What To Look For When Buying A Range
How do I choose a Range?
First decide if you want gas or electric.
If a gas line is available for your home, there are many advantages to gas that you may not be aware of. Gas ranges may cost a little bit more to buy (maybe $50-$100), but will cost about 50% less to run. Plus, they do not go down when the power goes out. They also heat more efficiently. Gas ranges are available with open burners or sealed surface burners. Open burners have large openings on the top that allow the flame to come through to heat your food. The top can be lifted for cleaning. Sealed surface burners are down below the surface of the cook top, making a smoother surface for cleaning.
Electric ranges have coil element tops or Smoothtops. Coil elements plug-in and come out for cleaning along with the drip pan. Smoothtops are flat and can be wiped clean, no removable coils.
Just because your cooktop is smooth doesn’t mean your pots and pans are. After use, the bottoms of pots and pans get rough, and may not make as much contact with the burner as if they were new. This means, more time waiting. With a gas range, you get an open flame that covers the bottom of your pot or pan, and heats quicker. No more time spent “warming up.”
Should I get a self-cleaning range?
Yes! Self-cleaning is all about the insulation. A self-cleaning range runs extra hot while it is cleaning, and is well-insulated. A non-self-cleaning range runs this hot all the time, and you spend more money running your a/c to cool down your home.
What is convection?
Convection uses a fan to circulate heated air over the food in your oven. If the air does not move, then the heat will not flow from the air to your food as quickly, making cooking time much longer.
The old way, heat gathers at the bottom of the food, and then randomly moves around. With convection, you will have a steady circulation that will make heating more even. No more burnt spots on your food! Use all of the racks in your oven, and have all baked goods cook evenly. Your electric bill will be lower too!
Convection cooks faster, makes meats moister, and more nutritious. A conventional oven will dry out and shrink your food.
So you know what it takes to keep your range clean. You’ve also decided whether you want to go gas or electric. Well here are just a few more things to look at before picking out the new range that will adorn your kitchen.
Bottom Deflectors redirect heat from element for even heating of food.
Controls: Are they on the back, front, or side of the range? Are they electronic or knobs?
Electronic Controls provide a bit more accuracy and have even more features that shut off burners not being used, sensors that adjust burner size, timers, etc.
Self-Cleaning ranges get extremely hot during cleaning cycles to burn off any residue inside the oven; however they are better insulated than a standard oven.
Warning Lights keep you aware of hot surfaces.
Bridge Burners link two burners together to create a larger heated surface area for oversized pots and pans.
Simmer Burners heat foods at a lower temperature to prevent them from being burned.
