Grrr, I’m noticing a decided lack of performance in major appliances around the 15-year mark! Two years ago, we had to buy a new dryer. This winter it was a new washer. Now we need a new stove. The problem? We haven’t decided yet if this is our Until The End of Time house. So when we bought the dryer, we went for the cheapest unit we could find, the reasoning being that we have finished our major laundry years with one son away at university most of the time and the second heading that way in another year. Sure, it would have been nice to buy the new, fandangled washer and dryers out there, but until we know how long we’ll be in this house (and I can’t imagine we’ll decide that for another 5-10 years at the minimum), it doesn’t make sense to me to buy fancy-smanchy stuff.
So…the stove. It’ll cost so much to rebuild that we might as well buy new. Today, while shopping for computer items, I realized the store also sold appliances, so I had a gander at the stoves. I need a self-cleaning model. It’s like air conditioning. Once you’ve had it, you can’t imagine living without it. I’m completely undecided about coil elements vs. a ceramic cooktop. Well, I’m not completely undecided. I’m leaning toward coil, which is what we already have. Why?
- It’s cheaper.
- Cats tend not to walk on coils they can easily see are burning bright red.
- I need a white stove to match the kitchen, and every ceramic top I’ve seen so far in my extensive search (all two models of stove) have black tops, which I think would look major yuck against my counter tops.
- It’s cheaper.
- My mother has a ceramic cook top on her cottage stove, and it seems to me that they’re very finicky to clean, although the salesman assured me that boiling over (which occurs quite often in our house) doesn’t create anywhere near the mess as it does with coil elements.
- It’s cheaper.
I do believe it’s time for one of my infamous surveys (not so infamous, I guess, considering this is the second one I’ve conducted). Have you ever had a ceramic cooktop, and how do you think it compares to coil elements? Would you ever get one again?
Don’t talk to me about gas stovetops. I might have to clout you. My Liege and I had a propane stove when we lived together before marriage, and I totally loved it. I know I would love a gas stove. But it’s not feasible for our circa-1960 house. The cost to get the gas to the stove faaaaaaarrrrrrr outweighs my desire to play with that cute little dancing flame. As it is, you don’t want to know how the electricity gets to the stove. It’s different, I’ll give you that.
So…coil elements or ceramic cooktop? Which would you recommend?
P.S. In case the title of this post escapes you, it’s a little nod to Twitter.
I only have coil, so can’t advise you. Like you, we bought it because it’s cheaper. And we bought white, too. I’ll probably come back to see what other people say.
I seem to recall my m-i-l having a ceramic cooktop back when Sean and I were first together. Great to cook on, but yeah, a b**** to keep clean AND at least back then, you had to be careful what pots you used on it. That’s probably changed now.
I hated the coil stoves I had, but again, I’m sure they’ve improved them since the last time I had one 🙂
I have gas (covering head now)!
If I had to give it up (terrible, terrible thought) I would go for coil. My mother had ceramic and it was finicky to clean and maintain. And I’d rather cook than clean and maintain.
Teresa, I’m not sure it’s changed. I remember turning up my nose at my mother’s ceramic stove top at her cottage last summer, because I had to make sure to clean it every time I used it. You’re right, you have to be careful what pots you put on them. So it’s probably not smart to go for a white top, but I don’t think the black top on white stove would look good in my kitchen.
And, Edie, thanks for your input!
LOL, Laura, no need to cover your head! I would love to get gas. Because of the age of our house, though, and the kitchen design, it would be too expensive to feed gas to the stove. If we did that, might as well turn the upstairs fireplace to gas, etc. Just not sure I want to do that in this house. We’ve only lived here 19 years, LOL. We could move any day (Not. This might be our First and Last House, we like the layout so much).
We don’t even have a fan for the stove – there’s a brick wall behind it, with metal behind that, and the back of a fireplace behind that. What I really need is a Jenn-Air (with the fan built into the cooktop), but when you’re not a cook, um, it’s difficult to justify.
Thanks for your input on coil vs. ceramic.
Cindy, no, can’t see black top on white stove working out too well.
We have propane (sorry) – but it’s really handy here for when we lose power (frequently in the winter).
I’m imagining that even a higher end (self-cleaning etc) coil stove will still be less expensive than a ceramic top 🙂 Good luck with your search!
Thanks, Teresa. Well, I did a bad thing. I went on-line and found out all about the wonderful EXPENSIVE stoves you can get today. With a second oven instead of a pot drawer. With warming areas. With, with, with!
I have a weird affliction. I love kitchen appliances, small and large. With lottery winnings at my fingertips, I could go nuts. I love big, well-equipped kitchens. Except, um, I hate to cook.
I won’t buy a fancy stove, no fear. The practical side of me rationalizes, doesn’t make sense when we don’t know if we’re staying in this house. But if we ever build new (we have an empty lot next door), watch out!
I have a gas stove and I hate cleaning it. Really want one of those nice, flat electric surfaces so I could just wipe it clean and not have to remove the burners and all that jazz…
Good luck in your search. I did recently buy a front-load washer, cheapo as those go, but still a billion times fancier than the one hubby had for 20 years. It has push-buttons instead of knobs and plays a little song when the laundry is done. How cute!
LOL, Avery, on the thought of your washer playing a song when the laundry is done.
I’m settling with electric coils. The ceramic tops are too fussy. If you’re a cook and you’re the type who wants/likes to clean off their stove top after every time using it to keep it looking nice, then a ceramic top would be great. Me, I don’t want to have to wipe my stove off daily. In my case, there’s actually less muck, I think, with coils.
My wife had a flat top stove, and we moved the thing here when we got together.
The big benefit from my stand point, it’s a nice flat surface that expands our counter-top space….. Well until we put something on to heat. Even then, you can still work on one half or the other.
The newer surfaces clean off better than they did before. And you can get these nice little scrubbers that clean them pretty spic and span.
I too would like a dual ovan if you could get it. Either that or M&M needs to rethink their ways and make more of their items cook at the same temp, I mean come on, the soups at 400 and fish at 350? 🙂 Before we got together, I had a nice toaster/convection oven, and used it more than the oven under my (grotty) stove, but we don’t have the counter space to support that.
Oh, the cat will rethink stove top excursions after the first time……
All that said, it’s a matter of preference…. Like Fords and Chevs (and I drive a Subaru).
Oh I hear you on the spending a fortune on kitchen stuff if given the opportunity. We had to be really careful to not go overboard on the appliances for this house (in which we intend to stay a long, long time) because it can be easy to get carried away. There’s so much cool stuff out there!!
And when you DO get your next house, I definitely recommend the front load washer. Energy and water efficient AND it does a great job on the clothes 🙂 I can actually wash our comforters instead of having to take them to a laundromat like we had to when we had the old top load one.
ROTFL – can you tell I hadn’t had any coffee yet!!! I’d been emailing and guess I was still in that mode when I replied, so put YOUR name in the “Name” field. Doh!
LOL, Teresa, I’ll fix it.
Yes, I’d love the new washers/dryers – just not at this time. If we decide never to build, then next pair we can go for the cool stuff.
Okay, due to vacation, I’m really late weighing in, but I can’t not say something.
How on earth can anyone think that pulling out coils, lifting liner trays, pushing up the cooktop (on the best coil stoves), scrubbing blackened food, etc. is EASIER than wiping down a flat top. Flat. It’s FLAT. So all the dirt is in one place!
Yes, you need to be careful not to slide a pan across it or it will scratch. And yes, a special cooktop cleaner is used on it. But mine is lucky to get cleaned once a week, and it’s faster and easier than cleaning the coil stove ever was.
Also, we splurged and spent a couple hundred more to get the double oven. OMG was it worth it. We use so much less electricity! I rarely need the big oven, and I’m shocked every time I do use it, because it takes about three times as long to heat up. The electricity we’ve saved has far outstripped the extra initial expense.
Of course, as Mike says, it’s all about personal preference.
We have the white stove with the black cooktop, and it looks just fine in our kitchen. You didn’t say what color your counters are, but black goes with everything, and it’s not as dominant as you imagine it would be.
So, there’s my rather vociferous .02. Sorry. LOL