Return-Path: Received: from MAPS.CS.CMU.EDU by K.GP.CS.CMU.EDU id aa24251; 14 Apr 95 12:46:13 EDT Received: from MAPS.CS.CMU.EDU by MAPS.CS.CMU.EDU id aa02223; 14 Apr 95 12:45:22 EDT To: bovik@cs.cmu.edu Subject: stovetops Date: Fri, 14 Apr 95 12:45:20 -0400 From: Chris McGlone My query: Our electric stovetop is on its last legs, er, burners, and we're looking at replacing it. Does anyone have any comments about the ones with only a flat cooking surface instead of individual burners? Replies were: ------------------------------------------ There was a thread on these recently in misc.consumers.house. I didn't save it, but as I recall, the major issues are: -you have to use metal pots -can only be cleaned with certain cleansers -replacement of a burner can be astronomically expensive ------------------------------------------ I believe Consumer Reports reviewed stoves recently, and had a section in which they addressed many of your questions. ------------------------------------------ Three of my relatives got the flat ones at about the same time. They all hate them. They turn brownish over the burners after a while. It takes longer to cook. ------------------------------------------ I moved into a house with a magnetic induction stove. It looks like a flat surface electric stove except that it doesn't have any heating elements. The good part of the stove include -easy to clean... just wipe most stuff in one fell swoop. Really old crud does need to be scraped off with a putty knife or razor. -heats cookware quickly; countertop cools quickly On the downside, you can only use cookware that a magnet sticks to so this rules out aluminum and glass cookware (which eliminates most non-stick cookware). However, cast iron works very well. jcm+@CS.CMU.EDU (Chris McGlone) writes: > -Do the tops scratch? mine hasn't and I haven't been very careful. Then again, I haven't tried to scratch it either. > -does it heat quickly, or at least as quickly as regular burners? yep. Probably faster than most electric and at least the same if not better than gas. > -can you tell when it's on The light on the controls is on. If you don't have something on the burner, it'll beep for 10 seconds and then turn itself off. ------------------------------------------ -Do the tops scratch? No -Heat quickly? Yes -Can you tell if on? Yes. And fortunately, so can the cats. -Do they run AFS? As reliably as anything else does but tends to stop in the middle of cooking if you try to save something important Actually, the one I used was an early version of Corningware's product. Since I was at the time a gas burner snob, I had no faith that it would meet my high standards for cooking (obviously, I was not a graduate student at the time). Anyhow, it was quite satisfactory--seemed to have better heat control level differentiation than most electric stoves. Best of all, especially if you use the Corningware cleaner, the cleanup is incredibly easy. I presume things are even better now (unless they have added AFS). ------------------------------------------ Excerpts from cmu.cs.general: 12-Apr-95 stovetops--any words of wis.. by Chris McGlone@CS.CMU.EDU > -Do the tops scratch? yes if you clean it with the wrong cleaner > -does it heat quickly, or at least as quickly as regular burners? some do, but when they're cooling down you can't tell they're still hot so it's easy to burn yourself > -can you tell when it's on only when it's on high - it glows. When it's on low, no. Dangerous > -do they run AFS? Absolutely. And better than the current system > Also: I had really good metal cookware (the professional dark, heavy metal type - name escapes me now but think expensive. Handles are light metal, pots dark, lids light). They cannot be used on such a stovetop; they warp. Once warped, they don't of course transfer the heat very well. (I was pissed, to say the least!). I heard you should use glass cookware on them; stainless steel might work as well. Definitely not *any* metal. They're not easily adjustable compared to gas. Give me gas *any time* for cooking. I don't like electric, liked the glass-top even less. Couldn't adjust it down to a really low simmer. When a pot boils and you turn it down, you have the shove the pot aside for a bit. They're also not nearly as easy to clean as you might think. Stuff burns on to that top wickedly and you can't use comet to take it off. No "underneath the burners" of course. Advantages: you can use it as countertop when not in use as stove. This is a considerable advantage if you're really low on counterspace. However, you can also buy a large wooden board to throw over your gas top... good luck ------------------------------------------ Consumer's Reports did a study on stovetops of various kinds (there are two types of flat surface stovetops, only one requires metal pots). It was in an issue sometime last year, so it is probably findable in their year-end book. ------------------------------------------ We finally decided to purchase a gas stove because gas is significantly cheaper in the city and in some suburbs. Extra fringe of gas is a bit of humidity during the dry winter season. ------------------------------------------ We had a ceramic stovetop and replaced it when we remodelled the kitchen. Gas is so much easier to control. The ceramic seems to take forever to get hot, and then stays hot a long time. --------