Anyone have a Flat Burner Stove

I am thinking of getting one for the House. It has a Gad=s Stove right now that dosent work right. We are thinking of having it switched to Electric.
What do all of you like better?

We have a flat top cooker and DH loves it. I don't cook so I really couldn't tell you the difference. He on the other hand, hated the electric coiled burners and now likes to cook more on now that we got the flat top. And it's easier to clean. (that's my dept ) One swipe pretty much and the job's done.

We have a Gas Stove. Our Friends who just got a New House too had to buy a stove opted to get a flat top & they said it cooks great, nice even heat distribution, CON: it takes abit for it to cool of after turning it off, they have a cat, jump on counters even tho you dont want them too as careful as you may be, with the flat surface their fear is her walking across and burning her paws.

That is their biggest issue with it. Everything else is a positive.

I cannot get a flat top stove as several pieces of my cookware are too large for the burners. The hot water bath kettles I use for canning/freezing again are to large for the largest burner. I have spoken to several sales people over the years and all have informed me than you cannot have a pan/kettle etc larger that the diameter of the large burner.
Doing so will increase the chance to crack the cooktop and void the warranty.
So measure your largest pans so you know the diameter when you go shopping.
IMO I wish we had a gas stove that if you like cooking really seems to be the way to go.

We have a flat top - you have to be really careful with the cats and also not dragging any pots. We have a scratch that I'm pretty sure I did = but can hardly believe it because I'm so careful about it.

We just got rid of an electric cooktop with the flat disc burners. We hated cooking on it.
I love my gas cooktop. I can slide the pans from burner ro burner without picking up the pot. It has a child safe lock on it. Cool down time is a plus.

My husband wants us to get one when we renovate our kitchen. I'm fighting it tooth and nail - I do the cooking so I want a gas range.

My friend just redid their whole kitchen and got the Ducane (sp?) which is supposed to be awesome. Within 2 months something dropped on it and cracked the top which she had to have replaced. I also like using my cast iron frying pan and my cast iron griddle but you cannot use cast iron pots or pans on the flat tops.

For those of you who need larger burners, I have seen some of the flat tops (when hubby was dragging me around looking at them) that have elongated burners for long oval pans.

I know lots of people like them, but I don't. I believe you also have to buy special cleaner for them as well.

I do a fair bit of gourmet-type cooking and I much prefer the control I have with gas. (Just my 2 cents)

Just a personal preferance, but i honestly don't like the flat top stoves I cook way to much to be bothered with them- my friend had them for a while at her old place and i hated cooking on them- they take quite a while to cool off to so in the event you have a kiddo running around that counter surfs or an animal that's curious- they could easily get hurt. Depending on the size they are also not so great for varying pot/pan sizes and different materials. ). I just like the look of a regular stove top. My dream stove would definitely be a gorgeous gas range! They just cook soo much better imo and heat more efficiently.

I second the cast iron pots/pans and those flat tops not mixing well! In a southern kitchen- a lady just has to have her cast iron too- so those are just out of the question for multiple reasons for us.

Good luck whatever you decide though!

We've had one for almost seven years (our last range shortcircuited and burst into flames on 9/11, and I couldn't have cared less, for obvious reasons), and I love it. I grew up cooking on a gas range, but we don't have gas in this house, so I've always cooked on an electric range here.

The flat-top ranges offer the best of both worlds: They're as easy to regulate as gas burners, but you don't have the risk of leaks/explosions, and much, much easier to clean than the coil-type burners. I just wipe down the range top with water, scrape with a razor blade if something boils over, and use a dab of special cleaner every week or two to keep it shiny.

There's as much or more residual heat with gas or electric coil burners, and the flat tops usually have a display showing you which burners are still giving off heat.

My parents have a flat top, I have a super old GREEN coiled burner, and my future MIL has a gas stove. Honestly I like my parents the best. It's safe, pretty, and easy to clean. Gas stoves terrify me, and coiled burners are just plane ugly.

Just don't be a reject and stand on a GLASS surface. I've heard several people complain about their stove breaking when they put their knee on it to get something out of the cupboard. HELLO!!! It's glass, don't stand on it!

Also the newer glass tops have a burner size switch! so you can have four small burners, or four large burners!

Part of the reason we do not wnat a Gas Stove is fumes set my Asthma off. I also am scared it can blow up. We do ot have any Cast Iron Pots anymore. We got rid of them when we moved here. I did have a few Cast Iron frying Pans but I left them at my Dads years ago. We never let the Cats in the Kitchen when we Cook. One time Meeko burned her Paws on the hot oven but she was ok. That happened about 6 years ago.

My brother had one. It was one of those ceramic top ones or something. You turn on the dial and the burner area lights up red.

He accidently dropped a pot on it and cracked the top and some of the burners stopped working after that. The last time I was there for dinner, the top was gone and he was cooking on the element for the indoor grill because all of the burners in the top stopped working. He said that to get it fixed would be as much as it was to buy a whole new one...something like $5,000 or something I think he said because it's tied in with his convection oven.

I absolutely love mine. It is easy to clean. I do a lot of cooking, never had any problems with it. My sister and one of my neices also have the glass cook top. they love theirs too.

As Linda said, they are fragile. The week after my mom got hers, she was reaching for something in an adjacent cabinet and knocked over a can of peaches. It broke the cooktop to smithereens, and yes, they are outrageously expensive to replace!

My father was so smart: he got some furring strips and screwed them just inside the cabinets an inch or so up, to act as fences so things wouldn't fall out so easily. No problem since!

We will be careful with it.

We got one with our new house, and I'm not really thrilled with it. I found it actually harder to clean (I'm a VERY messy cook!) because you can only use special cleaners on them. My MIL did find a hand scrubber with replacable pads that make it much easier. The main reason I don't like it is because it becomes another counter for us. We have a tendency to clutter things up quite a bit, and I'm terrified one of these days the cats will be playing in the middle of the night and accidently turn on the stove and start a fire with the mail or something. It would be out own fault, and we do TRY to keep the stove clutter free, but sometimes it just doesn't happen.

I didn't know that about cast iron skillets and flat top stoves. I'm glad I read that.

Hope, our Sassy actually did turn on a burner once! Scared us out of our wits, and we immediately got some knob covers from Babies R Us.

http://www.amazon.com/Safety-1st-Cle.../dp/B00068O22S

And of course, that's something that can happen with any stove, so they're just a great idea for all kitty parents, I think.

We have one and love it. But, we also don't do much by way of gourmet cooking and we don't do any canning. I know that's why Mom never got one - her canning stuff was too big, or the flat top wouldn't get hot enough (don't remember which, it may have changed by now). Earl loved cooking with the gas stove in our first apartment, but the oven in it was horrid. I loved baking in an electric oven. This one we both like.

Originally Posted by valanhb

We have one and love it. But, we also don't do much by way of gourmet cooking and we don't do any canning. I know that's why Mom never got one - her canning stuff was too big, or the flat top wouldn't get hot enough (don't remember which, it may have changed by now). Earl loved cooking with the gas stove in our first apartment, but the oven in it was horrid. I loved baking in an electric oven. This one we both like.

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I really think they've improved in the last 5 or 10 years. My cousin got one about 20 years ago, and hated it, because it discolored and got scratched. Ours is almost 7 years old, and I haven't had any of that trouble with it, and also use it with huge pots for canning.

As far as cleaning it: You can't scour it. A razor blade works best for spills, and the special cleansers last forever - I go through a bottle every two or three years, and that's with cooking every day.