The only con I have here right now, no gas piped to the stove area.

Holding out for money, before we have that done.

Moni

If you smelled gas, was it just when the range was first turned on? If you smelled it during cooking, it was either your imagination being over-active, or a badly adjusted, perhaps defective, range, and your friend who owns it should have it repaired.

I wouldn't trade gas cooking for anything. But we have separate rangetop and electric wall ovens. Electric is fine for ovens.

I've had both through the years & prefer gas...not only because my range could keep us alive if an ice storm takes power out for days as it did for my Sister & BIL a few years ago. When I turn a burner off, it's OFF -no trying to find a place to set down that pan/skillet, etc.

Ever know of a chef who'd cook on an electric stove?

Suzi

First of all, you weren't smelling gas. Natural gas is odorless. Which is why an ingredient is added to it that you CAN smell, that makes you feel sick to your stomach if you smell it too long. It's put there to alert you if there is a leak or problem with a gas appliance.

You never smell gas from an appliance that's working properly--I have a gas range, gas dryer, gas heater, gas water heater--and they do not smell like the additive in the natural gas.

If you were smelling that smell in your friend's house, she had some sort of problem. Maybe it was something simple like the electronic ignition didn't light the burner fast enough--that smell does sort of hang around for a while, unfortunately. Or maybe she had a leak, or her range wasn't working properly and the gas wasn't being completely combusted.

But as to having a gas range? Best way to go. SO much better than electric, that I'm planning on having a gas line run to my kitchen in the new house, so I can have a gas range instead of the electric cooktop that's there now. With gas, you can get a higher flame under your burners (you cannot really wok properly on an electric range, just can't get the heat hot enough). With gas, you have instant control--when you turn the range on, the heat is there, no need to wait for the element to heat up, and if your pot gets too hot, you can turn down the heat and immediately see results. I've used both, and truly, there's no comparison between gas and electric. I don't know anyone who uses gas cooking who would ever say they wanted to switch to electric, but loads of electric range users want to switch to gas. Only exception I know to that, was my MIL, who was scared to death of gas, because there was a gas leak in her house when she was little (we're talking the 20's, mind you), and she was sickened.

Just don't base your whole opinion on the fact that your friend's range was apparently not working as it should. Go to a few other friends' houses, maybe even ask if you can cook them dinner on their range to check it out. Keep in mind, though, you will find some differences that you need to get used to.

No cons, I love my gas stove. Had elec in the past, it took forever to boil water. With gas, you can control the flame from a flicker to full-blast. Gas ovens work well also.

I was surprised to see this post this morning......after trying for 4 1/2 yrs to fry eggs on the electric range in this APT, today I finally got them done the way I like and how I used to make on my gas range in my house. i've had gas ranges all my life until we moved here. I hate electric stoves. At least you know when a gas range (stove top) is on or not. On this E stove, the coils don't get red when on. As for smelling gas, and I had propane. Then there was an odor when the propane tank was getting low. Dottie

No cons from me either. I've been forced by circumstances to use electric ranges a few times in my life--once for two years straight--but always returned with great relief to gas, which gives control back to the cook.

The only time I've ever smelled propane was when I ran out of gas. The gas company explained that their sysem is designed to make the odorant apparent if the supply is running out.

Definitely go for gas! And get a model with continuous grates while you're at it.

I have a glass top electric range now, But, I'm single and don't do much cooking these days. I got this one for ease of cleaning. If I had to cook three meals a day for a family there is no contest. Gas is the way to go. You can control the heat better and time the finish so that everything finishes at the same time. I also think the gas ovens are more accurate than electric. But thats just me.

When I read your heading I thought I had clicked on the appliance forum instead of the KT. We have a gas cooktop and double electric wall ovens. It's the combination I prefer for all the reasons posted above.

The only electric appliance that matches a gas cooktop in performance - and many believe outperforms gas - is induction. But you lose the ability to use it when your electric power is out and you have to make sure your pots and pans are suitable. Induction is magnetic so your pans need to be a ferrous metal, like iron or steel. However it heats much quicker than gas, the BTU's are the same or higher depending on model, the smooth surface of the cooktop doesn't get hot, only the pan and contents inside.

So if you can't get a gas line or a propane tank then you might want to investigate induction. The prices have come down drastically. You do need to verify that you have enough to power the unit, it draws a lot of electricity. If you go to the Appliance forum you'll get lots of info on induction.

Here is a link that might be useful: induction

Over the years, I've had both. No way will I ever have electric if I have a choice. I don't lose power often, but I like knowing if I did, I can still cook and if worse came to worse, I can heat with it. The stove I have now doesn't have any bells or whistles (not even a CLOCK). The more bells & whistles there are, the more things to quit working.

I too have gas and love it. I am on propane.

Would you be on natural gas? If so, do you have any other gas appliances? Would there be a gas minimum you might have to pay, just for the service, like electric?

I've tried to cook on electric (older ones) and they were so frustrating. BF recently got a newer one with the coils enclosed under a kind of rough (but smooth) surface and it is a lot faster than I remember the old exposed coils electrics being.

Another plus too here (in Indiana) is if the electric goes out, I can still have a cup of coffee, and cook, and have some heat.

My clothes dryer is also gas (Maytag), and I love it. My limited experience with electric ones were that they got too hot, regardless of whatever setting I used.

Sue

The two years I had an electric stove I swear I burned everything! I hated it. If you love to cook, gas is the best.

Electric stoves can be very dangerous because, when you turn a burner off, the coil is still hot enough to burn a hand or ignite a paper towel or napkin or clothing cuff...even when the coil looks dark and cool.

And I would also add....no decent professional cook or chef would ever use electric burners.

I agree with all the advantages of gas cooktops. I have the best of both worlds: a dual fuel range. It has a gas cooktop (propane in my case) and an electric convection oven.

Like monica says, electric burners can be dangerous. I once saw a cat that had burned its feet badly from jumping up on the stove just after it was turned off.

No cons here either. We've always had gas except when we moved into this house. It had electric when we moved in so we replaced it with electric and used it for years.

But when we vacationed at a friends cottage with a gas stove, all of a sudden the normal things I'd always cooked were so much better and easier we changed back to gas the next week.

One thing in particular reminded me how much nicer it was to cook with gas. Simple zuccini/onion sidedish. It actually browned before sogging up. No turning back.

I have cooked on both and must admit I prefer gas for a cooktop. I can control the heat better. But I do prefer electric ovens. I wish in the remodel 2 years ago I would bought a gas cooktop and built-in electric oven instead of an all gas range. I don't like gas for baking, seems to be uneven, because it is always cycling on and off instead of an even heat like electric.
Clare

You asked for cons:

Gas can present a problem if you have allergies/asthma. (So can burning anything -- even a candle!)

I haven't had a gas cooktop in years, so I don't know if you still have to clean burners and drip pans under the burners; I didn't like that chore. (My smoothtop electric cooktop is very easy to keep clean.)

Few electrical appliances have the potential to explode and turn your house into a pile of rubble. (Not that I spend much time worrying about my gas clothes dryer!)

I can use either one with an equal degree of proficiency.

If I lived where there is a cold climate, I would have a gas stove for our safety of always having a source of heat if the electricity went out. I remember a week without electricity after a terrible ice storm as a kid, and the stove was our only heat. It is easier to cook on gas stoves. But having had both, I also think gas cook tops heat up a room with residual heat more than an electric stove.

I know of lady who has gas and hates it cause it's so hard to clean. Do the little holes get plugged and you have to clean them all the time? What happens with spillovers?

If the gods are smiling favourably, we'll be house-hunting in the next few months, and I am dreaming of having a gas stove.....definitely would get the infinite grates. They look gorgeous.

Funny, I have heard that they take LONGER to boil a pot of water, but I can't see why. But I've seen this a few times.

Thanks for your input. No one's come up with any cons, and I thought there might have been some.

Let me add this about cleaning.

I just pop the burner grates, and covers from my gas range into the oven when I run the self-cleaning cycle, and they come out looking brand new. Only thing you have to clean is the surface itself, and any decent all-purpose cleaner does a decent job. For any of those burned on brown speckles, a little baking soda and a soft cloth will take care of things without damaging the range top. With the sealed burners, you don't have all that 'behind the scenes' stuff to clean off, at least.

I have a gas range as well..but my burner "tops" and grates have a coating that would not last if put in the self clean mode. I've never had a "flame" hole plug up. Even with a pot of potatoes over boiled and left a big puddle.

I will never be without a gas range. The difference is amazing! I've had electric glass cook top, and good ol coil burner electric..

GAS RANGE HANDS DOWN..and with the power going out occasionally..I can still cook a meal!

I like my electric smooth top range. As far as cooking or baking if the power goes out, that is what the fireplace insert if for. I have baked, cake, pies and chicken in it just for the fun of doing it. My range heats up very quickly and I have yet to burn anything on it. So easy to keep clean. There was a time when I cooked and baked on a very large gas range, not in my house though. We owned a very large old school building and the range was so big it could not be gotten out of the building. It had two ovens and I think maybe 8 burners. I would bake pies and cookies there. Brought them made up from home ready to bake. I gave them away to customers. We had turned the building into an antique mall.

Sue

Well I don't like them. I was raised with electric stoves. We have a gas stove at our "beach" trailer and when something spills - it chars on. The fact a burner stays warm can be a good thing. Often I turn off the stove and the food stays warm. The stove I have has no very low setting so I am forever burning something. Thank goodness for the microwave.
The propane company requires a minimum purchase now and if my furnace wasn't gas I would haul that propane stove to the landfill and go electric. I love my 60's model 40" electric stove with the storage drawers on the side AND the bottom.

Re cleaning, many gas ranges come with sealed burners these days. My present one (five years old) is like that: No burner pans, no top to lift up to get at spills. It has a glass top, with continuous grates over everything. The grates are a nice look, plus you can slide heavy pans across them.

And no, I never clean out little burner holes.

The only con I can think of for gas is the open flame.

We have an electric range; you cannot get a gas installation here any more; it's illegal. So I've lived with electric for twenty years. Once you adjust, using it efficiently becomes automatic.

Gas vs electric is a battle that rages on not unlike the great propane vs charcoal wars or even the *real charcoal" vs briquettes battles that have separated the states, pitting brother agin brother, sister agin sister and even south of the Manson/Nixon Line where yer brother is yer cousin, the fights will rage hotter than the over/under toilet paper wars of the 1950s!

If you LEARN how to cook on either, you'll do fine. People that WON'T learn have trouble with either. Frankly, I like an electric frypan best for most things. I have better control with that than gas stoves and I can maneuver it around, tilt it, etc, with the heating source still doing its job. And nothing boiled water faster than my electric Chef's Pot. 5 quarts would be to a boil in 2 minutes.

There's been some accurate things stated, some inaccurate. Fact is that electric stoves generally will boil water faster. One caveat, the pans need to contact the coil/surface or you'll have trouble. Watch and feel on a gas stove sometime, unless you use a gigantic pot, if you turn the flame up on maximum, the flame will shoot up around the side of the pot so all the heat goes up the side of the pot and into the air. Electric stoves contact the bottom and are far more efficient in the use of the heat. "Flame" me if you want, but look it up, it's fact. Watch the commercial stoves on tv where the flames shoot up the sides of the pans. You could roast marshmallows 2' above it. That's how the commercial woks work so well since the flames go up the sides. Similar concept even at home, albeit on a smaller scale.

A friend had to get rid of her new gas stove because she had serious breathing troubles. Most people don't have that issue however it *is* true and *if* someone is truly sensitive, it could be a consideration and the gas fanatics never will acknowledge it. Again, in fairness this only applies in rare circumstances.

Much depends on the stove itself. A top-notch electric would most likely be preferred to a bottom of the like gas stove, even to a gas snob who likes to cook. And vice versa for an electric fan. You need burners to put out enough heat to do the job you want. If your needs are simple, and you're flexible, either will do the job.

If *I* had the choice, I'd choose a gas cooktop with an electric oven. Course, I like 2 ovens, one small and one large like I have. Most bakeries and serious bakers choose electric ovens over gas for the more even heating. But with new stoves, both gas and electric, the "cons" are getting more subtle.

I have a Corningware top stove and don't like it, but it's old technology. It, like all corningware is hard to clean, gets buildup in the crevices and the element has to heat the corningware before heating the pot and corningware is not a good conductor of heat. I often turn off the stove and finish cooking and keep it warm on there but that's an insignificant benefit, much like the I can COOK when the power goes out!. I don't know about you, but when the power goes out I do NOT suddenly get an urge for Beef Wellington and homemade apple pie! I have a Coleman propane campstove and a propane grill so if I really needed it, I have that.

This is an argument like the front load vs top load washer skirmishes. Never an agreement, nor will peoples' minds be changed! LOL

One thing about stoves with a pilot light. I learned from experience not to spray aerosol Scrubbing Bubbles anywhere near the pilot light! Can you guess how I learned???

If you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go throw a potato into the gas microwave before the power goes out. :D

This is just a silly little anecdote, but it really happened. When we were house-hunting in 1981, the widow ownwr of the house we were looking at showed us her gas stove. She turned on one back burner and the flane remained very low, even though the knob was way up. The other three burners had much higher flames. She claimed it was "A slow-cook-burner" that she "paid extra for." After we bought the house (including the appliances) I gave the stove a real good cleaning and the burner then behaved normally. She was such a pig-she left a huge ring in the bathtub also, and a tremendously overgrown backyard. Took us and 30 lawn leaf bags to remove all the debris/excess foliage. So much for the slow-cook-burner.

I haven't seen a natural gas stove or cooktop with a pilot light for decades.
Electronic ignition is now used.

If your gas cooktop doesn't have a standing pilot light, how could you use it during an electrical outage? Our gas water heaters (with electronic ignition) won't work if there's no electricity, nor will our gas clothes dryer.

If you have a wood burning fireplace, you can do a little cooking there!

Anybody have an AGA stove. As I understand it they are always 'on', but I don't know how they are fueled.

I didn't see it mentioned- do you have asthma or COPD? I want an AGA Companion soooo bad- but dr says 'no'.

Chisue - during power outages, I just use a match to light the burner. The electronic ignition is nice, as it replaces a standing pilot light, but not necessary to light the gas.

I too have a gas (propane) stove -- I think alisande and I have the same or similar model. My oven is dual fuel though -- I can heat with gas or convection, or both (haven't tried that).

I have had gas for 20 years as long as I had my 4 oven AGA stove,THe only con is that IM scared to death of gas...When I was a kid the neighbors house blew up from gas.The roof was laying in the middle of the street.Ever since I hated gas.My hubby likes it ,cheaper to have than electric,I have it bad though gas water heater,gas dryer,gas stove,built in gas grill...Hes talking gas heat..
I do like my Aga though..

yep, I turn on the "Gas" on the burner, and click the lighter stick, the same one that lights candles and the grill.(cuz my ignition switch is dead on that!) Voila...cooking in no time!

Being able to cook when power is out for extended periods does more than keep us fed. A pot of soup (or water for that matter) sends moisture into the air and warms it.

And coffee in the morning by the old fashioned drip method is priceless.

"Posted by kframe19 (My Page) on Fri, Mar 27, 09 at 12:29

I can use either one with an equal degree of proficiency."

Um... Mike? Shouldn't that have read, "I can use either one with an equal degree of proficiency or lack thereof." ??

About the asthma/COPD sensitivity.....

I have asthma and a gas cooktop and no trouble. A friend has much more sensitive asthma and a gas cooktop and has no trouble. A properly adjusted/burning gas flame should be clean and present no trouble.

If you are seriously incapacitated by chronic respiratory problems, that's one thing. For the rest of us, you would rarely (if ever) have any problem with a properly installed gas cooktop or range.

I prefer gas, with one caveat: I can't have my overhead fan on while cooking or it will blow out a burner. Same with the way the room AC is positioned, but then if its hot/humid enough to have that on, you bet I won't be cooking!!

It's true about being able to cook during a power outage using a candle lighter or plain old wooden match. It was a lifesaver during a couple of brutal ice storms.

concerning the gas smell. I'm not sure why, but for a few days after I paint a room in the house, I can ever so slightly smell gas from my stove. It's not quite the same skunky smell but some kind of reaction to the paint fumes. It happens every time!

I will always cook with gas. Love it.

Pros...easily adjustable heat levels and when it's off the burners cool faster.

Cons...not many that I can see unless you have a gas leak.

I prefer gas anyday!

(I have burnt more food on an electric stove than a gas one and I guess that could be just another pro for gas!)

nola anne

I had always cooked on electric and loved it. Remodeled our kitchen 1 1/2 yrs. ago and got a Dacor gas range. I'm happy with it but not overwhelmingly happy. I can't seem to simmer anything. Even on LOW flame, foods tend to burn. What am I doing wrong?? Someone told me I needed some kind of diffuser place on top of the grill but how come everyone doesn't have this problem? If I have to add something to be able to simmer, what good is the gas? It would be just like having electric coils.... Any suggestions?

I've always cooked with gas, too, and prefer it. However, last week I visited a friend who has a brand new glass cooktop, and I was amazed. My dad had one 25 years ago; the new ones are nothing like it. This cooktop behaved like gas, was very responsive and fast. I was VERY impressed!

About electronic ignition: When my electricity is out, we cannot light our gas stove with a match. There is no gas flow. It even says so in the owner's manual, which I didn't read until the power failed when it was 19 this winter. My stove is about 7 years old, so shame on me. We always felt that we had a small advantage over electric because we could lite the oven for heat, but no dice. It's locked tight during power failures.

Orie, I once had a Dacor cooktop and had the same problem. I do not have the problem now with my Viking rangetop, tho. I do have Dacor ovens, but I was soured on the Dacor cooktops.

Yeah. get a diffuser, and it will work just fine. Do you have burners with difference BTUs? Be sure to use the lowest power one for low slow cooking; the higher power onces don't go low enough. But even the low power one was too hot for me.

It also helps to use heavy bottomed cookware.

Cynic, I can't remember the last time I had a craving for Beef Wellington. But I do remember the Thanksgiving when we got three feet of snow and had no power all day. This was back when gas ovens still lit with a pilot light, and we were the only family on our road who had a fully cooked turkey that day.

Yes, I add my echo to the others who said you can light your gas burners with a match if the power goes out.

Sherrmann, what kind of stove do you have? I sure hope the newer ones haven't all become impossible to light with a match during power failures. Mine is 16 years old and I'm not looking to replace it any time soon, but it would be good to know they still work like they always have.

I have a Kenmore from 2001. When the power fails, it locks down the oven and the stove burners. My son has a GE profile that does the same thing. His is from the summer of '07, I think.

....that many brands can be lit with a match during power failures, breenthumb. It's something I never thought about until I needed it, and then it was too late.

That's what I was afraid of. First our toilets, (people were going to Canada to buy toilets for goodness sakes) then our Crock Pots, and now our gas ovens. And baby cribs.

I HATE all these mandates "for our own good." But that's another forum. Grrrr

All GE Profiles aren't like that. Mine was new in 2003, and I can light the burners with a match when the power is out.

That's great to know, alisande. Sure something I'll look for if/when needed. Otherwise I'd fix this one to within an inch of its life.