I just posted a link in another thread about another source for propane burners that MUST be used outdoors or in an open garage. Northern Tool used to offer a decent one with three separate valves and rings to control the heat. None of the current stand alone electric burners will produce enough heat to get a big pot boiling quickly. The heating elements on the plug-in electric burners that are stand alones are just 120 volts about a 1000 watts. An electric stove uses 220 volts and amost the same wattage, but offers a lot more heat. If your doing lots of canning, you can also consider using an electric range top only (no oven), and mount it in a big plywood frame/box. It would also require a 220 volt connection, but no ventilation would be needed. Here is a link that might be useful: Patio stove

OK so we have had one of these ranges for 2 months now and I thought I would share my thoughts and experiences briefly. First, the wife loves the induction top. It works flawlessly with all our previous cookware except 2 pans. For the questions everyone is bound to be asking: Clicking: Yes. It does click on levels below 5. The lower the level the more noticeable the click. In my experience you can only hear it when at the stove - certainly not in another room. Buzzing: Some pots buzz more than other which indicates it is a function of the cookware and not the top. Fan noise: This is the only problem that I have with the range. The strange thing is that the fans don't really come on when using the top but rather when using the ovens! They come on almost immediately when using the top oven and stay on at least 15 minus after the oven is off - sometimes longer. I'm wondering if my particular unit is wonky or if this is a standard "feature" on these units. I would have expected the cooling fans to be on more frequently when using the top but then again what do I know. They are audible from my family room that is adjacent to the kitchen. The fan noise is more audible than my Bosch 800 series dishwasher. The wife wouldn't even think about sending it back despite the mildly off-putting fan noise. By the way, I paid 1649 at sears in Canada and it was on sale for 1599 since then. For the price I think it's fair to say it can't be beat. Ovens work as expected and the small one on top heats up very fast and is just the right size for 90 percent of what we do in an oven. Hope this helps anyone else looking at this unit.

I have a Whirlpool/Kenmore gas range. Haven't had problems with paint peeling, but HAVE had the following issues: - difficult to clean. With the removal of lead from appliance paint in 1990+, one of the areas they cut costs was in paint formulations on cheaper (non-pro style) models, which gave easy cleanability. The burner area gets gunky and even oven cleaner won't take off the stuff. - get the extended warranty because the circuit boards which control the stove, start to go wonky in 5-7 yrs. This is NOT a minor repair. A handy person could replace the board themselves, but labor is a miniscule cost on this problem. The boards cost between $350 and $475, depending on stove model. My stove has a goodly amount of power on the Plus burners although heat recovery on a closed-burner stove is never as good as on an open-burner config. It sears beautifully, but can only stir-fry in small amounts. What I like, for the price: - good-sized oven, very flexible heating options (goes down to 170 degrees, programmable in 5-degree jumps) - extremely good control over burner heat, goes so low that large pots will cool off at the "Lo" setting - "Lo" is only for melting chocolate! - electronic timer and programmable oven bake time. I use these all the time. True conveniences, once you get into the rhythm of using them.

LOL, here's the irony . . . I walked to the local appliance store a couple of blocks from house a couple of days ago and asked them if they had any black and white stoves. The one I have now is black and white and that's what I think will look best in my kitchen. Well, the only one they had like that was a Hotpoint, (GE's cheaper line). It's almost a carbon copy of the stove I have. I'm kinda leaning towards that one, for a couple of reasons. First . . . the devil you know. Second, relatively cheap, and third, which is probalby oddly important, the microwave over my stove, also GE, is about 3 inches lower than it should be, so there's not that much room over the stove. BF drew this to my attention when we installed a new micro. It's not the way the micro was installed, it's the way the cabinets were installed, all too low he says. I'm not complaining, I can barely reach the top shelves as it is. But that makes for a tight fit for the stove, head clearance wise. Newer stoves, including the Frigidaire flat top I like, are 47-48 inches high and my current stove is 46 inches. Seems like a small thing, but I've only got 5 inches between the back of the range and the top of the micro as it is with a 46 inch high range. BF thinks this is minor, but I'm not so sure. This is not the stovetop part, it's the back of the range. But the whole operation is tight. That's probably one reason the steam from the tomato sauce screwed up the computer on my old stove. But the newere stoves have the computer part completely enclosed. My older one had buttons and knobs for the oven that were sticking out of the frame, and that's where the steam probably got in. I should have been paying closer attention . . . Here's an old photo of my current stove, with my old micro. The new micro is even lower, but it was the only one I could find with the right kind of vent for my set up. I need a micro with a vent due to my propensity for burning things! Plus with the tight squeeze, I've got to move the steam away or I can't see what I'm cooking! No possibility of installing an outside vent due to my living in a row house. The other option I am considering is this Premier one. Made in the USA at least. But no one carries it, I'd have to order it so could not try it out ahead of time. No chance of steam issues with that one, I love the front dials. But I would just have to order it cold, so not too crazy about that. I am so not a fan of the GE corporation, due to their involvement in some of the major water pollution incidences of our time. The only other issue is the Hotpoint is the same as the Premier in that I have to order it, they don't have a floor model so I can't try out my canning coil to see if it works on the stove. I tried out the coil on all the Kennmore ones, it didn't fit. The only electric stove that fit my current canning coil was the Whirlpool one. That stove is also 48 inches and only comes in all black or all white. I guess I'd have to go with black on that one because the micro is black. The Frigidaire is also 48 inches high, so that's what's holding me back. BF dismisses my height concerns. Here is a link that might be useful: Premier electric range