Gas vs. Electric Stoves - Buying Guide

What Is a Kitchen Range?

A kitchen range is both the stove top and oven in one unit. There are a few different considerations for finding the best new range for your home, from the type and size of range, to the power source most appropriate for your kitchen.

• Installation Type - Choose either a freestanding unit or a slide-in. While a freestanding range has finished sides to blend with the kitchen and appliances, the slide-in is designed to be built into the cabinetry. 
• Size - The most common sizes among ranges are 30”, 36” or 48” widths. They can be found as narrow as 20” or as a wide as 66” across the front panel. 

Heating Power Source - While a gas range may plug into the wall to power the control panel, the heat source is fueled by the home gas line. Electric stoves run on electricity from a dedicated 220 volt outlet.

Gas vs Electric Stoves

When looking for a new stove, the first consideration is the type of power connections available. Ultimately, the choice will be between a gas vs electric range based on which your kitchen is equipped for.

Gas Ranges

The classic look of a gas range is always in style. A gas range connects to the natural gas line in your kitchen. If the connections are not already available, it is an extra cost to have a plumber or contractor install the lines. 

A gas range mixes gas and oxygen to create a flame-based heat source. Control knobs allow the natural gas to catch on the pilot light or ignition, lighting the full burner. A gas oven is similar, though some models start instead with digital controls to allow more specific temperatures. Because the oxygen is mixed to control flow, a gas oven cooks with a moist heat.

Electric Ranges

An electric range allows more versatility in style. While the look of the oven is fairly universal between a gas or electric range, the electric stove top can offer a modern look with a ceramic cooktop or coil burners.

The heat is created via heating elements, either as a coil above the stove top, or embedded under the glass-like surface. Once warmed, the heating element provides a consistent, radiant heat along the surface, which transfers uninterrupted to the cookware. The oven provides a dry heat, with no excess moisture, as it relies on an exposed heating element to provide a precise temperature.

Dual Fuel Ranges

A dual fuel range offers the best of both worlds — with a gas stove top and an electric oven in one appliance. Gas stove tops allow the chef to watch the flame level to control the cooking heat. And, unlike electric stovetops, gas burners heat up and cool down immediately. The electric oven allows more precise, digitally set temperatures and a drier cooking environment for baking and cooking.

Induction Ranges

The induction range offers the safest of the different types of stove tops. With an induction cooktop, the heat is generated below the smooth ceramic cook surface, lined with a magnetic field. Specialized pots and pans react to the magnetic field of the cooktop and transfer heat evenly. To learn more about induction cookware, check out the advantages of induction cooking.

The surface seems cool to the touch and there’s no flame to ignite. An induction range is the best electric range to prevent accidental burns. Whether a single or double oven, the electric element in the oven is quick to heat, and often paired with convection fans to help provide more precise cooking control.

The Differences Between Gas Vs Electric Stoves

On the search for a new stove, the most important factor is you. The way you cook meals and use the kitchen will influence your choice of the best gas stove or the best electric stove for your household. Here’s a breakdown of what to expect with the different types of stove tops and ovens.

Finding the Best Gas Ranges

The best gas stove for your home can have the look of the professional chef’s kitchen and the special features to fit the way you cook. When looking at gas vs electric stoves, it is important to consider the pros and cons of each type.

Pros

In Demand - While a new stove can be a hot selling point when you put your home on the market, a gas range in particular can increase the home value, thanks to the demand. Even a gas stove that’s a few years old will signal to prospective buyers that the kitchen is already plumbed for natural gas. 

Low Cost - As a power source, natural gas is cheaper to use than electricity. Some gas stove tops can even be used without electricity during power outages, by using a match to light the gas burners rather than the electric pilot light.

Instant Heat - Once the burner is lit, the flame is an easily seen, controlled heat source. Turning the knob provides more or less fuel, changing the intensity of the heat against the burner and the cookware. When it is time to cool down to a simmer, just dial down the knob.

No Preheating - Once a pan is on the burner, it is heating and ready to use, with no waiting on burners to warm up enough to cook with. A gas oven quickly heats the oven interior with the open flame of gas powered elements, rather than waiting for the element to heat entirely before warming the oven interior.

Flexibility - The stovetop flame at the base of the cookware allows for a predictably distributed heat. The user can see where the flames do or do not touch the cooking surface and they can adjust the pan or flame level as needed. Without the residual heat of a heating element, the pan can go from high to low heat quickly. A gas stovetop allows easy seering, charring, or toasting because the chef has immediate control of the cooking flame.

Cons

Cleaning - Whether a gas or electric stove, it has to be kept clean and free of food debris, and a gas stove has more edges and corners to complicate the chore. The burners are easily jostled or removed from the cooktop, so take extra care during cleaning not to interfere with the ignition system.

Costs - While it may be cheaper to operate gas vs electric stoves, gas stoves can have a hefty initial startup cost if the home isn’t already connected to the gas line. If the gas line isn’t already available, you will have to hire a plumber or contractor to do the job before the new stove can be installed.

Open Flames - While the flames can visibly heat a pot or pan, they are not in consistent and direct contact with the cookware. Airflow around the burner causes the heat source to move or fade in and out, creating hot and cold spots. Open flames also present an obvious safety hazard and should always be monitored around a busy kitchen or loose clothing. 

Natural Gas Line - A gas range means there is a natural gas source in your kitchen. Always install carbon monoxide detectors in the kitchen and other areas of the house. With the detectors in place, should gas escape the stove burners or oven, your home is monitored to prevent disaster.

Finding the Best Electric Range

Different types of stove tops offer different advantages and problem points. An electric range, for instance, uses a dry heat to cook food, which is great news for baked goods but makes crafting the perfect roast beef a little harder. Here are a few other pros and cons to a new electric stove.

Pros

User Friendly Design - The best electric stove is safe and easy to use, with ignition-free operation for the burners and oven element. 

• Heated coiled burners light up when hot so the user knows when a burner is ready to use.
• With induction stovetops, the glass-like flat surface can be safely used without burning the cook. 
• Warning lights make it clear when a ceramic top is active and hot, whether preheating or cooking.
• Touch-screen controls are popular with ceramic-top stoves and offer the unique safety feature of a locking panel to prevent accidentally turning on a surface burner. 

Cost - Electric ranges are often less expensive than gas stoves. Electric stoves plug into the wall, with either a 120 volt or a 220 volt hookup already available in most kitchens.

Easy-Clean Cooktop - Electric cooktops are easy to clean, whether working with a single ceramic top or individual coiled burners. 

• Use nonabrasive cleaners on the glass top to keep it shining. 
• Lift burners away to clean the pans. 
• Lift the top of the stove to clean away anything under the burner pans.

Just be careful not to scratch the surface or leave food debris to bake too hot, as these can damage the cooktop. 

Flame-Free Cooking - With an electric coil burner or ceramic cooktop, there is low to no fire hazard with no open flame to control. The heat transfers directly to the pan and cooks the contents, not the outside bottom edges or dropped food debris.

Quick Cooking - Once the burner is fully heated, the heat transfers to the cookware. Unlike with gas flames, the pan is in constant, steady contact with the heat source, resulting in fewer hot spots. Coil and radiant burners heat what they touch and the cookware helps further distribute the heat.

Cons

Glass top - The glass top of an electric range can be easily ruined and not so easily replaced. Leaving baked-on oils or other debris can stain, scratch, or etch the smooth surface of a ceramic cooktop. Adding cold water to a hot cooking surface can shatter it entirely. It is important to be very careful and prompt with cleaning the glass top electric stoves, but wait until the surface has cooled.

Heat Control - It takes extra time for the burners to fully heat up and cool down. A burner will hold residual heat after you turn it off. While they will cook food quickly, they will easily burn their contents if the chef isn’t familiar with how to pace their cooking to the timing of the stove heat.

High Power Draw - Electric ranges utilize electricity and maintaining heat at cooking temperature can consume a lot of power. To save your electric bills, look for Energy Star approved ranges to help keep monthly costs down. 

Induction Cookware - An electric induction cooktop requires specific cookware in order to interact with the magnetic field that transfers heat. That is an extra cost, in addition to the purchase price of the stove, and a new cookware collection can be costly.