pet peeves, cooking

[Zeyneb]

Alright cooking itself is something I usually have to force myself doing. But today some other topic.

Why do cooktops have always this 4 burner arrangement in a square pattern? And they are so freaking close to each other. I do have a wok pan for the meat and vegetables and they are always overlapping the surrounding burners. Most of the time I only use 2 burners and sometimes 3 but 3 is really a hassle as I do need to stir the mix on a rear burner while keeping the front pan on its burner and prevent burning my hands.

I actually think a widely separated 3 inline arrangement is much more suitable for me. But I don't think these stoves are reasonably available.

[PlainName]

The stoves will need to fit in a standard unit, so that determines the width. And four burners gets the most bang for buck from a square area - if they had three in a triangle there would be complaints that space is unusable. And... if you're using all of them, the chances are that at least one pan, and probably three, are idling (aka simmering) so don't need to be under your nose.

I am probably wrong, though, and look forward to the upcoming corrections

[Zeyneb]

Ok, I get that. But you still see many luxurious kitchens with front and rear stove burners. I also would be willing to give up some countertop space to have a single row of wider spaced burners in front of me. Maybe this would be interesting welding project to weld a custom stainless steel countertop together.

Are you bothered when you are cooking to have a pan in front and another at the rear burner? I surely don't like that.

[PlainName]

Are you bothered when you are cooking to have a pan in front and another at the rear burner?

I am a simple person and can generally only deal with one emergency at a time, so that one gets to be on the front. The others... doesn't matter where they are. That's not to say I'm a single-panner, though. I can have all four hobs going plus the oven and microwave, but I multitask by single-tasking in sequence.

[jpanhalt]

If you are asking pet peeves, mine is utensils made for right handed people when an ambidextrous version would be just as easy to make.  One example is pot strainers.  The locating nibs are only on one side.  So as a lefty, I do not have that aid.  Of course, as a lefty, I don't need it either.   

[james_s]

Standard North American stoves are 30" wide and there is a 48" size you can get if you want something larger, the latter are typically only found in really fancy houses. You can get a larger stove if you have the space for it.

[Ed.Kloonk]

Most of the time I only use 2 burners

Most people do. I thought that the extra burners are for when they start to burn out. When I pull old cooktops out, it's often the two towards the back or maybe the far side of the sink that still work.

[james_s]

Most of the time I only use two burners, but I use three or even all four often enough that I'm glad they're there. A bachelor that eats simple meals could probably get by with one burner, a family that cooks fancier meals from scratch will probably often use every burner they have available.