I don't know what induction is, probably because I'm not shopping for a new stove.

I find zero drawbacks to using gas.

I'm with Susan. Gas stoves are my favorite! They are instantly adjusted for heat. Not so with electric. I have had electric for 25 years....because the gas line is about a half block away and according to DH "it will be expensive" to hook it up.
I LOVE gas stoves.

While I love my gas cooktop and my electric wall ovens I find induction intrigues me. At the very least you can use gas when the power goes out. I don't find the heat to be a problem for me personally and my cooktop has six 12,000 BTU's burners. Now if my kitchen is full of people and I've got 4 of those on high it can get warm- but then I usually blame it on all the high hats in the kitchen.

I've never used induction but it sure is a 'hot' topic on the appliance forum. Here's the link to a recent thread on the topic.

Gas is easier to cook with. The first time we moved to California, we had only electric, and I longed for gas. So when we moved back to Chicago, I ordered gas in our new townhouse. Ye gads, it heated up the kitchen something awful and I swore that would be our last gas cooktop. Now I use electric, and I prefer it for my comfort. I still think it is easier to cook with gas, and if I lived in Alaska, I might have a gas cooktop, but not in the lower 48.

oops - here's the link - but there are several more on that Forum

Here is a link that might be useful: induction

There's only one drawback I can see with gas--and that's the price some companies are charging for the fuel.

How can a range get 'too hot'? You can always turn it back, but you can't get an electric range hot enough to properly stirfry on.

I've always had gas at our house (36 years), but unfortunately, the new house has an electric cooktop and range. I'll be replacing the cooktop with a full-sized range--electric, I fear. Because the town generates and supplies their own electric and the rates are lower than average, but the gas company there charges way, way more than our gas company at the old house. That's going to unfortunately push me to getting the electric range.

I've experienced no negatives in cooking with gas. I had an electric stove in one apartment and hated it. For one thing (and I realize this was user error), I often put things on top of it forgetting that it might still be hot. I remember putting a loaf of bread (in the wrapper) on top of the stove after I'd used it and it took me forever to get the melted plastic off the stove.

I love my gas stove.

I love my gas range...I went from electric element to glass top to gas...Gas is faster and much more efficient...so you can turn it off sooner.

I've not tried induction..so can't weigh in on that..

Find a good show room..that allows you to use the stuff and go from there..We have a place in our area that lets you do that.

imho, there are no drawbacks to having gas. I hated it when I rented and could only have an electric range.

Seems an Induction cooktop alone is about $2,200 for bottom of the line.

Gas flames curve around the bottom of the pan and there is airspace between the pan and the burner. Not so with electric elements. That is the only explanation I have for how much gas stovetops heat up a kitchen. I don't need to understand it, I just know to avoid gas with my internal thermometer.

Nothing....nada....nil.....zip. I HATE, just HATE cooking on an electric stove. I've had gas stoves all my life until we rented an APT and had to use electric. HATE IT!!! Dottie

I've cooked with electric and gas and I'll take gas in a second over electric. For me, there are no drawbacks at *all*.

A good gas stove is worth it's weight in gold as far as I'm concerned, especially if you are a more experienced cook. I have a gas cooktop only because I have two electric ovens in the wall, so I don't need another oven. I've never had a gas oven.

You have complete and *instant* control over the amount of heat when cooking with a gas cooktop or stove cooktop and this is THE most important and valuable thing about cooking with a gas cooktop - I also frankly find them easier to keep clean and I've never noticed that it makes the kitchen hotter with the use of my gas stove over the electric glass cooktop I replaced. I've also had the electric coils (for ten years) and hated them equally as the smooth top.

Gas is the only way to go imo, no drawbacks unless, I guess, you go too cheap and don't get a good stove - but that would be true with any appliance.

Gas vs electric has been debated for years. I was reading not long ago, that now that induction stoves are getting more readily available, gas cooks would switch to induction.

One of the beefs is that it gets too hot cooking with gas.

Gas cooks will never switch to induction.
Induction limits the type of pans you can use. they must contain iron for induction to work.
As gar as gas getting too hot??? LOL it's the opposite.

Electric coils are impossible to control. An electric stovetop takes a long time to heat up to the desired temp - well, not temperature...just a vague 1-10 setting on the dial.
You can't change the temp on a coil that is set to HI, down to low....well, you can turn the dial, but the coil temp goes down gradually...horrible for doing sauces.

Now gas...it's controllable, when you turn a burner down, the temp goes down immediately with the lower flame. Same with raising the temp - it happens immediately, not gradually.

I am stuck, for now, with electric...and I can tell you....it's horrible to cook on.

I think gas is better for cooking, and I believe it is used in all professional kitchens, but...

You have some additional risk with an open flame. (No frilly aprons, you hear?)

If you have asthma, and I do, gas may be an irritant. (I don't do well with even unscented candles either.)

Another gas lover here, and I've had both too. I think years ago, some may have moved to electric when self cleaning ovens came out and to avoid those low broilers.

Electric was here when we moved in and put up with it until taking a vacation where I could cook on gas again. The same stir fry veggies I always cooked tasted so much better we ran a gas line and bought a gas stove as soon as we got back.

I would go back to gas in a heartbeat....I've burned so many pans with the electric stove!!

I've used both and will take gas anyday! We don't lose power often, but I like knowing if we do, I can still cook! I like that I have more control with gas. If something starts to boil over all I have to do is turn the flame off. With electric, you'd need to move the pot off the eye!

I prefer my gas stoves to electric.
Yes.
They are hotter than an electric but the performance is MUCH better. Temperatures are more even and steady on the cooktop and in the oven.

Lori

I guess I am the exception to the rule here. I HATE gas stoves. They are unsightly and dangerous besides. I have never been able to control the gas elements and end up either burning everything I cook or it is undercooked. My neices home blew to smithereens from a gas leak from a new gas stove installation. (At least that is what they figured since she had the stove installed a few days prior) Thank goodness nobody was at home at the time. There was nothing left except a hole in the ground where the home had been.
I have used an electric range for most of my life and wouldn't have anything else to cook with.

Helen

..."a gas leak from a new gas stove installation."

If the installation had been done by professionals, they would be liable for not having caught the leak. That's supposed to be checked when any gas appliance is installed.

If your niece's family installed it themselves, well, I'm sorry for them that they missed this.

Having said that...

I've lived in homes with electric stoves, as well as with gas; and I'll take the gas any day. However, in a perfect world, I'd have a dual fuel -- gas burners on top, and an electric oven. A self-cleaning electric oven cleans itself better than a gas self-cleaning oven.

We did get a new gas range a few months ago. Couldn't get the dual fuel because we don't have a 220v outlet behind the stove. So, we got a gas range with dual ovens, and five burners (large oval burner in the middle - can take the grate off and replace it with a griddle). Love it.

Gas stove here too. I love that I can control the temp in only a moment. And that gas is available in the middle of winter if the electricity goes out. We can boil water or cook, which certainly makes staying home bearable.

Love Gas. Hate electric. For all the reasons already mentioned by previous posters.

I love my gas cooktop, but am intrigued by induction. I'd love to have both, as some people on the Kitchens forum have done, but it costs more than I could afford to spend.:(

Lindsey, they did have pro's install it, and they did end up with a large settlement and a new home. But that would have been a moot point had they been at home when it blew. Nobody could have survived that blast. There were pieces from the house 3 blocks away. It blew the siding off the surrounding homes and broke windows all over the place.

I guess it is all in what one gets used to. I love electric cooking and find it is cleaner looking too.

Helen

I love cooking with gas, and I don't like changes. I have a 1949 Maytag range, and I will never trade it for anything else.

Hmmm, drawbacks on using gas stoves. . . . hmmmmm. . . Can't think of a single one. But I could give you a list of drawbacks on using electric stoves. In one house we even paid to have a gas line tied into the main line so I could have a gas stove. And then there was the house where there was no gas main line to tie into and I suffered with an electric stove for 9 yrs. Aaarrrggghhh

Hate, hate electric. Have been stuck with it several times in my life and couldn't wait until I got back to gas. I don't find it heats up the kitchen more. That's why you have a decent over the stove hood. I always think that's important for any stove so you don't kill yourself in the summer if you want to cook something. I always make a point of getting a decent range hood. We have room air conditioners and the one in the kitchen has no trouble cooling the room while I'm cooking/baking.

Hmmmm, I'm unsure which is the most popular here. Only kidding!!! Obviously gas wins.

I was cruising the appliance forums and induction was mentioned, and the gas lovers THERE, switched to induction. Not "knowing" anyone there, I thought I'd ask my friends here.

What caught my attention, is when people mentioned THEY got too hot cooking with gas, and it heated up their kitchen. I have never heard that before. I know it gets warm cooking with electric too....heat is heat, when the stove is on.

I have a tendency to shake my pans on the stove, and for that reason I have no desire to use the smooth-top stove. Mom has one and loves hers, and it looks like new. I know people who don't like cleaning them. I also know that with induction the pans have to be perfectly flat, and magnetic.

Now here's my other question, Is there a true simmer with gas? Only once have I tried cooking with gas (was staying at a friend's) and "simmer" was boiling. I'm hoping things have changed and the temperatures are more accurate.

Now here's my other question, Is there a true simmer with gas?

Yes. Just keep the flame down real low. Some high end stoves have a special *Simmer* burner and also special high output burners. If your are doing a sensitive sauce like Holandaise or melting chocolate one should always use a double boiler with gas or electric.

There may be a learning curve for those who grew up with electric. If one grew up with gas one had the opportunity to watch there Mom cook and see how it works.

Now here's my other question, Is there a true simmer with gas?
I don't know about other gas ranges, but mine is a bottom of the line (I imagine) and the burner knobs are just labeled Off and High (besides lite) and there aren't even any increment markings. I just take a look at the flame to see how high or how low it is. I guess there is a bit of a learning curve with it, just as there is with electric.

Some time back I bought BF a new (used) electric range. It has a glass top and replaced his avocado green one with coils. Both of us were amazed at how much faster it heated up as opposed to the coil burners. His is not the really smooth almost like window glass top, but rather a sort of grainy, gray , but smooth and easy to clean top. I could tolerate electric a lot better if it was a newer fast heating model like his.

. Nobody could have survived that blast. There were pieces from the house 3 blocks away. It blew the siding off the surrounding homes and broke windows all over the place.
Now granted, if that happened to someone I knew, or I saw the aftermath, I 'might' be scared off by gas.

I also have a gas furnace and a gas clothes dryer, which I've never given any thought to being dangerous, but everything gas here was professionally installed. I am a bit leery of pulling the range out for cleaning though, even though I'm sure it was installed with moving it out to clean kept in mind.

I have always had gas and love it. My 6 yr old stove has both a simmer burner and a Max Burner, as well as two regular burners - They all work wonderfully well.

Someone above mentioned being able to use gas in a power outage. Not on my stove. In a power failure, the stove top and oven automatically lock and must be unlocked when the power returns. I don't think that's true for all stoves, but it is for mine. The manual calls it a safety feature.

We stayed in a hotel this winter that had a brand-new electric glass cooktop that regulated from high to low and vice-versa instantly, just like gas! I was fascinated and amazed. All the virtues of gas and the easy cleanup of glass! If I ever get another new stove, I might look into that kind. Trouble is, I can't remember the brand name.

Sherry (who also cooks with sherry!)

Ah the simmer question- that probably varies. My cooktop has a great simmer. If I'm using a large saucepan I use a diffuser or a simmer plate to make sure the heat is spread evenly across the entire bottom of the pan. Water boils at 212 degrees, simmer is approximately 190 to 200. You still need a certain amount of heat or the cooking process will stop. I can't speak for all brands but both the GE at my vacation home and my Dacor gas burners allow for true simmer.

I've seen "simmer burners" where there is a small inner circle of flame--pretty nice. Mine doesn't have that so the store sent out service people a couple of times when it was new until we found someone who knew what he was doing. There was just no way I could have cooked on it the way it came. It's a flame adjustment.

I love my gas cooktop, but am intrigued by induction

I am, too...but I don't want to go induction on all burners.

My Jenn-Air cooktop has 2 removable cartridges. Usually, I keep the 2-coil burner one on the right, and the griddle cartridge on the left. I have another 2-coil cartridge that I put in the left when I need the extra burners. I also have a grill cartridge that I use during the winter when the grill on the deck is covered.

Jen-Air now has both radiant and induction burner cartridges. I have already hinted that an induction cartridge would be a nice Christmas present. I like the smooth-top instead of drip pans.

We only eat out a couple of times a year, so our cooktop gets plenty of use.
But I just "go with what I have" and my cooking has never killed anyone yet.

I've had electric for most of my life but in my kitchen remodel chose gas and I would never return to electric. Hands down , gas is better.

"I am, too...but I don't want to go induction on all burners. "

You can buy a "hotplate" style induction burner that sits on the counter top. That way one can try it out before investing in a whole range or just use it for quick cooking.

Of course one still needs the special pots and pans to use it.

There is an electric cooktop in my kitchen. As soon as the other house sells, we will get gas piped to that location, and I will put my gas stove there. Right now it sits in the garage, cause I took it out of my other house.

I can hardly wait.

Moni

I've always had gas, except for a few years when I was single and renting and had the dreaded electrical coil burners, yuck!

Even our little lake cabin has a tiny gas stove. It is so old fashioned that I have to light the pilot when we arrive after I've turned on the gas. I think the rest of the world went to electric ignition (of gas) back in the 70's or early 80's, LOL!

As for induction, I won't be getting one any time soon. As you can tell with my old stove up at the lake, my motto is: if it ain't broke, don't fix it. And my other favorite motto about money is: it's not about what you spend it's about what you don't spend!

jasdip, sweetie, you're just TRYING to cause trouble aren't you? ;) I get such a kick out of reading threads when gas vs. electric comes up. The hyperbole comes flying and reason goes out the window. Few acknowledge that there's differences between stoves and yes, even between gas. Propane has approximately 8-10% less BTUs per gallon than natural gas, so some arguments have to be made as to whether you're talking about propane or natural gas. I did notice a difference cooking on LP and propane than on natural gas.

If I were given my choice, all things equal, and the choice was only one fuel, I'd opt for natural gas, but I'm also very interested in induction. When thinking about buying a new place a while back I seriously considered an induction HOB and a couple gas burners with a small and large wall-mount electric ovens. I grew up with natural gas in town and propane at the cabin. For over 30 years I've cooked on electric at home and a propane camp stove when camping and at the cabin. I'll say this without reservation: GOOD COOKScolor="red"> can cook on gas OR electric! People bring up their mamas and others, and my mother was a fabulous cook but you know what? She could and would go across the street to help out on an electric stove and guess what? The food was fabulous! I have several aunts who were all terrific cooks and about half had gas while the other half had the dreaded electric. (How did they ever live???) And I know a lot of people will be upset, but the stove does NOT turn a bad cook into a good, to say nothing of a great cook. I know people with $5k "professional" ranges by Viking and other makers and they have trouble heating a TV dinner. I can take my camp stove, oops gas makes me perfect, so let's clarify, I could take a hotplate or an electric frypan and cook a circle around some of them. With all due modesty, I'm a good cook, but I don't claim to be a great cook. I know many great cooks that use and know how to use electric.

There's some fallacies that should be cleared up: Few people are truly prohibited from putting in gas if they don't have it, fer cryin out loud I'd put in a propane tank and accept the lower BTUs if I were so heartbroken as to not have gas. I have a gas furnace and gas water heater but have an electric stove and electric dryer. That's what was in my place when I got it and it's the same stove although I've replaced a couple dryers, I couldn't see (for me) enough reason to pay to run a gas line and yes I could have done it myself, I wasn't comfortable doing it even though I replaced a gas water heater myself. I would prefer gas on those appliances also, but I don't get all hot and bothered because I don't have it. As far as no gas user will switch to induction. WRONG! Check out the appliance forum, I've seen a LOT of people switch! LOL It's entertaining how defensive people get over appliances. Shall we enter the rage of central air vs. window unit?

The other thing that makes me split a gut laughing about, and my sister said this just the other day, if the power goes out, I can cook! Well whoopie-ding! My response to her was that when the power is out in the middle of the night, the last thing I want to do is run down and start cooking a Thanksgiving dinner and a birthday cake! And the fact is, that many gas stoves DO require electricity since they won't release the gas without power. Now there are ways around this. Use a battery and an inverter or use a UPS. But again, it's the misinformation that gets spread on a hot topic.

Growing up, our house CERTAINLY got much hotter with a gas stove. That's common sense. HOWEVER, that was when pilot lights were used on virtually all gas stoves. And it's true that gas stoves are far less efficient than (coil) electric stoves because of the direct contact of the element compared to the flame and heat riding up the side of the pan. I know that the gasfans (I won't use the normal term of endearment I usually use) will jump and argue this but look at professional kitchens using gas stoves and how the sides of the pans are burned up the sides. MOST cooks don't do a lot of cooking on the side of a saute pan. I saw this dramatically growing up and also while camping that the flames go up the side. I was one to turn down the flame to keep it on the bottom of the pan and of course it would take longer but use far less fuel. Another experience I had with this issue was when I was at some friends' new home and we were in the dining/kitchen area. There was a crowd at the housewarming and Martha was cooking some things on the (gas) stove. Her husband was standing by the stove, leaned back and the back of his shirt caught fire. That fabric went up like a torch, and no, not because of gas. Another friend standing there had the sense to grab the shirt and rip it off him and throw it in the sink. I was looking at them at the time and I did not see the fabric touch the flame but it goes to show how much heat goes up the sides of pans. And I suppose I'd better clarify that I'm not using this to say not to get a gas stove. OTOH, his burns were minor enough so we were able to laugh about it (I suggested he was now inducted into the "Pepsi Generation" and we had a good discussion about how home injuries can happen quickly.

The whole point is, if you're used to something you can do fine. If you don't like something you will not be able to tolerate it for love or money.

I almost always refrain from using terms like "always" and "never". I'm pragmatic. I try to deal with facts and common sense. Luxury liners have professional chefs onboard and they use electric appliances, not gas. I've watched Wolfgang Puck, Julia Child and others cook on hotplates, electric stoves and gas. Further, if you compared a high end electric stove with a gas camp stove I think many peoples' choice would change. So let's compare things as we can and recognize they're different. Many bakeries use only electric ovens. Many pizza places use wood! That said, to me there's only one rational drawback for me I can see to gas, other things being equal, and that is generally speaking gas appliances cost more than electric. And that's a pretty minor drawback IMO. Most people who have a preference though, don't care and will gladly pay the difference. And there's the gasbags, oops, gasfans who will argue that gas is "always" cheaper than electricity, which also is not true. But often you can recoup some of the cost but it depends on your local rates and as said, most people just don't care. Some people want Ford over Chevy or vice-versa and will pay more to get their preference. You don't have to rationalize, you say, I preferred it and got what I wanted. Personally I have trouble believing that people with a big preference of one over the other will be swayed by the fuel/power cost. In the big picture I doubt it would be that much. It wouldn't be for me I guess.

I will also comment on the simmer question. The stove we had growing up had a center "simmer" spot in the center of the gas burner. That stove had an adjustment for the gas though we never adjusted it and never used the "simmer" setting. My campstove will adjust down so low I can simmer anything. But I've also used gas stoves that couldn't simmer anything. A lot is the stove, a lot is the adjustments when so equipped and the cookware can make a big difference too so there's no definitive answer to the question.

A friend of mine had emphysema and asthma and had to rip out the gas appliances from all the homes in which she lived. Now in fairness, she wasn't the normal person, but there are some people who advise against gas appliances if you have children with breathing difficulties. I'd advise using common sense. There are also a number of people who advise against vent hoods venting inside because it can draw more fumes. Most residential hoods don't have the suction to be a problem in this regard in my opinion, but here's another example of if I had my choice, I'd vent it outside. Naturally, you should vent a gas dryer, furnace and water heater outside though. I will say, that my sister has a gas stove, "LOVES" it but does admit that her asthma IS affected if she's using it a lot. So I think a person should be informed rather than going by uneducated comments. There can be issues.

I know this is long, but I'll say it again: GOOD COOKS can cook on gas OR electric and yes, even on a campfire or a grill! Red Green did his Thanksgiving dinner in the hub caps and under the hood of his car.... but I'm not suggesting he's a good cook....

OK Jasdip, are you next going to ask propane vs charcoal? (Taste the meat, not the heat?) Or better yet, real charcoal vs briquettes??? :)

I love gas and dislike electric so much that we paid our landlord to get a gas stove installed in one house we were renting and we ripped out the electric stove and had gas plumbed in and a gas stove installed in the house we own now. If I ever bought or moved into another house with an electric stove that would be the first thing to be replaced.
If the flame licks up around the sides of the pan, it is incorrectly adjusted or the wrong size for the burner. I find the air heats up as much or more with an electric stove because the coil takes so long to cool down after you turn it off, while once the gas is off, so is the heat.

I don't dispute that good cooks can produce good food on either gas or electric stoves. But the technique is somewhat different and one I don't care to struggle with. When I turn a burner off, I like the heat to be off, not to have to move the pot off the burner (which may not be possible if there isn't somewhere else to put it) and then vent the coil heat into the kitchen, or to judge the right moment to turn off the heat so that the remaining heat will finish cooking to the point I want it to.
I also have worked in a number of professional kitchens and have never seen burn marks up the sides of the pots. To reiterate, flames should stay under the pot, not go up the sides. It's a waste of gas and dangerous, for a start.
And to say that being able to use a gas stove in a power outage is no advantage because you don't cook in the middle of the night- well, that's just specious because power outages don't confine themselves to times people are normally asleep. BTW- my gas stove is one of the ones that doesn't need electricity for the burners to function.
It's fine to have an opinion but don't base it on false premises.

omgoodness! quite a varity of answers...i had to look up what an induction stove was...

i cook with gas. like it. i can make better scrambled eggs with mine over my dil, dd's electric. (a pet peeve of mine)

We were at our vacation home in the PA mountains last month when the power went out at 5 in the evening and didn't come back on for 24 hours. All the stores, restaurants and gas stations in our area were also without electricity and closed. Since we had our gas cooktop we were able to cook dinner ( we had already defrosted the meat and had to use it anyway), make coffee for breakfast and finish up the eggs too. Obviously we could have easily survived on PBJ and crackers and canned tuna - but when the power goes off you have no idea when it might come back on. So we made dinner again the next evening.

There are times when the power is out for several days. We have a generator so we can run the furnace in winter, the refrigerator and the well pump but even though the gas cooktop has an electric ignition you can easily use a match to light it.

There's no way I'd argue that you need gas or electric to be a good cook- that's a specious argument. Home cooks and professional chefs have their favorites for different reasons.