What Kind of Cookstove Do You Use?

When we bought this house in September, 2005, it had this Kitchenaid ceramic glass cooktop stove with convection oven, etc. It appeared to be new and unused (single man was living here), but I learned it was actually a 1999 model. At any rate, we have really liked it, until this dummy fumbled a Pyrex measuring cup Friday. Yep, busted that glass. Now I don't know what parts for other brands might cost, but this one is $302 plus tax and I'm letting a pro fix it, so the grand total is going to cost me $520.93. It's been a long time since this old man did something dumb enought to throw away that much money all at once for nothing, and I sure hope it's even longer before I do it again.

So if you have a glass top stove, be more careful than I was. [img]/forums/images/icons/crazy.gif[/img]

Wow We have a Kenmore that we bought in 2002 when the house was built. I don't remember but I don't think it was not much over $600 if that much. I would have sure looked at just buying a new one. But then again finding one exactly the same size could be difficult. They cut our counter top to fit the stove.

Jim, I did a little shopping to try to decide whether I should just buy a new stove, and comparable stoves start around $1,200 and go up to over $2,000. And, except for the broken glass, this one still looks new. My wife does a pretty good job of keeping it clean and looking good. [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

Bird, I am just too old fashioned, stubborn, set in my ways, and such because I just don't like electric stoves tops of any type, smooth top, coiled elements, infra-red, or whatever. I have a 5 burner stove top fueled by propane. I can see the fire and easily estimate how much I want. When I turn it off it quits cooking, now not in a few to several minutes. The grates are contiguous so I can slide a pot from a to b just as well as a smooth glass top stove.

I don't mind an electric oven and think they are better than gas with better temp regulation and choice of conventional or convection or broil. My Sears Kenmore range has two electric ovens with the larger one doing broil, convection, or regular bake. The smaller oven will bake or broil but no convection.

When we have an electrical power outage we still have the use of the stove top with the only change being having to light the gas flame manually. Now with a standby generator even that will not be required.

A friend of ours accidentally left a "burner turned on with a pan on it with his glass smooth top range. The pan was "welded" to the stovetop. He tried lots of ways to get the pan loose but couldn't do it without breaking the glass. He is now (dare I say it... once again) cookin' with gas!!!

Pat

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old fashioned,

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Back on the farm I recall it was big step toward modernization when the old wood/coal fired cook stove got replaced by a propane fired model.

On other occasions when touring some older houses I noticed that the wood/coal cook stove would have been modern when compared to a cooking fireplace.

Now I suppose the fireplace was a great improvement over a circle of stones on the ground and open to the elements. [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Egon [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Pat, as you would expect, at my age, I've used cookstoves with natural gas, LPG, and electric. Each has advantages and disadvantages. I can understand your preference for gas, but I actually prefer electric. And in my current situation, I don't really have a lot of choice. [img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img] There is no natural gas available in my neighborhood, and the only LPG is 3 homes I'm aware of that were here before the town existed, and of course, those 3 are on big lots. (Another thing that does not exist in this area is street lights that most cities have)

Now I do have two 20# propane bottles and four outdoor propane fired cookers. [img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img] There's the smoker and the grill on the patio, then I have a big turkey fryer in the shop that I move out onto a concrete parking area when I use it, and then I have just a burner that I've used inside the shop for a fish fryer.

So, in the event of an extended power outage, I can still brew some coffee, and I won't go hungry. [img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img]

Bird, I have cooked by open fire, fireplace, wood stove, coal stove, alcohol stove (with oven), diesel fueled stove, electric coil, flat top electric, but... I prefer cooking with gas on the stove top and electric oven. I like the heck out of microwave and have 4 appliance garages in the kitchen for microwaves but only have microwaves in 3 of them.

I have seen but not tried it myself... solar cooking. An insulated box with a glass front and reflectors on the sides to capture more sunlight. Didn't take all that long to roast a chicken and bake 4 big potatoes and some ears of corn. I'd hate to rely on it with our variable weather.

Pat

You're way ahead of me, Pat. [img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img] I, too, have cooked on wood on an open fire and in a fireplace, but not on wood, coal, alcohol, or diesel fueled stoves. And yes, the microwave oven was a marvelous invention. We only have one, but if it died, I'd be at the store looking for another one within the hour. [img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img] We also use the countertop toaster/broiler/oven a great deal. We've always had small, cheap ones in the past but a year ago last December, I sprung for the KitchenAid countertop oven because of its larger size and the features I liked in addition to the KitchenAid reputation for quality.

I've read that the first commercial microwave oven was marketed in 1954 but I don't think I saw one until 1968-69. I had a part time job at the Marriott Hotel/Motel back then and they had a Radarange in the kitchen. The restaurant was open all night, but the chef left a big pan of cold biscuits each night and that radarange would make diners think those biscuits were fresh baked. To an old country boy like me, it was a fascinating piece of equipment. But I don't guess we bought our first one for home use until 1977-78.

I bought my first microwave in about 1969-70. They were expensive back then. Our first was a Litton (Radar Range pioneers) and it spent more time in the shop than on the counter. A while later the next one was cheaper and better.

Diesel stoves work just fine, especially the forced draft ones with an electric fan to supply combustion air. The natural draft ones were not so great. They will get hot, really hot.

Oh, I just remembered... I had a solid fuel stove (charcoal, wood scraps, presto logs, etc) configured as a miniature fireplace. I had installed it in the cabin of the sailboat we lived on for 9 years. Just for giggles we could do wieners and marshmallows on sticks with that stove which was intended as a cabin heater. If you stoked it up the sidewalls would glow red. I used one of those multi speed rubber bladed accessory wind shield fans to homogenize the cabin air and avoid the hot head-cold feet syndrome. There was a cover in front that cold be latched in the raised position and you cold look inside at the fire (miniature fireplace) or close it down and then be able to regulate the air intake and damper for a better controlled longer burn.

Pat

I told my wife, day before yesterday, that we may not be able to afford for me to get out of bed much longer if I don't quit breaking things. I've told you I busted the ceramic glass cooktop (new one was delivered yesterday and the service tech is supposed to be here Monday morning to fix it), but then Thursday morning I put a big brisket on the top shelf of the refrigerator in the shop. That afternoon, when I went to take it out again, the shelf came part of the way out, fell, and busted. I never did think glass shelves in refrigerators was a good idea, but anyway . . . with my usual luck, none of the 3 Sears Service Centers in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area have that $30 glass in stock, so the shipping cost is $10.99 + tax, of course. [img]/forums/images/icons/frown.gif[/img] It's supposed to be here Tuesday.

Now my wife says problems usually come in threes, so we're wondering how expensive that third one will be, and when. [img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img]

Pat, you're reminding me of when I worked road construction years ago. We used to wrap sausage, corn, onions, etc. in aluminum foil around mid-morning and put it in the hopper of the paver, up around the edges away from the material conveyor and cover it with asphalt right out of the truck. Many a time the operator would forget we had food in there and activate the clamshell hoppers. Then we had to walk back looking for the shiny spot in the newly paved road and dig out our lunch before the roller operator went over it. Did similar thing by putting lunch on manifolds of the backhoes or bulldozers if we weren't paving.

I guess the point is that heat is heat and certain foods can be cooked a multitude of ways. Although I love microwaves, I still pan fry, grill, bake or stick a hot dog on a stick in the fireplace or over a campfire every now and then. BTW, I agree with you on the gas cooktop and electric oven. Best combination for my money.

Put some clay mud over unshucked corn and put directly in the coals of a campfire. Wrap fish in leaves (careful which leaves), coat with mud and into the coals. Potatoes... ditto. Choose your mud and leaves correctly and there is no off flavor notes. Mud bakes but protects the contents. Break out the food and bon apetite.

Cross country driving and foil wrapped food on and around the engine is a widely known method. IT WORKS!!!

Pat

Pat, way back when I was 12 or 13 years old, I killed a fish, then packe it in clay and put it in the fire; didn't use any leaves. When I cracked open the clay, the fish skin stuck to the clay, so I had nice white skinless fish. That worked quite well.

Well, I broke the glass cooktop on Friday, 5/29/09, and called KitchenAid. The guy there made the appointment for A&amp;E Factory Service to come on 6/2/09. I'd never heard of A&amp;E Factory Service, but it's owned by Sears. In keeping with their usual policies, the technician didn't come to fix the stove, only to "diagnose" the problem, order the part to be delivered directly to me, get paid for the part, and make another appointment to come back to fix it. He made the appointment to come back yesterday between 8 a.m. and noon. The part arrived via UPS Friday, 6/5/09, and someone from A&amp;E called Saturday, 6/6/09, to ask if the part had arrived (it had) and confirmed the appointment of 8 a.m. to noon.

Yesterday, the technician called at 10:30 a.m. to say he had 6 or 7 other calls and it would be 1 to 1:30 p.m. before he could get here. He called back an hour or so later to say it was going to be 2 to 2:30, then he called at 3:15 to say he was on his way and got here at 4 p.m. He was through and gone in 30 minutes.

Now I don't mind tackling most jobs myself if I have either (1) someone to tell me how to do it, or (2) the instruction manual, but since I had neither, I let the pro do it, and sure enough, it's quite simple. Had I known, I could have saved $250 to $300. [img]/forums/images/icons/crazy.gif[/img]

Leaves are optional. You don't need to cut off heads or tails or fins, just gut 'em, clay 'em and onto the coals. Nice "clean" clay is a plus, not swampy muck with off flavors.

Clay is not required for ears of unshucked corn either if you like the caramelized dried corn you get with the shucks burning off similar to what you get from the street vendors in Mexico.

Pat