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Ranges - Gas vs Induction

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BoomerD said:
We've had two of the electric glass-top ranges. (No gas available in the last house, propane only available here) They work about as well as any other electric range...and as captante says, they can be a real PITA to clean....just the opposite of what you'd expect. True that there are no open "wells" where the element plugs in...which is better, but it's surprising how bad stuff "burns into" that glass top. Cleaning often requires careful application of a single-edge razor blade.
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Careful? I just use a putty knife. Put some detergent and water on it first.
 
Induction definitely. Much safer for your health. Looks up some articles about the amount of particulates gas ranges put out and you will see how bad they are. I currently have a gas stove but some day I will switch to induction.
 
sdifox said:
Careful? I just use a putty knife. Put some detergent and water on it first.
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It's primarily the sharp corners of the razor blade that can be problematic. A putty knife, being thicker and not as sharp SHOULD be fine, even if, for the same reasons, might not be as effective.
 
I like gas for the instant changes of temperature. Induction sounds interesting but let me know when the pros start using them in their restaurant kitchens.
 
Count me in the NG camp as well. Our current home only had electric when we moved in and I was thinking about going induction because the 240 line was already there but my wife was having non of it. She had a gas range at our previous two homes so she wanted it in our current home. I tried to explain the pros that induction comes with but to her it was just another type of electric range. So need lees to say after two years of an electric range making the pitch for induction was a hard sell.

So to make a long story short my dad and I spent about 5-6 hours in the basement running right around 55' of black pipe from the utility room over to under the kitchen and up through the floor so she could have her gas range. Since she does like 90% of the cooking I thought it was only fair to get her what she wanted.
 
Interesting all of the people who say gas, but have not used an induction. OK now that I have pissed you all off I will get off my soap box.

We had gas in our old house and remodeled out kitchen. We went with induction and loved it. The heat control is great and it is so much easier to clean than gas. Looks pretty cool too.

We recently moved and the new house has an electric cook top. We thought it was induction but it turns out it was electric and not induction. That was horrible, it was slow and awful to clean. Plus the residual heat was awful. We replaced that for an induction cook top and love it.

Edit. Induction is much faster than gas also. We cook a lot of pasta and boil water so having it boil water fast is a plus.
 
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Stopsignhank said:
Interesting all of the people who say gas, but have not used an induction. OK now that I have pissed you all off I will get off my soap box.

We had gas in our old house and remodeled out kitchen. We went with induction and loved it. The heat control is great and it is so much easier to clean than gas. Looks pretty cool too.

We recently moved and the new house has an electric cook top. We thought it was induction but it turns out it was electric and not induction. That was horrible, it was slow and awful to clean. Plus the residual heat was awful. We replaced that for an induction cook top and love it.

Edit. Induction is much faster than gas also. We cook a lot of pasta and boil water so having it boil water fast is a plus.
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I have an induction cooktop I use for hotpot.
 
Captante said:
Not all glass-top ranges are induction.

My ex-wife has a glass-top that just heats up like a regular electric burner. I used to absolutely hate that crap thing. Super-fragile and a pain in the rear to clean, took FOREVER to heat up or adjust temps and would stay hot enough to burn you for 15-20 min after being shut off. The only "plus" was no crevices for gunk to build up in.

IMO unless its induction there is zero point to a glass-cooktop.
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I have 1/2 stove (interchangeable insert) that's this glass non-induction, and don't mind it much.

A pro is that you don't need special cookware, just reasonably flat.

A con is it does take a very long time to heat up, but once you are used to that, you can plan accordingly. I'm always doing 3 things at once anyway so can just multitask something else while it's heating.

Second con is my insert has a black composite coating over a stainless border and it is flaking off where it meets the glass. Funny that they bothered to put the composite on at all because the stainless previously hidden under it, matches the rest of the area around it.

It does stay hot for a long time after turned off, but by the time the meal is over it is cool enough and not hard to clean. Every now and then I use a razor blade or when aluminum pans eventually build up a silvery residue, then I use a mild abrasive cleaner with (oxalic?) acid in it.

I would slightly prefer gas but not enough to bother changing the stove out.
 
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MrSquished said:
Well in general. Gas is cheap compared to electricity
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More and more places are making it illegal to install natural gas lines in new homes.

I keep wondering if there's some way to simulate gas with electricity. Probably the answer is a water pipe, electrolysis, and hydrogen gas. But I wonder if they could do some kind of plasma cooktop by putting together a lot of plasma cigarette lighter things?
 
Ken g6 said:
More and more places are making it illegal to install natural gas lines in new homes.

I keep wondering if there's some way to simulate gas with electricity. Probably the answer is a water pipe, electrolysis, and hydrogen gas. But I wonder if they could do some kind of plasma cooktop by putting together a lot of plasma cigarette lighter things?
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I just don't know how I would stir fry with a flat pot.
 
I've used all three. Gas>>>induction>electric. You can use any metal cookware, stone, or clay with gas. And food like instant ramen cooked on gas stove tastes better than the same ramen cooked on induction or electric for some reason. I don't know why. Induction is definitely better than electric but you're very limited in types of metal cookware you can use. Electric just sucks. But you can use most types of cookware so it's not total loss. But gas is best if you enjoy cooking.
 
I've lived all over North Jersey and in NYC once, plus in Cyprus, never not had gas.

For homes without a gas line in the kitchen what does your furnace use to heat with?
 
MrSquished said:
I like gas for the instant changes of temperature. Induction sounds interesting but let me know when the pros start using them in their restaurant kitchens.
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BoomerD said:
Exactly. REAL men always cook with fire.
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Gas>Induction>Electric-coil>Electric-glass.



ponyo said:
And food like instant ramen cooked on gas stove tastes better than the same ramen cooked on induction or electric
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I've cooked instant ramen using everything from a campfire to a microwave oven and never noticed a bit of difference in flavor from the cooking method itself. (although stove does beat nuke for texture)

Think maybe it COULD be psychological? 😉
 
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I grew up using gas but every home we have lived in here in WA has electric. Seeing as how I cook with cast iron a LOT I would say NG, then electric coil . I wouldn't even consider an induction or glass top.

We went to the beach for a weekend last month. While we were gone my kid did some drunk cooking maybe. She managed to burn up a coil socket and coil and ruin the element in the oven. I look at induction but there was no way I was going to replace cookware I've been gathering for 30 years and I didn't want a glass top that was gonna look like shit in a year or 2.

I just sucked it up and fixed the thing. OH. That's the other thing. Look how much parts are for glass tops and induction. It's fucking crazy.
 
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