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I know this borders on too subjective but.... I had a nice Induction stove top (36" Bosch) and wall ovens, then I moved to an older house with Gas. Worse, with attic and walls that make it very difficult (and ugly with conduit) to put in an induction range, so I am living with gas.

I hate it. It's definitely better than radiant electric, but...

The house was freshly remodeled so it was a new range, a GE JGSS66SEL5SS which appears to be at the low end of gas ranges, though not the bottom. Burners max out at 15k BTU, oven is 16k.

The oven is a one problem -- it pre-heats very quickly but the temperatures vary wildly from center to edges, like parchment paper in the center nice and white and brown to almost black on the edges. So it's basically half-size with me using only the center. It also has "steam clean" that does nothing (literally - the water does not even evaporate), no self-clean mode.

The other issue is that the burners are quick to react (of course) but weak. Boiling water is very slow, and in a big pot (e.g. I use for steaming things) on full it can barely get a continuous boil going.

The center griddle is nice, though also heats unevenly, hot in the center, cool on edges despite an oval burner.

Here is my question -- are better (i.e. pricier) ranges actually better, or is this just how gas is? If I look at something like a high end LG gas range (for example), am I likely to be more satisfied? They clearly have faster burners (22k vs 15k) but is uneven heat in the oven just how gas works, or will a better range have better air flow and more even heat?

Or was I just spoiled with electric ovens and induction cook tops?

How much actual difference is there in such issues between 30" ranges (and no, I really do not have space for 36" or to switch to cooktop + wall ovens, it's an old house with many limitations).

Linwood

Update 1/12/2025: I ended up replacing the GE range with the latest LG Gas. I elected a double oven on a whim. I can now say clearly the problem was the old oven (whether bad design or broken). The new ovens are, relatively speaking, much more even in temperature around their volume. It also had an easy calibration, and a much higher power top burner. I would still rather have had induction + electric oven, but this is very usable. It was much more expensive but I guess you don't get what you don't pay for.

Linwood
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2 Answers2

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the temperatures vary wildly from center to edges

Yes, this is a common problem with gas ranges.

In my experience, people frequently choose an incorrect pan size for the burner. I prefer to use a pan such that the flames don't hit the outer edge of the pan, but that they make a ring that's maybe 2/3 of the radius between the center and edge. That way, you have the least uneven heating, because the pan bottom gets less hot with distance from the flames, and also the pan middle cools down less than the pan edges (which both have more area to radiate away the heat, and are not heated from two opposite sides within a given diameter).

Range design can improve the problem with two approaches. First, the engineers can choose the burner's physical size and flame holes angle to control the size of the flames ring. So they can ideally choose a power output that's sufficient to heat the pan well when placed as described above. Second, they can make a two-ring burner, such that, for a wide pan, you have heating in more area than from a single ring.

Also, when it comes to evenness of heating: you can control that by choosing your pan material. There is a tradeoff: a pan that's slow to conduct will have a more even heating pattern, but will also react more sluggishly to changes in burner output. But frequently, a food is highly sensitive to either reaction times or to even heating, but not so much both at once, so you can use your pan choices to get whatever you need most for a given dish. Especially after you've been "confined" to induction-suitable materials only, it might be a good idea to explore how other pans will handle on the new stove.

Also, to address the "subjective" part: it's indeed normal that people learn cooking by doing it always on the same range, and when they switch to a different range, that handles subtly differently, their skill is "out of whack" and they end up hating the new range. We have had questions here from people who switched from gas and induction and hated it with passion! So, while your observations about the objective differences make sense and it's absolutely a good thing to consider other models, you should also give yourself time to adjust. Things which used to "just work" by instinct might need a more conscious control now, not because the new range is worse, but because it's different. This effect is unavoidable, but it will disappear with time, as you build an implicit mental model of how the new range handles in different situation, and start using it instinctively again. This is a component which will be always present, independently of the range quality.

rumtscho
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Gas can be very good, you just need the right equipment. Low-end gas ranges have teeny burners and take ages to cook anything, better equipment has much bigger burners. I have a 5 burner cooktop with 2 double ring wok burners, and I have no problem boiling a big pot of water quickly. So, better equipment will give you a better result. Keep in mind more expensive brands do not necessarily give you better burners, you can buy a very expensive, swanky brand that's still pathetic. You need to look at the amount of heat in kW or BTUs that the burners crank out, not the name on the front.

One good option may be to buy used, depending on what's in your area you may snap up a bargain - sometimes people get rid of perfectly good stuff.

GdD
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