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  #1 (permalink)   Report Post  
Carling Lake
 
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Default Electric cooktops - recommendations please

I'll be buying an electric smoothtop cooktop sometime very soon and
I'd like to know which are considered good....and which are not.

I'm considering the Wolf, with electronic controls.....anyone have
one of these and can comment?

thanks,

Carly
  #2 (permalink)   Report Post  
 
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Default Electric cooktops - recommendations please

Carling Lake > wrote in message >. ..
> I'll be buying an electric smoothtop cooktop sometime very soon and
> I'd like to know which are considered good....and which are not.
>
> I'm considering the Wolf, with electronic controls.....anyone have
> one of these and can comment?
> thanks,
> Carly


As 'a guy who cooks most of his meals at home with his wife' and has a
smoothtop, i'll offer my observations on features. Since you didn't
ask for alternatives to smoothtop, i won't talk about that except for
one thing. If you end up having liquid spill over the tops of your
pots often while you cook, don't get a smooth top. While smoothtops
are much easier to clean in all other cases, the stuff that boils over
from pots ends up burning on the element and making a hell of a mess
that must be dealt with immediatly instead of just draining underneath
for cleanup afterwards.

The main 'feature' to electronic controls is that they are more prone
to breaking down and will cost more (a lot more) to repair. It is
nice to have the display of the oven temperature but i often confuse
myself and end up hitting 'cancel' (which turns off the heat) when i
just meant to turn off the countdown timer. Or i'll hit 'stop'
(turning off the timer) when i meant to turn off the heat. Just the
slip of a finger when you're dealing with many things at once. I
really wish i had a dial for temperature. If there exists one that
also has electronic pushbutton controls for each of the stovetop
elements i would strongly recommend against it. It's just so much
easier to turn a dial.

I chose a slightly more expensive model because i wanted both of my
large elements to have the ability to turn on only the inner area,
thus making them smaller ones. This would allow me to use 4 small
pots at once. Well i never use more than 2 small pots. I always have
something larger. Most smoothtops have one of the large elements as
dual sized and that is more than enough.

Can't help with specific brands, sorry. I'll leave that to the pros.
We bought one of the Kenmore ranges and have enjoyed it immensely,
except for the few little things i mentioned which are just annoyances
instead of real problems.
  #3 (permalink)   Report Post  
Gini
 
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Default Electric cooktops - recommendations please


> wrote in message
om...
> Carling Lake > wrote in message

>. ..
> > I'll be buying an electric smoothtop cooktop sometime very soon and
> > I'd like to know which are considered good....and which are not.
> >
> > I'm considering the Wolf, with electronic controls.....anyone have
> > one of these and can comment?
> > thanks,
> > Carly

>
> As 'a guy who cooks most of his meals at home with his wife' and has a
> smoothtop, i'll offer my observations on features. Since you didn't
> ask for alternatives to smoothtop, i won't talk about that except for
> one thing. If you end up having liquid spill over the tops of your
> pots often while you cook, don't get a smooth top. While smoothtops
> are much easier to clean in all other cases, the stuff that boils over
> from pots ends up burning on the element and making a hell of a mess
> that must be dealt with immediatly instead of just draining underneath
> for cleanup afterwards.

==
I hear this on occaison from other smoothtop owners and it surprises me that
"spillovers" are considered a drawback of smoothtops.
Certainly spills must be cleaned up right away. I thought everyone did this
no matter what surface elements they have.
Spills on a smoothtop are *much* easier to clean up than recessed elements
(coil, gas). All it takes
is a swipe of a towel. I have a large family and my rangetop looks as it did
the day we bought it--not because
I'm impeccable, but because it is so easy to wipe clean and polish when
needed.
==
==



  #4 (permalink)   Report Post  
Steve Calvin
 
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Default Electric cooktops - recommendations please

Gini wrote:

> > wrote in message
> om...
>
>>Carling Lake > wrote in message

>
> >. ..
>
>>>I'll be buying an electric smoothtop cooktop sometime very soon and
>>>I'd like to know which are considered good....and which are not.
>>>
>>>I'm considering the Wolf, with electronic controls.....anyone have
>>>one of these and can comment?
>>>thanks,
>>>Carly

>>
>>As 'a guy who cooks most of his meals at home with his wife' and has a
>>smoothtop, i'll offer my observations on features. Since you didn't
>>ask for alternatives to smoothtop, i won't talk about that except for
>>one thing. If you end up having liquid spill over the tops of your
>>pots often while you cook, don't get a smooth top. While smoothtops
>>are much easier to clean in all other cases, the stuff that boils over
>>from pots ends up burning on the element and making a hell of a mess
>>that must be dealt with immediatly instead of just draining underneath
>>for cleanup afterwards.

>
> ==
> I hear this on occaison from other smoothtop owners and it surprises me that
> "spillovers" are considered a drawback of smoothtops.
> Certainly spills must be cleaned up right away. I thought everyone did this
> no matter what surface elements they have.
> Spills on a smoothtop are *much* easier to clean up than recessed elements
> (coil, gas). All it takes
> is a swipe of a towel. I have a large family and my rangetop looks as it did
> the day we bought it--not because
> I'm impeccable, but because it is so easy to wipe clean and polish when
> needed.
> ==
> ==
>
>
>

I agree. (Although ours is a full range vs a cooktop) We have no
problems with clean-ups even with boil overs. You need to let the unit
cool down first though. Then there's a cleaning liquid and pad for the
top that works great. If there's something really burnt on (only
happened a couple of times so far) we keep a single sided razor blade
handy, problem solved. I don't see how it could get easier.

  #5 (permalink)   Report Post  
Peter Aitken
 
Posts: n/a
Default Electric cooktops - recommendations please

> wrote in message
om...
> Carling Lake > wrote in message

>. ..
> > I'll be buying an electric smoothtop cooktop sometime very soon and
> > I'd like to know which are considered good....and which are not.
> >
> > I'm considering the Wolf, with electronic controls.....anyone have
> > one of these and can comment?
> > thanks,
> > Carly

>
> As 'a guy who cooks most of his meals at home with his wife' and has a
> smoothtop, i'll offer my observations on features. Since you didn't
> ask for alternatives to smoothtop, i won't talk about that except for
> one thing. If you end up having liquid spill over the tops of your
> pots often while you cook, don't get a smooth top. While smoothtops
> are much easier to clean in all other cases, the stuff that boils over
> from pots ends up burning on the element and making a hell of a mess
> that must be dealt with immediatly instead of just draining underneath
> for cleanup afterwards.
>
> The main 'feature' to electronic controls is that they are more prone
> to breaking down and will cost more (a lot more) to repair. It is
> nice to have the display of the oven temperature but i often confuse
> myself and end up hitting 'cancel' (which turns off the heat) when i
> just meant to turn off the countdown timer. Or i'll hit 'stop'
> (turning off the timer) when i meant to turn off the heat. Just the
> slip of a finger when you're dealing with many things at once. I
> really wish i had a dial for temperature. If there exists one that
> also has electronic pushbutton controls for each of the stovetop
> elements i would strongly recommend against it. It's just so much
> easier to turn a dial.
>
> I chose a slightly more expensive model because i wanted both of my
> large elements to have the ability to turn on only the inner area,
> thus making them smaller ones. This would allow me to use 4 small
> pots at once. Well i never use more than 2 small pots. I always have
> something larger. Most smoothtops have one of the large elements as
> dual sized and that is more than enough.
>
> Can't help with specific brands, sorry. I'll leave that to the pros.
> We bought one of the Kenmore ranges and have enjoyed it immensely,
> except for the few little things i mentioned which are just annoyances
> instead of real problems.


We have had a Dacor flattop range for about 5 years now and love it. I
assume they make a cooktop that would be very similar.


--
Peter Aitken

Remove the crap from my email address before using.




  #6 (permalink)   Report Post  
Carling Lake
 
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Default Electric cooktops - recommendations please

Thanks everyone for your responses re smoothtop electric cooktops.

I've been researching this for several months now and never did find a
report from anyone who actually owned the cooktop I'm most interested
in.....the 30" Wolf, with stainless edging. I like it because it's
very attractive, and the electronic touch contols will make for much
easier cleaning than the knobs my old Amana has. (Other than that the
Amana is easy to keep looking like new, using the cleaning cream and
elbow grease.)

So I'm going to go ahead and order the Wolf.

I'll post a report on it when I've used it for a week or two.

BTW, I'm replacing the Amana mainly because it won't simmer....and
this new Wolf unit supposedly will, and also has an even lower
setting...melt chocolate or keep warm they call it. We'll see!

Carly
  #7 (permalink)   Report Post  
Steve Calvin
 
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Default Electric cooktops - recommendations please

Carling Lake wrote:
<snip>
>
> BTW, I'm replacing the Amana mainly because it won't simmer....and
> this new Wolf unit supposedly will, and also has an even lower
> setting...melt chocolate or keep warm they call it. We'll see!
>
> Carly


Good luck, I'd be interested in your report. Our GE unit simmers great.
Plus I have a separate "warmer" burner that won't go over 100dF even on
high. I didn't really think that I'd use it but that pup's handy!

  #8 (permalink)   Report Post  
Carling Lake
 
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Default Electric cooktops - recommendations please

On Thu, 08 Jan 2004 07:45:47 -0500, Steve Calvin
> wrote:

>Good luck, I'd be interested in your report. Our GE unit simmers great.
>Plus I have a separate "warmer" burner that won't go over 100dF even on
>high. I didn't really think that I'd use it but that pup's handy!


Steve,

Which GE unit do you have? How old is it?

just in case this Wolf cooktop doesn't work out...

Carly
  #9 (permalink)   Report Post  
Steve Calvin
 
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Default Electric cooktops - recommendations please

Carling Lake wrote:

> On Thu, 08 Jan 2004 07:45:47 -0500, Steve Calvin
> > wrote:
>
>
>>Good luck, I'd be interested in your report. Our GE unit simmers great.
>>Plus I have a separate "warmer" burner that won't go over 100dF even on
>>high. I didn't really think that I'd use it but that pup's handy!

>
>
> Steve,
>
> Which GE unit do you have? How old is it?
>
> just in case this Wolf cooktop doesn't work out...
>
> Carly


The model number is JBP82COH1CC if that's any help.

--
Steve

Men are from Earth. Women are from Earth. Deal with it.

  #10 (permalink)   Report Post  
Steve Calvin
 
Posts: n/a
Default Electric cooktops - recommendations please

Steve Calvin wrote:

> Carling Lake wrote:
>
>> On Thu, 08 Jan 2004 07:45:47 -0500, Steve Calvin
>> > wrote:
>>
>>
>>> Good luck, I'd be interested in your report. Our GE unit simmers
>>> great. Plus I have a separate "warmer" burner that won't go over
>>> 100dF even on high. I didn't really think that I'd use it but that
>>> pup's handy!

>>
>>
>>
>> Steve,
>>
>> Which GE unit do you have? How old is it?
>>
>> just in case this Wolf cooktop doesn't work out...
>>
>> Carly

>
>
> The model number is JBP82COH1CC if that's any help.
>

Actually, here's an example of one
http://www.appliancediscountwarehous...relrajb22.html

And here's a list of the features:
http://www.absoluteappliances.com/ab...freeselr9.html

--
Steve

Men are from Earth. Women are from Earth. Deal with it.

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