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. 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!

[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.

[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.