<p>We have just put an offer on a short sale town house that has a glass-top range. I’ve been using a gas range for the past 13 years, so I will have to do some things differently (assuming of course that the sale does go through). My mom had the original (top by Corning, body by Frigidaire) glass-top range back in the '70s and I just remember it as being slow to heat up and requiring a special set of ultra-flat bottomed pans. Surely things have improved/changed since then.</p>
<p>I have a glass top range that I bought about 2 years ago. Deperately wanted to get a gas range, but with our old house the adjustments that would have been needed to get a gas line were cost prohibited for us.</p>
<p>I find the burners to sometimes heat too hot. Sometimes when I have a burner at about 4 or so (4, with 8 being the highest setting) it still seems like “6” or “7” heating.</p>
<p>My biggest gripe is I am FANATIC about keeping the glass top shiny and clean which means I have to clean it daily if not twice a day. A big pain. </p>
<p>I did buy a couple of different pans and a special grill piece to “grill” on the glasstop (this can be annoying because though it cooks well, the grill wants to slide on the glasstop!) but really don’t know if the special pans on necessary. I still use a cast iron pan on it without problem.</p>
<p>Happymom, 20 some years ago, I bought a house with such a range with the vow that the stove would go as soon as we could afford to get a new one. We never did as the thing worked, and we always had other more pressing needs. I cook all of the time and am considered a good cook. We have a large family and I generally cook for 12 when it comes to dinners and I cook full meal dinners at least 6 nights a week as a rule. I prefer,by far, the gas, but, you know, I got used to the electric and the glass top. It takes longer, and certain pans are better with it. But, once I got used to using it, it was business as usual. </p>
<p>Two of my close friends there are gourmet cooks and they always would cluck and lament that range and tell me that they could not understand how I could cook on it. But, people , many people do use the contraption, and many cook meals for their families regularly and successfully. You can’t always get the quickest easiest way to do something. I find it a lot easier to use than the wood burning contraptions that some specialists use and safer in many ways than the gas. You can start saving to replace the danged thing, but in the mean time make the best of it. Congrats on the new house purchase!</p>
<p>I HATE HATE HATE my glass top range. I replaced the older coil-style electric burner range, thinking I would really like this new one. I thought it would be easier to clean. Hah! It’s a royal pain, and it always needs cleaning.</p>
<p>It takes forever to boil water for pasta, and as soon as I dump the pasta in, it stops boiling and takes forever again to bring it back to boil. I should call it a simmer, because I can barely get a rolling boil. This is on the 8-9" eye. On the other large eye (12"), everything burns!</p>
<p>I can’t wait to replace this stove! It’s a Whirlpool, by the way.</p>
<p>Once when visiting my parents at their condo where electric was required their glass top shattered. I was horrified. For tgat reason i would never have one. Also been a gas cooker person myself.</p>
<p>When we renovated our kitchen 10 years ago, we put in a Jenn-air glass top because it was considered state-of-the-art and highly desirable. (We don’t have gas in our area.) Within 2 weeks of using it I had switched it out for a traditional coil version (the installer thought I was nuts). Almost none of my very nice pots and pans worked on it, and I didn’t want to pay to replace them all; it never looked clean no matter how diligent I was; and since I don’t have the most delicate touch and have been known to slam down a pot now and then, I was always terrified I was going to crack the glass. Hopefully my next house will have gas.</p>
<p>A family member has had a glass top for 30 years, updating it within the last 10 years. I hate cleaning it more than I hate cleaning other stoves and I am always frustrated to use it as all my timing is off. But, if that is what you use every day all the time, you will learn the new timing.</p>
<p>Gas is best, but there is no gas line in my building. Given that, I strongly prefer my glass top stove to the coil type I had previously. I find it miles easier to clean, it’s better looking, and it’s much easier to balance various sizes/shapes of pans on the burners. I don’t find that it’s any slower to heat and cool than a coil electric range (if you want speed, you have to have gas).</p>
<p>Am I in in the minority here? When we bought our current house 5 years ago, I was disappointed that it didn’t have gas like our previous house. I was sure I’d hate the glass cook top – but I actually like it a lot. It’s a Jenn Air with radiant heat. When I turn on a burner to the “Hi” setting, it’s instantly hot. Although I agree that getting precise temperature adjustments is easier with gas, I really don’t have any major issues with the glass. It turns our that the pots and pans I’ve had since we were married are perfect with the glass – Revere with a solid aluminum disc on the bottom. I also don’t have any problems keeping the cooktop clean – it’s now 15 years old and looks brand new. (Yes, I cook a lot.) We’re actually moving again in the next several weeks. Our new place has gas, which I’m sure I’ll love, but I have enjoyed the glass.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the ideas! I have no idea what make/model this range is, and I’m not likely to know unless/until the negotiations end and we do a home inspection. Whatever it is, I’ll have to learn to live with it because the neighborhood is all-electric, and I’m not going to have any cash left over for a new range right away.</p>
<p>Glasstops take awhile to cool down, and you have to be pretty scrupulous about cleaning every single time. Also, if you are a candymaker, you have to make sure you don’t spill molten sugar and ruin the top. You can’t shake your frying pan any more, but you don’t necessarily have to spend a fortune on replacements. Cast iron works just fine as long as gently set the pan down. </p>
<p>The good news? If you have limited counter space, you can utilize the unused portions of the cooktop. Thus, our rice cooker sits on cooktop so that the steam can be sucked up by our vent hood.</p>
<p>Jenn-air radiant heat glass top. Heats up FAST and you just need a set of pans that are flat. I used Revereware for years. I gave my 30 year old set to D for her apartment and use Calphalon. No problems with either. My range is modular with three modules. Right now I have one module with two glass top burners, one for grilling and one is a griddle. The griddle get changed out for another two radiant burners. You just pull it out and plug the other one in. I hate the little crevices between the modules for cleaning, but love the modules. Barkeepers Freind is my friend for keeping the glass clean. My unit is a good 20 years old and one of the burners went out 2 years ago. I found a replacement module on ebay for very little compared to getting one from the usually sources. I shake my wok and frying pans with no problem. Mine don’t scratch and clean up is NOT that difficult. </p>
<p>I had a Jenn-Air grill in my second home along with a conventional oven with stove on top. When we bought this house I had my doubts. But I loved grilling when outside the weather was not great and was thrilled when the next house had the modular Jenn-air range with grill. We have been in that house now for 25+ years. We added on and redid the kitchen and I stuck with Jenn-Air.</p>
<p>And yes the surface is GREAT for extra work space when you are not using it.</p>
<p>happymom, I have an electric glass top range and I love it. Mine heats up very very fast but does take awhile to cool down. Buy yourself a bottle of glass top cleaner. You can use cast iron but be careful setting it down, that’s heavy and you don’t want to scratch or break your glass.</p>
<p>I also love our glass top range (but must admit am not a gourmet cook either). I think it makes the countertop less cluttered, and I prefer cleaning the glass top over coils. I can also use it as extra counter space or a large trivet for baking goods coming out of the oven. We’ve had it for about 3 years (GE model). I think part of the problem with slow heating depends on the type of pans used. It hasn’t bothered me.</p>
<p>My biggest concern now, however, is that our cats just discovered it is a “cool” surface in the summer. I’m trying to discourage that use immediately!</p>
<p>"Wow, I like my glass top. I hated coils and could never keep the drip pans clean. " - Same here. Plus we have a microwave over it, and the stovetop (which is often unused) makes a great place to set the casserole plates etc after a reheat.</p>
<p>I am NOT a gourmet cook. I could understand how others would prefer the better control of gas. But I opted to not get gas when we built the house being concerned about fire hazard (if kids or this distracted mom let a hot mitt near the stove).</p>
<p>I have only had coil ranges until we moved into our new house last year. I have always wanted gas as have used it at my inlaws and love it!</p>
<p>Our new (3 year old) house came with a Jennair downdraft slidein black glasstop range.</p>
<p>The only thing I remotely like about it is keeping it clean! It is a bit of an effort but looks good after I use razor/cream cleanser to get rid of the baked on stuff. Then I use a scrunge (I’m in Canada…haven’t seen any reference to one on this thread) Scrunge (brand name) is like a scrubby made for glasstop and it works great. If you only have light cleaning you can use just the scrunge then finish with (believe it or not) Wieman’s stainless steel cleaning cloths! I clean all my stainless first then go over the glasstop…no streaks, super shiny! I like the added counter space.</p>
<p>That’s where it ends…I might have a defective stovetop but I can’t stand how the temp. fluctuates; I’m ALWAYS having to monitor what’s on the stove because I never know what it’s going to do! I am very detail oriented and have tried to monitor and “get used to it” but I can’t. I also can’t stand that it’s impossible to get a true rolling boil.</p>
<p>I have been married 25 years, been through 6 coil stoves in that time (various locations…we moved) and have never complained about a stove like this one. My coil stoves always kept consistent heat and when the drip rings got too dirty I just replace them!</p>
<p>I DON’T lke not being able to use my old pans (true…they have to be flat!) I still use my aluminum egg poacher…it was my mothers 50 years old, and I’m just careful not to slide it at all as I know it could mark it.</p>
<p>In one year of use it has two noticeable scratches and I have been bery careful.</p>
<p>Gas is my ultimate choice, I am lucky we have a gas hook-up so am saving now. I also don’t like the downdraft venting; it’s not very efficient but we also can’t use anything else because of the layout of our kitchen.</p>
<p>My two cents!! I posted hear as I was looking for a current rant on glasstops and this was the most current one I could find!</p>
<p>We have to have a slide-in range so our options are limited for downdraft venting but there are a couple out there. </p>
<p>In answer to the original poster question…I don’t think things have changed much with respect to glass/ceramic top stoves since the 70’s</p>
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