thx for posting that!I have been wavering on coil vs glass top. The stove in my 'new' place has the coils. I'll use that for awhile. will surely have to replace it because one side of the oven door looks like someone backed into it.

if I don't go with another range I'm thinking about this cooktop and then an oven put in about 10" above counter height at the end of that run. it's about 6' long.

I'll have to look at our discount appl store and see what they have (they can pull in things they have at other stores also). If I can get a good (great) price on the oven I'll go this route I think. It'll be easier on me (just not my budget!) Some of it will depend on how much I have to spend getting the flooring put in etc.

I don't cook enough to put a lot of money into it. And my sister gave me my BIL's old 'new wave cooker/oven'. She got him a new one for Christmas - that made him 3 of them. He bakes just about anything in it. I'll use it and see how i like it. I might find I don't need a regular oven - I seldom use the counter top oven I have now. I know I haven't used it in the past month. Then I might just get the Panasonic micro/convection counter top oven with the cooktop... I do need to think of cost plus ease of use and cleaning!

whatever I end up with I'm sure the burners will be the glass top. hopefully w/ the speckles! When I pull the one pic'd below up close in my photo file I see speckles.

I love my glass topped stove. Have had it quite a few years now. It also has a convection oven, which I use a lot instead of the regular oven feature as it uses less electricity. My glass top has speckles too.

FlowerLady

Up north, DH has a glass topped GE range with a tiny regular broiler oven up top, and then the convection very big oven below. Mostly we store pans in the bottom oven.

I do not bake a lot either. At MoccasinLanding I also removed the old coil cooktop, and the coppertone brown oven which was built in at counter height. In its place, I myself installed the glass 4 burner cooktop, which was gorgeous. And I then purchased a Sharp Carousel Convection/Microwave oven with a turntable. It was their model 930 I think, and had enough room that it could roast a turkey breast and handle about a 15" rectangular pan.
My DH says it cooks the best turkey breast he's ever done (he is the turkey cooker in our house). I had that oven for many years trouble free, but it drowned in Hurricane Katrina. I replaced it soon after with the same model and have had it trouble free for almost 5 years so far. In fact, I gave DH the next smaller Sharp oven for his house up north. It does the same stuff, just smaller dimensions, also grills steaks/burgers both sides at once, and was only $215 from Amazon.com. Cannot beat the features or the price. Oh yes, you can also purchase the "kit" which lets you build it in. I gave the oven to him as a Father's Day present.

I had an electric range here but hated it. The coils would sit crooked, and it was all rusted out. No telling how old it was. So I took it apart and threw it in the trash. I now use a two burner solid top hot plate by Waring Pro instead of a real cook top. And of course the Sharp convection/mwave Carousel oven.

I want a REAL STOVE next time. The glass was okay, but I love to use cast iron cook pots, and they have a raised lip around their bases sometimes, and do not sit flat on the glass top. I also feared I'd crack the glass if I dropped a hot pot even a little. But boy do the glass tops look great. Mine was a smooth black glass with no speckles. But my mother put one in her peninsula which was a speckled gray, not translucent looking glass. The black translucent look is super modern IMO.

My REAL STOVE which I'm saving up for and planning around is the 24" SS Bertazzoni range. It has a regular oven with the option of running a convection fan in it. I have wanted a gas stove for ages, plan to use all my great cast iron cook pots. But I'm not required to cook huge amounts and frankly don't want a big hulking monster sitting in my kitchen. The "apartment" sized should be fine for us.
We already have the gas supply in the right place, now that the gas water heater is gone, so the proper gas pressure will go entirely to the stove. I might not even need a vent hood, to start with, but think I'd prefer to have a high CFM hood to suck the heat out of our house. Otherwise I might not want to fire up the stove to cook.

Ladies, I think I'm just a 'stick in the mud'. I don't do well with change, or anything that seems complicated (to me), and I think it's hereditary. When I was growing up, my mother had a stove, a toaster, and a hand-held mixer. That was the extent of her cooking appliances until crock-pots came along. LOL, 35 years later she has a stove, a toaster, a hand-held mixer and a crock-pot. She bakes pies for every dinner we have, but won't use a pastry blender--she still uses two knives to cut in shortening.

If my husband (the gadget-guru) hadn't been stove shopping with me, I would probably would have come home with another coil-type electric stove. We were planning to buy a new stove when we got to the point in our kitchen remodel that it would have been convenient to move the old one out. My daughter and her (now soon-to-be EX) husband moved into a home without a stove, so we decided to get a new one before we started the remodel, and give them our old coil-type. Maybe that's why I'm feeling less that satisfied with my new stove--her soon-to-be EX is keeping my old stove. With our blessing, but 'harumph'!

" and then the convection very big oven below. Mostly we store pans in the bottom oven. "

I'm thinking that's what will happen if I get a big oven...

i like the glass top for looks and cleaning ease - but I do worry about dropping a pot on it and cracking it! I've told myself to just go for it and if it cracks I'll just go back to using my hotplate! I've used that for the past 12 yrs and it's been fine.

I can't use cast iron anymore or even my 3.5 qt corning pot. they're almost too heavy for me empty. with anything in them I wouldn't be able to lift them.

Is your Sharp micro/conv a counter top version? I seldom use the oven. a small meatloaf, my holiday dressing with chicken breast, some garlic toast, cookies or muffins... I really think I could do those things in something like the Sharp or Panasonic micro/conv oven.

The 2 burner cook top is plenty for me considering I've used a 1 burner hot plate all these yrs. and it takes up less space. I sure don't need 4 burners!

Besides I have that new wave oven and I also have a 4 qt nesco cooker (can make about anything in that) and a crock pot somewhere (very small one).

I don't trust me with gas (that's what I grew up cooking on but haven't all of my adult life) - I even use battery candles these days.

mama - don't let your soon to be x SIL getting your old coil stove bother you - he'll have to clean it (maybe). Maybe your dd will get a nice smooth glass top one!

I'm a kitchen gadget-guru too. I love kitchen 'things'. I have a hand mixer, a kitchenaid stand mixer (wouldn't trade it for anything); 3 slow cookers (including one with 2 SxS crocks, low pressure cooker, toaster oven, 2 fryers, 3 coffee makers, steamers, I just got rid of 3 rice cookers, an electric roaster - you get the idea!
I have a smooth top stove too. I worried about it at first, but over time I find that I don't even think about breaking the glass. I use my cast iron pots and fry pan all of the time.
When I replace it, I want one with the 2 ovens. I still bake a good bit.

Loretta, with all the kitchen gadgets, you must have done a lot of cooking in your time. I hope you're not missing it too much. I don't baby my glass top either--I use my favorite cast iron skillet almost every day.

desertsteph, my daughter has a nice glass cook-top now.
Mine. She and our 2 year old grandson recently moved back home, with us. But I don't have to share--she rarely cooks. ;)

Maybe I should start a thread about 'boomerang' children and small houses.

mmm I love my glass cooktop. :o)

I had coil burners for years until we moved into this house. Now I'd never go back. I have never owned a gas stove, so maybe someday would like to try that, but for the meantime, my glass is good.

mama_goose - I think that's a great idea (boomerang thread)! Perhaps we could also start one about kids who never leave, too! lol

"i like the glass top for looks and cleaning ease"

YMMV, BIG TIME! We have a Kenmore glass-topped range (came with the house, installed in early 2007) and the glass top is absolutely impossible to keep clean and unstained. It's black with the white speckles and ivory rings to mark the burners (the stove itself is ivory). We've tried everything we could find with extensive web searches to remove the brownish stains on the ivory rings and whitish marks on the black areas so we've just resigned ourselves to an ugly stovetop until we redo the kitchen and pipe for a propane range - natural gas would be much preferred but it's not an option for this house. Special glass-top stove cleaners, Barkeeper's Friend/Bon Ami, Soft Scrub, baking soda, razor scrapers, Magic Eraser, green scrubbies with any number of cleaners, and and and.

I wonder if it's just that it's a craptastic stove that it's stained so easily... many of the plastic parts are discoloring too. We've also had to put many of our pots and pans into storage and purchase new ones because the bottoms weren't perfectly flat - not only would the old ones that worked perfectly well on other burner types spin and rock on the glass, but it created a "hot spot" that burned food.

I don't know johnmarie, it may be your stove. I have a glass top I've had for 15 years and it's a breeze to clean. It's the kind with white speckles too which I think helps because it doesn't show finger prints or splatters. I can tell it's not brand new, but when it's clean it looks pretty good.

I totally understand about the pans though. I bought a hot plate to use my non-flat pans and cast iron.

Our glass top is also easy to clean. I just use that barkeepers friend for stove tops and a razor blade on the ruff spots every couple of weeks. In between I use windex.

Mama_goose I too resist change and at our last house was my introduction to a glass top. I thought it was no big deal until we moved here with the brand new but old coil stove again and it totally annoyed me to have to constantly be fussing with the burner pans. I bought my new to me glass top stove off craigs list and am thrilled to have an easy to clean stove back. I already had the flat bottom pans from four years at the last house.

Also the last house glass top stove had big crack in it from previous owner leaving a kettle to burn dry. Stove still worked perfectly.

I am stuck on the glass tops. Never used a convection oven that I know of.

Chris

prairie, my grandmother cooked with gas, which was nice when the electricity went off. I remember her putting the biscuits in the broiler in the bottom of the stove. We'd always forget about them until we smelled burning biscuits!

johnmari, my stove is a Frigidaire, but the cook-top sounds just like yours. The cleaner and scrub-pad that came with our stove is called CERAMA BRYTE. I've never bought any, but Amazon.com has a 28oz bottle for $9.00(+shipping). It works well if I don't let the spills bake on. The directions recommend using a razor blade, too.

shades, when my supply of cleaner runs out I'm definitely going to try Barkeeper's Friend. I used to replace my burner pans with cheap ones from the dollar store when they got too messy, about twice a year. I've never heard about a stove-top cracking--even if it still works, that sounds scary.

Hi, marti8a, I just plan on starting dinner early--I'm using a set of pans that belonged to my husband's grandmother. Like you, I don't want to give them up. I don't even think about scratches any more.

Mama_Goose I was afraid of it for awhile and after 4 years using it I pretty much forgot about the crack. I used the burner all the time too.

Chris

One thing which annoyed me with the flat bottom pans was, they might not stay that way. I have used two different glass tops...really 3 if you count when I cooked at my mother's house. Nice, but I am at a point where I want to have a gas stove.

I have used my 2 burner hotplate by Waring Pro for over a year now, and it is just fine. I'll keep it, because it is electric, it is a flat solid burner and not a coil, it is stainless, and easy to keep clean. I do not trust a gas water heater in the house but I feel differently about having a gas range. With the spectre of hurricanes, having gas cooking is a plus. But of course, we do have a grill which uses the propane cannisters. But those tanks have to be refilled too.

I just took a few pics of my Sharp R930CS microwave/convection oven. This is my second oven just like this, except the first one had a door which opened DOWN just like a real stove oven, and this one swings to the left, opens from the right. I took a picture of it outside and inside. My DH swears it cooks the best turkey breast he ever ate. The one I gave him for Fathers' Day has same features including the stainless interior which is so easy to clean. Plus it will grill top and bottom at the same time. Both mine and his sit on the counter, but a build-in kit is available if you want to do that.
Here's my shots, the Sharp R820 is his model and only a tiny ad photo of it. It is smaller than mine.

Shown here my R930 sits on a 24 inch cab, next to the fridge.

And here it is open to show stainless interior and turntable. It has not been cleaned since our last turkey breast, just wiped out.

A closer shot to show the controls. This oven and the R820 both, have HELP included in the controls until you get familiar with it.

Amazon sells both ovens.

"Maybe I should start a thread about 'boomerang' children and small houses."

btdt! a few times! on one hand I loved seeing dd and gson but on the other hand - i was already so used to being alone it about drove me nutso!

johnmari - that's terrible! the thought of that keeps me from getting a light top one.

moccasin - thx for the pix! I still have a hard time with metal in a micro - it seems too weird! do you bake cookies, garlic bread, muffins and stuff like that in it? (you see my priorities).
not that I've made up a batch of cookies in over 15 yrs - just the slice 'n bake from the store.

my little counter top oven is about 13" sq inside. haven't found a 'cookie sheet' small enough...have been known to bake cookies on tin foil... it's old and yucky now or I'd look for a bake set for a toaster oven to use in it. I think I could use a pizza pan for cookies and bread in a micro/conv like yours.

does the outside of it get really hot when in use? I really think I'd be just fine with one like yours.

Although I have had a glass cooktop for 10 years, they are not my favorite. I'd rather have gas and be able to control heat better. Cleaning though is easy and guess that is the best of what it is all about.

Yes a razor blade works wonders and never a scratch. Using the cleaner helps for keeping it much cleaner.

Flat bottom pans are not all alike. There is a significant difference depending upon the metal used and thickness. If you have a pan that works well (forever) stick to that manufact.

My stove is the Gemini with two ovens, a small top one and larger lower. The lower rarely gets used unless big dinners, roasts, turkey. There is also a toaster option and braising. I'm on my 3rd one, 3rd house. Saves a lot of power just using the small oven. Plus I was able to get rid of the toaster and counter oven...more space for small.

Since this is the *Small Home Forum* I thought I'd post this that I found while searching for small ranges. I don't own one, and don't think it would suit my cooking needs since I do a lot of stir frying, but I like the concept for those who do not cook a lot and just need something to do the occasional at home meal.

http://www.buzzillions.com/reviews/avanti-convection-oven-2-burner-cooktop-reviews

Here is a link that might be useful: Small Home Range

When we moved in there was a bottle of Cerama Bryte in the drawer next to the stove along with the manual, clearly came with stove from Sears. Used it the first time we splattered stuff on the stove and it wouldn't just wipe off with the scrubbie-sponge. Threw bottle out. (It's basically repackaged Soft Scrub from what I could tell by the smell and texture anyway.)

I admit that we're not the neatest cooks in the world - we go on "cooking rampages" where we'll cook all the food for the upcoming week if it's going to be a busy week and the kitchen will look like one of those paper towel commercial with splatters and spills all over the place because we're working hard and moving fast (I come from a commercial cooking background, and DH is catching up with me), but usually the two of us can get it cleaned up in about 15 minutes. Except for that bloody stovetop! (Can't tell you how many times I've burnt myself - steam burns - trying to wipe a splatter off when the stovetop was still hot in hopes of it not baking on! You'd think I'd learn...)

BTW, some of the pans we had to put in storage were quite up there on the high end of the spectrum but the bottoms had still not stayed perfectly flat - I don't buy cheap, thin cookware unless I intend it to be essentially disposable (as in it's going to a potluck or something and I don't care if it gets left behind).

johnmari when you try to wipe while burner is still hot it does make it worse. Let it burn on and scrape with razor blade. Thicker comes off easier then smeared. Ask me how I know.:^( I too am a messy cook.

I'd wait until the stove top is cold to clean. Even the thinnest spots come off with a razor blade. And I can understand the caution in considering using one. But it works well without scratches. Make sure you use a new one. I was concerned when first doing this, but the top takes a fairly good scraping.

Also, the cleaner for glass stove tops has a wax in it. Similar to waxing a car. I let it dry then scrub off with a damp scrubber. If you let food build up between cooking, tis more difficult to clean. I don't clean every time, just wipe off with a damp cloth. Or the razor blade and cleaner once a week.

Make sure there is nothing on the bottom of pans too before cooking, even water. Keeps a lot of buildup away. Overall, the glass top is far easier and cleaner than electric elements or gas. I remember all those spills and having to clean everything in sight plus under the stove top.

I has a question.........wouldn't using spray on oven clean work to clean the glass cooktop? I use oven cleaner on my glass ceramic-glass baking dishes to remove burnt on food that accumulates around the top edges and handles. Works great. I can't see how oven cleaner would damage a glass cooktop unless I am missing something I don't know about about them.

I would think the only problem with the over cleaner is the difficulty in cleaning it all off. Pans are easy as you can rinse in the sink.

Also as Emagineer said there is a wax in the stove top cleaner that repels spills nicely. I remember reading in the book on last stove not to wipe with rag yada yada. Who pays attention to directions. I even use windex for quick clean up.

Even as much care as it sounds like it takes it is way faster than the old element and burner pans. Having had the glass top then NOT I could not wait to get back to the glass top.

Chris

moccasin - does everything turn around when cooking in your sharp? when using convection? baking cookies?

I'll keep my smaller mw to use as a mw...

Emagineer, since you mentioned making sure nothing was on the bottom of the pans, I've paid close attention to this. I have my favorite pans hanging from a pot rack, and with the regular dust fromm construction in the air, I always check them for dust and end up washing them again before using them. Which means I must be careful to dry them.

Steph, yes the turntable turns. Also, the racks sit on the turntable and that turns as well. The racks can be inside the oven whether you use convection or m/wave though.

I've thought about using the racks without the turntable beneath them though. That way, I could use a slightly larger pan. IF I try it, I will report the results.
First I must ask DH, who is a very smart engineer, even when he disagrees with what I want to do. :)

thx moccasin. let me know if it works that way. i was thinking why does it have to turn if you're using convection not mw? and then you could use a bigger dish to cook in. maybe a small cookie sheet...

Hi, everyone, there's some great information here!

ML, the convection/microwave sounds interesting. I've always wanted a proofing oven, also why I'd like the stove with two ovens, so I can have bread rising while I'm baking another dish. Our microwave is a monster--24x18x13.5, plus we have to allow for a few inches behind it for air circulation. I'd love to put it under the counter when we redo the kitchen, and have a large drawer for baking pans below. When it dies I'll look into the convection combo.

dilly-dally, that two-burner cooktop is the cutest thing I've ever seen. That would be perfect for a college student with a small apartment. I've never used spray-on oven cleaner, and would never have thought to use it on the stove-top.

Has anyone used Soft Scrub on glass-tops, or know how it compares in cost to the Cerama Bryte? I'm still using the 2.5oz bottle of Cerama Bryte that came with our stove a year and a half ago. That 28oz bottle would probably last my lifetime. :P Also know about steam burns, because I like to clean as I go--and I hate to start cooking and find someone else's mess on the stove. Grrrrr

moccasin - does the heat from your sharp worry you as close as it is to the wall? do you think it'd ruin a print hung above it? it'd be framed behind glass.

does it get too hot to set on a formica counter top?

is there a cooking element on the top of it? if so, does it come on for baking? or just for broiling?

and I noticed that the panasonic is 1100 watts compared to the 900 of the sharp - does that matter much? I don't even know the wattage of my mw now! tho some things say not to cook in mw under 1000 watts (MC pot pies). I do it figuring I probably won't die if mine is less... the pies are always very well done.

Steph, let me see where to start.
Heat from the Sharp: The oven has little feet under it. The first one I purchased (lost in Katrina) sat on a pine cabinet, and it got warm but not crispy. It has a fan which continues to run after the convection mode shuts off. The one I have now has several inches clearance behind it, and about 1 inch to the left, which is where the wallboard is, and there is room for a flat wall plug between the oven and the wallboard. Overall, it does not get that hot on the exterior surfaces. I do not keep bananas on top of it, or anything plastic which might deform, or anything paper which might be a source of combustion. That is just me, I am conscious of fire hazards in general. But I do put my lids on top of it, and flower pots on top of the fridge next to it.

A print hung BEHIND IT? It does have some humidity around it, but if the frame is wood and the glass is really glass and not plastic, and the print is a print and not an original water color, I think it would survive nicely.

Hmmm, you know I haven't even considered the location of the heating elements in the oven! I think there is one in the top and the bottom, because it does broil, and it does brown. It has perforated vents on both side walls and the overhead, but nothing on the back wall. My manual is on my computer, so I'll have to check the oven diagram and get back with you shortly on that one.

Too hot for a Formica countertop? It does get warm, and I would assume that over time repeated exposure to heat would damage a Formica surface. If you have the space to allow for a tile or wooden board beneath the oven, that should give some heat barrier.

I've never found the Sharp to be low on power for any recipes. What things do you cook that say 1000 watts minimum? The issue is the temp of the food to make it safe for consumption, not the wattage of the m/w. And, with convection feature, you set the cooking temp from 100 degrees up to 450 degrees; then you set your cooking time. Also, before you do this, you can PREHEAT your oven, so it does not begin from zero. After it reaches its chosen temp, the buzzer goes off, you put your food into the oven, and then you press CONVECTION/SET THE TEMP/SET THE COOKING TIME.
Near the end, if it appears to need some more time, you ADD A MINUTE with that button, and no other settings need be affected. It also browns, and it cooks with a "mix" or combo of M/W and convection, which is what my DH loves about it. He says it cooks the best turkey breast he's ever eaten, brown outside and moist not dry inside. He's the turkey cooking man in our house.

What are MC pot pies? Are they fresh or frozen? DH also cooks a Mrs. Budd's fresh (never frozen) chicken pot pie family size, which turns out brown and too hot to eat until it cools down. Those are available up in Massachusetts, not down here in Alabama, sad to say. They are delicious. And the new oven I gave him for Father's Day does a good job with those. THAT oven is smaller than the 930, it is the 820, but it has the same features as its big brother. Plus it has a stainless steel interior too. Those interiors are very easy to clean, and do not seem to get baked on foods like other interiors.

I'll check on placement of the heating elements now.

Steph, I did not see any indication in an oven diagram where the heating elements were located in the Sharp R930cs oven.

I learned that the MW element is 900 watts.
I learned that the CONVEC element is 1450 watts.

Using my rule of thumb for circuit loads, where I say 15 amps is equivalent to 1500 watts, give or take, that would require a 15 amp circuit with no other large appliances operating at the same time. My DH gave the oven a dedicated circuit of 20 amps, just to be safe. It really is a 13 amp appliance, but not enough power left over to run anything else w/o tripping a breaker, IMO. Our fridge, which is nearby, has its own circuit also, but I had a lamp plugged into the other wall plug.

Based on my reading of the specs for the oven, I see there are two elements, but one is a microwave and the other is the convection. Reading the specs was enlightening.

if it's not hot enough to worry you about too much heat on your wall or the cord it'll probably be fine. it wouldn't be that close to anything in my kitchen. i could put some tiles under it temporarily.

the print is a screen print, not mass produced (Marty Slaymaker). it'd be on the wall behind/over the oven. it has a metal frame now and glass. i might want to change the frame down the road as i don't like the metal one.

the pot pies are Marie Callendar. I cook them in the mw. they cook in the box they come in. yes, it has something to do with being sure the chicken is fully cooked. since everything is getting crispy by the time the time they list is up i figure it's plenty cooked.

i do have a reg socket on the wall just where i want to put it so that should work fine. I have blown my breaker here before with mw on and my little oven... it didn't bother my fridge tho. If i put in a regular oven I'd have to upgrade to 20 amp. This'll be much cheaper.

my little oven has 2 elements (the convection fan quit long ago) and when baking garlic bread or cookies the top one seems to burn the tops of them. I looked the manual up online too and didn't see any elements. how does it convection cook then?

do you ever wish it were higher inside?