New Stove!! Smooth top or coil?

[EvelynK72]

Well, I hate an electric stove, but I'm stuck with one. Gas heats up so much faster, and when its off, its off. Easier to regulate.

But I have always had a flat top and I like it very much, I have no problems with it at all. Burnt on marks are a little hard to scrub off, but not a problem. I never put glass or corning ware on the flat top, but I didn't put it on gas either.

So why can't you use glass or corningware on the flat tops - do they not heat well or evenly? Or do the glass "pots" break? Am considering a flat top also, but I do use a fair number of corningware & visions pots.

Thanks.
Evelyn

 

[Kay H]

So why can't you use glass or corningware on the flat tops - do they not heat well or evenly? Or do the glass "pots" break? Am considering a flat top also, but I do use a fair number of corningware & visions pots.

Thanks.
Evelyn

When I got my smooth top stove I was told by the installer that glass cookware would scratch the glass stove top. Never tried to prove him wrong.

In my previous house I had a white smooth top stove and it definitely did not clean as nicely as my current black one does. Maybe they were new on the market and not perfected yet.

I don't know if I LOVE mine but it is certainly no harder to clean than taking the burners apart, scrubbing those silver inserts and replacing them with new ones when they no longer cleaned up.

 

[wauhob3]

I never found mine hard to clean and love it. There's no where for spills to go like there is in coil electric stoves. The only problem would occur if someone overflows and it isn;t wiped up and then you cook on the burnt food over and over. I imagine that would be hard to clean up but why would anyone do that. Its the same as if you never wipe counters off then it'll get nastier and nastier making it harder to clean.

I think the glass pot warning is because if you cook at extreme temps with the old visionware there was a danger of fusing the glasses together. I doubt it was common.

 

[swift]

My induction cooktop is a breeze to clean up. Because the cooktop heats the food not so much the pan so spils don't get cooked to the surface of the cooktop. Induction doesn't heat the burner, it heats the pan using electro-magnetic technology. The magnets cause the metal particles in the pan to vibrate and rub against each other causing friction... and friction results in heat. This direct heat is quicker and more responsive than any other cooking method around because you don't have to wait for the pan to heat up... it's instantly hot once you turn the burner on.

 

[Beaglemom3]

I was told by the appliance salesperson that you could not put cast iron on the smooth/flat top, so I opted for the coiled model.

 

[swift]

I was told by the appliance salesperson that you could not put cast iron on the smooth/flat top, so I opted for the coiled model.

I use mine all the time. As long as a magnet will stick to the bottom of the pan you can use it. In the older models people were very concerned about scratching the surface. The newer surfaces are much better.

 

[pjrose]

So why can't you use glass or corningware on the flat tops - do they not heat well or evenly? Or do the glass "pots" break? Am considering a flat top also, but I do use a fair number of corningware & visions pots.

Thanks.
Evelyn

There are several different heating technologies under the flat tops.

We use Corningware on ours.

 

[vivalour]

The moral of the story is, you have to know exactly what you are buying, from the cooking technology under the glass, to the control buttons/pads, to the glass surface itself. Ours is a pain to clean (not like any counters I've ever met); a pain to control for low heat; a loser all around.

 

[JudyH]

I just don't cook in glass cause its too hard to clean. I'm a rather lazy cook.

 

[PrairieGirl]

new cleaning tool for a flat cooktop

Don't know if it is only available in Canada, but if you have trouble cleaning your flat cooktop, give the new sponge by Vileda made specifically for that purpose a try - it is amazing!

One side is a bit rough for spilled over cooked-on food and the other side is smooth. It is impregnated with some type of cleaner so the ONLY thing you do is get it wet, use it and then rinse it out - water only. I have had NO trouble with it scratching the surface (of course it claims that it won't, but I was still a bit uneasy).

Seems to work way better than that razor blade scraper thingy on stubborn spills and the smooth side leaves a totally streak free finish. I would not have believed that cleaning up the flat cooktop could be made this easy.

LeAnn

 

[vivalour]

<<Don't know if it is only available in Canada, but if you have trouble cleaning your flat cooktop, give the new sponge by Vileda made specifically for that purpose a try - it is amazing!>>

Thanks, I will check out my neigbourhood WalMart (Ontario). So far, a LOT of elbow grease is only thing that has worked -- temporarily. Even water drops get baked into the glass as stains!

 

[shugga]

I prefer gas, but now in NC I have electric.

I have a Kenmore glass top range and use a product that I get at Bed Bath and Beyond, called Bar Keeper's Friend, to clean it. (the liquid) That and a plastic scrubbie clean it wonderfully.

 

[shmoore]

I have had my GE Profile smooth top for about 15 years and love it. I think I'm only on my 3rd or 4th bottle of special cleaner. Soap and hot water usually work and I often don't clean it more than twice weekly. I had to get flat bottom pans and I love them too. I got the Circulon. Now I hate to cook on the coil type stoves when we go on vacation. I always did hate cleaning the pans and trying to get the coils level.

 

[Victoria]

Thanks everyone for all your help! I still am not sure what route to go - possibly leaning toward a smooth top after looking how messed up the old coils are. I will have an intelligent talk with the salesman - thanks to you all - and see what conclusion we reach. I'm off shopping now!!!

 

[Icc5]

Having it put in

Having a flat glass top put it and the contractor by accident put his knee through it. He is replacing it. It is a 36 in. Kitchen Aid. Lucky for him we could still get another one for $1130 instead of the $1400 we see if for at other places.
Bart

 

[sammy]

I cook a lot. While I prefer gas on stainless, there are benefits to the electric smoohttop.

I have a black smoothtop now. Here are some other things to consider:

- not all smoothtops are equal. I believe (reserach this because I may have mixed up the names) Frigidaire is the most durable top. My GE is just OK. I had a salesman take a knife to the Frigidaire (I think) and it was unharmed. Impressive.

- black smoothtops are more finicky than the grey speckled ones becuase any tiny burn or whatever REALLY shows; the speckles ones are very forgiving. So they require fewer rigorous cleans. If I get another smoothtop, it will be speckled.

- I have had coils, too, and while smoothtops can take a little elbow grease from time to time, it is NOTHING compared to the TLC required in cleaning up the coils and drip pans.

- I do have a little trouble with pans slipping around a tad. I am used to heavy wrought iron type grates on my gas stoves so this slippery glass is quite different. On the other hand, it makes it really nice to cook with really huge pots - or double pans for pancakes.

- Pick a cooktop with the arrangement of big/small heating elements that are most comfortable and most like the way you cook.

 

[Fitzriley]

I didn't read all the way to the beginning, so this may have already been mentioned, but here is my story...

I love my glass top, but my teenager stood on it to get something off the top of the fridge and, of course, it cracked. Rather expensive to replace. I had scratched it by cooking jiffy pop popcorn when I first got it and didn't know better, so I got a new one after she stepped on it and have been more careful since.

I love it, hate coils.

 

[nightnurse613]

I have managed to keep up with cleaning my glass top but, my husband is a very messy cook. Things splatter, oil gets on burner then gets on bottom of pan. Now I have stainless steel pans that the bottom has a coating of yucky grease. As soon as he puts them on the glass top-you got it- a greasy mess. Other than hiring your neighbors, is there a lazy person's way to clean the grease off of the bottom of stainless steel pans? Anyone ever use the magic bullet? I have bought some aluminum cleaners but, whew! they take a lot of work! Any other secrets. By the way, I bought some Fuller spray off of QVC which I use on my glass top-works pretty good-but I still need the razor scraper! HELP!