Electric stovetops are superior to gas ones

[aduinstat]

I grew up with a electric range, so maybe I am biased, but now that I have used a gas range for a year, it is clear to me that electric is better. Here's why:
* There is an odor when the gas range operates
* It is inefficient, and more energy goes into the air around the pot than into the pot. Also because of this, I have burned myself on the pot handles.
* Maybe it's just my range, but it is not very powerful, and has a hard time boiling water.
* The open flame burned one of my kitchen towels
* The cages around the burners are more difficult to clean than a heater coil or glass panel.

I think the only advantage that gas has over electric is that the it works when the power is out, but I my experience, that is very rare and does not last long when it does.
I don't understand why people say that gas is better.

[pqass]

People like the instant heat gas provides, however, I'd keep the range hood on.   
https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/gas-stoves-air-pollution-1.6394514

An induction electric range is probably more efficient then the usual one with resistive heating elements.

[johnboxall]

Gas is superior for cooking. Perfect temperature control. Like using any tool a little preparation goes a long way.

I put foil around the burners before cooking a large meal, and afterwards take the grates out and put them in the dishwasher on the 'pot scrub' cycle, job done.

[Psi]

* Maybe it's just my range, but it is not very powerful, and has a hard time boiling water.

This sounds like an issue with your unit.
Gas is normally significantly more powerful than electric elements, and gas is able to get higher temps.
It's why you see gas used for wok cooking.


But ultimately I think electric induction cooking is better than both gas and electric elements.
Induction creates heat inside the actual pan metal directly, which is as close to the food as you can possibly get.
Induction is so good you can see it pulsing on/off/on/off because the water boils/stops/boils/stops. It's super direct heating.
Downside is you need induction compatible pans.

But if you need crazy high power or temps, gas usually wins against everything.
And there are situations where the pulsing you get on electric or electric induction are undesirable and gas wins

[CatalinaWOW]

Both have their advantages.  Every electric range I have used takes many seconds to reach steady state after a change of the knob, while for gas units it is a second more or less.  Different cooks will prefer one or the other behavior.  Cost of operation varies with local utility rates and can favor either one.  Rightly or wrongly gas units are being denigrated or even outlawed in some regions to help control global warming.  While I prefer gas, I haven't had access to it for several decades and have survived the experience.

[SiliconWizard]

Global warming my ass. Natural gas when burning emits the least CO2 of all fossil fuels. Since most of the world's electricity is from much worse fossil fuels at the moment, the net result of cutting gas is fricking stupid.

With that said, for induction cooking, it's interesting to look at the efficiency. Unless you buy the high-end stuff, it's usually crappy.

[james_s]

I grew up with electric stoves, eventually with my own house I put in a gas stove. IMHO gas is so vastly superior there is no comparison. Instant heat, instant cool when you shut it off, instant feedback on heat level by visually looking at the size of the flame, continuous heat at the desired level without the cycling of electric. much higher BTU level available, it's much cheaper to run too, and during a power outage you can light it with a match. This is just what I can think of off the top of my head, it is not a comprehensive list. If you have a lot of heat going around the pot rather than into it then you have the flame set too high for the size of pot you are using, either lower the flame or use one of the smaller burners if there is one.

There is a reason 100% of restaurants and professional chefs cook on gas, it is just better in nearly every way except for possibly ease of use, it is a more powerful and capable tool that requires a little more knowledge to use it properly.

[KaneTW]

Induction is a good substitute when there's no gas available at least. Not as good but also more comfortable.

[james_s]

Induction is ok, but it's not really any more efficient than electric resistance and it only works with certain kinds of pan. I've survived with electric stoves but I've been spoiled by gas and would never want to go back.

Electric ovens on the other hand are arguably superior, they produce a dry heat without the moisture from combustion. The really fancy stoves have an electric oven with a gas cooktop.

[twospoons]

Having used both I prefer gas for the frypan or wok, and electric for simmering or boiling.  My ideal hob would have one large gas ring and 3 or more electric elements (or induction heaters).

[Halcyon]

There are pro's and con's for various technologies, but my first choice is gas, followed by induction cooking. As others have pointed out, the temperature can be carefully controlled with gas (and you can use those losses to your advantage depending on the size of the hob and cooking vessel you're using). Same with high temperature cooking. Gas gets much hotter and is great for things like wok cooking.

Gas also works when there is no electricity. You can still boil water, cook food, toast bread and provide emergency heat (with some ventilation and a burner that is well maintained and burns cleanly).

There is also less to go wrong/fail with gas cooktops.

[pcprogrammer]

There is a reason 100% of restaurants and professional chefs cook on gas, it is just better in nearly every way except for possibly ease of use, it is a more powerful and capable tool that requires a little more knowledge to use it properly.

You forgot about grill plates for the fast food, which are mostly electric 

[tszaboo]

I've used both, and I'm not really satisfied with either of them. Gas is super difficult to clean, requires more space, and the switched off unit cannot be used for something else. Electric is somewhat slower, and it takes soooo much more time to start it up. Seriously, in gas you dial up the number press it down to start it and that's it. On electric there is this fancy touch control which takes like twenty presses to set up the heat. Plus the glass always gets banged up during the years. It's almost as if it was designed that it needs replacing.

[james_s]

You forgot about grill plates for the fast food, which are mostly electric 

Maybe things are different where you are, but when I worked at a fast food joint as a teenager the grill was gas fired. The only electric heating devices we had were microwave ovens and warming trays to hold already cooked food.

[james_s]

I've used both, and I'm not really satisfied with either of them. Gas is super difficult to clean, requires more space, and the switched off unit cannot be used for something else. Electric is somewhat slower, and it takes soooo much more time to start it up. Seriously, in gas you dial up the number press it down to start it and that's it. On electric there is this fancy touch control which takes like twenty presses to set up the heat. Plus the glass always gets banged up during the years. It's almost as if it was designed that it needs replacing.

My stove has sealed burners so it's easy to clean, not quite as easy as those smooth top ceramic electric cooktops but at least as easy as the conventional exposed electric burners. I often set a cutting board over a switched off burner when I need more space.

I hate those touch controls that are on the fancy cooktops, I think you can still get them with proper knobs but I haven't looked recently.

[PlainName]

You can't do this kind of thing with an electric stove. Come to that, I don't think you could with your average domestic gas either!

https://youtube.com/mImG8RpsJTc?t=129

I sometimes disappear down the rabbit hole that is Taiwanese (or Vietnamese or, indeed, pick your Asian country) street food. I think they exclusively use gas, even those 4-foot square sheets they use to make a gazillion omelettes at once.

[Marco]

There's 18 kW induction wok stoves on the Chinese market, so yah they can

[PlainName]

Wow! I'm impressed 

[james_s]

18kW though, I could run that here but it would consume almost half of the total electrical capacity of my house!

[Marco]

I doubt it's really needed though, wok burners are likely ridiculously inefficient even compared to normal gas burners used with flat bottom pans. Wouldn't be surprised if even 10 kW could compete with 200k BTU.

[tszaboo]

I've used both, and I'm not really satisfied with either of them. Gas is super difficult to clean, requires more space, and the switched off unit cannot be used for something else. Electric is somewhat slower, and it takes soooo much more time to start it up. Seriously, in gas you dial up the number press it down to start it and that's it. On electric there is this fancy touch control which takes like twenty presses to set up the heat. Plus the glass always gets banged up during the years. It's almost as if it was designed that it needs replacing.

My stove has sealed burners so it's easy to clean, not quite as easy as those smooth top ceramic electric cooktops but at least as easy as the conventional exposed electric burners. I often set a cutting board over a switched off burner when I need more space.

I hate those touch controls that are on the fancy cooktops, I think you can still get them with proper knobs but I haven't looked recently.

I haven't considered the exposed heating element electric ones, because that's something from a 1970's kitchen. I don't think they even sell that anymore.
I quickly looked for some that have knobs. Low end units that are not built in... Or high end units above 1000 EUR.

[james_s]

I haven't considered the exposed heating element electric ones, because that's something from a 1970's kitchen. I don't think they even sell that anymore.
I quickly looked for some that have knobs. Low end units that are not built in... Or high end units above 1000 EUR.

They're still very common, probably half of the electric stoves in service here are that style. They're nice because the burner elements and drip trays just plug in so they are easy to replace.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/GE-30-in-5-0-cu-ft-Electric-Range-in-White-JBS360DMWW/306260284?

[Kleinstein]

Many electric stoves have a kind of temperature control, while gas is essentially always power controlled. Depending one the implementation and what you cook this can be a nice feature - e.g. for slow simmering and it can also offer programmed function (e.g. full power till boiling and than kepp hot, turn off after ... minutes). How easy to control depends on the units, both gas and electric.

The efficiency for gas is not that great and this can offset much of the usually cheaper price per kWh.  The extra heat and need for good ventilation can be an issue when air conditioning is needed.
For the oven electric is usually much better controlled - so some even have electric for the oven and gas for the rest.
In many cases a special, usually electric appliance (e.g. water boiler, rice cooker, egg cooker,..) is more efficient than stove and pot.

Not getting enough power from gas may be an issue with that unit / setting. Natural gas differs (e.g. more or less CO2, N2) by location and one may need different settings limits. Normally gas is more powerful and thus faster to boil water.

[james_s]

The efficiency for gas is not that great and this can offset much of the usually cheaper price per kWh.  The extra heat and need for good ventilation can be an issue when air conditioning is needed.

It's about 40% according to data I can find, although that seems a bit low, typically when I'm cooking I find I can hold my hand over the edges of the pot and not get burned, which suggests most of the heat is going into the pan. If you figure 50% efficiency of a power plant and 80-90% efficiency of the power grid, ~75% of the electric burner energy going into the food, then gas is still probably going to come out ahead.

[Psi]

Efficiency of energy usage and benefits for cooking are separate things.

Both important to consider on a case by case basis yes.
But energy usage is so different across different locations and different green/less green generation methods I don't think
it's really relevant to take efficiency into consideration with this sort of discussion. (happy to disagree?)

Benefits for cooking are more generic across everyone, so it's a better discussion to have.