People love cooking with gas, whether it is in a restaurant, or in a home kitchen. If you are looking for a fancy and sexy performer, a gas stove is the only option.
There are laws in the United States that aim to sunset the use of gas stoves for environmental and health reasons. Few people will miss their gas ovens, but they are grieving the loss of their gas burners. I see this in the course of my work as a kitchen tech reviewer, where I am often asked if I should get a gas stove while I still can. You might be surprised at how well it works. You might love it.
Like me, most of us cook on what we know, what we grew up with, and what happened when we moved to a new place. In the US, that is usually gas or electric. If we want a fancy new range, something we aspire to, something the pros use or something our trendy friends use, gas is what we want. When I was a child, my mom cooked on a yellow GE stove with orange electric coils that glowed when hot. The solid French-style burners were trendy but slow to heat. She upgraded to a gas range that was fun and fast when the stove failed.
In the United States, it wasn't really a star treatment. The technology that uses electromagnets to transfer energy directly to your pots and pans was introduced on American shores in the 1970s. We have done a good job of ignoring it, since it has almost all of the qualities chefs love: It is flat, easy to clean, powerful, and heats fast. If you put on a pot of pasta water, you will be amazed at how quickly it comes to a boil. Natural gas has a lot of power. It gives it street cred, the heat is instant, and what would a cooking show be without frequent cuts to the exciting whoomp! of a burner being lit? The flame and clang of pans on the grate are also appealing. If you're having a midlife crisis, you might want to consider buying a gas stove from one of the expensive brands.
The problem with gas stoves is that we probably shouldn't use them anymore. Like cars with engines, gas stoves emit greenhouse gases. Older models leak gas into our homes when they are not on. State laws are banning gas hookups in new buildings. If the opportunity presents itself, why not take it? There are often bigger air quality offenders in homes. The author and New York Times columnist, Ronda Kaysen, does a nice job of showing how gas stoves are the thin edge of the wedge when converting from natural gas to electric.
Even if it isn't the most ecological choice, gas is still the trendiest option because it is sexy and works well. It has no performance issues despite its marketing problems.
Baby, Burn.
I did a head-to-head test with the equipment I had available to me, boiling two liters of water on two stoves. I used one of the two medium-sized and big ones, which can give me up to 3,700 watt, and the one with one small element. The other was my sister's gas stove. I used the same amount of water in the same pot, and made sure the water started at the same temperature. I turned the burner on full blast at home and started a stopwatch. Impressive energy transfer capabilities were immediately visible. The steam started rising at 2:30 after the water hit 100 degrees. It hit a rolling boil at 4:44 after making a pre-boil noise at 3:20. A pot that was watched has never delivered such excitement. I put the pan on the big gas burner at my sister&s house and it took almost twice as long to cook it as it did when I took it to the GE stovetop. I think that is a good time difference to make for some pleasing myth busting.
It might be a marketing problem. If I worked for the lobbying group, I would push for a name like Eco Rocket or Rocket Electric. I would like tout the nice heat and compare it to the way a gas flame can move in a breeze or if the burner cap iskew. I would talk about how most days I just clean the cooktop with soapy water and a Scrunge, as compared to lugging the heavy gas grate over to the sink to scrub, then attacking the gas cooktop with all its nooks and crannies. In the age of the countertop appliance, I am happy to have the induction cooktop as a nice flat bit of extra counter space.
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