Hmmm... I thought all glasstops were made by the same company (Schott Ceran). I don't know that a "high-end" one will be any different.

Here is what helped me get used to mine. First off, mine is speckled black (kitchenAid). It is very easy to clean and does not show much of anything. It definately does not scratch easily. I have heard solid colored tops like white can be a nightmare to clean.

Secondly, pots may slide or spin. You have to get used to holding the handle when you stir.

Thirdly, heating is different based on what burner you are using. I have a "fast", high-heat burner that doesnt like to simmer, and I have a slower than heck burner that is perfect to simmer on. You have to get to know your burners and try to match the pot size to the burner as much as you can.

Why can't you use your cast iron cookware? Is it not flat?

Sounds like most of your issues are appearance related, rather than cooking related. That may make my first suggestion less useful, which is to upgrade to an induction range. As much as I love our gas range, induction is way fun to cook with: rapid, intense and easily controlled heat. but this won't answer your complaints of pots sliding, potential scratching of the top, etc. Still, if you're a serious cook, induction is a great choice.

Other thought: why exactly would high ceilings rule out propane? That makes no sense to me. Now if you said there was no propane supplier within reach of your home that's a different issue, but if you could go propane then you open up all the gas range options. We have propane at the lake house with a Dacor PGM cooktop and it does very well. Can you clarify what exactly made propane a no-go?

Dear Julieanne57, I don't have any solutions to offer you, but I can tell you we are in the same boat. Because my old stove died just before Christmas, in a hurry I bought a Ge profile also with a smooth top. I love the oven but cooking on the top is something I try to avoid, and I don't think it has to do with the brand, because the GE seems to be very well built but more with the way we have to adapt our cooking habits and our cooking ustensils. I for one thinks technology should serve me and not the opposite so I already put up the stove for sale just after two months and will buy gas ( which was not possible in the condo but will be now) . I might even buy a Ge profile again, but gas so I won't dread cooking on it and the "sound and dance" of my pots and pans on the glasstop won't scare me. Good luck and I sincerely hope others will give you some good ideas to enjoy using your's . In the meanwhile you did me good knowing I was not the only one who didn't get used to that king of cooking. People around me call me crazy for selling my almost new and nice looking stove !
Thanks again and hope the best for you !

I'm no fan of propane, but I don't understand the bit about the ceilings. Propane sinks. It is heavier than air, so high ceilings should not be an issue. If anything, they might be a problem with natural gas, which rises, but I have never heard that being an issue, either.

Talk to the local propane dealer.

julieann,

There is nothing special about using a smooth top cooktop. I've had several and have enjoyed all of them. Of course, everyone's experiences are different. That said, I think the disappointment you've noted is perhaps traced to a few of your utensils.

I have an old Griswold cast iron frying pan, that is used often without a problem. It does have a flat bottom.....no rim. I see that Wagner now offers a rimless flat bottom skillet at less than $30 or so.

Also, a few of my saute' pans were wobbly, so at TJ Maxx I found a couple of blemished All Clad non-stick. Otherwise I have a mix of stainless and aluminum pans that work really well.

Just like any other burner, you can start things off on med-high or high, but you'll need to turn the heat down once things get underway.

Keeping a smooth top clean is really easy. Every night I thoroughly wipe the top off with a hot soapy dishcloth. Any remaining spots or stains are scrubbed with Bar Keepers Friend powdered cleanser or Weimans Cooktop cleaning cream. My cooktops look showroom new. I've never seen a gas range look like that with so little effort.

Be careful for what you wish for!

Charly

I'm in Fl too and even though I could have gas hooked up to the house we're remodeling in Hollywood; I choose induction. You may be a fussier cleaner then I but one of the things that appeal to me about induction is the ease in cleaning. The cooktop never gets hot so nothing bakes on. Plus, you can put mats or a paper towel under your pan to prevent scratches. GE is supposed coming out with an induction range... looking forward to seeing it. Electrolux/Kenmore and Viking already have one available. There are many more choices in the UK which we don't have here in the states... kinda sucks.

I have a smoothtop GE that is almost 11 years old. When i take the time to clean it thoroughly, It looks almost new. I don't have scratches on it either. I am a terribly messy cook. I have lots of pasta boil overs and my family often drips eggs and cooks them on the burners.( accidently of course) We do not baby the top at all. I have to take a razor blade to it periodically when I neglect to wipe up spill immediately. Love my top. I wanted to try propane, as we have a propane pool heater and a propane generator, but neighbors who have propane ranges have told me that unless I go with a high end range speicfically made for propane the loss of power would be significant. I confirmed this with a high end appliance dealer. Thought about the GE cafe, but the loss is 1/3. So I keep my low end glass top and contiune my sloppy ways....., scratch free. Mine is not a Scchott Ceran BTW....

"Pots slide all over the place".

It is very important for safety reasons that pots and pans used on ceramic cooktops have absolutely flat bottoms from when they are cold to when they reach working temperature. Using old warped bottom cookware or new poorly made cookware can result in a chain reaction accident caused by spinning pots and pans.

Julieannes complaints don't sound like appearance-related issues to me; that said, I think the induction suggestion is a very good one. You can actually have a silicone or paper towel or something placed on the burner over which to place the pan - provided you're not using too high a setting - that will keep the pans from sliding and even prevent some scratches. Most induction cooktops I've heard of seem to be able to provide remarkably even heat so that complaint should also be rendered moot.

Good luck. That said, I don't get the "propane with high ceilings" complexity either.

I wonder is the propane & high ceilings comments, refers to the fact that most Florida homes are constructed on a concrete slab. So the only way to get plumbing lines anywhere is through the attic or in the slab. Usually done during construction.

If the ceilings are vaulted, sloped or really high, which is quite common in recent construction, Julieanne may have no way to get a gas line to the location of her range.

By the way, Florida electric rates are quite reasonable, compared to other areas. Its about 10 cents per kwh. with taxes etc. We have relatives in hydropower rich upstate NY and their rates are nearly double.

I vote for induction. The cooktop is a dream to clean, just hot soapy water. Foods don't burn on. I don't use silicone mats but I have heard that they work. Using a paper towel under the pan does control spinning, but I have noticed that on high heat the towel can brown, (directly under the pan), which leads me to believe this is not a safe practice,(fire potential). My Demeyre cookware is heavy enough not to spin, and completely flat. I did have one cast iron pan that I had to give away as it had developed a slight warp causing it to spin. Induction requires that the pan contact the glasstop so a flat bottom is a must. The other consideration for you, especially in a warmer climate, is that with induction you do not heat up the surrounding space thus your kitchen stays cooler.

RE - high ceilings.

We have a GE glass cooktop at our vacation place in the mountains and we have an open 2 story A frame great room- our propane cooktop and oven work fine. No problems. Now I can see if the problem were the concrete slab, but not the ceiling.

I live in an area where natural gas is not an option so I got a propane tank and am cooking on a GE monogram gas cooktop, which I adore!! I had a glasstop range for years and just hated it. It's pretty....but I just can't stand it!! So I know what you mean. If there is no way you can get propane, then look into induction.

(my cooktop mfg said not to use cast iron because it is so heavy it would be very easy to accidently break the glass top with it. But that's really the only reason you can't use cast iron on a glass cooktop.)

Yeah, if you have to go electric go induction. That's the choice I had to make as well. While I would still much, much rather have gas the induction is tons better than a standard smooth top. Its responsiveness is really close to gas and it does cook more evenly. I've lived with smooth tops for a large portion of my life so here's what I do to cope with them:

Use sturdy pots and pans with flat bottoms. This makes a huge difference.

Keep a microfiber cloth around. When you're done with cleaning (soap and water most of the time, barkeeper's if necessary) give the stove a wipe-down with the microfiber cloth. That will get rid of streaks, etc. and keep your stove sparkly clean.

Go induction and get some silicon mats. Cost Plus has some for $10 each (they're bright red). I use one under my wok and under my cast iron. Most of the time I don't bother with my regular pans. No scratches and the silicon grips the pan so you don't have that sliding issue.

Cast iron works GREAT on induction, BTW.

pbrisjar--why would you rather have gas? I am about ready to replace my gas cooktop with an induction. I love the smooth top and can't wait to get away from grates.

I think it's mostly just a perception thing, actually. But the induction is, to me, like an almost but not quite the same thing as gas. I miss the visual feedback of the flames. I miss the fact that induction doesn't heat up the sides of my wok (or any other pan). I distrust all the fancy gadgets and controls. I HATE the clicking and buzzing the stove makes.* I dislike the fact that I have to aim carefully / plan out the pan placement so that it's actually on the magnets.

It is, admittedly, quite easy to clean, although I find that I feel compelled to clean it more and to a higher polish than I would a gas stove. I also like the fact that I can use it as a supplemental work surface when needed. As my kitchen is rather tiny, this is a very good thing.

Overall, it's just that I find it too fussy. For me and my experiences, induction is a prima donna whereas gas is a good, sturdy workhorse.

*When below about 4, the elements click on and off and it is quite audible to me. If the pan is too light (i.e. my empty wok or my stock pot) the magnetics cause a hum/buzz type of thing. I have pretty bad tinnitus and am very sensitive to these types of things.

I cooked on an electric smoothtop for 14 years, and never had any trouble cleaning it. I used any and all pots/pans on it, including cast iron, without incident. When it was removed last fall, the demo crew remarked on how pretty it was and why was I throwing it away? Answers: 1) it was 19 yrs old and had absolutely no resale, giveaway, or salvage value and 2) it was the worst performing cooking appliance I've ever used.

I'm now loving gas.

I'm reading all this with interest. I've cooked on a smoothtop for years, and it certainly has its pluses and minuses. We made the mistake of getting a solid black instead of a speckled; it looks beautiful clean, but does show everything, including some scratches. When we bought it I looked for the highest BTU burners I could find. Warped pans will spin (including my otherwise lovely old Griswold cast iron pan), so I prefer solid disk bottoms. I've thought for a long time that when it's time to replace this, I'll go for induction. Gas isn't an option, we don't have it in the neighborhood. Some friends decided that cooking function was more important than appearance, so they bought an old-fashioned coil electric cooktop. They manage to keep it clean, and have a shiny set of burner liners to use when company comes, but like the much faster responsiveness and higher heat output of the coils. The problem with smooth tops is that, for safety reasons, the heat cycles on and off when you've got a burner set to the highest setting, so you never achieve maximum heat. It's usually good enough for us, but probably not if you want something for, say, big stir-fries.

Pbrisjar,
What brand is your induction cooktop?

My cautionary tale...

Like LoveSummer, we've had glass tops for the past 13+ years. My old GE Profile range that I had for 12-1/2 years was wonderful! It had the speckled top and rarely looked dirty even when it was and if it was scratched, I never saw the scratches. But, our new GE Profile cooktop has the solid black surface and I hate it! It always seems to look dirty even when clean! It doesn't seem to clean as easily as my old range's top either. Unfortunately, I didn't have a choice...it was the only model that had both a bridge element (for my griddle) and a warming burner. The only consolation I have is that it was one of the cheapest GE Profile 36" cooktops they had.

The moral of the story...don't get a solid black glass top! (Or white, for that matter.)

I really wish I could switch it out w/something else...like maybe induction! :-) I've also been toying w/the idea of LP.

Those of you who use Bar Keeper's Friend...it doesn't scratch the glass surface? If not, I think I'll try it tonight.

baver: I have the Kenmore Elite induction slide-in range. If you do a search on my username here and/or in kitchens you'll find several more threads where I talk about it. Overall I like it but would just much rather have gas. I did do a pretty darned good stir-fry on it tonight with my flat bottomed wok. It actually got a little too hot.

buehl: Mom (and us kids) used Barkeeper's friend for years and years on our old glass top. That's what I'm using now on my induction (when needed). No scratches at all. It's also great for stainless steel cookware and my Silgranit sink.

pbrisjar--why would you rather have gas? I'd really like to know your reasons for thinking that you'd prefer it, as I had my heart set on gas till I tried a portable induction burner. If there's something I need to know before I install a full sized cooktop, I wanna know now! :-) Thanks!!

Cj