[Magdalen] How do you buy a stove?

[Charles Wohlers]

Our house in Vermont came with the kind of stove that Lynn describes I 
completely agree with what she says. It probably looked really nice when 
new, but, it's impossible to clean thoroughly, takes a long time to heat up 
(& cool down), and non-flat pots don't work so well. Oh, yes, the big pot 
one uses for canning jam takes f-o-e-v-e-r to heat up to boiling. Down here 
in Mass. we have an old gas stove, and it's infinitely superior, even tho it 
doesn't look quite so nice.

We once visited Judith Jones, Julia Child's editor and a big cook in her own 
right, who has a summer place near us in VT. She has an old gas stove 
running off a big propane tank buried in the ground outside. She knows what 
she's doing.

Chad Wohlers
East Bridgewater, MA USA
chadwohl at satucket.com


-----Original Message----- 
From: Lynn Ronkainen
Sent: Saturday, August 01, 2015 2:29 PM
To: magdalen at herberthouse.org
Subject: Re: [Magdalen] How do you buy a stove?

Look carefully Susan - most all of the electric stoves today have the smooth
glass top. I am an avid cook and I do not like mine (it was brand new when I
moved into my condo)... slow to heat up, easily stained by high sugar or
high acid (think spag sauce) items that could never be removed with the
'polish' that you have to buy to clean it. This happened to me 6 months into
using it - finally had to resort to 'not recommended' ways of removing
damage, which made it more susceptible to continued damage. Also not
supposed to use cast iron on it, AND if your pots are not totally smooth on
the bottom, the lack of complete 'contact' with the heated surface may cause
the heat to go on and off....the only thing I like about the stove is the
'theoretically' easy to clean surface, but mine, after 8 years looks like
it's been through the wars...

If you are a baker/oven user more than a stove top user, or have no unusual
needs for stove top (jam making, cast iron searing, large pots cooking large
batches of tomato sauce...) the smooth glass top might suit your needs.


I have failed to find a high quality electric stove with the coil burners at
any of the 'big box' stores like Best Buy, my usual go-to place for
appliances.

Lynn



website: www.ichthysdesigns.com

When I stand before God at the end of my life I would hope that I have not a
single bit of talent left and could say, "I used everything You gave me."
attributed to Erma Bombeck
"Either Freedom for all or stop talking about Freedom at all" from a talk
by Richard Rohr

--------------------------------------------------
From: "Jay Weigel" <jay.weigel at gmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, August 01, 2015 11:59 AM
To: <magdalen at herberthouse.org>
Subject: Re: [Magdalen] How do you buy a stove?

> You look at the ratings online first, and check the various forums. That's
> what we did when buying our dishwasher.
>
> On Sat, Aug 1, 2015 at 12:49 PM, Susan Hagen <susanvhagen at gmail.com> 
> wrote:
>
>> My electric oven quit on me the night before I left on vacation.  It was
>> old when I moved in this house 15 years ago, I've replaced stove top
>> elements several times and I don't want to spend any more money on it. 
>> I'm
>> headed out to look at what's on the market.  I don't even know what
>> questions to ask.  How do you buy a stovetop/oven combo these days?  I'll
>> try Best Buy and Lowes I guess.
>>
>> Susan
>>
>> --
>> Before enlightenment pay bills, do laundry.  After enlightenment pay 
>> bills,
>> do laundry.
>>