Can anyone recommend a Glasstop stove? Not the right name I'm sure but....

[Bonnie]

I'm looking for a new stove top. The kind I want is where the entire surface is smooth glass & no visible burners. I want the one where it actually gets hot and doesn't rely on the pot/pan to be made of magnetic material to heat up.

I'm looking just for the cook top not the stove portion. I'd like one with no knobs on top....kind of defeats the "ease of cleaning" feature. And I'd like one with a lot of power. I don't want to wait an hour for water to boil. If someone has something similar to this that they have used and can recommend I"d be grateful to you for a shot out.

Maybe a little off topic but if you knew me, you'd know home repair would be a large part of the change out from one cook top to another.

So, any advice, help, suggestions or general comments on the smooth stove top would be appreciated. Thanks Bonnie

[sms]

The ones with touch controls are pretty expensive. I just put the knobs in the dishwasher.

The top is not really all that easy to clean. First you use a razor blade to scrape, then you use abrasive cream. But it's still not possible to get it back to new looking condition.

While you do not need ferrous metal pans you do need pans with thick flat bottoms otherwise the pan doesn't sit flat after it heats up and the heat transfer is poor. Thin stainless steel pans won't work. I've been using marble coated cast aluminium pans but the higher end Analon pans work fine (not the el-cheapo versions sold at discount department stores). I now buy Korean made pots and pans at the Asian market which are about 1/4 the cost of Analon or Circulon. Amazon: "korean marble pan."

There are some cooktop models that have a 4500 watt burner (they are about $1000), but most top out at 2500 watts. For example, JENN-AIR JEC4430BS has a 4500W burner.

I've replaced mechanical controls on my glass cooktop twice. A real pain in the butt requiring unwiring and removing the entire unit and disassembling it.

[gfretwell]

I always her people trashing these flat top stoves but I would not trade mine for anything. DON"T GET A WHITE ONE, then you do not have all of those "hard to clean" problems. I have never used anything but a scotch brite on mine and it still looks like new. I boil stuff over a lot. The white ones will discolor and they can't be made white again but that is a burn mark, not dirt. I agree with the other poster about the knobs. If it gets dirty under them, just pull them off and clean it up. The knobs themselves are easy to wipe clean. Usually I just pass the dish rag under the knob and get anything that gets under there.

Mine is a GE drop in cook top and it seems to boil water pretty fast. Flat pans definitely work better but I have a couple that are not all that flat and they work OK. Those old radial burners didn't make that much contact either.

[hrhofmann]

We have a Sears Kenmore that my wife loves, never had any problems keeping it clean using regular glasstop stove cleaner that comes in a squeese bottle.

[CRNG]

On Fri, 15 Nov 2013 06:00:32 -0500, [e-mail] wrote in Re Can anyone recommend a Glasstop stove? Not the right name I'm sure but....:

I have one of those and I wish I didn't. They need constant cleaning so as not to look dirty.

[Ron]

Ummm, mine doesn't and neither does my Mom's or my best friends. If yours needs "constant cleaning" maybe it's the cook and not the stove.

[CRNG]

On Fri, 15 Nov 2013 14:16:10 -0500, Ron wrote in Re Re: Can anyone recommend a Glasstop stove? Not the right name I'm sure but....:

Or maybe some people just don't mind looking at a dirty slovenly range top. Birds of a feather...

[Ron]

All three tops look brand new.

[Ron]

BTW, if you said that to my 75 year old Mother who keeps her house

*immaculate* she would slap you upside your head.

[nestork]

Bonnie:

What you're wanting to buy is called a "ceramic cooktop".

Stoves with ceramic cooktops have been around for long enough that most of the patents have expired and everyone is now using much the same technology. There are differences, such as how the heating pads operate. Siemens, for example, has touch sensitive heating pads so that if you take a pot off a heating pad, that pad automatically shuts off.

I would just buy the one that has the combination of features you like best.

I agree with other people about the knobs. Those knobs just pull straight off. I simply leave them in some soapy water for an hour or so, and the wipe clean easily.

[trader4]

One thing to be aware of is with either a cooktop or stove of this design, if you manage to bust the glass top, you probably might as well get a whole new one. The whole top, burners, are one unit and it ain't cheap. A friend of mine had one in a house he rents out. He got one for like $350, a renter cracked in within the first month. The price just for the part was about the cost of the whole stove.

[CRNG]

On Fri, 15 Nov 2013 16:02:43 -0500, Ron wrote in Re Re: Can anyone recommend a Glasstop stove? Not the right name I'm sure but....:

Well spoken you little picaninny.

Ok, I'm done. Your turn now since you seem to like to get the last insult in after having stuttered the first one.

[Higgs Boson]

ldn't see it; too much downside as outlined above. KISS.

But everything has downside. I put in a new stovetop few years ago -- low end, Magic Chef. One by one, the automatic lighting went out, so now I hav e to use a lighter. Gas co. said that the little "wire"?? on each burner h ad been bent/abused by someone who cleaned, even after I warned them.

Also: When I had it put in, carpentry was necessary to fill new space. I d idn't watch the installer carefully; ended up not level, so highly pissed e ach time I have to wedge something under one side or another.

Happens every damn time you DON'T watch the [whomever].

HB

[Ron]

Nice........

picaninny - (ethnic slur) offensive term for a Black child

[krw]

You don't want an "induction" cook top, then. Few are.

Buy what you like. All sorts are made.

They're all similar power. Buy the one with the features you like.

I like ours. My wife would much prefer a gas top, though. We'll probably change in a year or two. She loved the Electrolux dual-fuel range she had in the other house. We'll buy one again but have to put in LP first.

[krw]

I'm with Ron. There is no reason for them to be filthy. They're quite easy to clean. Much easier than Calrod style electric cook tops.

[Ron]

Do they even make those anymore? I went to several websites that sell appliances and under electric stoves/ranges they all seem to say "smooth surface".

[Ron]

Never mind. I see Sears has a crap load of them.

[Dan Espen]

Uncalled for isn't it?

My stove top is black glass. Easy to clean. Sometimes things burn on so dampen it and use a scrub pad. Other than that windex or any kitchen cleaner gets the dirt off. I think it looks pretty good when clean. Mine came with a little bottle of wax which I've used a few times but not that often.

I had one warped pan I had to throw out. You really need flat pans. I've had a few different electric stoves. The glass tops heat just as well as the rings.

I'd buy another one.

[Dan Espen]

I have one that is black tinted glass. When the burners go on you can see them.