convert to gas stove or not?

I have a dual fuel stove (gas stovetop/electric oven). I also have a wood stove with cooking grids, and an actual kitchen wood/coal stove with an oven in the basement. I went with dual fuel, because I love to cook. Went with dual fuel due to an oven explosion.

our propane company switched my stove to propane free of charge, and dropped off 2 100 lb tanks. I have forgotten to call when one tank is empty and easily hooked up a grill tank to tide us over. I love my stove...its a ge profile dual fuel. it has power boil, a temp probe, a setting to auto turn on the oven and lots of other stuff...the top also has a cast iron lodge griddle and a long gas element to accommodate it. also a smaller second oven.
I love love love my stove

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I'd rather have one Chewbacca than an entire clone army.

A hundred pound tank with only using for a kitchen gas stove with last you probably ast you a good 4 to 6 months. I think it is a better idea than using electric. Makes you a little more independent. Yes, you will pay more for a delivery with a propane company but yes, you can go and fill it yourself..either way...it's a better deal I believe.

I love my gas stove!
The way I cook,it's a requirement.
On the other hand, for slow cooking , it's very handy to put it on low and not worry about stuff sticking.
Can you put your old stove somewhere out of your the way?
I certainly wouldn't mind a second stove.

We had gas when we were younger, have had electric now for 40 years or so. Don't know why anyone would want gas what with messing with the tanks, lines, and such. I'd dare say we can cook as well on the electric as most anyone can on a gas. Never had any problems with the stove, never even had to replace an element.

We have a propane camp stove for when the electric goes out.

Gas. Or as is the case out here, propane. If the power goes out I can still cook a full meal and make a pot of coffee. My hot water heater is propane and if the 20 year old clothes dryer ever dies it will be replaced with propane.

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Robin

If your power goes out, you can still use a gas stove. I like seeing the flame and adjusting the heat on my burners by sight.

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Terri

I'm glad to hear this - that's the same stove we bought for the house we're building.

I grew up with a gas stove, but when I got married my wife insisted on electric because she was afraid the kids would leave the gas on and blow us up. The kids are young adults now, and since we're moving to what will hopefully be our 'forever' home, I insisted that we have a gas stove. We decided on a dual fuel since she's so used to an electric oven. So we met half way.

-rj

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First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.
- Mahatma Gandhi

I have a gas stove now and LOVE it. I have propane in my house already for my furnace and have a 250 gallon tank. during the summer when I am cooking only, the gauge on my tank does not even move. In my old house I had a gas stove and used one of those little tanks, like you have for a gas grill. It was very simple to refill those if one goes empty. And even those little tanks last a long time.

Do get one with the electric ignition. I think most of them have that now anyway so there is no pilot lighting burning all the time. If the power goes out and the ignitor does not work, simply use a match! You don't NEED that ignitor to run the stove!

If you can get a dual fuel and use elect for your oven, you will have the best of both worlds.

If your home is not already set up for gas (propane or natural gas) I would just stay with an electric stove. It is quite expensive to get the tank and lines ran, and for only cooking you will end up paying more for your propane since you don't use much. Your cooking fuel costs will end up being higher with propane than electric. If you had nat gas, that would be the cheapest option.

I have cooked on both, and they are different, but I find I actually prefer the electric for the reason that it boils a pot of water much quicker because the element is in contact with the pot. The heat does "lag" but once you have used it a while you get used to that. For example, I know for making pancakes I run it at HI until the pan starts to warm, and then between 5 and 6 for cooking. If a pan starts to get away from you, you can always lift it off the burner or slide it over for a few seconds so it cools. Also, on a gas stove I always find myself bending over to look at the flame while adjusting it, that's not necessary on an electric.

The cooking during power outage is a valid point, I do have a propane grill hooked to our bulk tank with a side burner and I have used it once in a power outage to cook dinner.

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can't find the link but I beleive march 2012 gas stove will require electricity due to "safety" feature added.

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John
Belfair, Washington

I like gas for the reasons everyone's stated. Also, if the electric goes out for any length of time when it's cold, the stove puts out a lot of heat.

When I moved here 3 years ago the first thing I did was get rid of the electric stove(did it in my last house too). The guy from the gas co. came out, had to crawl under the house several times and did all of the install with 2 100# tanks. The cost was right around $425(if I recall correctly). One tank gets empty, I shut it off and turn on the other one and call him to do a fill. Each tank will last between 6-8 months.

I have done the self fill tanks and they're a pain. They are very heavy and hard to move. I much prefer the setup I have now.

My stove has all the bells and whistles+(delayed timer, warming drawer, self clean, convection, etc...).

ETA: I just went back and looked up the cost of my last fill. Both tanks cost $184 at the end June.

Well, thank you for all of your input! I did go look at gas stoves today and they only had 3. The whirlpool was the nicest. $800.00 brand new! Not including the gas conversion that we would have to do. I would really like to convert, I am just so sick of the electric stove. My burners don't stay where I want them and they burn out fast for me for some reason. I do use the pressure canner but it is easy to control the temp. on it. All they have is the electric/gas. They said that I would have to go to a used appliance store to see if I can find one, so I might just do that. Do you think it would be that expensive to convert? Tanks and line? The stoves also run on 110 power not 220. I thought that was weird. Thanks! any other ideas would be great. I am looking to be as self sufficient as possible and I thought this would be the way to go.

We converted to gas stove and are glad we did. Never liked cooking on the electric. It cost about $300 for a local hvac company to tap into an existing natural gas line and run black pipe approx. 20 feet and change the outlet to 110.
I love our new stove, am not sure if the oven works with no electricity, but the burners work, and I don't do a lot of baking anyway.

we would have to use propane. Do you have to have a hvac company do the work? I was just thinking we could do it ourselves. we wouldn't need a long line, since the stove is on an outer wall. To me things sound easier than they are sometimes.
The store told me that you can still lite the oven and burners with a match, but they just don't make them anymore for safety.

We're remodeling our kitchen and will be converting to a gas stove. We found one at Sears for a little over $300+tax. I'm going today to get the bottle, so hopefully we'll get it installed this weekend.

I've had to use electric for the last 11 years and HATED it!

we just called the propane company and they converted, and hooked up the gas lines to the tank. Didnt charge for the "conversion", and not much to run the copper (I think) line. Im also in PA.

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I'd rather have one Chewbacca than an entire clone army.

I have had both and now that Im on electric I miss my gas stove. When we lived further out we had the only working stove (gas) out of our neighbors during the major power outages so we had a few impromptu parties at our house where we shared our stove. You will need a lighter on hand for power outages since the gas units have an electrical spark to light the burners and you'd want to look for one that you can light manually, Im not sure they all share that capability.

Cost.

Walk into your home. Turn every light on. Turn your electric stove and oven on. Run some water out of your electric hot water heater. And for the coup-de-grace turn on your electric furnace.

At that point you are probably pulling about as much juice as a large, commercial electric stove, with all burners and ovens cooking.

They do make them, but they are not very popular.