Did you check out the Appliances Forum? And what's the budget?

This Sears Kenmore Elite, made by Frigidaire, gets rave reviews.

Here is a link that might be useful: Kenmore Elite

There are many gas ranges with broilers in the oven cavity. My Frigidaire is one of them ('cuz I absolutely refused to even consider a "bottom-broiler"). They're not the BBuy loss-leaders, but they don't cost anywhere near what Vikings cost, either. Whirlpool and GE and Maytag and Bosch make 'em, too.

What do I think? I love my smoothtop. It is instant hot, cooldown no dif. than old coil. Clean up is a breeze. I have a four burner with 6 diff size elements. Flat cookware is essential.

I would never ever again cook with electricity!!!!
Electric oven is fine.....but so is gas!....the nonsense about not being good for baking is just that!
If I had a choice ( and I did!!) of a top of the line do everything electric range with 2 ovens and a broiler and burner with a brain, auto this and auto that.....and an old gas clunker that had to be lit with a match.....I would take the old gas clunker!!...just once I made the mistake of choosing the snitzy electric stove....cooked with the da@# thing for 12 years before i got back to gas!
Linda C

I currently cook on electric and have used both the coil and smoothtop burners, but given a choice, IMO there is no choice -- gas is the way to go. Alas, I live out in the country with no gas lines. Can't wait for the day when I can at least switch over to propane.

Having cooked with gas and electric cooktops, I can't think of any reason to choose electric other than price. Gas gives you much finer control over temperature, and it is great to be able to transfer pots and pans from burner to burner without waiting for them to heat up. Fringe benefit: you can cook during a power outage. The 2003 blackout was a lot more pleasant than it could have been :)

However, I can't think of any benefit a gas oven has over electric other than the cost of the fuel. I have used several gas and electric ovens over the last few years, and I always found it frustrating cooking in the gas ones. With an electric oven, you have a dry environment with the option of adding humidity if what you're baking requires it. The gas ovens I've used are always humid inside because of the natural gas, and there is no way to control this.

I am genuinely curious to know if there are any other benefits to a gas oven.

I want a inexpensive safe range that s slide in.
I prefer electric.
what brand and store do you suggest I get?
Its a Christmas present . . .

Being a huge baker, I can't imagine not having an electric convection oven (many come with electric ranges now a days). I can bake three racks of perfect cookies at one time. I don't know for sure, but I doubt I could do that in a gas oven. I don't love my smoothtop, but I wouldn't trade my electric convection oven for anything.

PS: I once used a gas range at a cottage and wanted to make garlic bread in the broiler. I took me 10 minutes to figure out the broiler is where the pots and pan drawer usually is! Great if you like to lay on the floor while broiling.

I am not sure why no one has mentioned heat generation comparisons. I did some on our range and the ranges of several friends. The electric ranges invariably heated up a pot of water (same pot, same quantity of water) much, much faster than the gas ranges, which were all slow as molasses. Our own range, a pricey Dacor with a gas range-top and an electric oven, was the slowest (and in many other respects is a piece of junk - don't get me going on it).

Is slow boiling not an issue for anyone else? What about boiling spaghetti? I am reduced to dividing the water into 3 pots and only combining them when the water is boiling.

No, boiling speed is not a concern for everyone. When I need to boil water quickly, I use an electric kettle, which is much faster and more energy efficient than boiling water on any type of stove (I've tested it against electric smoothtop, induction, and 17.5 MBTU gas units).

The nice thing about gas ranges is their instant response. My old smoothtop electric took forever to heat up, and just as long to cool down. I suffered numerous boil-overs because it took so long to moderate the heat under my pots. Now, with gas, I have fast and infinite control, with no guess work, or moving pots on then off the heat.

I generally prefer cooking on gas. I am contemplating installing an electric cooktop somewhere in my kitchen for boiling large quantities of water or other cooking which just requires large amounts of high heat. Gas is better for everything else. Regarding baking, I find I have good results with bread and cakes in either. Electric is more stable and more dry, but I am not sure it is especially superior.

I just read my response above, while it was true I did like my Thermador electric range, In this house we had the option for propane - I am now a Gas convert and loving it.

Jim

I hear ya. I will say that boiling water was a bit of an issue for us with our old Profile gas range -- it boiled water just fine, but a nice rolling boil in a large pot, starting with cold water, really could take a while. It's just not a problem any more with the BlueStar RNB. Yes, a good induction range would boil a pot of water more quickly, and so would a specialized kettle. But the BlueStar is quick enough that I just don't find it inconvenient any more. I had one of the 22k burners installed in the rear left corner precisely to accommodate large pots of water without blocking access to the other burners.

Jim

I hear ya. I will say that boiling water was a bit of an issue for us with our old Profile gas range -- it boiled water just fine, but a nice rolling boil in a large pot, starting with cold water, really could take a while. It's just not a problem any more with the BlueStar RNB. Yes, a good induction range would boil a pot of water more quickly, and so would a specialized kettle. But the BlueStar is quick enough that I just don't find it inconvenient any more. I had one of the 22k burners installed in the rear left corner precisely to accommodate large pots of water without blocking access to the other burners.