What stovetop/oven do you have?

[Garga]

My oven died. I need to buy a new oven/stovetop.

I’ve had gas my whole life except for one year in an apartment back in 1992. I prefer cooking on a gas stovetop.

But…the mess! Compared to a glass-topped electric stovetop, the cleanup is horrible. My current gas stove has so many parts to take apart to clean it that we don’t get around to it anywhere near often enough, so it’s full of crumbs and is greasy and gunked up. There’s stuff on the metal burner grates and drip pans that I can never get off, no matter how much I clean them and no matter what cleaners I use.

 

But…a glass top? While it’s easier to clean, it also sounds breakable. We use cast iron and either we have to be suuuuper careful or we have to give up the cast iron. And we bake with stoneware. Usually when we take the stoneware out of the oven we put it on top of the stove, but we wouldn’t be able to do that with the glass-top stove. And I don’t really enjoy cooking on an electric stovetop. 

 

I’m completely torn. 50% of me never ever wants to deal with all the metal grates and metal drip pans and burners that come apart and how greasy/burned/stained they get. That half of me waaaaants a glass top stove.

But the other part is nervous about the delicacy of a glass top and dealing with learning how to cook on an electric stovetop. What if someone pulls out stoneware from the oven and forgets and plops it down on the glass stovetop and breaks it?

 

What do you prefer? What are the pros/cons I’m not thinking about? What do you have? What do you love/hate about what you have?

 

 

[Katy]

I currently have gas, I’m going with induction for the next one. I’ve had several with glass in the past and it was never a problem (though I wouldn’t let a kid slam down something cast iron).  

The only problem with glass is if a pot boils over it can be difficult to clean… or at least it was until I discovered ScotchBrite glass stove sponges work better than a razor. 
 

ETA:  I have the same complaints about gas that you have. 

Edited June 26, 2021 by Katy

[Pawz4me]

I think glass tops are a lot sturdier than you seem to think they are. You don't want to be sliding a cast iron pot or pan around on a glass top, but just setting one down, even a hot one out of the oven, isn't going to hurt anything.

[KungFuPanda]

10 minutes ago, Garga said:

My oven died. I need to buy a new oven/stovetop.

I’ve had gas my whole life except for one year in an apartment back in 1992. I prefer cooking on a gas stovetop.

But…the mess! Compared to a glass-topped electric stovetop, the cleanup is horrible. My current gas stove has so many parts to take apart to clean it that we don’t get around to it anywhere near often enough, so it’s full of crumbs and is greasy and gunked up. There’s stuff on the metal burner grates and drip pans that I can never get off, no matter how much I clean them and no matter what cleaners I use.

 

But…a glass top? While it’s easier to clean, it also sounds breakable. We use cast iron and either we have to be suuuuper careful or we have to give up the cast iron. And we bake with stoneware. Usually when we take the stoneware out of the oven we put it on top of the stove, but we wouldn’t be able to do that with the glass-top stove. And I don’t really enjoy cooking on an electric stovetop. 

 

I’m completely torn. 50% of me never ever wants to deal with all the metal grates and metal drip pans and burners that come apart and how greasy/burned/stained they get. That half of me waaaaants a glass top stove.

But the other part is nervous about the delicacy of a glass top and dealing with learning how to cook on an electric stovetop. What if someone pulls out stoneware from the oven and forgets and plops it down on the glass stovetop and breaks it?

 

What do you prefer? What are the pros/cons I’m not thinking about? What do you have? What do you love/hate about what you have?

 

 

I can cook just fine on electric.  It feels super unchef-like, but it's fine and I cook a lot.  The glass top also serves as extra counter/prep space when you're not cooking.  I use cast iron almost every day and haven't managed to break it, but I wouldn't try dropping a skillet on it.  I'm sure the surface isn't pristine and has scratches and stains, but it's black so you'd have to get up close to really see them.  Dh thinks everything can be cooked in a wok, so he uses a carbon steel wok on it most days. 

 My favorite feature, however, is that my stove has a single shelf half oven on the top and a full oven on the bottom.  It gives me double ovens without the expense or space of having wall ovens installed.  There are only three of us at home now but I use both ovens more than I ever thought I would . . . and I don't even a lot of desserts.  I use the top oven probably 80 percent of the time, but I use the full oven for larger things like my Dutch oven or a turkey or when I bake larger loaves of bread or two trays of bacon.  Sometimes I bake in the bottom and use the top as a warming drawer.  I have the Maytag Gemini.  I'm not sure that they still make it and it's not really high end, but having two ovens is the whole world.  The bottom oven is convection. Even when I go for weeks without using the bottom oven, I still keep a bunch of pans in there.  

An unexpected bonus feature is that my oven has a "convection broil" setting.  This is essentially an air fryer and I use it to make chicken wings quickly . . . or chicken strips . . . it's my crispy chicken button.  😁 I also use the "delayed start" and "timed bake" features.  Back when I could teach classes for two hours in my home, I could put a casserole in before my students arrived, have the oven kick on during the second class, and turn off before the food burned even if the students lingered.  On the stovetop I use the "keep warm" feature ALL the time.

 

[Pen]

I have a glass ceramic top. It’s my second in my life. There is some learning and it needs pots to be flat bottomed. The first one was white and showed everything-would not want that again.  The current one is speckled black and is easier.  And easier to clean than gas stove. I try not to drag pots or clunk them down, but it has done okay even with occasional oopses. 
 

[Bambam]

I have a black glass cook top. I hate it. Anything that boils over or drips seems to harden into some sort of hard-to-remove-glue-carbon deposit. You can get it off, but it takes some time. And then it has streaks sometimes from someone (probably me!) not wiping it well enough. If anyone were to use a pot that has a rough bottom, I think it would scratch it (but not sure). 

I love how fast gas heats up. Instantly, while I have to wait a minute or two or three for mine to heat up to that same amount. 

I'd replace it in a heartbeat with a gas cook top but they are so expensive. 

Our oven is separate. I'm fine with an electric oven, but I'd be fine with a gas one too. 

[cjzimmer1]

1 hour ago, Garga said:

My oven died. I need to buy a new oven/stovetop.

I’ve had gas my whole life except for one year in an apartment back in 1992. I prefer cooking on a gas stovetop.

But…the mess! Compared to a glass-topped electric stovetop, the cleanup is horrible. My current gas stove has so many parts to take apart to clean it that we don’t get around to it anywhere near often enough, so it’s full of crumbs and is greasy and gunked up. There’s stuff on the metal burner grates and drip pans that I can never get off, no matter how much I clean them and no matter what cleaners I use.

 

But…a glass top? While it’s easier to clean, it also sounds breakable. We use cast iron and either we have to be suuuuper careful or we have to give up the cast iron. And we bake with stoneware. Usually when we take the stoneware out of the oven we put it on top of the stove, but we wouldn’t be able to do that with the glass-top stove. And I don’t really enjoy cooking on an electric stovetop. 

 

I’m completely torn. 50% of me never ever wants to deal with all the metal grates and metal drip pans and burners that come apart and how greasy/burned/stained they get. That half of me waaaaants a glass top stove.

But the other part is nervous about the delicacy of a glass top and dealing with learning how to cook on an electric stovetop. What if someone pulls out stoneware from the oven and forgets and plops it down on the glass stovetop and breaks it?

 

What do you prefer? What are the pros/cons I’m not thinking about? What do you have? What do you love/hate about what you have?

 

 

INDUCTION! best of both worlds.  Super fast heat up, fine tune control, glass top for easy cleanup.  If you put a silcone mat on the burner and tehn put your cast iron on it to cook, you don't have to worry about it scratching.  My favorite part is when I boil something over, just lift the pan, wipe off the burner (no you don't even have to turn it off), and put the pan back down and keep cooking. But if you don't clean it up, no worries, the glass never gets hot enough to "cook" the spill on, so it's still easy to clean up later.

Edited June 27, 2021 by cjzimmer1

[Ausmumof3]

I’ve had a miele glass cooktop for years in a house where we break literally everything and it’s survived they are really tough.  I love it so easy to clean and so much more temperature control than gas.  We did recently have to change it because it was controlled through the oven that died and changed it for something similar (but more budget friendly).

[Ausmumof3]

57 minutes ago, Bambam said:

I have a black glass cook top. I hate it. Anything that boils over or drips seems to harden into some sort of hard-to-remove-glue-carbon deposit. You can get it off, but it takes some time. And then it has streaks sometimes from someone (probably me!) not wiping it well enough. If anyone were to use a pot that has a rough bottom, I think it would scratch it (but not sure). 

I love how fast gas heats up. Instantly, while I have to wait a minute or two or three for mine to heat up to that same amount. 

I'd replace it in a heartbeat with a gas cook top but they are so expensive. 

Our oven is separate. I'm fine with an electric oven, but I'd be fine with a gas one too. 

Have you tried cerapol? 

[Selkie]

I have a white glass ceramic cooktop and am very pleased with it. It is very sturdy and I like the looks of it. Ours is very easy to keep clean. I usually just wipe it off, but if there is a stuck-on bit, it comes right off with a dab of glass cooktop cleaner. This is the second one we've had (only replaced the first because we remodeled and needed a different size). I would never ever want to go back to taking stove burners apart to clean, ugh.

[Bambam]

1 hour ago, Ausmumof3 said:

Have you tried cerapol? 

I've never heard of this. I do have a cleaner made for glass cook top, and it does okay, but you still have to put effort into it. I will look for this and try it!

 

[sweet2ndchance]

I have a Kenmore black glass cooktop. I love it. I use my cast iron on it all the time. I'm not particularly careful with it but I'm not slamming it down on the cooktop either. No problems at all. The glass is thick, tempered glass. It takes some force, or severe temperature shock, to break it. Unless you are banging the pan on the surface or slamming it down with some force, you aren't going to break the glass. I've had 3 or 4 glass top stoves so far, and I've never broken or cracked a single one and I'm not one to baby something like a stove either. I use it daily.

Taking things out of the oven, I do put a trivet or a folded towel or a hot pad or something on the stove before putting a hot pan on it. But I do the same thing on any other stove or even on the countertop. Just a habit I guess.

I've never had a problem getting the boil over black stuff off of the surface. I use either the glass stovetop cleaner or Barkeeper's Friend if I don't have any of the stovetop cleaner. Comet or Bon Ami or Soft Scrub with work too. I know the instructions say don't use those things, only use the approved cleaner, but in my remote area, it's not always available. Any gentle scrubbing compound will work I've found without damaging the surface. I use one of the stoneware scrappers to scrape up as much as I can, once it is completely cool of course, and then scrub the remaining burnt on crud with cleaner and a green Scotchbrite pad or the scrubbie pad on the back of a sponge. Takes some elbow grease sometimes but it does all come off eventually. I've found prevention is better. Try not to let things boil over or if they do, wipe the hot surface immediately as much as you can with a thick folded towel. Other than that, wiping it with a bit of glass cleaner works for most daily messes.

My second choice, of all the different stoves I've had over the years, would be some kind of gas stove. I love the kind that have the one piece metal part over the gas hubs. I just took them all off once a month maybe and ran them through the dishwasher. All my gas stoves were in military housing, so the stove had to be spotless when we moved out of the house. Running them through the dishwasher every once in a while ensured I didn't have to spend hours scrubbing them while readying the house for inspection. I would also wipe the surface and the hubs thoroughly while the grates were in the dishwasher. Twice a year, I would take apart everything that came apart and pull it out to clean everything. I'm far from a neat freak, but living in military housing for 10 years taught me a few tricks to keep things from getting to the point that it would take hours to clean. 😉 

[popmom]

1 hour ago, cjzimmer1 said:

INDUCTION! best of both worlds.  Super fast heat up, fine tune control, glass top for easy cleanup.  If you put a silcone mat on the burner and tehn put your cast iron on it to cook, you don't have to worry about it scratching.  My favorite part is when I boil something over, just lift the pan, wipe off the burner (no you don't even have to turn it off), and put the pan back down and keep cooking. But if you don't clean it up, no worries, the glass never gets hot enough to "cook" the spill on, so it's still easy to clean up later.

What’s the catch? I’m going to have to look into this.

I have a regular smooth top range that I’d like to replace. I’ve had both gas and glass. I think they are equally difficult to clean. I was considering switching back to gas, but it would involve a plumber to run the gas to my kitchen. So I’m intrigued by the induction based on your description. 

[sweet2ndchance]

2 minutes ago, popmom said:

What’s the catch? I’m going to have to look into this.

Not all pans work on induction cooktops. That's the biggest catch I found. I would have had to replace almost all my pans because they are either aluminum or non magnetic stainless steel.

[Carol in Cal.]

If I got another stove, I would want:

Induction—but I wouldn’t get it because I like my All Clad so much and would have to replace most of it

Gas—I just prefer it.  I can make either work but gas is more controllable IME, and much more quickly responsive than electric.

A wall oven—I have this at the cabin, and wow, it is SO NICE not to have to pull a hot roast out of an oven while bending over it and lifting.  Sooner or later I’m going to be too old to do that with steadiness.  Also, it will be electric.  Better temperature control.

A warming oven with a thermostat so I can use it for, say, one sheet of cookies or hot appetizers

Warning:  Whatever you look at, make sure that it doesn’t push your pots closer together than you are comfortable with.  The last time I looked at stove tops I was surprised that the placement of the newish electronic controls pushed the burners too close together to use more than 3 at once, which made it all the more silly that they forced 5 burners into that cooktop space.

[Clarita]

I have a Thermador gas cooktop. It is really easy to clean, but I don't know why your old gas cooktop was hard. If I want to clean the whole thing it's 3 cast iron grills plus a star shaped cast iron for each burner then wipe it up. I don't really have to clean the cast iron parts I just flick the burnt stuff off. It gets hot enough whatever was on there becomes ash. 

I have a Dacor double oven as my oven, I like it a lot of recipes call for rotating pans I never have to do that food turns out fine. I like the telescopic oven racks. This was my first oven that I actually used (my mom isn't a cook and her oven was for storage), so I can't tell you how it compares to other ovens.

Personally, now that I have gas I don't feel like I can go back. Cooking is so fast on a gas cooktop versus electric. Plus it imparts that flamed touched goodness on your food when needed. (There's a term for that in Chinese but that is the best English equivalent I can come up with. )

[Faith-manor]

Currently I have a Kenmore with a warming drawer. I don't use that feature as much as I used to because I cook more simple meals than I used to and usually have everything coming off the stove top or out of the oven at the same time. It is electric.because we do not have natural gas out here and propane stoves are expensive to run.

In our Alabama house, we will have Kitchenaid glass drop in stove top. There are two ovens on the wall, both kitchenaid. I am not thrilled with the drop in and especially with glass. I do a lot of canning as does dd so we will use it for now, but eventually we do need to replace it.

Where is Bill???? Oh Bill???? Where are you???? We know you know what stoves are best! 😁

[Garga]

8 minutes ago, Clarita said:

I have a Thermador gas cooktop. It is really easy to clean, but I don't know why your old gas cooktop was hard.

Well, to clean it properly, you have to do all this. I just want to spray it, wipe it, and be done. I don’t want to do 20 minutes of soaking, create a baking soda paste, scrub with the paste, and then a wipe down with a sponge, steamed rag, and toothbrush. 😄

I’m not the best housekeeper and so I don’t do all of the above, and the stove always is a little crumby or greasy .

[popmom]

26 minutes ago, sweet2ndchance said:

Not all pans work on induction cooktops. That's the biggest catch I found. I would have had to replace almost all my pans because they are either aluminum or non magnetic stainless steel.

 I have cheap pots and pans, so I wouldn’t be heartbroken to replace them!

So you can use cast iron on induction? 

[Clarita]

2 minutes ago, Garga said:

Well, to clean it properly, you have to do all this. I just want to spray it, wipe it, and be done. I don’t want to do 20 minutes of soaking, create a baking soda paste, scrub with the paste, and then a wipe down with a sponge, steamed rag, and toothbrush. 😄

I’m not the best housekeeper and so I don’t do all of the above, and the stove always is a little crumby or greasy .

Haha perhaps that's why I think it's easy; I've only ever done a quick wipe of the cast iron parts. I will just say the grease proves I cook on my cook top.

[cjzimmer1]

29 minutes ago, popmom said:

What’s the catch? I’m going to have to look into this.

I have a regular smooth top range that I’d like to replace. I’ve had both gas and glass. I think they are equally difficult to clean. I was considering switching back to gas, but it would involve a plumber to run the gas to my kitchen. So I’m intrigued by the induction based on your description. 

There's only two things that I think might be an issue.  One is that you have to have pots that a magnetic will stick to.  Thus copper bottom pots are out, all aluminum pans are out, glass pots don't work etc.  My pre-induction pots were random rummage sale finds my mom had collected for us before we moved out of the house so buying new cookware was not an issue.  In the early days, canning was more difficult because their weren't magnetic options avialable but since 2019 there is an induction compatible pressure canner and large stock pots are very easy to come by.  If you are a canner the time/energy savings alone made the switch worth it for me.  My induction stove will boil 4 gallons of water for the water bath canner in 18 minutes.  

The other issue is price/product choice but both of these are improving as it catches on.  

Oh and in case you aren't familiar with the science behind induction, here's a brief description.  There are magnets that spin around under the glass. the excite the molecules in the pan (which is why it needs to be magnetic) and the result is the pot itself heats up and then cooks your food.  It's more energy efficient than anything else because everything else you have to heat up the source which transfers heat to the pot which transfer heat to the food.  You are skipping one of those transfer points with induction.  It's also results in far less heat going into the air and since the heat isn't being transferred through the glasstop, the glass doesn't get as hot (and things don't burn to it a result).  The burners also auto shut off when the pan is removed so you can't accidently leave a burner on. Within days of using my first induction, it was already decided we would never own another type of cook top again.

[cjzimmer1]

8 minutes ago, popmom said:

 I have cheap pots and pans, so I wouldn’t be heartbroken to replace them!

So you can use cast iron on induction? 

Yes you can!  I always worry about scratching since my cast iron isn't very smooth so I just put a silicone pad down on the burner before I but my cast iron pan on.  The magnetic field has not problem penetrating through it and since I explained before, the heat source is the pan itself there is no issue setting it on top of silicone to cook.

[Scarlett]

3 hours ago, Garga said:

My oven died. I need to buy a new oven/stovetop.

I’ve had gas my whole life except for one year in an apartment back in 1992. I prefer cooking on a gas stovetop.

But…the mess! Compared to a glass-topped electric stovetop, the cleanup is horrible. My current gas stove has so many parts to take apart to clean it that we don’t get around to it anywhere near often enough, so it’s full of crumbs and is greasy and gunked up. There’s stuff on the metal burner grates and drip pans that I can never get off, no matter how much I clean them and no matter what cleaners I use.

 

But…a glass top? While it’s easier to clean, it also sounds breakable. We use cast iron and either we have to be suuuuper careful or we have to give up the cast iron. And we bake with stoneware. Usually when we take the stoneware out of the oven we put it on top of the stove, but we wouldn’t be able to do that with the glass-top stove. And I don’t really enjoy cooking on an electric stovetop. 

 

I’m completely torn. 50% of me never ever wants to deal with all the metal grates and metal drip pans and burners that come apart and how greasy/burned/stained they get. That half of me waaaaants a glass top stove.

But the other part is nervous about the delicacy of a glass top and dealing with learning how to cook on an electric stovetop. What if someone pulls out stoneware from the oven and forgets and plops it down on the glass stovetop and breaks it?

 

What do you prefer? What are the pros/cons I’m not thinking about? What do you have? What do you love/hate about what you have?

 

 

I have a whirlpool slide in gas.  5 burner.  The grates are hinged and lift up and stay while you clean.  Everything is sealed  burner pieces come off for easy cleaning.  It is the first gas stove I have had in over 20 years.  I am fanatical about keeping it clean.  It is easier than I feared.

I had smooth top electric before this.  I love the ease of cleaning.  And I am not enough of a serious cook to care about having gas.  I did not find it to be particularly fragile either.  I used cast iron on it with no problem.  I did try to refrain from scooting cast iron across the surface but never worried too much about it.  I only had one top break out of the 4 I had over the years…..and subsequently learned that it had not been level and that can cause it to crack.

[MeaganS]

41 minutes ago, sweet2ndchance said:

Not all pans work on induction cooktops. That's the biggest catch I found. I would have had to replace almost all my pans because they are either aluminum or non magnetic stainless steel.

We got an induction cook top when we remodeled our kitchen last year. My mom's had one for almost a decade so I was fairly familiar. The pans are definitely the catch, but cast iron works. I even bought an induction capable pressure canner and it works great. I do use a silicone mat under the cast iron to protect the top. 

My favorite part is the fact that it doesn't put off nearly as much heat as our old glass top. The cooktop itself puts off no heat, so the only heat is from the pans and food. Our kitchen would get so hot in the summer if we cooked and now it's a non-issue. 😊

Edited June 27, 2021 by MeaganS

[happypamama]

I've had flat top glass electric for the entire time we've been here, and I use cast iron almost exclusively.  You know me -- do I seem like someone who would be super careful, me of the "everything needs to be Tonka tuff because boys" family?  I mean, we don't slam the cast iron onto the stovetop, but we easily use cast iron anywhere from 1 to 4 times a day every day, and we've had no problems.  

 

As for my stoneware and pyrex that can't go on a hot stove, I just keep a pretty trivet next to the stove and will set them on that right out of the oven.  Or on the stove if the stove isn't hot.

 

I can't remember the brand off the top of my head now.  It's not super super fancy, but it had to have a Very Large burner option for my 15" cast iron skillet, and I also wanted it to have the dual burners on the side for using an oblong cast iron griddle.

[Ausmumof3]

1 hour ago, Bambam said:

I've never heard of this. I do have a cleaner made for glass cook top, and it does okay, but you still have to put effort into it. I will look for this and try it!

 

It was good on mine though if you have a specific cleaner already it mightn’t be that different 

[Pippen]

4 hours ago, Bambam said:

I have a black glass cook top. I hate it. Anything that boils over or drips seems to harden into some sort of hard-to-remove-glue-carbon deposit. You can get it off, but it takes some time. And then it has streaks sometimes from someone (probably me!) not wiping it well enough. If anyone were to use a pot that has a rough bottom, I think it would scratch it (but not sure). 

I love how fast gas heats up. Instantly, while I have to wait a minute or two or three for mine to heat up to that same amount. 

I'd replace it in a heartbeat with a gas cook top but they are so expensive. 

Our oven is separate. I'm fine with an electric oven, but I'd be fine with a gas one too. 

Same here!  I have a GE glass cooktop and I've found it to be a huge pain to clean. I was using a 1970's Tappan coil top range previously and it was a cinch to just wipe off. Everything on this takes scrubbing, even with the cleaner.  I like the different sized burners and more even heat, but it's more work to maintain.

[Innisfree]

8 hours ago, Carol in Cal. said:

If I got another stove, I would want:

Induction—but I wouldn’t get it because I like my All Clad so much and would have to replace most of it

I can completely understand not wanting to replace an existing set of All Clad, but for those reading along who may be curious, All Clad does have lines which are induction compatible. So, if you don't have it already, but think you might want to get some, you can, induction stovetop or not.

[Carol in Cal.]

4 hours ago, Innisfree said:

I can completely understand not wanting to replace an existing set of All Clad, but for those reading along who may be curious, All Clad does have lines which are induction compatible. So, if you don't have it already, but think you might want to get some, you can, induction stovetop or not.

That is true!

[gardenmom5]

I have a 20 yo GE spectra.  Dual fuel, high BTUs  Bigger oven (I measured as compared to others.).  Two high output, high BTU burners,  I grew up with electric and had electric before this one.  I love cooking on gas.

the new models don't put out as many BTUs, and only one front burner is high output.