My gas oven died while baking a loaf of bread. I believe it's the ignitor that died, and while it could be repaired, the range/oven is 27+ years old and probably should be replaced. The question is, with what?
I've only used gas for cooking and baking except a few times on vacation. I'm not that familiar with the behavior of electric ovens, and I've never used an induction-type element for cooking. I appreciate the responsiveness of a gas burner for cooking and I suppose that response may be the same with an induction element. Another positive with a gas range is that the burners (but not the oven) can be used during a power outage.
Negatives associated with a gas range are poor indoor air quality (especially NOx), the use of fossil fuel, and possible gas leaks. Our electric supply is 60% fossil fuel, so that would be a small improvement.
Electric ranges are supposedly more efficient, with induction especially so. Radiant electric has slower response; induction response is similar to gas. However, all new cookware will be required for an induction range, an added expense. Also, there will be an expense for capping the gas line and possible electrical upgrade.
Have any TFL members made the switch from gas to electric?
Are there features that I should look for in an electric range?
Thanks!
That is, one with a gas cooktop and electric ovens. From our perspective, the best of both worlds. Ours is a KitchenAid, something very much like this. Since ours is now five years old, I'm not sure that it is the exact same model.
Paul
Thanks, Paul.
What do like about the electric oven vs a gas oven (assuming you have used both)?
Since a gas oven produces heat by burning fuel, it needs a continuous flow of both air and fuel while the burner operates to sustain combustion. That makes trapping steam in an gas oven more or less impossible. The only effective option is to bake the bread in an enclosed vessel, such as a cloche, to trap the steam around the bread while it is needed. Another factor is that gas ovens are primarily heated from the bottom, which can lead to uneven baking. And, finally, my experience is that gas ovens usually have larger temperature swings above and below the set point than do electric ovens.
Although electric ovens are vented, the vents aren't as crucial to effective oven operation as they are for a gas oven. Some bakers actually block the vents in an attempt to retain steam for the early part of the bake. That's an absolute no-no for a gas oven. Newer electric ovens can employ both bottom and top heating elements for more balanced baking. As mentioned above, electric ovens (especially when properly calibrated) typically have smaller temperature swings above and below the set temperature. The oven we have today surprised me by including a steam tray as part of the oven, so that I don't have to find shelf space for a steam pan.
Paul
Going from gas to electric was night and day for me. One of the most significant improvements made early in my baking game.
Like Paul I have a dual fuel cooker - gas hobs, electric oven.
Opting for a fully convection fan oven will give the best results IMO.
Thanks for the response. What made the electric oven superior to a gas oven? Was it the convection?
PS—I learned something else from your post. I thought the hob was the entire stove/range, but it's just the cooktop, correct?
The hob is the part that gets hot and heats a pan to cook food. Also called a "burner", even (sometimes) for an electric stovetop.
TomP
In all likelihood the improvements I noticed were probably due to the fan.
Compared to my previous gas oven (going back nearly 20 years) the heat is so much more penetrative in the electric fan oven.
Previously with gas I always had issues with even browning. Typically the top would get dark brown while the base would be pale.
Over here, "the hob" or "hobs" refer to the gas burners. It seems the word historically relates to cooking over an open flame. Put kettle on hob! (Imagine it said in a Yorkshire accent)
Thanks for the additional info. Gas convection ovens are now available, but it seems the preference here is for electric ovens.
I suppose you could call the control on a gas burner a hob knob?🤣
Haha, good one!
Here, a hobnob is something I'd dunk in my tea or do when at a social gathering... Do you have hobnob biscuits (cookies) in the US?
I checked online with our local grocery chain and it does stock the chocolate hobnobs, as well as several variants of McVitie's digestive biscuits. The chocolate hobnobs are even on sale at $3.89 (from $4.39) for a 300-g pack. I'll have to try a pack; I wish the plain hobnobs were also available. Do you prefer the plain or chocolate hobnob biscuit? The hobnobs seem somewhat similar to an ANZAC biscuit, which is one of my favorite oat biscuit.
We currently have an electric oven, but it does not have an induction cooktop. I had a gas oven for ten years prior to this current electric one. I much prefer an electric oven, but really liked the gas burners. I use a single induction burner for most things since the electric cooktop (that isn't induction) is so terribly unresponsive. The induction based single burner is as good as or better than cooking with gas on a cooktop in my opinion. So if I were buying right now I'd pick an electric oven with an induction top.
Thank you for the response. What characteristics of the electric oven make it better than gas? Because I've never really baked with electric, I have no way to judge between the two.
If I decide on electric, I am leaning toward induction, although I don't relish having to buy a whole new cookware set.
As has been mentioned, gas ovens vent out all your steam. For me this is not a good feature. I converted (i.e. was forced into) to cooking breads in a combo cooker (one round and one long - for baguettes) because I couldn't produce the breads I wanted with a gas oven. Maybe if you are used to this, it's not a winning argument. I hated baking breads with gas, and probably cut back bread baking by 60-70% when I had a gas oven.
Yes, cookware is another consideration for induction. I already had a considerable amount of cast iron. I bought a two more carbon steel pans, and a couple sauce pans that worked with induction, and threw away my pans and pots with non-stick coating that needed to go anyway. It helped that we were moving and downsizing anyway, but feel that the 2 pots and 2 pans we bought will basically last me the remainder of my days as there is no finish to worry about wearing out.
The main benefit of an electric oven for baking is steaming. Gas ovens are usually very well vented, so while you can load a pan with lava rocks and hot water or use the Sylvia steaming towel method, all that steam will escape a gas oven within a minute or so. Electric ovens don't need vents, so most of them are far better at keeping in steam.
Induction is definitely quicker than gas, though some complain that using numbers to adjust the output is clunkier than a knob ( a few induction ranges come with knobs, most have a digital input ). The advantage of a gas cooktop is that not only can you adjust the output pretty easily by turning a knob, in most, you can see the flame, and that gives you positive feedback as to how you have set it.
Some electric ovens vent almost as much as gas ones. That includes my current electric oven and the one before that.
For many years I drove between New Mexico and Virginia twice a year, having homes in both places. In NM I had a gas oven. In VA, I had an electric one. I didn't notice much difference in the baking - despite the large difference in elevation between the two (6000 ft/1830m). I used the same steaming method for both.
Hello,
I’ve had gas and electric ovens and I much prefer the electric ovens by a country mile. My current electric oven is a Gaggenau convection column mounted wall oven, that offers numerous advanced cooking functions.
I particularly love the fact that we mounted the oven (bottom) at waist high level, so it’s so easy to place and remove items from it without stooping over. The door also opens a full 180 degrees to the right (can be ordered with left opening door), so it gets completely out of the way for loading and unloading.
It offers advanced functions like a separate removable lower element for the removable baking stone (in addition to another hidden lower element), the ability to vary the heat produced by the top heating (finishing) element and the bottom element in various 1/3 divisions of power. You can also store recipes for your favourite foods to simplify cooking setup.
Max heating is 550 degrees Fahrenheit, with a great convection fan and the ability to store advanced cooking functions with multiple elements in use, as well as using the convection fan or not. Built in rotisserie as well (very nice and we use it regularly!) and a dedicated dough proofing cycle and a defrosting cycle.
It’s been a superb oven and I bake bread and pastries in it regularly, if I’m not baking them in my separate Gaggenau combo-steam oven… I can easily do eight loaves in it with good spacing. It always produces excellent, even colours without hot spots. Convection fans are awesome!
Note: My separate induction hob and disappearing down draft is located on the central island, our kitchen layout does not offer sufficient space for an integrated hob/oven unit
Cheers!
Stay away from GE (electric) mine has been a nightmare. It never holds the same temp and the GD broiler comes on when baking!!!! Plus the broiler won't stay on if you open the door making the dam thing pointless
Some moron designing ranges does not understand that when broiling the point is to have the food get heated up by the heat source but to allow the pan it is on to stay cooler so it does not burn by the door being open. It's like making toast. try covering the top of your toaster with something that will hold the heat in the next time you make toast and that is what a closed door broiler is doing. No response from them to my letters.
Thanks for the input. I'll keep that in mind. I still haven't decided on a replacement but I am leaning toward a Frigidaire induction range. I have been able to make do with a toaster oven for now.
Hi! I see the original thread was posted in July and now here we are several months later and you are taking your time :) Good! I'll share what I went through a couple years ago, maybe this will help. My 20 year old GE gas oven/range/stovetop was making lots of boom-boom noises and the oven took a while to actually ignite, all of which was concerning and I thought the oven was on its way out and I wanted a new toy.
Quick takeaways:
Long story short: I simply replaced the igniter in the oven, and it works like new. I am somewhat handy, it was only 8 sheet metal screws and the part was either $25 for aftermarket, or $120 for one from GE. I inspected everything in the oven while the covers were off, and the components were in excellent shape otherwise. I ran into a slight problem where the screws on the old igniter were rusted in, so it took a little effort to get them out, but I succeeded and the oven works like new. A good repairman or handyman can do this in under an hour and it shouldn't cost much, actual labor time for me was probably 2-3 hours as I took my time.
Long story long: I looked into gas vs electric, dual-fuel, combi-ovens with steam, and induction. Since I had both 220V and gas already at the kitchen.. I was really drawn to induction, and read about all its quirks and noises and beeps and boops. If you have no experience with it, I recommend you try to find live examples of them and test them out. One of my neighbors has a jennaire, while the main Bosch Showroom about 35 minutes from me has a cooking station where they demoed it for me. The odd little noises were a non-issue for me, and I was about to splurge for a bosch unit, but GE put their "made in USA" induction on steep sale/discount, which I could say no to. I purchased the GE, it was delivered, and... the thing made so much fan noise, it was louder than the hiss from gas stove and really bothered me. The oven was junk, too, very poor quality. I ended up returning it and fortunately I kept the old stove in the garage and fixed/reinstalled it myself (the original plan was to drag it to the driveway and use my trash service to take it away, they offer 2x/year heavy haul service, so I would save $50).
The comments about steam in electric vs gas are on point. That said, I learned how to bake well in my oven, and also have found ways to steam my gas oven that work reasonably well, but I am worried someone will misread how I do it and hurt themselves so I don't share how I do it.
Well, good luck with the decision :)