Get the biggest gas cooktop you can fit! I have only used a gas cooktop for every house I've ever owned. They use so little gas, even cooking every day, that a relatively small tank of gas will seem to last forever. We have a 100-gallon propane tank buried next to our driveway that hasn't been refilled in 10 years and it's still at 60% and we cook on it every day!

As far as double ovens go - yes, by all means. If you have the room for a standalone microwave, then go with double ovens. We recently redid our kitchen and replaced the old double oven with one that also has convection cooking along with standard bake and broil. One of these days, I'll figure out how to use it.

No, you don't need double ovens if you use an oven only once every couple of months. Go with a single oven. It gets hot in Dallas; you might think about using a toaster oven out on the porch for baking tasks during the heat of the summer. I have a toaster oven that will fit a 9 x 13" pan and find I rarely need a larger oven (cookies being a notable exception.)

I love cooking with gas and have a Wolf open burner range top that I love. But I live in Wisconsin and don't mind the extra heat that it kicks out into the room. (On the few days of the year when the extra heat is totally unwanted, I resort to the microwave, electric skillet, etc.) For many years, I lived in Oklahoma and cooked with gas. Those burners sure pump a lot of waste heat out into a room and, if I stilled lived in a hot climate, I would consider getting an induction cooktop. The big question with induction in my mind is how reliable they will prove to be and how expensive any needed repairs might be--as well as parts availability 5-10 years down the road.

As your real estate agent if you need double ovens for resale value--that's for the cabinet for the double ovens, there are neighborhoods where it's practically required, and those where it isn't. It's not so much about selling--you can sell anything--but about getting the better buyers and better price.

In five years (which I assume you'll have there) it won't matter which ovens you choose. The kitchen will be "old". But if you don't have a place for double ovens, the buyers might not be able to visualize it, might not even look at the house if the "double ovens" box isn't checked off on the description, and they might not be willing to make more than trim changes to the cabinet to make the kitchen suit themselves. So you can get the cheapest full sized ones if you don't expect to use them (they make nice wok storage). That's assuming you don't want better for your once a month use.

I agree with the suggestion about induction, especially given the heat in Dallas, but if you use one or more woks, it's not the best choice. Good induction, with a minimum of 17 power levels, has the power and control of gas, but it's more efficient and doesn't heat up the house. You do need all steel or iron cookware (no clay, copper, aluminum or glass), though. For woks, charring vegetables, grilling tortillas (and perhaps the Indian flatbreads), and anything else that requires flames and/or hot air, gas is better.

I like my Wolf gas cooktop (it's the 15" unit--not full sized). It does everything well for me, even though it's just a small and a medium sized burner. The simmer ring is fantastic. I also have a 24" induction. Best of both worlds. :) I've toasted spices on the induction, but I'm not sure that I don't prefer gas for that, however, now that I think about it.

Induction has been around for something like 30 years and has far better market penetration in other countries. The original induction units in the US, 20-30 years old, are starting to fail. Gas might outlive that, but the standard age of a kitchen before it's remodeled is 10-20 years.

For really good appliance recommendations, try the Appliances Forum, and for more info on new kitchens, we also have a Kitchens Forum.

I've used both and without a doubt gas is the way to go...ever see a cooking show with an induction cook top? For good reason> You can get a gas cook top where the grates are not set way above the burner.
If you are Indian and cook every day, you will LOVE the gas cook top, for the instant blast of heat and the instant response to turning it off or lower.
As for the double ovens....make room for the 2nd oven and usd that space for woks and large cooking pot storage.

I don't normally post here, but I so disagree with gas as being the way to go. After having gas and now induction, the responsiveness that you get with induction is far superior imho. A funny story, but my friend who works for a luxury hotel chain said the same thing.... no respectable chef uses induction.... and then she toured a Michelin starred restaurant kitchen that uses induction, not gas.

Plenty of cooking shows have induction. Plenty of others like the visual of the flames. Cooks are the same way. Far more people who have used both for long enough to know what it's really like prefer induction. If you don't believe me, check out all the threads about "would you go back to gas" in the Appliances forum. Many professional kitchens also use induction for at least part of their cooking. It's not the fuel choice that makes the cooking, it's the cook. BTW, pots heat a lot faster on induction--that's one of the big whizbang sales pitch points.

That doesn't mean that it's the right choice for everyone. For a lot of Indian cooking, gas might be better, and with induction, one is limited to steel/iron pans.

I have a 36 inch Bosch cooktop with 5 burners, and the grates are not really high above the burners. In fact, the only complaint I have about it is that none of the burners, not even the simmer burner, goes low enough to actually simmer. My pressure canner always goes up in pressure, albeit slowly, and I have to actually turn the burner off to bring pressure down. Very little heat escapes, that's for sure.

I haven't been crazy about induction, but I've only used it occasionally, so I'm not a good reference on that.

I do have double ovens and I love them and use both of them regularly but I like to bake and I bake a lot, so again, my use might be different than yours. I've always wanted double ovens and this is the first house I've ever had room (or money) for them. As for convection, eh. I don't like it and didn't get it with my ovens, my husband had convection in his very expensive stove before we were married and I never did manage to get used to it or produce any baked goods that were "right". Plus, the noise drove me batty.

Being in Michigan, I can't tell you what is "required equipment" in Texas. I agree that you should ask your real estate agent, as they are usually very aware of what current buyers are looking for.

Good luck.

Annie

Thanks everyone for the wonderful inputs. I'm thinking of going into Sears and physically checking the Cooktop models for a lower grate one and see if we can get the builder to use that one.

I am thinking of basic double ovens (I like the look of double ovens in a kitchen, though ours would be a little hidden) and no convection.

I'm hoping we live in this house for a long time to come and not think about time/need to sell, but we never know what life has in store for us.

Thanks for the replies and I'll keep you all updated on what we finally choose.

I have and not merely used both induction and gas. I have gas in my beach house and induction in my 'regular' house. Induction is way better and there are lots of threads on Appliances forum attesting to this. Check out the appliances forum and see the threads re gas v induction. I would never go back to gas.

Induction is so responsive that when you lower the heat the contents of the pot stop bubbling immediately. There is no gradual cooling as in gas cooking. No boil overs. Induction attains higher temps than gas, although those are only used for 'boil', as a practical matter. And attaining a boil is the quickest of all forms of heat. I would have induction if only for the ease of cleaning. A spray with Windex and swoosh, you are done. There is no lifting of heavy grates or cleaning in nooks and crannies. Not afraid to make latkes, because of the grease splatters.

i think flame worshippers are..in the dark. None of us grew up with induction and it is time to move forward. I have had my induction for 5 years and it is still perfect.

And induction cookware, increasingly popular and popularly priced, is magnetic and not necessarily steel and iron only, contrary to what pllllog says. I have a set of anodized aluminimum Circulon from costco with a magnetic induction plate on the bottom. My Bosch simmers beautifully, quite low unlike Annie's experiences.

I have induction and gas. I cook a lot of Indian cuisine. By far, induction is superior to gas for Indian cooking. Browning onions perfectly is easy with Induction. Not burning curries that are brown onion based is perfectly easy with Induction. Roasting spices evenly without burning them is perfectly easy with Induction. Making Parathas on induction is perfectly easy versus on gas. I also make non-indian food, I wok alot also. I used a flat bottom wok and it is super fast. I almost prefer it to using the dedicated gas wok burner that I have. Last night, I was making English Muffins and they came out evenly toasted on the induction cooktop versus on the gas cooktop. I also am becoming at adept at the behavior of an induction user, grabbing handles of a pan without worrying that the handles are hot, placing kitchen towels on the cooktop, and wiping the cooktop surface with a microfiber cloth. The lack of heat is also a major selling point for Induction.

If you get a chance, find a showroom that has Induction and gas cooktops set up for operation. Take some food and practice. It is a great way to get an idea of how the systems work in real life use.

Good luck!

Like Colleen, when I turn the gas burner off, the flame goes off immediately and the food stops bubbling. My cooktop is gas but my ovens are electric, so the best of both worlds for me.

My old boss had induction and swore that she had a canner that would work on her stove. However, most/all pressure canners I've found are aluminum and I do a lot of canning, so haven't found that induction would work like that for me, I'd still need an additional burner that wasn't induction.

Annie

I've never heard of a pressure canner that was suitable for induction. You can do small water bath, like a little jam, but not production canning. Annie, you're right, for your purposes, induction wouldn't work. It is as or more responsive as gas, however. What Westsider was talking about was in response to Linda's comment which seemed to imply that induction doesn't respond the way gas does. There is the same kind of immediate response to changes in temperature setting, and induction, especially with boost (a button which gives a short period of extra power) will bring a cool pot to a boil much faster than gas. Additionally, the surface of an induction cookpot, while right under the pot it does get hot enough to make you pull back your finger, it does not get really hot like a heavy cast iron grate can on a gas stove, which can lessen the responsiveness of the adjustment, once it gets to that stage.

There are a lot of misconceptions about induction out there. There are also some cheap units that don't have enough power settings to be comfortable, or enough power altogether. That's about the construction of the unit, however, not the fuel. The name brand gas cooktop that came with my house hardly cooked at all. It wasn't in ill repair or anything. Just weak. It took half an hour to boil two quarts of water. That doesn't mean gas is bad. You can get gas rangetops that will just about melt the heat shield right off your walls!

Westsider is right about the cookware. I left out clad. There are many kinds of pots that are made of layers of steel and better conductors such as copper and/or aluminum. The steel is heated by the induction, and the other metals are heated by the steel. This can cause a whining sound, especially in thinner and cheaper pans, but it works very well for cooking in. The "magnetic induction plate" in the Circulon is a slug of iron or steel.

I misspoke and wasn't clear. My flames, too, shut off immediately when I turn off my gas burner. But I can get a boil-over, when the boiling water spills over the rim of the pot, on the gas stove and that just doesn't happen on my induction cooktop unless I am 2 blocks away. (Is that an accurate description of a boilover?) To prevent a boilover on my gas, I have to move the pot off the burner but on my induction cooktop, I do not have to move the pot.

Oh! I beg your pardon. What I thought you said wasn't what you meant, and I shouldn't have said that.

The boil over was that hot grate thing. The hot spot on the induction just isn't all that hot since it only gets hot from the heat the pot puts out.

I have a 30 inch DCS propane range, All burners have a separate ring for simmer. 3 burners are 15,500 BTUs. & 2 are 12,500 BTUs. We live where power outages are frequent enough & we can still cook, a big plus. Turing a burner off or simmer instantly stops boiling. If I lived where gas or propane were not an option I would want induction. I also love the infrared broiler.

I get boil-overs readily using my portable induction burner. I can't boil anything without it boiling over :-)

Jasdip, do you mean after you've turned the unit off, or while you're boiling your pot?

Oh no, just while cooking, plllog. I have 2 portable units. The first one I bought at Amazon, as I've never seen them in my area. It's 'okay' with just 6 settings. Wouldn't you know it, a few months later, they became readily available, so I bought another one.....because it has all kinds of settings, in both temperature and watts.

Even on level 1, the original burner cooks too fast. My rice and quinoa cooks too rapidly, not a gentle simmer at all which is what I prefer.

I LOVE my Wolf 5-burner cooktop and have had it for 3 years now. I really like that the knobs light up when the burner is on.

Induction burners do not work unless the pans are in contact with the surface, and so if you lift your pans a lot for sauteing and flipping, you might not like induction as well. That is one of the main reasons I do not like induction, and I've used both and still prefer gas. I get tired of hearing people say that anyone who tries induction will never go back to gas - that is simply not the case - it's a personal choice; one size does not fill all. There are times also when I like for the flames to lightly toast a tortilla or a chili, but with induction, that would have to be done with a pan. My burners will work when the electricity goes off, although I have to light them with a match. If the gas goes off as well, I have propane burners in my camping supplies in the garage and a propane grill in the back yard.

I also think that double ovens are better, if only because I want at least one oven to be close to eye level. When I had two ovens, they were side by side, and I did use one of them for storage.

For the record, I said many more people who've used induction for long enough to get to know it wouldn't go back to gas, not all. Sautéing and flipping aren't an issue with the newer units that give you plenty of time to do it. If you want flames six inches above the cooktop, you need flames, but if you want to lift, flip or shake, replace, that's no problem. That's not to say that there's anything wrong with choosing gas, and there are many good reasons to do so.

Jasdip, having gotten it wrong before, I hate to jump in for Westsider, but in the clarification down thread, said it was the boil over when leaving the pot on the gas grate after it was turned off, and that induction doesn't do that. I get it about your original portable. I tried it out on the cheapest one I could find which has 7 levels, I think. It wasn't fun to cook on, but a good demonstration of the technology. :) I hope your newer one has a low enough setting to melt chocolate, etc.!

Thanks Plllog. I did read his comment as not having boil-overs with induction. I didn't think gas grates would hold the heat long enough to continue a boil-over.

One thing I'm always curious of, but have never done it..........If I'm cooking something on my stove, and want to use that burner with something else, e.g. my cast iron skillet (which always triggers the over-heat alarm on my induction) can I put a hot skillet (not hot cast iron) on the induction burner, and continue cooking?? I'm afraid of shattering it because of the heat. But then......a hot skillet using induction or electric or gas, is going to be hot regardless of how it's heated.

Jasdip,

when using cast iron, use a silicone pad between the pot and the induction burner. This happens mainly on the single units that don't manage the heat well.

Regarding lighting gas cooktops in the event of a power outage, if you are purchasing a new gas cooktop, read the manual first because many newer units are not able to be lit manually in the event of a outage. Many newer units use a thermocouple to light the burner and these use electricity.

The silicone pad is a good idea. The problem isn't the technology--it's the thermal shock from putting hot on cold. If your cast iron is triggering the overheat alarm when it heats along with the unit, it's probably that the electronics are getting overheated from heat build up under the pan, which would be part of the issue of having a self contained unit. The housing contains the heat which overwhelm the fan.

You can cook right through the silicone pad, which would help prevent the thermal shock. Alternatively, you could heat a pan you're not using with just some water in it on the induction to get the unit pretty hot, then move your hot pan over from the gas to continue cooking.

A silicone pad will let the magnets transfer to the pot? Interesting! I do have a silicone pad, so I'm definitely going to try it.

Yes cast iron overheats the sensor, and I let the unit cool down. It's also my good Zwilling-Henckel non-stick skillets that do this.

The silicone pads have no impact on the magnet at all. Almost like is it not there. Other materials can be used but since most things like kitchen towels are combustible, I would not recommend that because the cast iron pan will burn hot enough to scorch. The idea is just to put a little air barrier between the unit and the pan.

Might want to post your gas cooktop choices for review by those of us in the 5% that will always have gas.

I adore wall ovens but i use them.

I used the silicone pad under my cast iron skillet tonite and it worked like a charm!!! Thanks so much for the suggestion, Plllog and homeproof.

I highly recommend an induction cooktop and recommend Bosch. It is just great. Also, if you don't need a double oven, why not consider one oven and a microwave unit built in. That is what I have and love it.

By the way, with induction pots and pans rarely get dirty and with plain electric get dirty but not nearly as much as the daily scrubbing required with using gas. I will never go back to gas. On the cooking shows gas is used; however, the cooks don't have to clean the pans, they have human and automatic dishwashers to do that task. In my opinion gas in very highly overrated.

Glad it worked jasdip!

Thanks for all the info. Here is my two cents. Cast iron holds heat exceptionally well. And that is one of two reasons why I do not like to use it. When you want to shut it off and cool it, it does not respond quickly. It stays hot or stays cool. Stays. Second reason, it's too heavy. Hurts these aging hands. I find that other cookware works better. I use my cast iron for baking no knead breads. Lately, I bake no knead challah and no knead deli ryes. As long as the fans cheer on the ryes and challahs, I will appear to be an abin5er with no ego. Ha ha. Just say, with incredulity,. You made this? Lol. Lol

Interesting thread on induction cooktops over in Appliances:

http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/4039453/my-miele-induction-cooktop-died-after-7-years?n=18

Esp. the last post as of this date where the writer talks about how he considers induction cooktops to be 'effectively leased'...

Back to OP's post about high gas grates: I have never heard of this concern; have you? It doesn't make any sense to me. Hot air rises, and it appears to rise straight up. This can be shown by placing your finger/s well above a lighted match where you will find it very hot directly above the flame, but not far away sideways. In fact, I can imagine higher grates would allow high flames to be directed under (rather than partly around) a pot.

Chas, I know what the OP was talking about re the high grates. I've seen photos of cookers where the grates looked really high about the burner. Maybe because of the move to closed burners vs the old style open burners?? To allow for adequate air flow?

Sadly, there are limited options if you want an open burner cooktop. I know that Wolf discontinued open burners. AFAIK, the only open burner options are either high end--Capital, Blue Star, American, Five Star--or very low end Frigidaire & Summit. I've had both open & closed burners and much prefer open burners because they're much easier to clean.

Ah, when we watched Nigella Lawson, I noticed her grates. They were definitely higher, and a different shape than ones used in N.A.