITA, and effectively reduces the number of "working" burners available at a given time (which isn't really a problem for day-to-day cooking, but can become a much bigger problem at holiday times, for example.) I have no real problem with (and have always had) gas ovens, but given my druthers, would go with electric for that - in addition to not having to be vented, they tend to heat more evenly, and no open flame means no water vapor as a by-product of combustion - that's not really an issue 98% of the time, but generally not desirable.)

And if cost isn't the deciding factor, and you have the space/layout, the absolute nicest combination, imho, is a separate cooktop and a wall oven. There's really no particularly good reason, except the (really pretty minor) slight convenience when installing it/them, for putting both of what are, in their modern incarnations, basically separate appliances into one unit. Separated, among other advantages is being able to put each where it's most convenient, at the most convenient height for each of them (i.e., slightly lower for the cooktop, and much higher for the oven.)

 

[DrPizza]

As far as the cost to run a gas line, it's not really that cost prohibitive. If code in your area allows gastite (corrugated stainless steel), it's a piece of cake, though should be installed by someone trained to install it. It's about as difficult to run as PEX is for water - not difficult. Most code requires that it is bonded to ground of the house. And like PEX, it can be run as a homerun (one line from where your supply comes in, all the way to the stove, with no joints (or places where a leak could occur) in between.

I'll give another big thumbs up for the dual fuel stove. Gas stovetop + electric ovens. We have a Jenn-Air that has a smaller oven on the top; roughly the size of a broiler that most people have in the bottom. It's perfect for things you'd heat up on a cookie sheet. It preheats very fast, and saves a little bit of energy, since you're heating up a smaller space. It has a variety of settings, such as toast, which works perfectly for items like garlic bread. The bottom oven has a convection blower. It's awesome for roasted chickens, etc., and anything else you'd cook in an oven. I remember growing up, with a gas stove in the kitchen, when we cooked for Thanksgiving or Christmas, the kitchen was by far the warmest room in the house due to all the heat that escapes (pretty much a requirement for gas). Now, I can cook a turkey for 4 or 5 hours in July and it not have much of an effect on the room's temperature.

 

[Elixer]

Don't you also need a outside vent for anything that uses gas?
That could cost a ton of $$$ depending on what they have to do.

 

[herm0016]

Don't you also need a outside vent for anything that uses gas?
That could cost a ton of $$$ depending on what they have to do.

No. you do not need it. a lot of places have just a inside vent hood over a gas range/cooktop. I would want an outside vented hood either way for cooking smells and such.

ubc says you do not need a hood as long as there is a window in the space, minimum distance from top of stove to hood/cabinets is 30 in.

 

[Beer4Me]

Having used electric our entire lives, even the newer surface-induction (infrared) cooking tops. Moved into our house in 2013 which has a stainless steel counter-top gas cooktop. Never will I ever use electric if I can help it. Gas range is 1) easier to clean/keep clean (unless you have an induction based cooktop), 2) boiling water in ~3 minutes every time, 3) so cheap to operate I feel like it's free and 4) cheap to repair/replace parts.

To give you an idea of our utility bills in our home. My wife and I own a 1900 sq ft, single-story. House is certified Energy Star 3.0 with a HERS rating of 63.

Our nat gas bill which includes the range, clothes dryer, and outdoor grill costs us $16/month.

 

[gorcorps]

Are you saying it was the same price to move an existing stove outlet to the other side of the room versus plumbing an entirely new gas line?

I can run a new wire myself, install a new outlet and install a new breaker in one maybe two hours tops. A gas line requires black pipe, a pipe threader and labor for each section of pipe added. Not to mention hangers. Its far more labor intensive than running wire. I just had leaky gas piping replaced and after the bill (took all afternoon), I wondered to myself if it would have been more cost effective to scrap the pipe and run a circuit (cook stove in a rental) instead.

Black pipe? Maybe for an original install, but branches are often done with stainless flex line these days. Properly installed it'll have less sources of leaks to deal with, as done correctly you can make bends without adding more threaded connectors.

 

[Micrornd]

When we replaced our old gas range, we went with a gas convection range.
It eliminated hotspots in the oven and allows us to use all the racks at the same time for baking cookies in the holiday season, as it keeps the temps even throughout, as well shortening baking times.

 

[NetWareHead]

Black pipe? Maybe for an original install, but branches are often done with stainless flex line these days. Properly installed it'll have less sources of leaks to deal with, as done correctly you can make bends without adding more threaded connectors.

Saw my plumber this weekend and asked him why we used black pipe in my house and not CSST. At first it looks attractive due to the labor savings. Says he stopped installing it due to potential for lightning to cause arc damage and pinhole the tubing leading to leaks. Black pipe has none of these risks due to it being more robust.

This can be mitigated by several techniques including routing the tubing away from electrically conductive objects (ducts, pipes, cables & wires), bonding the system at multiple places to an electrical panel (or other suitable ground), using a gas excess flow valve after the meter to stop gas flow in case of a leak etc...

In short, he said taking the safer route with CSST means you just cant run it anywhere/anyhow and you have to get an electrician in to bond the pipes properly. His final answer was that even with all of these precautions, the pipe is still subject to damage in a lightning event and using black pipe gives him (and his insurance company) peace of mind.

 

[thestrangebrew1]

We decided to go gas and had the local plumber come out to take a look. Still waiting on the estimate however. Anyone have any idea what it would cost to run 3/4" line from right to left in the pic below?



There's a crawl space under the house the plumber can go so I doubt it'll be too difficult. No idea about labor costs though.

EDIT: Got a quote. $1300 to make the run and hook up. What do you guys think?

 

[herm0016]

in a crawl space it should only take a couple hrs. I would say 500 bucks around here.

nice place.