If you’re remodeling your kitchen, you know how overwhelming it can be to shop for a new stovetop. But a new stove is an essential part of any kitchen. Here are my top tips for finding the perfect stove for your kitchen.
First, you need to determine whether you need a range or a stovetop. A range includes the burners and the oven, whereas a stovetop is just the burners. A stovetop can be induction, gas or electric.
Gas stoves
Gas stovetops run from a natural gas or propane stream to create an open flame. Gas offers precise heating and greater control, which makes it popular among home chefs.
They have a few unique qualities. Generally speaking, they require less energy to operate. Unlike most other home appliances, you can still get a gas stove to work when the power is out if you can manually light the burner with a long-reach lighter. Plus, they’re instant-on and instant-off, which can be convenient.
However, gas stoves have a few drawbacks. If you don’t already have a gas line in your kitchen, installing a new gas stove will cost between $300 and $1,000 due to the expense of adding a new gas line. Of course, if you’re replacing an existing gas stove, this won’t be a problem.
Gas stoves also have cooking grates that need to be removed and cleaned separately, and the area beneath them requires extra cleaning time.
Electric stovetops
Electric stovetops are the most popular stoves in America. They’re safe, easy to find, easily installed in nearly any household without additional utility lines, and affordable, so they’re great for most people.
An electric stove uses a flat cooktop with heating elements designed to transfer heat through metal coils beneath the top and heat the cookware itself.
Since electric stoves don’t use open flames, they tend to be less dangerous than gas and less likely to release harmful fumes. (Don’t slack on safety around them, though; that glass surface may not emit a flame, but it’s still extremely hot.)
Their downsides include a less responsive system that takes more time to heat up or cool down. They’re also a little more expensive to operate since electricity is generally more expensive than natural gas. And if a power outage occurs, your stove becomes a very heavy countertop until power is restored.
Induction stovetops
In recent years, induction stovetops have become a trendy alternative. They offer a unique cooking experience by generating electromagnetism that heats up the cookware directly, causing the pot or pan to become its own heat source.
Some induction cooktops look much the same as electric cooktops. On the higher end, some can be placed directly beneath a countertop, which allows you to heat up your cookware right on the counter. The use of electromagnetic waves means that an induction cooktop is safe to touch even if it’s turned on.
Induction cooking offers many bonuses. It’s the most efficient common cooking method and greatly increases effectiveness, control, and efficiency. Since food scraps won’t get stuck to the surface, it’s the easiest to clean.
One downside includes the higher cost of installation. The unit is likely to be more expensive than a comparable gas or electric stove, and installation costs are around $300. This can go up if you’re doing a specific custom job, like placing it underneath an existing countertop.
And perhaps the biggest drawback to consider is that induction cooking only works with magnetic cookware, such as cast iron or magnetic stainless steel. This means some of your cookware might not work with induction stovetops.
