gas cooker or electric?

[harryagain]

Halogen electric. (Quicker than old ceramic hobs.) Easier to clean. No nasty NOx fumes relased into the house. Cheaper. Easier and cheaper to install/connect. Safer. No chance of explosion.

[Andrew Gabriel]

A bugger to cleam, as they don't have stay-clean liners. I use mine mainly for plate warming.

My fan oven is much faster getting to temperature than the convection or fan oven options on the microwave, even though the microware also switches on the grill element to speed up the initial warm-up. Speed of heating up does vary enormously between different electric ovens - something you might want to look into if it's important to you.

[Tahiri]

I don't know if it is still trendy to have the gas jets out of sight behind a metal sheet with holes in, which end up with one flat flame all over? They are awful.

Remember the last couple of winters and consider what you will do in the next power cut!

[S Viemeister]

Apart from the fact that I like cooking on gas hobs, they are, indeed, very useful during power cuts!

[Andrew Gabriel]

We still have what was my Grandmother's Canon gas cooker working in the family (probably bought around 1981), and that has timed operation of the gas oven. Or it did until about 5 years ago when the time clock stripped the plastic cogs, as the mechanical ones evenually all do.

[Vir Campestris]

I think I've used nearly all types. An induction though for only 6 months - and then I was made redundant. The new house (near the new job!) needs a new kitchen, and that's what we're getting. SWMBO agrees!

In order...

Aga - wastes loads of power. Get used to controlling things by putting them half-on the ring - which is useless for something sticky.

Electric solid hob - can't comment.

Electric radiant - slowish to respond. Not easy to clean - except the ring itself, which is hot enough to self clean.

Ceramic hob - slow as ***. The nice flat surface _looks_ easy to clean, but any spills burn on - and it isn't hot enough to burn them off again.

Halogen - faster than ceramic, but not much. Has all the other faults.

Bottled gas - I'm not sure this ought to be above halogen. But maybe ours is a dud one.

Mains gas - good to cook on, allows woks and other such non-flat bases. But cleaning is a nightmare with half a dozen awkwardly shaped loose bits.

Induction - really fast. MUCH faster than gas. it's easy to clean too - the top never gets much above boiling (just from conduction from the pans) so most spills just wipe off the flat surface. Only downside is all the pans must be flat based steel. I bought a sauté pan to use for a wok.

Andy

[polygonum]

Agreed.

Having recently had to use my mother's gas cooker, which is almost brand new, I am shocked at how poor it is. Our induction hob is so much, umm, nicer.

I have also been reminded how tedious it is keeping gas hobs clean - and the need to wait to be sure the ironmongery is cool enough.

Historically I have also seen a lot of pans with distinctly unflat bases due to being used on gas.

The turn-off-before-damaging-overheat aspect of induction is also a significant safety feature.

Gas hobs end up with huge amounts of hot air rising from the hob - much worse in summer. Also tends to cause handles to be much hotter.

Am also not convinced that, at ordinary domestic levels, gas is quicker than electric.

[djc]

I find bottled gas (butane) is not as controllable as mains gas (methane). It seems to be full on whatever the position of the control knob.

I don't find cleaning a gas ring a problem. If tit dosn't burn off then anything burnt on just adds to the protective layer.

[Clive George]

Is that on a camping stove rather than a full size domestic hob, and hence not terribly well designed? I'm on propane, and it does the things gas needs to do, ie full control.

Butane for a house would be a bad idea - in winter you'd struggle with the cylinders getting cold.

[polygonum]

It isn't so much the ring itself as the area around. On induction a wipe with a suitable cleaner, and a quick "buff" with a dry cloth - it looks like new. Any gas hob, even one which is fairly well-designed, the grease and muck tends to get much hotter and burn on.

[Capitol]

The gas part of our hob is very easy to clean. The only fault after 40 years is the enamel on the burner spreader has flaked in a few places. The main hob base is perfect.

[Stephen]

Thanks for all the replies. It seems there is a lot of recommendation for gas and induction hobs and electric ovens. One thing that hasn't been mentioned much is grills and it was criticism of one particular grill that made me start this thread. I do think grill performance might be model specific. Induction is not an option here (obviously) so which way would you go: electric or gas? I suppose you have no choice as it comes bundled with the oven, so if you have an electric oven, you are going to have an electric grill.

[stuart noble]

All I'll say is that a fan assisted oven is a must, and these tend to be electric AFAIK We pushed the boat out with a dual fuel freestanding job but ONLY because it had a shut down lid that wasn't glass. I don't like having to worry about breaking it

[Michael Chare]

+1 more.

I now find the idea of having a fire (naked flame) in doors quite alarming, despite having had gas for the first 40 years of my life.

[Dave Liquorice]

The best grill I ever had was gas and called "sola" or similar. A surface burner with a blank bit in the middle, absolutely even in cooking.

I've yet to find an electric grill that is similar so the simple laws of illumination mean the central area of the grill cooks at least twice as fast as the edges, meaning you have to keep shuffling food from hot to cool areas to maintain even cooking.

It's not rocket science but there doesn't seem to be any real thought put into getting cookers to do things without constant attention and in an ergonomic manner. Our current cooker has, IMHO, a bad layout for the hob knobs along the front panel. They go BL FL FR BR but when you stand in front of the cooker prespective makes the rear two rings "closer together and between" the front two. To me the ergonomic layout of knobs should be FL BL BR FR.

[Robin]

I've always preferred eye level gas grills but they are like hen's teeth on modern cookers. Best one I ever used in a domestic kitchen was a small gas salamander fitted on wall. But that requires space - and arguably a complete absence of aesthetic judgment ;)

One other point which is only relevant to those approaching decrepitude: I've noticed how ovens in conventional cookers/ranges can be a pain for the elderly. We plan to switch to built-in oven(s) soon(ish) in the hope of living long enough to get the benefit. And I suppose that does at least put the grill at a better height than in a freestanding.

[whisky-dave]

Yes, the on thing I don't like about my electric grill is it's hieght or rather lack of it, which means bending down and watching for my toast to burn. Also it's far easier to foirget your grilling untill the smoke alarm goes off. I really liked the idea of an eye level grill it sort of made sense, but it does seem rare to get one on a standard electric oven.

[Michael Chare]

Our built in double oven as a grill that you can easily watch, and it it is easy to get a roast out of the main oven. It was made by Creda and has lasted very well.

[djc]

I meant Propane (Red bottles), I have used it on a full size cooker in a house in Italy for ten years and it certainly doesn't have the control of my mains gas cooker in London. Perhaps it is just a poorly designed cooker.

[djc]

My hob (Miele) has a glass surface under the rings which doesn't seem to get very hot or have anything burnt on sticking to it