Several people have offered their opinions on appliances. I am always open to hearing what others have to say and I appreciate stories of real-life experience vs. cheesy appliance salespeople's stories.
That said, I grew up cooking on an electric stove. Well, cooking in the *very* loose sense of the word, as previously explained. When my husband and I first got married I had an electric range in our townhome. When we bought our home in 1997 it had a gas stove. I learned to cook with it, but I *never* liked it. It did okay, it was fine, but when we did a remodel of the kitchen in 2003 the gas stove went away and was replaced by a cheap used electric one. My theory being I'd rather have a crappy electric stove than a decent gas one. For the record, I never regretted my decision.
In 2000 my mom and dad did a huge kitchen remodel and got a ceramic top electric stove. I have since cooked many meals on that stove, usually for 10-15 people. I LOVE it. She loves it. It still looks beautiful, it heats up just as quickly as my gas stove did, and it cooks like a dream. This is why I want a ceramic top. I know people who had them when they first came out who were never happy with them, but my guess is they've improved a lot.
I really am a great cook. And I know all about the cooking shows and the gas, yada yada. Whatever. But I really want electric. My Calphalon stainless steel pots and pans will cook beautifully on it, because they cook beautifully no matter what they are on. But I will also have a beautiful stove that is infinitely easier to clean than the current icky electric one I have in this rental and my house in Minnesota, and WAY easier to clean than the gas stove from hell I had before.
If you have a gas range and you love it, congratulations. I am happy for ya. But I'm officially dropping out of that club forever, thanks.
(Still looking for input on the vacuum ... anyone?)
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I have never ever cooked on a gas stove, so I will be in your club.
ReplyDeleteI had a bagless vacuum and it died and I just bought one with a bag and I like the bagless one better--you can get out stuff easy if you pick up a lego or some other piece of crap that you shouldn't have picked up.
On the vacuum front.... I've got the Dyson and love it... It's a bit pricey but I've never, ever, ever had a vacuum pull as much crap out of my carpets as the Dyson... You know how many animals I have - you can only imagine how much fur and hair lives on my carpets (yes, gross!) But the Dyson gets it all up.... Look into it - it's a life saver for me! ;o)
ReplyDeleteI have to say I prefer gas stoves, but I don't think it's an option for me, the lines would require more effort or cash than I'm willing to spend to make it happen.
ReplyDeleteTruly, I don't know what is wrong with mine. I do know the previous owners of this house (5 of the 8 years on my stove) were terribly hard on everything here. I would replace it, but I haven't taken the time to look into what would be a good replacement for it. Since I rarely need more than two burners, it's not so awful that two don't heat. What's not so great is that the two that work are the small ones, and I have chintzy T-fal pans from Walmart that don't heat very well...takes a LONG time to boil up my stock pot.
Also, mine says in the instructions that it needs some special cleaner to clean it up. I don't have this cleaner (thanks former occupant!) and again, have not looked for it. Bet my top would look better if I did have it. Make sure you get info on that aspect too.
Our mutual friend who just redid her kitchen with the granite from Brazil has a flat-top in cream...I'll ask her what kind she got. It's just the stove top though, she put in wall ovens if you remember.
Oh, and I'm not trying to talk you out of it, just want you to be sure you don't get a dud like mine!
I am totally into cleaning-- and not cooking - so here's my vacuum input. I have a bagless, it's a Fantom. It's okay. Doesn't seem to pick up everything in its path. I feel like I have to run over the same little scrap of paper 10 times before it's gone. But then again when I empty the cannister - there's tons of "stuff." Probably carpet fiber-- also if you vacuum a bead, or something hard, you hear the damn thing being tossed around the vacuum - and its sooooo anoying that you have to empty the damn thing just to continue. In secret -I long for my old vacuum.
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