# gas vs electric



## muscat (Nov 28, 2006)

I am hoping to remodel my kitchen this spring. I've been in this ancient kitchen for three years, and yearn for better function and appearance. My current stovetop is an old coil electric, and the kitchen does not currently have gas. I grew up cooking on gas, and have always preferred it greatly to electric, but that may be somewhat due to never cooking on a really "good" electric stove. The house furnace is gas, so I planned to have gas moved into the kitchen, but I'm starting to wonder if that expense is worth it. I'm guessing it would cost a few thousand to do......so the other option is to put that money in to higher quality appliances. I guess my question is this: as someone much happier and more familiar with gas ranges, are there electric options out there now that I should consider? Or, given that I'm already biased to using gas, should I bite the bullet and have gas moved into the kitchen? 

I know there is no right answer......looking for opinions....thanks!


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## muskyhopeful (Jun 16, 2006)

Muscat, last summer we remodeled our kitchen. We had a gas line to the kitchen, but it was too narrow and long to support the Wolf Range we installed. A thicker line was installed and it was about a 30' run that was a pain because of a weird finished ceiling in our basement.

I think it cost us about $800.

Certainly $800 we would have rather not spent, but cooking on the gas Wolf range made it money well spent.

I researched the heck out of appliances. If you don't want to run that gas line, you could check out induction, but that's expensive, too, and you need the right kind of pans.

Kevin

Muskies anyone?


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## muscat (Nov 28, 2006)

Right, I dont want to go induction. I'll have to get a real quote for moving gas in before I can really make a decision, but I think since there is no line at all, and it'll have to go through walls and the ceiling, it'll be well over $800.


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## shel (Dec 20, 2006)

Hi,

I had a pretty good electric range that I used for about twenty years, and I recently moved to a place that has a mediocre gas range. What an amazing difference - of course only you can decide if the move to gas is cost effective, but the difference in my opinion is worth a fair amount of expenditure.

Shel


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## newbiechef (Dec 12, 2006)

well, ive had a bit of experience with gas and electric, and i HIGHLY prefer gas, heats things faster, like boiling a pot of water and also cools faster as well. not to mention the temperature difference, i belive gas ranges can get much hotter than their electric counter parts. we have an electric range in our apartment now and i yearn for the gas burners i had at home... not to mention that our coils have hot and cold spots, something a little less noticable on gas... and ours seem to be unlevel... could just be poor construction... but one problem we have on our range at home... the gas one, sometimes they have trouble igniting, or the ignitors keep going once you have a flame, or even in the middle of cooking... kind of annoying, does anyone else have that problem??? oh and one last thing, if you get a lot of power outages, or feel like cooking when the power gets knocked out, you still can cook with gas! (yes, i have done it before...) and as shel said, it is your decision in the end, its your money and we cant tell you how to spend it.


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## irregularjoe (May 26, 2006)

I went through this very decision when I remodeled my kitchen (aka 9 months of pain).
I went with a completely gas 36" Viking range and an electric 30" Viking wall oven.
I love the gas for stovetop cooking, but use the electric oven 90% of the time. The latter is faster preheating and more precise in temperature. But then again, the gas oven is huge so that has a lot to do with it.

The plumbing cost depends on the length of pipe run from a suitable source and the type of construction ( would the piping be in the basement or attic).
I didn't have gas to the range area either but had an adequate suppy about 15' away in the attic that supplied the furnace. I tapped into that.
I did all the work myself as I'm in the biz.
It should not cost you anything like $2000 however. But then again it all depends on the feasibility of the installation.

I highly recommend gas for the stovetop.

Good luck with the remodel.

Joe


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## jannie (Mar 17, 2007)

I've been cooking on various electric ranges for over 40 years, and hate them. Last summer I house sat for friends who have a fantastic gas range, amazing!!!

I live in an apartment now and although my range is new, it's probably not near as good as what's available. When I moved here I really studied and wanted the very best of what would serve me in pots and pans – and at last toll I think I've got nearly $1,500.00 in stanless lined copper alone. But it does work very well on my electric range. I bought them one at a time over the years and never added it up until recently...ouch!

After last summers experience using a really good gas range every day, I'm guessing I would not have gone with the high cost of copper if I'd had a gas range all along. Gas just works so much better, I think a lot of cookware probably just functions a whole lot better with it. And with that I bet I could get a pretty fantastic non-copper set of pots and pans for about a thousand less.
Jannie


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## tcjanes (Mar 20, 2006)

Go with the gas. I replaced my aging electric with gas and in spite of the hassle and expense of having a gas line run, along with having an electrical outlet put in (all digital, all the time), it has been worth every penny. Get a few quotes on the line-they can vary quite a bit from company to company.


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## kyheirloomer (Feb 1, 2007)

On one of our moves there was a brand-new, high-end electric range & double oven. Literally. It had been installed by the previous owners about three months before we bought the place.

I tossed them, and replaced them with gas.

At our current locale the choice is electric or LPG. There was an electric range when we moved in. A week later there was a gas range and a pair of hundred-pound gas tanks.

Any questions?

BTW, there is _no _reason a gas line should cost more than a couple of hundred bucks. Worst case, it's only a pipe. Best case, it's copper tubing.


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## ishbel (Jan 5, 2007)

For many years, I used an AGA. A few years ago, we ripped out our kitchen and replaced the AGA (which I managed to sell, at a profit!) with a gas hob and ovens. I much prefer the gas, but I confess to missing the habit of warming my bum on the aga during the winter months!


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## phoebe (Jul 3, 2002)

This is very good news! We're just beginning our house-hunt in Washington and many of the properties further out in the country are electric. I've been hoping that getting a gas line put in wouldn't be too difficult or expensive. We really don't want to have to deal with an electric cooktop.


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## muscat (Nov 28, 2006)

Thanks guys! I'm probably going to go for gas. It is what I have wanted for years, so I'll make it happen!


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## maroongolf (May 15, 2007)

Hi, I am a life-long gas range cook and I recently bought a brand new house that came with a new flat ceramic cooktop electric range. I am so frustrated, I either keep burning everything or I undercook it. Can anyone out there give me some advice or tips on using an elecrtic range? 
Thanks, 
mo:chef:


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## mezzaluna (Aug 29, 2000)

My new range will be dual fuel: gas cooktop, electric (with true convection) upper oven, small electric lower oven for warming and conventional baking. It's a GE Profile.


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## phoebe (Jul 3, 2002)

Congratulations! :bounce: Please let us know what you think of it.


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## muscat (Nov 28, 2006)

Mezzaluna- I'm going with the same set up (dual fuel) but I bought a Bosch. I was really tempted by just the unit you bought!!! I'm going nuts planning this kitchen, but I know that it will all be worth it!

I got two quotes, and the third guy who came over was such a nut job that I made him leave before we even got to a quote. The first quote was $500-600. Seemed like a good price, but the guy was really brief. He barely looked around. The second guy looked at my current BTU usage (furnace) and the distance from the main to the inside of the house, and calculated that with the new BTU use of the range added in, I need to add new piping all the way from the meter, not just piggyback from inside. I think he was legit, and came well referenced......but the quote is $1200. I want to do this job to code, but dont want to get taken. Any opinions?

This topic kinda leaves the realm of equipment reviews- sorry- but if anyone has experience here, I appreciate it!


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## magana2112 (Aug 19, 2007)

so, folks....

i will undertake the rebuild in just a few months...

my wishlist will include, among other things, will be a Wolf dual fuel 48" range with both griddle and grill options

either a SubZero all fridge/all freezer combo, or the massive Thermador 30” Stainless Steel Fridge/Freezer Columns......which if you havent seen....are truly awesome.

a second 30" wolf wall oven, 30" wolf microwave, 24 bottle Marvel wine steward, trash compactor, one apron sink and one deepdish sink, dual drawer dishwasher, a single drawer fridge, Franke faucets.....lord , i could go on....

beside the gas line, anyone else have troubles updating their kitchen ?


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## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

Why a trash compactor? They're not effective. Their capacity is so small anway that they don't really save work compared to a trash / recycling / compost system. 

I've never seen a positive review of them let alone anyone recommend them.

Phil


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## angrybob (Feb 28, 2007)

Maroongolf I really know where you're coming from. If you have good pans that heat evenly then you're halfway home. If not, you may consider getting one good pan to start off with. The one important thing to remember is that it's much easier to cool the pan down then to get it warmer quickly. To moderate your temp. remove the pan from the heat by sliding it to the side or lifting it. Start with a hot pan, gauge the heat by holding your hand above it. You may in fact have to learn how different pans work, what temp to fry an egg or make french toast, etc. I would recommend using one pan for a week or two so you learn how it works with your top. Depending on the pan you may find that a medium setting works well for about 5 minutes then the pan starts getting too hot, this is a common affliction of the electric range, that's why a heavier even heating pan is very very helpful. It sometimes takes longer than one thinks for the pan to actually heat up. Again, you need to learn the temperment of the specific pan. There is a learning curve, but once you break through it adapting to different pans isn't too hard. The best types of pans are ones that are fairly thick and sit flat on the top. I never did get to try any of our cast iron on the glass top, but that's a whole other story. Keep plugging away and good luck.


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## mikelm (Dec 23, 2000)

*"I recently bought a brand new house that came with a new flat ceramic cooktop electric range. I am so frustrated, I either keep burning everything or I undercook it. Can anyone out there give me some advice or tips on using an elecrtic range? 
Thanks, 
mo"*

My tip would be... throw it out and get a nice gas cooktop. We're in a condo and cannot have gas, so we got an expensive electric, ceramic cooktop when we rebuilt the kitchen. It's black, and looks great with our black granite counter.

The look is the only good thing about it.

After three years, we still have trouble gaging the heat level and, especially, lowering the heat during cooking. We finally realized the only way to do that was to move the pan to a new burner and start the burner up with lower heat.

As an added bonus, the thing is a b***h to keep clean. If you don't clean it after EVERY use, any spill will cook on to the surface and be impossible to remove, even with the special abrasive pad, cleaning cream, and razor-blade scraper that come with the cooktop.

It's a loser.

Mike


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## phoebe (Jul 3, 2002)

I certainly know what you all are saying. We're still struggling a bit with our electric monster. What I have learned is to saute everything somewhere between 2 and 4 and simmer at 2 or even low. I boil pasta water at 8 and still have to keep lifting it off the burner to keep from boiling over. Haven't a clue what hi or 6 would be for. 
However, I am liking the electric oven. It seems to cook more quickly and keep temperature much better than my old gas. And since getting a new stove and getting a propane line hooked up into the kitchen would take too much money right now (the roof is more of a priority  ) I'm trying to cope with what seems to be a totally counter-intuitive way of cooking


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## mezzaluna (Aug 29, 2000)

I do like my electric oven! My husband pointed out that my previous range (Viking) wasn't self-cleaning, so it wasn't as well-insulated. This new GE dual fuel doesn't heat up my kitchen so badly and it does heat up very quickly. I'll be trying the self-cleaning feature soon, I think.


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