Need cook top recommendations

Hey out there in GRM-land. We're looking to replace our 30" gas cook top (not oven) and are looking for suggestions. We want ease of cleaning 4 burners, not 5 no digital controls, knobs are preferred Reliability is above all else though. We really want to keep this under a grand, quite a bit under is better. My wife cooks 99% of our meals, so this is going to need to be a work-horse. We're not gourmet chefs here, so a Wolf, Thermodore, Viking, or DCS is not in the cards....unless you are donating ;) Oh, one more thing. We're not married to gas. I'm not opposed to running a dedicated 220V circuit if there's something out there that rings all the bells. Does anyone have any first-hand knowledge? Anything we should look for, or stay away from?

Everybody always says, once you go gas you'll never go back. I've never used a gas stove regularly, so I can't say from personal experience.

I'd have to guess you are looking for a pretty basic unit, so all you really need is something that seems sturdy. A non-electronic gas cooktop must have about 4 moving parts and a few gas nozzles. Probably doesn't really require a lot of over thinking.

I use gas, I've tried various electric and induction cooktops and they just don't cut it in my opinion.

I just installed an AEG gas cooktop, its great. My old Smeg gas range was pretty good, but the AEG that replaced it is so much better.

Bosch do a 4 burner in the size you're chasing, they might be worth a look. They usually make pretty decent stuff

I strongly prefer gas if you have it there already.

But I have a Wolf, so...

Gas ranges are really a fairly simple thing. I can't imagine that anything in that price range won't serve you pretty well. It's not like an electric range where you might have problems with good temperature control or uneven heating, since the gas is much more manual. I would look for the cheapest one you can find that has a simmer burner. It's really nice to set a pot on the back and turn it way down to just warm small stuff without cooking it to death.

I've got the fancy stuff now, in gas of course, but to me there are only 2 choices gas or induction.

Induction requires you to use pots that have a thick enough steel bottom before it will work. I never found a small saucepan that fit that bill.

BUT it heats up quickly, cools down quickly, has repeatable heat settings so you never burn things and it doesn't heat up the kitchen.

I would love to have a combo range, but like I said, I've got the fancy stuff and when you spend that kind of money you just WEAR IT OUT!! Which means I'll never get another in my life time.

We had similar thoughts, and ended up with a GE "Gas on glass" cooktop. It's basically a smooth, ceramic top like the electric cooktops for easy cleaning, but the gas burners rise above the glass. The black version is under budget, but the stainless steel (with real stainless knobs, not plastic) is JUST outside your budget by a hair. We've been happy with it so far.

FYI, it's not perfectly square. The front edge has a curve to it, which caused some small fitment issues for us, but we got lucky and ended up having a fix.

I'm considering going all grassroots on this.
Would I ne crazy to buy a used Wolf, Viking, or other high-end cook top instead of a new Bosch, GE or similar?

Not really, I don't think. Like I said, a gas range is a simple thing with few moving parts. There's just not that much to go wrong and if you can plumb a fuel line you can replace a burner valve or whatever. And parts should be available.

I got my gas range from the local Sears Outlet place, it was like $1000 off. I highly recommend checking in to see what they have near you.

When we were shopping recently, the layouts of the 5-burner cooktops were a little better, because they had the knobs at the front center instead of running up and down one side. This gives you access to the full width and depth of the cooktop for putting pots on, instead of having a 4" dead strip along the side. Also nice were grates that were full-coverage and level so that you could slide pots anywhere you needed to.

Best values were looking at special-order returns, scratch-and-dent, and similar at local big-box home improvement stores (saw a few $1500 cooktops for $600), and also at the Habitat for humanity re-store.

carguy123 wrote: I've got the fancy stuff now, in gas of course, but to me there are only 2 choices gas or induction. Induction requires you to use pots that have a thick enough steel bottom before it will work. I never found a small saucepan that fit that bill. BUT it heats up quickly, cools down quickly, has repeatable heat settings so you never burn things and it doesn't heat up the kitchen. I would love to have a combo range, but like I said, I've got the fancy stuff and when you spend that kind of money you just WEAR IT OUT!! Which means I'll never get another in my life time.

That's how I see things, too.

For the gas cook tops, it's all about flow and pattern- which is pretty easy to lay out for the cheap- so I'm not sure what one gets with the massively higher end ones. We found something nice about cleaning on our sort of recent buy- black is easier to keep "clean" than white. Also- ours has burners that are pretty easy to clean- the top "hat" on them is just placed there, and is easy to take off to clean.

I've never tried induction, but from what I read, and my experience with other electric cook tops (coils suck really bad), it would be the only choice I would even attempt.

Check your local applicance store for the scratch and dent section and walk thru every few weeks. I've found crazy deals this way for what it's worth.

We have a sears outlet (scratch amd dent) about 45 mins from our house. We have bought a few appliances there and I think I'll go down this weekend. I agree on induction, when Insaid "electric" that's what I had in mind.

When I worked Sears we would get cooktops ordered in all the time that would end up getting canceled and stuck in stock. We would mark them down to like 90% off. And eventually someone would buy it.

I'd highly recommend calling around and seeing what the various Sears stores have in stock on closeout or "991"

I worked in the Lansing store and we had a ton of inventory regularly marked way down.

My only advice is do NOT buy the Kenmore "Pro" brand.

I grew up on gas and had gas in a couple of houses.
The current house had Induction when we bought it. I love it and will likely never have anything else. Especially with a toddler in the house, the never hot surface of induction is great.

DrBoost wrote: I'm considering going all grassroots on this. Would I ne crazy to buy a used Wolf, Viking, or other high-end cook top instead of a new Bosch, GE or similar?

Not crazy, genius. The high-end stuff is made to last and parts are available. This will also help with your house's resale if that time ever comes. Realtors love to talk up stuff like that.

We have a 15 year old Bosch gas cook top. It works fine, but it has one stupid quirk. The Low setting is too high to simmer, and to get to a lower flame, you have to go between High and Off. A little internet searching makes it seem like it was designed this way. I'm guessing it is so that if the flame goes out, the knob is close to where it needs to be so that it is quick and easy to relight, but in my limited experience I've not seen other brands that work this way.

If you are plumbed for gas, I'd definitely stay gas. Our GE Profile electric smoothtop has been perfectly reliable for 15 years, but I do hate the way it takes a long time for a burner on "high" to cool down to a lower setting. I boil E36 M3 over all the time, which makes a mess, and that makes me grumpy. And as noted above, the "low" setting is often too high for say, cooking rice, and you are always seeking a position between "low" and "off" with mixed results.

Most cooktops now have burners of all different sizes and strengths. Mine has a 5000 btu burner in the back, good for simmering, and one with 14,000 in the front right for boiling.

If you can find a used high end model that suits what you need it'll work well.

My Smeg range was second hand, I re-jetted from natural gas to lpg, it did a great job and looked like I'd spent a mint.

The major difference I see between gas stuff is the quality of the trivets and burners. And really, they are the two most important parts.