New generation stoves just keep getting better, and in astonishing ways! Half the wood consumption represents just one of many major improvements. These are mostly unknown to the public, and rarely explained when shopping. Most shoppers use outdated criteria to buy stoves. Unskilled and overworked sales people are little to no help. The 'best' stoves of the past are now more than a poor choice. They are considered by many unethical to sell. The reasons are thoughtfully explained below, intuitive, and worth reading...
A comprehensive buying guide to make selecting that stove or oven a more pleasant and worry-free experience.
Shopping for a new oven or stove can be a daunting experience. Gone are the days when stoves came in two options: a gas stove with a gas oven attached or an electric stove with an electric oven attached. You will likely find yourself inundated with options and a slew of new vocabulary to learn. And while all of those new options might seem overwhelming at first, in most cases, they mean great things for you in terms of accessibility, usability, and overall quality. We hope that this buying guide will give you all of the information you need to be comfortable in your shopping and, ultimately, your purchase.
Three rules for buying a stove and/or oven
1. Know your needs
Do you bake a lot? Do you need double wall ovens, dual range ovens, or a single oven? These are important questions to have in your back pocket before shopping for a stove and oven, as they will enable you to narrow the selection significantly.
2. Consider variety
Many manufacturers offer multiple stovetop and oven combinations to fit your specific, practical needs. For example, you may be interested in new ranges that include two smaller ovens. Or, you may want to consider dual-fuel ranges, which give you both the benefits of a gas stove and the temperature precision of an electric oven.
3. Know your budget
Shopping for a stove and/or oven is a lot like shopping for a wedding dress - don't try on the $10,000 dress if you're not willing or able to spend that much. Set your budget from the beginning and keep in mind that many retailers have sales, particularly around holiday weekends. We recommend subscribing to emails from Lowes, Home Depot, Sears, and Best Buy. Doing so gives you access to emailed coupons, as well as the dates of sales and presales, both in-store and online.
Types of stoves
Stove designs fall into two basic configurations: a cooktop with a separate wall or counter-mounted oven, or a freestanding range that includes both the oven and the cooktop in one integrated unit.
Gas
Gas stoves have long been valued for the uniformity of their heat output. An open flame surrounds the bottom of your cookware, evenly distributing the heat around it. This heat output is measured in BTUs (British Thermal Units) and the range varies from stove to stove, and from burner to burner, generally falling between 5,000 BTUs for low heat on a small burner and 17,000 BTUs for high heat on a large burner.
In addition to even cooking, in states where natural gas is very affordable, gas stoves are popular for their economy. Gas stoves also don't require electricity for their core cooking functions, so you can still use them in the event of a power outage.
Electric smoothtop (Glass-ceramic cooktop)
Many consumers are drawn to the sleek, shiny appearance of smooth cooktops. Rather than separate coiled burners, these cooktops are made of completely smooth glass-ceramic cooking surfaces. The heating units, usually in a traditional four-burner layout, sit under the surface. A built-in sensor lets you know when a burner is still hot. This is important with smoothtop cooking surfaces - if the heat is on very low, the burner does not always turn red. The downside to this cooktop is that is is prone to scratching and limits the kind of cookware you can use.
Cast iron is never appropriate, nor is stoneware or glass. If you do buy one of these cooktops, it is important to place your cookware on the stovetop. Never drag it into place or it will cause scratches. It is also important to never let your cookware "boil dry" on a smoothtop stove, as overheated metal can bond with the glass. You may love the sleek look of the glass-ceramic cooktop, which is easy to clean with a solution that can be purchased at almost any hardware store or supermarket. If you live in an older house or are unsure about the wiring in your home, you might want to look into the minimum circuit rating. Many cooktops require 50 amps while certain houses are only wired to support 30. If in doubt, double check.
Electric coil
The electric coil stove heats cookware by converting the electricity running into the coil into heat using conductible metals. These stoves contain thermostat sensors which notify you when a burner is on, but not necessarily whether it is still hot. Some people prefer them to gas stoves because there is no risk of a gas leak. Electric stoves also have no open flame, reducing the risk of a kitchen fire. Electric coil stoves are, however, notorious for uneven cooking. In many cases, this is due to uneven distribution of the coil. In short, it is hard to keep the coil perfectly level, which can make all of the food in the pan slide to one side. In addition, electric coil stoves are slow to heat and slow to cool. But you may prefer this stove because of its affordable price point and simplicity.
Induction cooktops
With traditional cooking, the stove top applies either an open flame or electric heat to the bottom of your cookware. This causes the heat to transfer more or less throughout the piece of cookware. We say "more or less," because electric stoves are notorious for uneven heating, mostly because it is difficult to keep the coils perfectly level. But with induction cooking, the cooking vessel itself becomes the heat source. This works via an element just below the surface of the cooktop that creates a magnetic field. When you place a piece of cookware containing iron on top of that magnetic element, it causes a vibration of sorts, which, through a series of magnetic interactions with the highly resistant iron, is converted into heat.
This is fascinating technology for a lot of reasons. First, the induction top will only heat the area in direct contact with the cookware, meaning that any surrounding cooktop surface will remain completely cool to the touch. Second, due to the fact that this heating reaction happens on a molecular level, cookware, and thereby its contents, can be heated very, very quickly while still allowing allowing precise temperature control.
If you're curious about cost of operation, induction cooktops are the most efficient, costing the least to operate due to the direct nature of their heat delivery. With traditional cooking tops, energy is first converted into heat and then transferred into the cookware. With an induction cooktop, the energy is directly applied to the cookware, which becomes the heating element.
Read more: http://www.cnet.com/topics/ovens/buying-guide/
Visit us: http://energyhousefresno.com/
from energyhouse http://energyhouse.livejournal.com/7999.html
A comprehensive buying guide to make selecting that stove or oven a more pleasant and worry-free experience.
Shopping for a new oven or stove can be a daunting experience. Gone are the days when stoves came in two options: a gas stove with a gas oven attached or an electric stove with an electric oven attached. You will likely find yourself inundated with options and a slew of new vocabulary to learn. And while all of those new options might seem overwhelming at first, in most cases, they mean great things for you in terms of accessibility, usability, and overall quality. We hope that this buying guide will give you all of the information you need to be comfortable in your shopping and, ultimately, your purchase.
Three rules for buying a stove and/or oven
1. Know your needs
Do you bake a lot? Do you need double wall ovens, dual range ovens, or a single oven? These are important questions to have in your back pocket before shopping for a stove and oven, as they will enable you to narrow the selection significantly.
2. Consider variety
Many manufacturers offer multiple stovetop and oven combinations to fit your specific, practical needs. For example, you may be interested in new ranges that include two smaller ovens. Or, you may want to consider dual-fuel ranges, which give you both the benefits of a gas stove and the temperature precision of an electric oven.
3. Know your budget
Shopping for a stove and/or oven is a lot like shopping for a wedding dress - don't try on the $10,000 dress if you're not willing or able to spend that much. Set your budget from the beginning and keep in mind that many retailers have sales, particularly around holiday weekends. We recommend subscribing to emails from Lowes, Home Depot, Sears, and Best Buy. Doing so gives you access to emailed coupons, as well as the dates of sales and presales, both in-store and online.
Types of stoves
Stove designs fall into two basic configurations: a cooktop with a separate wall or counter-mounted oven, or a freestanding range that includes both the oven and the cooktop in one integrated unit.
Gas
Gas stoves have long been valued for the uniformity of their heat output. An open flame surrounds the bottom of your cookware, evenly distributing the heat around it. This heat output is measured in BTUs (British Thermal Units) and the range varies from stove to stove, and from burner to burner, generally falling between 5,000 BTUs for low heat on a small burner and 17,000 BTUs for high heat on a large burner.
In addition to even cooking, in states where natural gas is very affordable, gas stoves are popular for their economy. Gas stoves also don't require electricity for their core cooking functions, so you can still use them in the event of a power outage.
Electric smoothtop (Glass-ceramic cooktop)
Many consumers are drawn to the sleek, shiny appearance of smooth cooktops. Rather than separate coiled burners, these cooktops are made of completely smooth glass-ceramic cooking surfaces. The heating units, usually in a traditional four-burner layout, sit under the surface. A built-in sensor lets you know when a burner is still hot. This is important with smoothtop cooking surfaces - if the heat is on very low, the burner does not always turn red. The downside to this cooktop is that is is prone to scratching and limits the kind of cookware you can use.
Cast iron is never appropriate, nor is stoneware or glass. If you do buy one of these cooktops, it is important to place your cookware on the stovetop. Never drag it into place or it will cause scratches. It is also important to never let your cookware "boil dry" on a smoothtop stove, as overheated metal can bond with the glass. You may love the sleek look of the glass-ceramic cooktop, which is easy to clean with a solution that can be purchased at almost any hardware store or supermarket. If you live in an older house or are unsure about the wiring in your home, you might want to look into the minimum circuit rating. Many cooktops require 50 amps while certain houses are only wired to support 30. If in doubt, double check.
Electric coil
The electric coil stove heats cookware by converting the electricity running into the coil into heat using conductible metals. These stoves contain thermostat sensors which notify you when a burner is on, but not necessarily whether it is still hot. Some people prefer them to gas stoves because there is no risk of a gas leak. Electric stoves also have no open flame, reducing the risk of a kitchen fire. Electric coil stoves are, however, notorious for uneven cooking. In many cases, this is due to uneven distribution of the coil. In short, it is hard to keep the coil perfectly level, which can make all of the food in the pan slide to one side. In addition, electric coil stoves are slow to heat and slow to cool. But you may prefer this stove because of its affordable price point and simplicity.
Induction cooktops
With traditional cooking, the stove top applies either an open flame or electric heat to the bottom of your cookware. This causes the heat to transfer more or less throughout the piece of cookware. We say "more or less," because electric stoves are notorious for uneven heating, mostly because it is difficult to keep the coils perfectly level. But with induction cooking, the cooking vessel itself becomes the heat source. This works via an element just below the surface of the cooktop that creates a magnetic field. When you place a piece of cookware containing iron on top of that magnetic element, it causes a vibration of sorts, which, through a series of magnetic interactions with the highly resistant iron, is converted into heat.
This is fascinating technology for a lot of reasons. First, the induction top will only heat the area in direct contact with the cookware, meaning that any surrounding cooktop surface will remain completely cool to the touch. Second, due to the fact that this heating reaction happens on a molecular level, cookware, and thereby its contents, can be heated very, very quickly while still allowing allowing precise temperature control.
If you're curious about cost of operation, induction cooktops are the most efficient, costing the least to operate due to the direct nature of their heat delivery. With traditional cooking tops, energy is first converted into heat and then transferred into the cookware. With an induction cooktop, the energy is directly applied to the cookware, which becomes the heating element.
Read more: http://www.cnet.com/topics/ovens/buying-guide/
Visit us: http://energyhousefresno.com/
from energyhouse http://energyhouse.livejournal.com/7999.html
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