OT: Gas or electric range and oven? I need help deciding!

[justlearning]

As I said in another thread, we're having to decide on which appliances we want to put in a new home we just bought. I've heard that gas is best for the cooktop and that electric is best for the oven (also that a convection oven is preferrable).

Do you all agree with this? It's a lot more money getting a dual-fuel range so I just want to make sure that it's a good idea to do so.

Do you like gas instead of electric? Does a gas oven work just as well as an electric one?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. We have to make these decisions today and I'm going crazy trying to decide! :)

[chrissyhowie]

I don't know about the newer ovens these days, but having used both gas and electric appliances before, hands down my choice would be gas for BOTH cooktop and oven. I think gas heats more evenly and quickly, as well as being much easier to adjust.

HTH,

[marinkitty]

Another vote for gas for both. I guess the only electric ovens I have experience with are older, but my gas oven heats up faster and is truer to cookbook cook times than my previous electric ones. And the gas range is hands down better!

Holly
Mom to Mia (3.17.03)

[Jeanne]

I have electric and I HATE, HATE, HATE it! The temperature is a total PITA to control and the over is always off. I have cooked on both and each experience I've had with electric has been the pits. Go with gas if you can!

[caleymama]

I grew up with a gas cooktop and oven, lived for a few years during and after college in apartments with electric for both, and now in our house have gas for both. I really missed gas when I didn't have it and I am so glad to have it again now. The stove/oven we have now came with the house and are relatively old, but when the time comes to replace them I'm staying far away from electric (but will look into convection since I don't know much about it). I am by no means a great chef (especially if you ask DH :P) but even for what I use it for I noticed a difference.

[lukkykatt]

Another vote for gas - it is so much better to cook with. I've always had gas into we moved about 7 years ago. Can't get gas in my immediate area. I hate, hate, hate electric.

I don't know anything about a convection oven, so I can't comment on that. But I would go with the gas.

[momma_boo]

I would have to agree with the others that gas is preferable. Although, I've never had to live with an electric range.

FYI - you can have a gas oven that is convection (convection just means that there is a fan to circulate the air, keeping the entire oven at the same temp, eliminating hot spots). That's what we have and I did use the convection feature when I bake (pre-baby).

[JenCA]

Hands down, gas for the cooktop. Jury's still out on the oven, because I've never used a gas oven, and we have a Thermador electric convection oven that's fantastic.

[Meatball Mommie]

I just ordered a dual fuel range too. I've always heard gas for cooktop and electric for oven, but I don't know the reasoning behind it. With that said, I have had both and I definitely prefer gas for the cooktop - much easier to control. I had some hotspots in my gas oven, but that could just be a fluke and have nothing to do with gas as the fuel source.

[papal]

Gas for the cooktop! I have electric in our apartment and cannot tell you how much i hate it!

[egoldber]

Definitely gas for the cooktop. I've had both gas and electric ovens and I don't have any strong preference either way. My MIL has a convection oven and swears by it. I think its a nice feature, but I wouldn't pay a lot extra for it. I would put my $$ towards an overall higher quality range before getting a convection oven.

HTH,

[houseof3boys]

I love gas and would never go back to electric. It is so much faster than electric. It does take some getting used to the oven but that goes with any new oven! You learn to adjust the temp or time versus what you are used to with electric. That being said, we have a convection oven and a speedcook and a 5 burner gas range.

We also have a GE advantium speedcook/microwave and I could not live without that either! I use it daily for cooking and use the oven maybe once a week. Just thought I'd throw that in there as an option. I do frozen pizza in there and it comes out nice and crisp not soggy like a microwave. I do salmon in there, baked potatoes, frozen biscuits, you name it!

[Marisa6826]

I have the new GE dual fuel 30" range sitting in my kitchen.

I've always had a gas cooktop growing up. The few times that I've been forced to work with electric ones, I've always burned the food.

As far as the oven goes, electric is more precise, but not as "moist" a heat as gas.

In baking, you can get around that by simply putting a pan of water in the oven along with the cake/brownies etc.

Here's the oven:

http://products.geappliances.com/ProdContent/Dispatcher?REQUEST=GEAPRODUCTRESULTS&prodline=Dual%20Fuel%20Cooking&CATEGORY=Slide-In%20Dual%20Fuel%20Range&MASK=Approved%20Models_SalesNet_CustomerNet_Consum er%20Ready_Full%20GE%20Collection_GEAppliances.com&COLOR=Stainless

(sorry - don't know how to do the tiny url thingie)

One of the Mommies here is married to a GE employee. She was kind enough to hook me up with the employee prices. Thanks Rose!!!


Good luck

-m

[McQ]

Another vote for gas for all the reasons mentioned above. I would never go back to electric.

Allison
~ mommy to Declan 3.24.03

[jbowman]

Another vote for gas! My husband and I bought a new house last year and we had the builder remove the electric one that was already in place and replace it with gas! That's how strongly we felt about it. I believe it is a gas range and convection electric oven--I have no opinion about gas vs. electric oven.

BTW make sure that the area is vented properly if you decide to go with gas--this is important. Our builder had to add the vent above the stove once the switch was made. HTH!

[mom2kandj]

No problem Marisa! With all that moving and settling in, I'd be ordering takeout and just admiring my pretty stove! :)

We're hoping to move soon and we've got our eye on some stainless Monogram stuff! Pricey, but not as bad when you get the discount!


Rose
mom 2 Katie 12/02/00
& Jack 04/16/02

[C99]

Another vote for gas for both range and oven. I hate, hate, hate cooking with electric ranges!

[mom2kandj]

Anne -

I just emailed you!


Rose
mom 2 Katie 12/02/00
& Jack 04/16/02

[dogmom]

All things being equal, i.e.you have natural gas at your place, gas is better in many ways. I'm a huge cook and have always had gas, but our house only had electric. (I actualy was toying with the idea of an induction cooktop, but to much $$$) If I wanted gas I would need to get propane, which looses about 10% BTU. I did A LOT of research on this when we remodeled our kitchen when I was pregnant. Convection is nice, but I think 90% of people don't really use it, so it isn't worth the $$ they charge you. I got one because I like to bake a lot and I was getting a double wall oven anyway. There is something to be said about electric ovens over gas, but once again, I don't think it is worth the extra money for the dual fuel ovens.

Having said all, that I wound up going with an electric cooktop by Miele, which I love. I NEVER thought I would say that. One of the reasons is I would have had to pay to get the propane tank put in and the extra for plumbing. It was winter, I was worried there would be problems do to trying to locate the tank in the snow, I was pregnant and hormonal since it looked like I was going to have a newborn and no kitchen, so I didn't want any gliches. I can't do high heat cooking quite as well, as with woks and stir fries, but I do a lot more slow cooking now and the electric is better for that. It keeps a very low, consistent temp without burning anything. The clean-up cold not be better. I actually don't find myself missing gas, which is a real shocker for me. Maybe sometime in the future when it won't be such a circus I will replace this cooktop with gas, but for now it's great. I can always use the propane burner on my Weber grill if I really need flames.

In the end just make sure you are happy. No amount of extra $ on kitchen appliances will actually make you cooking better. ;)

[mommyj_2]

DH and I just made this same decision, and we ended up going with a gas cooktop and electric oven. That seemed to be the most popular combination based on replies I got on some other message boards. Actually, the electric oven was the only one they offered. I think most new houses have fancier electric ovens than the old ones did.

[barbarhow]

We are currently building a new home and just today purchased a dual fuel range. I totally love a gas stove and am excited to have the dual. We do not have access to a gas line and will have a propane tank installed. It will have a feed line off of it to our gas grill and eventually to a gas dryer. We had a propane tank installed at our last house-it only cost about $50 to install. Definately worth it.
Barbara-mom to Jack 3/27/03