Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Glass top electric ranges?

I'm looking at buying my parents are new kitchen stove for their anniversary. I really like the glass top I hate messing with the old style burners cleaning them, and leveling them. But can you cook with cast iron on the glass tops?

Don't know if you really should, but I definitely do with our glass top. Just don't slide the cast iron around a lot (or other skillets either) to avoid scratching but ours has been much more durable than I might have thought. I use cast iron on it frequently and haven't had any issues yet. The ease of clean up with the glass tops is great.

We have been for the past 4 years. Just don't drop them on it!

Highly NOT recommended. It will cook fine, but cast will scratch the surface. My cousin wrecked his stove with cast. In fairness, his wife has Parkinsons and has to slide pans around instead of picking them up.
Other than that, the stove are great. If you keep them clean, they cook great and are easy to maintain. The trick is to clean them regularly so you aren't burning on anything that will be hard to clean off. Gentle use of a razor blade type paint scraper makes it easy to clean but you need to be GENTLE to prevent scratching.

Depends on the pan. I have smooth bottom old lodge skillet I use on ours all the time. FWIW, I hate the glass top range. The cast iron works great, but any other pan with a slight warp to it wont sit flat (teflon egg pan, carbon steel flat bottom wok, etc.) only get one little point of contact where the pan actually touches the glass. Doesnt heat all that well.

The glass is a pain to clean if you overflow your pot with anything.

I will be replacing with gas in the near future.

You can use cast iron, but as Terry said, don't drop them. If your parents do any canning, a glass top stove isn't optimum for that. For anything else, if you have to have an electric stove, glass tops are great. We had one for 10 years in FL when we lived there.

Had a glass cooktop for the last 17 years. It is easy to clean but certainly vulnerable. My wife had a couple of small decorative bottles nearby, one fell over and cracked the glass top. Used it that way for a year, then replaced with a gas cooktop, which I prefer and highly recommend.

When I bought this house, the first project I did was to get rid of the glass cook top and put in a real gas top. Took two garage sales before I found a sucker to buy that glass top.

Yep.. Been doing so for the last 5-7 years.. Have to be careful and like the others have said, don't drop things on 'em.. Sure are easy to clean though, compared to the old coil burners..

If you haven't already done so, take a look at the 'hybrid' stoves - they have standard electric glass on one side and induction glass on the other.. Using the induction with a steel/cast iron pan is FAST - since the pan actually creates the heat.. When you take it off the stove, you can nearly immediately put your hand on the stove and it will be cool enough to touch w/o burning..

Just my opinion, but you can't cook on any electric range I've ever seen. Gas is the way to go.

in my every so humble opinion, having used all types of home ranges, the glass top one suck.

I've had glass top ranges in two of my last 3 houses, so about 15 years of 'em... the ex-wife loved them, I hate them. They're slow to heat up and cool down, and until you know how fast they heat/cool, you'll be a frustrated cook.

Gas is the only way to go. My next house WILL have a gas range.

If we want gas, it has to be propane. The glass top is the best electric option we've found.

The glass top ones are better than the exposed electric elements -- but induction is far better. Of course, for cooking, you can't beat gas. JMO, Dutch.

I would love to get gas, they have some beautiful models, I don't know if my Dad wants to add another bill to the problem. Any idea of the cost between a electric and gas range as far as operation?

The newer ones heat up VERY quickly - extremely close to gas speeds, and they now have superior heat controls. Another thing gas can't match is 'zone' heating and/or 'bridge' elements.. Here's an example:

http://www.electroluxappliances.com/kitchen-appliances/cooktops/induction/ew36cc55gs

http://www.electroluxappliances.com/kitchen-appliances/ranges/electric/ew30ef65gs

And mine won't, ever.. I won't have gas anywhere near the place.. I only use propane for two things: grilling and bluing.. And both are done outside..

My one and only experience with a glass top range was the one in my mom's condo. Same problems with that one. It wouldn't heat evenly using my mom's old warped cookware and I hated it. I'd take a GE burner electric over the glass top any day.

The first thing I did when I bought my current home is I had the 23 year furnace replaced and at the same time I had the heating contractor install a gas line to the stove. I bought a 5 burner gas stove to replace the electric and I've been cookin' with gas ever since. I luv it.

As far as cost goes, I think it's inconsequential whether it be natural gas or electric. There can't be that much of a difference.

My wife likes our glass top range OK, but hates cleaning it, as do I. As SeanD stated, any spill or spatter gets cooked onto the surface and can be tough to clean. Imagine cleaning bugs off your windshield with a dry feather duster and you've got it.

All you need is a container of cooktop cleaner and a scotchguard spongepad.. Takes two minutes, tops, and it's clean.. I do ours about once a week..

We had the old coil styles before.. Cleaning those pans underneath was truly a nightmare.. Frankly, cheaper and easier just to toss the old ones and buy new.. I won't go back to those...

Depends on the type of cooking you do. If you are a heat it and eat it cook just about anything will do, but if you consider yourself an advanced amatuer gas is the only way to go. If you do stir fry, high heat sauteing, browning, and grilling you need the power of a gas range.

I like to cook and cook dinner every night we are at home, it is one of my hobbies. Two years ago I installed a Blue Star range top. <http://www.bluestarcooking.com/about-bluestar.html> This is a commercial/domestic range. It puts out 18,000BTUs on the front burners and 15,000 on one back burner the other burner will simmer so low you can melt chocolate in a sauce pan. These ranges are very easy to clean.

If you install one of these great ranges be sure to install a hood that is up to the task. Expect to pay almost as much for the hood as you did for the range.

I have used glass tops and other electric ranges and would never have one in my home.