Suggestions on buying a new gas range needed

[freemotion]

I finally have enough money to convert to gas....I think.

I still need to get the salesman out here to give me an actual estimate, but over the phone he thought it would be $250-300 or so. Propane. We don't have natural gas in our neighborhood.

I need to buy my first gas stove. I'm not sure what to get, so I would like your suggestions as to what features to look for.

I have $1000 saved and would like that to cover the stove and the above installation fees. However, I would be willing to just use that for the stove and continue to save for the fees.

My glass-top electric stove has a good chip in it from using the cast iron too much, and it was my favorite burner. I really want to be set up with gas by late summer/early fall for the serious canning season.

I like the looks of those stoves that have the burner things covering the entire stove top, and online, it looks like there are burners in the middle as well as the standard four, two per side.

I seriously dislike black and stainless steel (my kitchen is already too small and dark), but how difficult is it to clean a white or bisque-colored gas stove?

 

[TanksHill]

Wow, what a decision. I don't know what to tell you. Are you getting a slide in Stove/ oven combo? If so how much baking do you do?

I have a gas cook top right now. It's good but a pain to clean, Stainless.

I can't wait to see what you get.

gina

 

[grannyB]

Congratulations! Cooking with gas is way better than electric, IMO. That's why restaurants all use gas.

I have a Magic Chef gas range that is about 7 years old. We paid about $500 for it. It is white with the back panel and glass oven door in black. It is very easy to clean and I love it!!! It has most of the bells and whistles. The control panel for the oven is electronic and expensive to replace if something goes wrong. We were struck by lightening once and it blew out the panel, but luckily our insurance paid for replacement.

The one feature I have to have is the automatic timer for the oven. I can put dinner in the oven, go off to work and it comes on and is done when I get home. Mine has a self-cleaning oven, but I have only had to use it once. The oven is very easy to wipe out and keep clean.

My DS had a Jenn-Air cooktop that had high grates over the burners. So much heat came up the outside of the pan and the handles would get very hot. My grates are much closer to the burner and I do not get hot handles, or feel a lot of heat coming up the sides. I have also seen cooktops that look like the grates are all one piece over the top. I think those would be hard to take off and clean.

I like the looks of the more commercial type ranges, but don't know what I would need all those burners for. I never use all four of my burners at once. But if two of those burners turned into a grill, that would be neat.

The only feature I do not have that I would like is a convection oven.

You are going to like your gas stove. It's so much easier to control the heat.

 

[MorelCabin]

I totally agree with NOT buying the ones with the high grates over the burners. I have a whirlpool like this, and the pots get extremely hot, you def can't leave a spoon or anything in the pot while cooking. I have burned myself numerous times. It is also very hard on the pots...the sides of the pot get so hot that you get burned food at the level where the food stops. Mine has the large grate that covers the whole cooktop. It is actually two grates that look like one large one. Granted it is very easy to clean this stove.

My last stove was a propane camp stove. It was pilot lit, so the oven works even when power is out. It used no electricity at all. It was hard to clean, and they don't come with self cleaning ovens. I did like cooking with it though. It also did not have the high temp burners that come with the stoves you would buy at a regular furniture store.
Your propane dealer probably has catalogues you can go through to see thier lines of propane stoves...and they may have a showroom.
One word of advice however...our propane dealer has priced thier stoves high...if it is fridgidaire, or some other brand that regular furniture stores carry, you will be able to get a much lower price by going through the furniture store for it. Just my experience here in Canada...

 

[freemotion]

Thanks for the tips! I will definitely look for the high vs low burner grates.

As for pilot vs electric...um....ignition? Can the electric type be started with a match if the power goes out?

And I regularly use all four burners at once, and would occasionally use a fifth/sixth if I had it! I'd also get a big griddle that covers two burners if I had a stove that could handle that. I'd love to be able to use my big Dutch oven on top of the stove, too.

Oooo, can't wait! Any more features you love/hate, before I go shopping?

The online pictures really stink, for the most part.

Anyone know the cost comparison of electric vs propane? Ldychef posted a list once, but it didn't include propane. But I bet my salesman will have those figures....if they are in my favor.

 

[TanksHill]

I have electric ignition and I have lit in manually before.

g

 

[rebecca100]

If you buy your gas or set a contract during the heat of the summer the prices are WAY lower than if you get gas during the heart of winter. If I remember right gas is more efficient than electricity, at least with heating. I prefer propane, but I am a little biased since my dh worked for the propane co as a driver and a serviceman for several years so we get ours at employee prices.

 

[mandieg4]

Several years ago we bought a Frigidaire gas stove that was my dream appliance. It had the convection oven with a timer and a simmer burner that was perfect for canning. One of the best features was that the top was self contained so if something boiled over it didn't drip under the burners. Unfortunately we left it behind when we moved and now I have a POS whirlpool with the high burners, manual everything, no electronics, not even a clock. BUT, I would choose it over the electric stove we had in the rental house prior to buying the house we are in.

Every stove top I've had has been white and really not that hard to clean as long as you get the boiled over stuff up fairly quick. I'm not always really good at that but magic erasers are my best friend!

 

[MorelCabin]

Thye top part of the stove can be lit with a match during power failures, but the ovens can't in electronic ignition gas stoves. Only pilot lit ovens will work in case of power failure.

 

[freemotion]

Cool....anything else?