I have always had/used gas ranges (burners and ovens), so I am used to them. I prefer the visual feedback afforded by the flames coming out of the burners (we have a Wolf AG range, so mine has open, or what most call on the forum, semi-open/sealed burners). Now, I could just look at the knob on either a gas or an electric topped range to see whether my flame is set at Hi-Med-Lo, and often don't even look--if food is cooking too fast or scorching, I lower the flame without looking at it first, and vice-versa. However, sometimes I am aiming for a flame somewhere in-between a particular setting, and I like to eyeball the flame height to see if it suits my particular cooking needs at that moment. It's also a more immediate, visceral aspect of cooking, seeing the flames: fire=cooking/food in my mind I guess! :-)

That makes sense. I have been paying attention to everything I do in the kitchen so I can make better choices for my remodel.. waiting for the electric coils to heat up or cool down is extremely annoying. Right now I am pretty sure I want a dual fuel range with convection. 36" is crazy expensive compared to 30 - but I'm lovin the 4 burner plus griddle option.. but is it worth thousands so I can make tortillas on a cool surface? What are the other benefits to the 36" units?

Thanks!!

consider an all gas instead of dual fuel and you'll save a lot of money

oooh. I actually already own a single electric convection oven. I cant fit a wall oven into my kitchen and figured it would be cheaper and easier to sell it and buy a range.. but I may have to rethink.. it can be mounted under a cooktop, but it will be low to the ground.. but I'm short so it might be worth rethinking...

If you are a "Messy cook" the last thing you would want is a glass top "conventional electric" Stuff gets burned on, really fast, because all of the cooktop gets soooo hot.

I suspect out of all the types of ranges, a smooth glass "conventional (radiant)will be the hardest and most work to keep clean.

What is the easiest? Induction, (NO Contest). The cooktop itself does not get hot, it will under the pot/pan as that pot/pan will heat up the area directly below it but much lower temp than gas or conventional electric so stuff just wipes off----if you get anything on it in the first place---We cover ours with paper towels when we cook, so cleanup is just "toss the paper towels" --Don't do this "Unattened thou" if you were to let a pot/pan run dry, that "said" pot/pan could get hot enough to set off the paper.

The Speed (boiling water) so far has been shown to be twice as fast as gas, even those with powerful burners (18K), but it is possible the new Cullinarian Gas Range, may be able to give the Induction units some competition there (23K burner).

The control of induction is every bit as good as gas, maybe a little more so as you dont have to wait for the large grates to cool down, when you turn the induction down, but still a close race.

Of course , you won't have the blue flames to entertain you, you wont be able to char chilli peppers, and most likely Woking is still better with gas.

Your utility bill will be less with induction, those powerful stoves usually require (larger than standard gas pipes feeding them) 3\4th inch , instead of half inch, so those pretty big blue flames gonna suck up some NG or LP if you really kick up the burner.

Also looking at data about efficienies Induction beats the other 2 choices quite handily as it heats only the pot/pan(well actually causes those pot/pans to heat by hitting them with magnetism.)

Anyway, another option to think about!
Good luck with your choice.

Gary

For less than $2K, a GE Profile all gas range is an option you might consider. I've lived with one for six years, having replaced the anemic Whirlpool range that dated to the origin of the house in 1994.

I use the oven for everything from finishing veal chops to creme brulee to osso bucco in a Dutch oven and have been pleased with its performance.

I will say, though, that even the "Power Burner" takes a good while to boil a big stockpot of water for pasta or a lot of ears of corn. I imagine that almost any range at the less than $2K figure will have similar challenges. All in all, it's been a good, economical purchase, one that has given me no trouble whatsoever.

The only hiccup we've ever had was operator error. My now-DW made her rave review chocolate cake in it, and it turned out dry as a bone. The autopsy revealed that you get different results when you push the CONVECTION BAKE button in haste than when you hit the one your recipe goes with: BAKE. :-) I loved her more than enough to tell her that I'd done the same thing not long after getting it.

PS - for sheer drama and flair, there's no substitute for tipping your large frypan to ignite the dark rum in your Bananas Foster with the gas flame from your burner, either.

Lighting it with an electric match just doesn't have the same effect, even if it is functionally identical. :-)

I grew up with gas (boy, that sounds bad), and have also had coil and smoothtop electric -- now I have induction. I love my induction stovetop.

My mother has a "regular" Kenmore gas stove. It is ok but I find it slow to boil and it gives off so much heat when you are cooking compared to induction -- not a good thing when it is 85 degrees out.

But I don't think you can get an induction stove for less than $2,000. Why don't you try cooking a meal at a friend's house that has a gas stove? You might find that it is not as different or fabulous I you thought.

About a 18 months ago I was able to get my hands on a vintage OKM range (all gas). It was an adjustment to go from a smooth glass top to the gas, but I love it. Food cooks faster and is moister, if that makes sense, especially from the oven. Works in a power outage, too (BONUS).

I don't think anyone can really tell you why *you* would love gas but we can share why we love gas. It may turn out that you hate cooking on gas. I've been cooking on gas since I first learned as a teenager. It's simple and the heat provided (with a good burner design) is even and responds quickly to adjustments. Basic gas ranges is 90% plumbing so they tend to last a while. Modern gas ranges usually fail in either the ignition system or moving parts like oven doors and such. Gas can be used with any cookware and is good for almost any type of cooking.

That said, induction does give gas a run for its money. It has even heating across it's designed radius but the heat tends to drop off more steeply than gas when pans overhang the size of the burner/hob. It responds to temperature adjustments instantly and is very efficient. Gas is actually not very energy efficient but in some areas gas per unit of energy is a lot cheaper than electricity for heating applications. That means it's pretty much a wash with regard to cost where I live. In colder areas, gas tends to cost more so it may be more cost effective. Induction does limit you to compatible cookware which might not be an issue if you are just starting out and buying new cookware anyways.

For me, it's mainly personal preference and just what I'm use to. I do a lot of wok cooking and if I went induction I'd have to get a specialized wok hob. With gas, it's easier to adapt a standard burner and get reasonable results.

Good luck with your choice.

Hmmm sounds like induction might be my best fit. I would need new cookware but that is the type of thing my MIL loves to buy for Christmas. ;) My gut says to use my current stove for now and upgrade later once the financial hit of the remodel has passed and when I come across a good deal on a great range.

thanks everyone!

I had a ceran top electric, Thermador and I spent longer cleaning that each night than I do my stainless DCS top. 90% of the time all I need to do it tilt the grate and a damp cloth. I also like being able to cook during a power outage and have found my roasting in an all gas is more moist.

If I were truly a rational decision maker I would probably go with induction. But I'm going with gas. Just like seeing the flame. It's kind of akin go the difference between analog and digital --

Thanks to Amcook for helping me see there are some rational reasons (wok) for choosing gas!

Has anyone seen the actual price comparison between cooking on induction and gas? The link from theinductionsite.com to a DOE table does not work.

As amcook said, there may not be any actual savings given the cost of gas and electricity, even if induction is (truly?) 90% efficient and gas is only 55%.

DH (an engineer) says that the chances of something going wrong are much higher with induction (as with any electrical device) compared to gas.

I am leaning toward getting a gas cooktop and using a portable induction unit in the summer (when it is too hot to cook on anything, really, because the food itself emits heat).
Just my two cents...

Frankly, I think the "cost" of the fuel used to cook is a minor issue either way. The cost of the food and heck the refrigeration of the food (and any leftovers) probably dwarfs the cost of the gas or electricity used to cook it.

I've also heard the argument that induction is over 90% efficient so it's greener and better for the environment but that's a flawed argument as well since the generation of electricity is a combustion process as well. To over simplify it a bit, if you live in an area where they burn coal to generate electricity, then I would argue that using electricity to cook compared to natural gas is less "green". But if you live in an area where most of your electricity is generated from wind or solar (or if you have a solar house), then induction is extremely green.

In the end, I think it's a wash either way. Just go with the technology that you are most comfortable with. I love cooking with gas because I know how it behaves and how to work with it. Induction might be better in many ways but I'm not ready to deal with the limitations it has with my style of cooking at this point. Who knows, 5 years down the line I might be a huge proponent of induction.

I only recently learned how to cook on an electric stove, and at this point could probably stick with it, but I just don't enjoy it much. We have an old coil top range. The only thing it really does better is boil large quantities of water. We stayed for a few weeks at a house with a smoothtop which seemed to be even less responsive than the coils. I have not tried induction.

We are spending big bucks to get gas to our kitchen and replace our stove with a large vintage gas range. It has six open burners with simmer burners in the center, two ovens. Will be powered by natural gas. I think it is money well spent. As others have pointed out, it is a matter of personal preference.

My mother had a new GE gas range installed at her country home, fueled by LP. It is horrible to cook with. Takes forever to boil water, and none of the burners really turn low enough to simmer anything. This is one of those mid-range "pro style" stoves with sealed burners (three different btu outputs) and big chunky grates. The sealed burners are less than ideal because on the high output burner the flames spread so wide that only very large pots can be used.

Wow. I'm sure the original poster has long since made their decision but I just had to respond to dodge59's comment that if you are a messy cook the last stove top you would want is glass. I am a very sloppy cooker and I had a glass top Jenn-Air cooktop in my last house for 10 years and it was the easiest cooktop to get completely clean and keep clean. It never scratched or chipped and you could scrape the most burned on stuff with a razor scraper.

ColorLady, induction is glass top, but the glass doesn't get hot enough for anything to burn on. I have a smoothtop radiant and am positive I'm not getting another one--going to go with either gas or induction, just haven't decided. There are induction stoves for around $2K (some are a few hundred more). Here's a link that might help.

Here is a link that might be useful: Induction stoves

I lived with a Jenn Air smooth top range for 13 years and I am SO SO SO glad it's gone!!! I hated it. Things burned on and it wasn't very responsive. I recently installed an induction cooktop and it's fabulous. EASY to keep clean, wonderfully responsive.

I moved from a house with a glass top electric to one with a gas range. I have to say I don't love gas. I'm also a somewhat messy cook and I found the smooth top electric so much easier to keep clean. I also get so hot when I cook on the gas range. Now, it's just a MOL Kenmore range so that may be part of why I don't love it, but I don't think so. I got myself a single burner stand alone induction unit and I love it. I use it most of the time. My next kitchen WILL have induction.