New Stove Questions

[Scott]

My wife and I are about to replace our 30-year old drop-in Frigidaire electric stove that came with the house.

Three questions:

1. Is it better to stick with a drop-in, rather than slide-in stove/oven, even though the selection of drop-in's is limited 2 or 3...and the price is higher?

1. My wife likes the flat top surface, rather than burners. Manufacturers charge several hundred dollars more for the flat top. Is it worth the difference? Also, how does the flat top surface hold up to scratches, cast-iron pans, etc?

2. Any big difference in quality and reliability between the top major brands?

Thanks! Scott

[JoeSpareBedroom]

Why does your wife prefer the flat top stoves? (I think I know the answer, but I don't want to assume anything).

[trader4]

One factor to be aware of going in, is that with the ceramic flattop ranges, if it does break, it ain;t cheap to fix. A friend recently put a Hotpoint one in a vacation house he occasionally rents out. First renter put a quarter size chip and 6" crack in it. It still works though. I checked online to see how much it would cost to replace. It was $300 for the assembly. The stove only cost him $350.

It is easy to clean though and pretty neat. It heats up very fast. And I think you'd have to do something pretty stupid to crack it, but if I had crazy kids or a rental unit, I don't think I'd get one.

[JoeSpareBedroom]

They're great for people who like to constantly spill large amounts of food. Some spillage is inevitable, but some people can totally wreck an entire kitchen just making scrambled eggs, so I guess these flat stove tops are perfect for those people.

[Tony Hwang]

Hi, Also they use more energy.

[Steve B]

That depends on how you cook. And I can see you haven't shopped. Look at Wolf and Dacor stoves. There are hundreds of drop in stoves, both in gas and electric.

Depends again on what you like. Flat tops are prettier and easier to maintain. They also cost lots more to fix.

Pretty good, but nothing lasts forever. And you get what you pay for. Spendier models last somewhat better.

Couldn't say. I'm a gas man.

[JoeSpareBedroom]

Well, I know this is highly unlikely to happen, but she might want to ask to see the instruction manual for one of these stoves, and take a few minutes to read about "how to clean" and "which pots you can't use" - ***BEFORE*** buying the thing.