I don't think you have to worry about cracking the cooktop unless you drop a heavy pan on it. I switched to anodized Calphalon a few years ago when I had a smooth-top electric range. The dark anodized surface on the bottom of the cookware helps absorb the infrared energy and convert it to heat in the pan. The ridged griddle should work very well on a smooth-top range. I always wanted one.

My concern is with the air pockets created by the underside ridges trapping heat. I read here, not too long ago, that somebody took the hot lid off of her wok and set it down on the glass top. The heat generated underneath the lid caused the glasstop to crack.

Has anybody actually used this pan on a glasstop???

You need a smooth surface for a glasstop range so I don't believe anything with ridges on the bottom would work correctly.

I can't even believe that they make a grill pan with ridges on the bottom given the popularity of smooth top ranges now.

My question on this is: I know it is important for the pan to match the size of the burner, would a square pan not be the best for this situation??

Why do you guys use those type of stoves?? whats wrong with having a flame? you cant even cook without some hassles

Nothing is wrong with a flame. My home is in the country and we do not have gas lines. It's either all electric or add on a propane tank.

Luckily, the family who owned this house before us decided to add on a propane tank so a gas stove could be installed to replace the original electric cooktop. Having multiple sources of energy is an asset, especially in the country. During blackouts, our wood burning stove keeps us cozy (and the pipes from freezing) and I'm able to cook as usual until electricity is restored.

Jerry, I never cooked on a glass cooktop so I really don't know how good/bad they are but it seems to me that people who choose that type of cooktop are more into aesthetics than they are into cooking. Convenience may play a big part, as well. Keeping a glass cooktop squeaky clean has got to be very easy.

thats what i think, ick lol, no flame, takes the flare out of the cooking.

I have read here that a number of people that have ceran tops use LeCruset Grill pan or Staub grill pan. The outside of these pans are flat.

because there is *no gas* where they live.

And these folks should maybe be running a gas line or installing LP in an individual unit in a high-rise? In a rental apartment?

So unless they pick up and move, they are doomed, of course, never to cook even a palatable meal in their miserable lives. Deprived of any opportunity to achieve anything approaching culinary excellence, they may as well just dust and polish their aesthetic glasstop stoves and confine their cooking to re-warming carryout in the microwave, I guess. No kitchen nirvana for the electric peasants!

It's not as if a honking professional gas range is going to automatically turn someone into a world-class cook. I've eaten too many McMansion kitchen meals that simply prove otherwise.

So yes, folks can talk animatedly about gas v. electric (and then there's induction) but please, don't belittle folks who cook on glasstops as choosing aesthetics over function.

FWIW, all but the cheapest electric ranges are now glasstops. The only new coil ranges you'll find now are lower/lowest end models, some costing as little as a couple hundred dollars. And having cooked on all 3: coil, gas and glasstop, let me add that glasstops aren't exactly maintenance free in the keep-clean department. That's why they come with razor-blade scrapers and special cleaner/polishers ... because nothing else will remove anything that's burned on.

/flame off, so to speak.

Now, on to ridged grill pans.

As for ridged grill pans, it doesn't matter if they're ridged on the inside as long as the bottom of the pan - the part that touches the ceramic top of the stove, is flat. The only pans I have that are literally ridged on the bottom outside are some ~40 year old Le Creuset French ovens. I won't use those on my induction burners, which have ceramic tops.

The last grill pan I owned came from WS - don't remember the brand but it did a wonderful job, and it was ridged inside but flat on the bottom. I gave it to a friend when someone gave me a Cuisinart electric griller. The grill pan was aluminum. I won't buy anything now that's not either copper or induction-capable, and it was neither.

Melic~My sentiments exactly ! Thanks!

We've used this Calp on glass top stoves for years with no problem. In fact, I am just now ordering another such plan--over time the stove peals off the material at the bottom of the pan--over time means 10 years at least.