Stoves - why do you love (or hate) yours?

[Dogmama]

I have a smooth top stove. It is my second. It doesn't keep a constant temperature. Neither did my first - that's why I got rid of it. :mad: Yesterday it went from zero to sixty and boiled over some milk. The smoke alarm went off, the dog hid, the neighbors came over ("No, I'm just cooking...") - what a hassle. Now I've got burned on crude that needs a razor to scrape off. Ugh.

So I'm getting ready to go back to the old fashioned coil type - but am not sure if they even keep an even temp anymore. Does anybody have one that they can recommend? My neighbor has a GE but it's fairly old.

Oh and get this - In searching websites I see where Sears charges extra for the power cord! Seriously???

Any recommendations would be appreciated!

[indysteel]

Any chance you can convert to gas? If and when our electric range stops working, that's what we're planning to do. I'm tempted to take a hammer to our current one.

[Crankin]

I had the smooth top stove in my last house. I hated having to use a special cleaner every time I cooked.
We have gas now, and while at first, I was afraid of it, I love it.

[thekarens]

Gas isn't available in our neighborhood, so we have the smooth top electric stove. I suck at cooking so it doesn't matter, but I'm not a fan. I'd love to have an induction stove.

[shootingstar]

Smooth stove tops scare me...knowing me, I forget the stove was on!

After switching from electric to gas in the past decade, I like gas stoves alot better. I just have to babysit my cooking more carefully, since the flame is stronger.

[luvmyguys]

We have a smooth top, and it works fine - I haven't had any problems with it, but our next one will be a gas stove. The line is already back there, it's just that the house came with the smooth top.

[OakLeaf]

AFAIK any electric stove is going to do the same thing?

If you own the house it would be easy enough to put a small propane tank outside and run a line through the wall just for a stove.

[withm]

Every house has a different connection for the stove and the dryer, so the cords are always separate. You should probably take a picture of your existing cord or outlet to be sure you get the right one with the new stove. There are old 2, 3, and 4 prongs configurations depending on how old your house is.

[NbyNW]

A friend of mine has been raving about his induction stove, and he's quite the foodie. I haven't seen it personally since he lives in Norway, but I do believe we are starting to see these on the market in the US.

[Dogmama]

Would love to have gas but not available in our area & my yard is postage stamp size (plus the HOA would howl...).

[Karenanywild]

We put in a kenmore induction cooktop two years ago when we renovated. We LOVE it. It has many of the same benefits of gas; immediate response to a touch of the dials and great control of the heat. But it is easy clean (no grates). And it is super fast. For our busy lives I love that I can put on a big pot with 6-8 cups of water and boil within a minute. The efficiency is also impressive, it heats the pot vs creating heat around the pot. You can touch the cooktop while cooking and even put something on top if it without burning. When we cook bacon we cover the cooktop in paper towel, turn it on and let the bacon splatter. When done we just collect the paper towel and it is clean. You can go from full boil to complete stop at the touch of a button. It does take a bit of getting used to. Burned a lot of things at first because you can't believe how fast it can cook. You can slow it down by dropping the temp; need lower temps than usual. You also have to have pots that are made to work with induction, but I needed new pots anyhow. If a magnet sticks it will work. If you buy cheap, loose pots they will vibrate as you cook. If you put anything else metal on the cooktop it will beep at you because it detects the metal and wants to heat it. Look carefully at the placement of the controls and elements. Some have both big elements so close you could not put two big pots side by side. We have the 36" kenmore because to us it had the best layout. I hear, but have not seen, that new ones don't even have elements and you can use the whole surface placing pots anywhere. I would buy that. Good luck making your selection!

[DebSP]

About three years ago I bought a new Maytag double oven stove. It is smooth top and the the elements are crap. I really love the double ovens though. The small one is on top and it has one rack. It takes less time to pre-heat and comes in handy if for meals. It is like an oversized toaster oven. I only do real baking (cookies, bread etc.) in the large bottom oven. The small ones tends to run hot and will burn things like cookies, but scalloped potatoes, apple crisp, lasagna etc. are Ok. I really want gas but the lines don't run out here in the country (yet). I paid good money for it and I would have expected more from it. My husband can barely use the elements they are so awful. So now I sit and dream about the day my stove will break down and I can replace it! :rolleyes:

[Dogmama]

About three years ago I bought a new Maytag double oven stove. It is smooth top and the the elements are crap. :

I bet we have the same oven. Except my smaller oven isn't good for much except keeping things warm. The lower oven worked great at first (convection) but now I'm hearing groaning noises when the fan starts up and the food isn't cooked through evenly. This stove is only 2 years old. :mad:

[Karenanywild]

We used to be a Maytag family; my dad worked in appliances. But years ago when they merged the quality went downhill. We had multiple homes all with Maytag and EVERY one of them had major repairs at least once. Some multiple times. Wouldn't buy anything Maytag again. All our appliances are new since our renovation. We have A mix of Bosch (dishwasher), sharp (microwave drawer), kenmore (induction cooktop and double ovens) and LG fridge and are happy with all of them.

[DebSP]

Well my Maytag washer lasted 12 to 15 years before I replaced it. (it was used when I bought it but only about two years, and I kept it for 12 years). I replaced it last year with an LG because the stove put me off Maytag. And I hope I don't jinx it but our dishwasher is a Maytag and we have used it for 12 years now with no problems. It was here in the house when we bought it and so I don't know exactly how old it is. So I think possibly the merge with Whirlpool? was it 2006, probably brought the quality down. It is a pretty sad statement when I am waiting for an appliance to die so I can replace it with something else! The problem is that it is not bad enough to do that yet and so I can't justify spending money just because I don't like it! It is just bad enough to be annoying without being broken.

[smittykitty]

All the new stuff seems to be junk, so replacing it won't help. Just more junk and more money out the door. Sorry, don't get me started.

[Crankin]

I don't know, I am very happy with all of my appliances. The things I don't like are design features that I didn't know about or see before purchasing... I hate anything to do with appliances and leave it all up to my DH. Usually when he comes to me for approval, I say "fine," if the basic look is OK and I don't spend any time on it. We have an LG fridge that has a water dispenser that is very awkward to use. That's really the only thing I don't like. And, I would have bought a double oven, instead of a microwave/oven combo. I only need a double oven 1-2 times a year, though and I just didn't want a counter microwave taking up space. But these things have nothing to do with the quality of the appliances. We had a Whirlpool dishwasher for 7 years and got a Bosch this year. It's wonderful. My Jen-Air gas stove, as well as the microwave/oven are also perfect.

[ny biker]

My very first appliance purchase a was new electric stove to replace the hideous 40-year-old harvest-gold monstrosity that was in my kitchen when I bought my condo. I got a flat-top Kenmore. I don't remember much about the process, though I'm sure it's not a top-of-the-line model and I know it's not an Energy-Star appliance.

I'm not much of a cook, but I've never felt that there were problems with the way the stove works. The stove-top elements heat up a reasonable speed. I guess maybe the oven could pre-heat faster, but otherwise it all works fine. I think it is much easier to clean the flat top than to deal with coils. If I was going to make changes to the design, I think I would use larger lights for the indicators that tell you from a distance that one of the heating elements is on and that the stove top is hot. As the person using it, I have no problem remembering not to touch it when it's hot, but one day when my parents were visiting my father put his hand on the stove not long after my mother had made breakfast and he was surprised that it was warm to the touch. If he had done that a few minutes earlier, he might have burned his hand.

[Dogmama]

Well rats. Went shopping and the coil type stoves are far & few between. Very cheaply made.

Saw a G.E. that is a flat top but has several cool features. A couple of the burners can heat the entire burner or just a center part. Has a warming burner. Double oven and both have two heating elements.

On sale until tomorrow at Lowe's till tomorrow. Any experience with these?

[thekarens]

Just my .02, but every GE appliance we've had has died soon after the warranty. We swore them off forever.

[ny biker]

This site consolidates reviews of many product types. Might have something useful for you.

http://www.consumersearch.com/ranges-reviews/electric-ranges

[Dogmama]

This site consolidates reviews of many product types. Might have something useful for you.

http://www.consumersearch.com/ranges-reviews/electric-ranges

Thank you NYB!

[DebW]

I'd had electric stoves/ovens for years, the last 2 being smooth top stoves which I liked. When I bought a house last fall it came with gas, and the oven didn't work so I went and bought a new gas range to replace it. I'm not very happy with it. The burners are somewhat big for most of my pots (I live alone so use 1-2 qt pots most of the time) and the sides of the pot rather than the bottom are heated. It takes a long time to boil water. The stove sits behind my back door and the burner knobs are on the front, creating a dangerous situation. The door knob can hit one of the burner knobs and turn on the gas without lighting the burner. I've smelled gas from this occurring a number of times, and if it happened as I was leaving the house for hours, my house might explode. I put a door stop on the hinge to limit the swing of the door but that didn't entirely solve the problem, so now I've removed the stove knob. It's for the extra-large burner that I can't use anyway unless I'm making soup in a very large pot. The oven has worked well for me, except that last fall I had mice in the house, and with the large vent holes in a gas oven, the mice could enter the oven while I had bread rising and nibble on the dough. Ugh! I'd always assumed the inside of an oven was mouse-proof, but not a gas oven! I got rid of the mice last fall, but now they seem to be back, so baking day will be challenging again. I'm thinking about getting rid of this almost-new gas stove and going to electric (but will need an electrician to install the proper outlet).

[Irulan]

I've currently got a 10 year old Kenmore flat top that works just fine. However, I'm getting the kitchen done soon and will replace it with a gas range.

[Dogmama]

I've currently got a 10 year old Kenmore flat top that works just fine. However, I'm getting the kitchen done soon and will replace it with a gas range.

Kenmore is one of the more highly rated stoves. Found it interesting that JD Powers rates Electrolux highly, yet the consumer ratings are horrible. Who do you believe?

[malkin]

INDUCTION!!

We have a portable one with 2 burners now, and a few of the one burner ones.
We will never go back.

[Irulan]

Kenmore is one of the more highly rated stoves. Found it interesting that JD Powers rates Electrolux highly, yet the consumer ratings are horrible. Who do you believe?

I always use Consumer Reports.