Our Stove Died Tonight - Replacement Advice

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Rustysocket

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As the title says, our fifteen year old range gave up tonight during dinner. A nice shower of sparks, a blown breaker, and it appears that the circuit board if done. Fortunately for the short term we have a motorhome and can cook dinners out there?

I'm not interested in fixing, so it will be replaced.

My wife has always wanted a ceramic top model. I have heard mixed things about them. Searching the internet I find stories of uneven heating, warped pans, and cracked cooking surfaces. Were kind of torn at this point.

What's the collective experience here been with a ceramic top range? What about self cleaning ovens?

Anyone have any reccomendations on a personal favorite.
 
Ceramic tops can be a challenge. The biggest problem is the residual heat after you turn them off. It is not like gas where off means off.
Pans must be flat to make full contact with the top for best efficiency.
Many manuals say not to use cast iron as it will scratch it but I say bull****.
I use my top indiscriminantly and have no problems. If you get one, get it black. White is a *****, trust me.
My sister in law set a cover own on her brother's top and as it cooled it created a suction and blew a hole in the top. This is so rare they replaced the top for free saying it must have been a defect.
I would recommend getting an induction cooktop if your budget allows. It is the best of everything. The biggest drawback here is you have to have magnetic pans so it is an extra investment if all you don't have any induction ready pans.
 
One word: GAS. Nothing is as even or controllable as a gas stove. You cood go dual fuel, too. Gas stove/ electric oven. Best of both worlds. Craigslist sometimes has good deals on pretty new stoves. People are moving and just don't want to take them with.
 
GAS.

No other choice.

I've been looking at them lately. Not to actually buy right now, but I wanted to see how much it will take to replace if ours did break and I needed to replace it with one that will brew beer. A nice heavy model with larger BTU burner will START at around $700 and go up. Depending on the finish and other options you are talking upwards of around $1300 for a very nice one. And that doesn't include the REAL fancy models.
 
WE got a ceramic top stove when we redid the kitchen in our apartment before moving in. Thought it would be easy to clean, because my wife has a bad habit of letting things boil over, and trying the get all the burned on crap out of the burners, drip trays, inside, etc was a PITA. The ceramic top actually makes it worse, because it really burns on, and I have to use a razor scraper on a pretty regular basis. I also agree with the residual heat factor - the damn thing can stay hot for almost an hour after turning a burner off, and the nice flat top makes it a very attractive place to dump mail,grocery bags, etc as you come in the door.

I also hate the pulsating quality of the elements when you try to set it halfway or so. Not a nice even temp like on a gas range with a low flame, but back and forth between searing heat and nothing.

We didn't get a gas stove because the plumber said something about it being illegal to have a gas line in an exterior wall-I just think he didn't want to bother. There's a gas stove in the apartment downstairs directly below mine.

I'm going gas as soon as we get our own place.
 
Another one here in favor of gas. When we re-did our kitchen we went from electric to gas and couldn't be happier. Ours is not top of the line. It's a GE Profile, but with a little tweaking I got it to boil over 8 gallons of wort on the "power boil" burner.
 
When my electric bit the dust I had a gas line ran from my laundry room over to the kitchen so I could use gas. I had it at my previous house and fell in love with it. Hated the electric from the time we moved in.
 
I remodeled my kitchen last summer. I had one with the coils on top and I HATED cleaning that thing. I bought a ceramic top and while cleaning it can be a pain, I still think its easier than the old stove. But everyone is right, the heat that it holds is really excessive. I haven't done it yet, but the kids have burned stuff onto the stovetop even after its been turned off, like bread and chip bags.

If its in your price range, I would recommend an induction range. I didn't do enough research and didn't know they were available until a couple months after I bought my appliances. A buddy of mine at work said he bought one and loves it. It actually uses the pot or pan itself to heat instead if conducting it like the traditional style. It will still be hot on the surface, but not nearly as long as a regular ceramic top. But from what I understand, they are still pretty rediculously expensive so that may be an issue.
 
I like my ceramic top. Because it is a glossy, flat surface, it will show burnt goo really fast. I clean it at least once a week with a razor blade paint scraper, then some of that glasstop cleaner.

Gas was not an option for me when I built my kitchen. NG is now running into my neighborhood, but I still don't want it due to paranoia reasons related to explosions ;)

The good news is that after you have cleaned it, it looks absolutely brand new.

I can't comment on induction stoves except to note that non-ferrous cookware (aluminum, copper, and even some stainless) won't work on it. Intuitively, it sounds ideal by design.
 
passedpawn said:
I like my ceramic top. Because it is a glossy, flat surface, it will show burnt goo really fast. I clean it at least once a week with a razor blade paint scraper, then some of that glasstop cleaner.

Gas was not an option for me when I built my kitchen. NG is now running into my neighborhood, but I still don't want it due to paranoia reasons related to explosions ;)

The good news is that after you have cleaned it, it looks absolutely brand new.

I can't comment on induction stoves except to note that non-ferrous cookware (aluminum, copper, and even some stainless) won't work on it. Intuitively, it sounds ideal by design.
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Are you like Tom from Bob and Tom who won't stop at a gas station when the refill truck is parked there?
 
Homercidal said:
Are you like Tom from Bob and Tom who won't stop at a gas station when the refill truck is parked there?
Click to expand...

Don't know who Bob and Tom are. I was a highly-overtrained volunteer fireman in a previous life. I've been through Baton Rouge fire school, Factory Mutual school in MA, tons of confined space training, plume analysis schools in TN. I've watched real flashovers suddenly turn a room into an inferno, dust explosions, and I've been in the middle (surrounded by) burning lakes of fuel with nothing but a squirting hose of purple K retardant. I've low-crawled through burning buildings with zero visibility, using nothing but my hands to find the next door. (This was all training.) <-- that wasn't a rant, just me having fun reliving my past.

I'm not not exactly afraid of a flame, but I have seen the damage a bit of gas at the right concentration can do and I prefer to avoid it. I even brew all-electric.

To answer your question, yea, I probably wouldn't pull in. There always seems to be some moron smoking at the pump. Ugh.
 
jmendez29 said:
It will still be hot on the surface, but not nearly as long as a regular ceramic top. But from what I understand, they are still pretty rediculously expensive so that may be an issue.
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They do not get too hot to put your hand on so melting bags and baking on boil over will not happen.
They are at least as controllable as gas. I am not sure about residential, but commercial units allow you to dial in an exact temperature and hold it there. Plus you don't waste half of your energy and heat up your kitchen.
They are still pretty damn expensive though.
 
I got up on consumerreports.org and found these recommendations.

Smooth top in order of rating:

GE - JB700DN - $700

Kenmore - 964 - $750

Kenmore - 961 - $560


Coil in order of rating:

GE - JBP35SM - $700

Kenmore - 942 - $550

Hotpoint - RB757DP - $430

Hope this helps.
 
Homercidal said:
Are you like Tom from Bob and Tom who won't stop at a gas station when the refill truck is parked there?
Click to expand...

:off:There may not be a real fire hazard with the tanks being filled, but i was warned to avoid the stations during fills for another reason. When they're pumping in all the new gas, it stirs up sludge from the bottom of the tanks, which then gets poured into your car.

As for the stoves, i don't mind the electric for the stove itself, but i gotta have the gas stovetop.
 
Gas is the best, IMO, and induction is a close second (for convenience and speed), electric is about 47th on the list if you want to actually control what you are cooking.

Convection electric oven is where it's at.
 
passedpawn said:
I'm not not exactly afraid of a flame, but I have seen the damage a bit of gas at the right concentration can do and I prefer to avoid it. I even brew all-electric.
Click to expand...

Cooking with electric is more prone to hot-spotting, burning, and uneven cooking. I have never read anything that suggests it is more prone to starting house fires (certainly possible, though), but anything left unattended on the stove is a fire risk.

I have used both, and if I have to make a roux on an electric stove I would just cook something else.
 
I know someone who will not get a gas water heater, or any other appliance due to the "risk" of explosion or fire.

I'd be just as worried about bad wiring and the potential fire hazard caused by that. I've heard MANY reports of house fires being caused by bad wiring. And ever hear of an animal chewing through a gas pipe?

But yeah, a gas stove is much nicer to cook on IMO. Cause I can see the flame and see how hot it is, and you get INSTANT response instead of having to wait to turn down teh heat or turn it up.

I admit that some people have to use electric depending on their circumstances.
 
Geez, our house came with a...supposedly...upper-quality ceramic stove and I HATE the stupid thing. Very little real control of temperature. It kicks on. It kicks off. And with poor result. It is maddening.

Is it pretty? Sure. And if that's what you want, then fine. But I like to COOK, man! I like to throw around the cast iron (which I still use, by the way and the hell with the scratches) and simmer and sautee and whatnot. Suck-o-la for any real cooking duty. We've put installing an exterior gas tank and line for a stove/oven on our priority list when some other obligations are paid off.
 
Bedlam said:
Geez, our house came with a...supposedly...upper-quality ceramic stove and I HATE the stupid thing. Very little real control of temperature. It kicks on. It kicks off. And with poor result. It is maddening.

Is it pretty? Sure. And if that's what you want, then fine. But I like to COOK, man! I like to throw around the cast iron (which I still use, by the way and the hell with the scratches) and simmer and sautee and whatnot. Suck-o-la for any real cooking duty. We've put installing an exterior gas tank and line for a stove/oven on our priority list when some other obligations are paid off.
Click to expand...

Although I do agree that a gas stove is superior, our glass top stove seems to work well. I have never had a problem with controlling temps. I am no gourmet cook though.
 
We inherited a glass top stove when we bought our home. It works, but like others have said, it's not near as good as gas IMO. When it poops out I'll be having a gas line run for the new one! About once a month I break out the razor blade & softscrub & have at it. I use cast iron on it too. I really don't give a hoot if it scratches or not. Probably the biggest problem I have with it is it just won't get as hot as I want it to. There are times when I want it smokin' hot & it won't do it. Think blackened salmon fillets. I have an old Coleman Stove I use for those times. Outside of course.
 
While I'd prefer gas, SWMBO is sold on the ceramic cooktop. We've had ours for over a decads now, and when it;s clean, it still looks brand-new. Yes, boilovers are a PITA to clean.

I use cast iron on mine with no problems. The trick to temperature control is to move hot pans OFF THE BURNER when you need to cool them, or you'll burn a lot of stuff.

Keep in mind that ceramics don't usually have the power to maintain boil on five or more gallons, plus the weight of a heavy brew rig can crack the stovetop. If you have a ceramic cooktop, plan on brewing outside, if you don't already do so.
 
Thanks for all the replies. Especially the list from consumerrpts.

As much as I would love gas it is simply not an option where we are. We were previously on propane but the costs have skyrocketed and my place is not on a route. Getting the tank filled was always a hassle and was 75-100$ just for the delivery. Needless to say that is gone and our furnace has been replaced.

Thanks again
 
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