Actually, we have a radiant glass cooktop... Works like electric but better, more even heat. Not quite as fast to heat as gas (which I love) but considering its nearly impossible to get gas in Toronto's condo scene this is a pretty good compromise.

I've got the same set-up as Eric. I'd rather have gas, but what I've got is OK until we move to a new house.

Have gas in the city, but our place in CT has an electic stove -- we hate it (caveat: the oven is fine, but not the "burners) We spend many a meal plotting how to get a gas line into the kitchen area!

I had gas at my long-time rental and fell in love with it. It was an old 1940s "Wilcolator" that had a great stovetop, but a horrible oven. It wasn't just a 'slow' oven, it was a 'snail's pace' oven. Baking was a disaster.

But then I bought a place, and with no gas hookup, had to switch to electric. Now my stir-fries have no sizzle, but my cookies are great...

When I lived in Australia we had a gas cooktop and seperate electric convection oven - the best of both worlds in my opinion (didn't hurt that they were both Miele). When my parents were looking for a new range for their renovated kitchen, I told them they simply needed gas for cooking, electric for baking and roasting. They selected a nice Jenn Air one - with griddle and grill plates - talk about the holy grail of ranges!

i grew up with electric and have always had gas in most new york apartments. my parents now have ceramic element cooktops, so i've got a bit of experience with those, too.

and in my opinion it's all about the gas. the biggest thing for me is that with gas you have infinitely more flexibility in terms of how much or how little heat, whereas on an electric or ceramic range you have numbered settings which means it can be hard to find a happy medium. i also like that when turned off the burners cool almost immediately, so you don't have to physically move a pan to get it off the heat. i make a lot of dark cajun roux, and i find that those two factors have really demystified the process.

the only thing that's better about electric is the different burner size settings on ceramic cooktops, which is helpful for getting even heat in a large pan.

Eric,

It's always best to get the right piece of equipment for the right job -- gas for cooktops, electric for ovens.

It really bothers me that I design custom kitchens for people with more money than god by day (I'm an architect) and have to go home and make dinner on a lousy hand-me-down electric range. :( Someday, I'll finally be able to afford my own work!

sorry when i said 'ceramic' cooktop what i meant was 'radiant glass'. whoops.

also, i have no problem baking in my gas oven. you just have to be a bit more organic about baking times. when the recipe says 'half an hour at 350' i usually make a mental note that it's going to take longer, and then check it every 5-10 minutes after that prescribed half hour. you just have to be flexible, observant, and gradually get a feel for how long your oven will take, what the finished product should look like when it's done baking, etc.

i can't imagine doing a thanksgiving turkey, though. god, it would probably take DAYS.

I got an oven thermometer recently and it has literally changed my life. Well, OK, maybe just my baking. But still! My oven was off by wildly erratic measures at different temperatures. No matter how old your oven is, I would really recommend a thermometer.

After years of gas stove cooking I am stuck with electric in our first home (well, condo). I find there is a definite learning curve and I cannot say I've mastered the level of heat on these burners. There have been a number of unfortunate burning incidents and smoke alarms beeping! Luckily, this stove is on its last legs and I am upgrading to a gas stovetop/ electric oven as soon as it conks out. There is a gas line in my neighborhood and I am hoping it won't be too difficult to get a line in...

I see the Jenn Air mention above, any other suggestions on gas/electric models?

am I the only one that finds that gas stoves have two settings: on and off?
I find it nearly impossible to simmer anything, as there is really not a "low" with a gas flame.

Hello . . . thanks for the post Sara Kate! Very interesting topic.

I too have an electric stove because I have to --- my Brooklyn co-op doesn't have a gas hookup.

I haven't written an Electric Stove post about this yet, but the name of my blog comes in part from my frustration with people who say that 'can't' cook because they have an electric stove or don't have some other specific tool.

With lots of help from AT friends, we re-did our kitchen last summer. I picked out a Kenmore Elite electric range with a electric convection oven and a warming drawer.

The oven is a revelation. My cookies are crisper, the meatloaf bakes faster and my yogurt cakes don't fall.

The stove top itself is a bit disappointing. I find it very hard to keep clean, almost impossible to keep clean actually. I also found that it was very slow to boil water and was difficult to get a searing high heat out of it. I've invested in some All Clad pots and they are making it easier to get high heat, but it still isn't great.

I am racking my brain to remember where I saw this - but recently I saw a very helpful side by side comparison of the pros and cons of gas and electric cooktops.

While the conventional wisdom is that gas is far superior, the point of this article was to show how that's a myth. They are different kinds of surfaces, and both are well-suited to different tasks.

I cook on electric right now, and it does a fine job. Are there certain things I wish I had gas for? Yes - but it's not that big a deal for the type of cooking I do. If I can remember where I saw the article I'll post a link!

Seems to me like we should also talk about the two main different kinds of electric stoves: the kids that has the element exposed, like in the photo on the above-right, and the kind that has a flat top.

My new electric stove has a flat, glass and ceramic top. It had a stunning shine the day it was installed, but now it gets so greasy and bits get burned on that are hard to remove.

It's the clean up that I hate more so than the performance.

I grew up with an electric stove and oven, and never thought much about it. Until I moved to CA where my first apartment had gas, first off it was an old building and I had the smallest stove/oven I had ever seen, were talking tiny. But that being said I loved the gas burners and hated the gas stove!!! The next place all electric, my baking improved and cooking wasn't that bad. My current place is a large gas oven and stove. I love it, it works great. But I do have an oven thermometer for the finiky oven, I find my temps are off about 10-20 degrees. It's a learning curve, but you get used to it and learn to adjust cooking times and temps.

I splurged on a Bosch dual-fuel (gas on top, electric in the oven) and have not regretted it for a single day, even if it means we still don't have a couch! I recommend one if you're in the market for a gas/electric combo. The simmer plate on the highest btu burner is great.

The brand Siemen (sold at Best Buy) is identical, just a different label...and sometimes can be cheaper.

regards,
trillium

Michelle ~ I agree, gas and electric totally have their benefits. Here's hoping that day comes sooner rather than later when you can afford your dream kitchen!

Faith ~ I think I'll have to invest in an oven thermometer as well. Its a pretty nifty little tool to have!

Chris ~ I feel your pain. The two main front burners have got this ring of crud around them (from before I moved in with the boyfriend) that just WON'T come off. The rest of the time I find using Method's All Purpose Cleaner is a great way to keep it clean and mirrorlike.

I grew up with an electric stove, and had no experience with gas stoves until I moved to Philadelphia. I don't think I could ever go back to electric- my boyfriend just got a new apartment, and when I went to see it and noticed the electric stove, my heart sank.

I never had good experiences with gas ovens, though, until moving into my new house, where the oven has digital temperature controls. All my old crappy apartments had gas ovens that either didn't work, or couldn't hold a temperature.

The only downside is that gas stoves can be hard to clean.

Elizabeth -- I promise that my electric stove is harder to clean than a gas stove? I think with most gas stoves a quick scrub will make them look at least passably clean. Like Eric said, with some electric stoves there's some crud that won't go away, even with a razor blade scrape down.

this survey brought back memories of my first gas-stove experience - a small one we had in our flat when i lived in england for a year during college. the stove wasn't really the attraction, rather, english stoves come with a GIANT OPEN FLAME on top, otherwise known as a chip pan. It's really just an open broiler. but it always struck me as pretty stupid to have in a place where college students lived. And indeed, while it was great for finishing off frittatas, it was used to light its fair share of inedible things aflame as well.

anyway, since then i've never gone back. the degree of temperature control and flexibility gas affords have me far too spoiled.

If you have an electric glass cooktop and can't get it clean I have two comments. 1. SOFTSCRUB!!! it works wonders. 2. You are probably waiting way too long between cleanings. It only takes a minute to clean it shortly after you're done cooking and before the crud dries on there. After over a year of heavy cooking on my new electric, it is nearly spotless.

I too have cooked on both and thought that I preferred gas. Sure, gas heats up faster, but that is the ONLY difference that I can see at all! I really think that most gas people who move to electric just don't give the pan enough time to heat up. Patience is a virtue, and it will present you with effortless cooking AND cleanup.

We have ekectric now and all our pots and frying pans are warped, which never happpened when I lived alone and cooked with gas. Electric ovens are fine, and actually bake better than gas. Roasting and broiling with electric is real good, but stove top stuff.. ya just can't beat gas. I wish I could convince my wife to go to gas !