I am currently remodelling the kitchen and need to buy a gas hob. I am considering "gas on glass" models. However somebody told me that such hobs are very delicate, they scratch easily and are difficult to clean. Is it true? Would a stainless steel hob be a better choice?
They do scratch easily, but then stainless steel probably scratches more easily. I was looking at one too when redoing our kitchen, ended up with a Neff stainless one which looked to be easier to clean as the base tray is one formed piece of stainless with no corners for muck to get stuck in. The gas on glass ones I was looking at had various bits stuck on the glass which looked like dirt traps to me.
Hmm. I believe that durability is more important than aesthetics for such a piece of equipment. I don't like the look of black coloured kitchen equipment (or anything else, it's dowdy and sucks out the light) but had to compromise when buying our cooker last year, simply to get the best all-round one which did the job I wanted it to do despite being black.
Gotta say, I'm a big fan of stainless hobs. As long as you can accept that it won't retain a perfect brushed finish (not if you use it, at any rate), they're very easy to keep clean.
I agree with you. That's why I need advice. If it turns out that glass hobs are too delicate, I'll compromise and buy something else. But, you know, glass hobs don't have to be black. They come in other colors too: silver, gray. Take a look at that one:
LOL! I've no idea what colour they come in! I don't think I've ever seen one ...
My hob is black enamelled, the 'steadies' are black cast iron. Even trhe sides of the carcase are black, I didn't realise that until Spouse fitted it. It's not 'built in' but stands behind the door. To even get it there meant re-'designing' the 'kitchen'.
I wouldn't have thought that the glass was delicate, modern glass products are amazing. But even knowng that I suspect I'd be very careful not to bang down my cast iron pans!
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Doesn't it look nice?
Don't know, all I got was a blank page.
I suspect that's what my reaction would have been anyway
You ARE wise to ask about others' experiences, I did. Then I ignored them. But what was said certainly made me think more about what I was spending £1,000 on ...
Interesting question. We moved from a SS hob to an enamelled one many years ago and found that it was much easier to clean. However, look at the continental units, they have wider colour ranges and do combined gas/electric hobs which are IMO far superior to the standard, low quality, either gas or electric hobs which are de rigeur in the UK market. A day trip to Calais can be very enlightening.
We have a Zanussi gas hob whose surface is glass. I assume that's what you're talking about?
I usually clean it with Mr. Muscle oven cleaner and a wallpaper scraper, so no, I wouldn't call it "very delicate, (they) scratch easily and are difficult to clean."
I understand from my Mother that those solid electric hobs that have the heating elements buried in the ceramic with circles marking out the heated areas are very susceptible to pitting from jam splashes (and presumably any hot sugar mixtures). See replaced one for this reason with a more conventional electric hob. I suspect that the 'gas on glass' hobs are not so vulnerable as the pots don't actually sit on the glass surface which I think was the cause of the pitting on my Mother's hob.
We've chosen the NEFF 900mm x 5 burner hob that is available in SS or 'gas on glass' because a friend who is a professional chef has one at home - his is the stainless steel version for the same reasons as above.
Yup, if one is serious about cooking then there is a good assortment of commercial equipment out there. Most of it looking good in a rugged industrial way. We have a fairly basic range cooker in the kitchen, and recently some of my wife's friends have been asking where we got it rom because they want to buy the same. It's so difficult to be a trend setter.
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