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« Asian Tofu Recipe #1 on Favorite List |Main| Stove Buying Tips: Weeding through Add-ons, Reviews and Deals »
November 19, 2012Stove Buying Tips: Revelations from Food Professionals & SalespeopleMy husband has been nagging me to buy a new stove. He can’tstand “Mr. Click Click” -- the burner that won’t ignite without help. Everytime he reaches for the lighter stashed in the nearby drawer, he says, “Youdeserve a better stove. When will you buy a new one?” When it breaks down.
Last week, I went back on my word. I wanted abetter stove. My 4-year old, $650 Kenmore (on the left) still worked but was looking scruffyfrom my scrubbing off various kitchen disasters, including soy milk boil-overs.(Mind that pot and no emailing or texting!) The stove endured Asian Dumplings and Asian Tofu, and began showing its battle wounds. I spentseveral days shopping for a higher-end replacement. Yes, my husband was right: I deserved to step up!
I researched online, queried friends and chatted with salespeople – who werewell poised to share their knowledge and move merchandise, given the BlackFriday sales that are already underway; it’s no longer a post-Thanksgivingshopping frenzy.
Each time I buy a new stove, I have to get up to speed on the latest models and trends. My 2012 adventure in stove shopping included these basic reminders and revelations:
Buy for Needs, Notfor Looks
I approach appliance salespeople by telling them what I dofor living and what I need. My hope is that they’ll be frank. This time around,I told them I could go as high as $2000 (yowza!). One salesman said that at that pricepoint, many people buy for status, not for actual cooking. As a result, theyhave high-performance, showroom quality kitchens that are rarely used. Occasionally,customers don’t take the appliance labels off after installation! Seriously?
Because I do most of my cooking stovetop, my top prioritiesare burner output and grates. For recipedeveloping, I need at least 1 regular (9,100 BTU) burner to approximate whatthe average cook may experience in their kitchen. Wok cooking, a stockpot of pho,and volume cooking are easier with extra heat from a booster burner (15,000+BTU). I’d visited the test kitchens at Saveur, Gourmet, Bon Appetit and Cooking Light magazines where relatively common stoves are theworkhorses. There was no point in getting too fancy.
It didn’t seem outlandish to get at least one booster burner,if not two, in addition to a regular burner. Turns out that mid-range homestoves these days often come with simmer burners (5,000 BTU), which I havelittle use for. (Shouldn’t all good burners be able to simmer?) Additionally, thereis usually an oval shaped griddle burner for pancakes, etc, which I rarely make;my comal for tortillas works fine on two regular round burners. I was stuckwith the simmer and griddle burners in the LG stove that I eventually bought. Aside from heating griddles, what can theoval burner do?
BTU output aside, the grates are key to efficiently heating potsand pans. I like relatively hefty ones that’ll conduct heat well, but that canalso be scrubbed with relative ease. I slide pots and pans around the stove and continuous grates help. At the store, I often pick up the gratesto imagine dealing with them on a regular basis. You can deal with them betterin the sink if they’re in 3 sections. I think about clean-up when shopping forkitchen appliances and tools.
Convection vs. Conventionalvs. Double Ovens
At the mid-range price levels, many stoves come withconvection ovens. I wasn’t interested in convection ovens but fellow authors and testkitchen pros Amanda Hass (Williams Sonoma, OneFamilyOneMeal.com) and Kate Leahy (A16, Preservation Kitchen, SPQR, ModernMealMaker.com) said thatthey loved convection ovens. However, for recipe testing and development, theirdefault was the conventional oven. Andrew Janjigian (Cook’s Illustrated, WorldLoaf.org) pointed out that you don’t knowwhat kind of convection oven cooks have (there are variations in the technology) so it’s better to stick with a regularoven for recipe development.
Gawd, I was worried that I’d be stuck with a convection ovenonce I stepped up from my beat up Kenmore. Alas, you can switch between thetwo, I was told. Fabulous.
Stoves with double ovens are pricier than single ovenstoves. What gives? If you have kids and have to cook different things forthem, double ovens are useful, I was told. Functionally, the broiler in adouble oven tends to be weak, a salesman told me. “Don’t get it for what you do,”he added. Love salesman straight talk.
Stainless Steel Upsand Downs
Kitchen appliances finished in stainless steel look fabulousbut they can be hard to keep clean, I’ve been warned for years. I didn’t carebecause I could never afford them. This time shopping for kitchen appliances,the price for stainless steel didn’t seem as scary. I may have adjusted mybrain to be willing to spend more but some stoves on the market are combiningstainless with black. The hybrid approach brings the price down. Nice surprise.
Nevertheless, appliance salespeople advised against a stainless cook top like the one above becauseevery scratch becomes noticeable. I don’t really buy that because every mark onmy black ceramic coated stove is visible. They’re culinary battle wounds thatmy stove wears with pride. But will I notice the stainless steelmars faster? The first dent or scratchis always the most painful.
On the other hand, if you go the Full Monty and get a stainlesssteel cook top, you’re bound to pay more but not get better performance. Thelack of bang for my buck made going full stainless steel a moot point. "Stainless steel look" was more my speed.
The stove is my best friend in the kitchen. After I got theskinny on the functional basics and appearances, I dug a little deeper. I realizedthat I didn’t need to spend $2000 on a stove. The next post delves into stoveadd-ons and tips for finding a good deal. Stay tuned.
Have savvy stove shopping experiences or tips to share?
Related post: Stove Buying Tips: Weeding through Add-ons, Reviews and Deals
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Comments Stove Buying Tips: Revelations from Food Professionals & SalespeopleMy husband has been nagging me to buy a new stove. He can’tstand “Mr. Click Click” -- the burner that won’t ignite without help. Everytime he reaches for the lighter stashed in the nearby drawer, he says, “Youdeserve a better stove. When will you buy a new one?” When it breaks down.
Last week, I went back on my word. I wanted abetter stove. My 4-year old, $650 Kenmore (on the left) still worked but was looking scruffyfrom my scrubbing off various kitchen disasters, including soy milk boil-overs.(Mind that pot and no emailing or texting!) The stove endured Asian Dumplings and Asian Tofu, and began showing its battle wounds. I spentseveral days shopping for a higher-end replacement. Yes, my husband was right: I deserved to step up!
I researched online, queried friends and chatted with salespeople – who werewell poised to share their knowledge and move merchandise, given the BlackFriday sales that are already underway; it’s no longer a post-Thanksgivingshopping frenzy.
Each time I buy a new stove, I have to get up to speed on the latest models and trends. My 2012 adventure in stove shopping included these basic reminders and revelations:
Stay Connected
Asian Tofu in the News"Cooking with Tofu (Are You Serious?!)"— Michael Rulhman on his tofu conversion
"This book should be a priority for anyone with the slightest interest in Asian cuisines."
— Anne Mendelson, Taste & Travel
"The most gratifying part about cooking from Asian Tofu is that all the recipes work the way they’re written."
— T. Susan Chang, Boston Globe
Book info, reviews, radio & TV . . .2013 EventsHands-On Classes @LoveAppleFarms, Santa Cruz
Sat, Jan 27, 12-4pm:Asian Dumplings (CNY is Feb 13)
Sun, Feb 24, 12-4pm: DIY Asian Tofu ++
Sat, Mar 16, 12-4pm: Get Into the Viet Kitchen!
More soon on 2013 classes...
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