I recently had a discussion with a friend who recently replaced his kitchen range. He said that he didn't even consider natural gas because the price has taken a dramatic jump in the past year, making electric cooking much cheaper. His perception of the relative cost may or may not be true - I don't know (although I suspect that NG is and will continue to be more economical for the foreseeable future).
The discussion went off on a tangent regarding the efficiency of a gas range vs a gas furnace. Given that gas burners heat the kitchen, they obviously take some of the load off of the furnace (cooking during the heating season is assumed here). But an intriguing thought occurred to me - since the range is not vented to the outside like the furnace is, all of the heat generated by the burning gas remains in the house. This means that the more you cook, the lower your gas bill should be, even with un ultra high efficiency furnace. Is this true? Should I encourage my wife to bake more cookies for the purpose of saving energy? Can it be that simple?
Granted, there's a downside to heating your home with the kitchen range. But is my speculation valid?