new kitchen jam: gas v induction (plus anything else we should be thinking about?)

[jbj]

Title says it all, the kitchen in our new(ish) place sucks. It's old, dated, falling to bits and doesn't make any sense flow wise so we're ripping it out in the next few months.

We've got a decent budget and I've got a good in with a family friend at the kitchen firm he works at so we can push the boat out.

Main things we need to decide on:

Gas v induction hob: I like gas, we've always had gas and whenever we're at an air BnB they tend to have induction which I'm not a huge fan of but it's maybe just because I'm not used to it - any pros to going induction? We mainly cook on stainless and enamelled cast iron if that makes a difference.

If we can we're going to knock a wall in to create an open plan kitchen dining area but we'll lose a couple of cabinets / storage. To counter this I'm thinking a couple of floor to ceiling cabinets elsewhere which would create more storage at the cost of worktop space.

Our current oven (and the one in our last place) was under counter. It's never bothered me but I know head height built in ovens are popular, should we look into this? It would require rerouting the gas line from one side of the kitchen to the other.

Of course we'll go over all of this with the kitchen designer but throwing this out to the brain trust.

 

[dodgechargerfan]

I like the idea of induction. The key to them working well is very flat-bottomed (Sing the Queen song) cookware.
If it’s not touching, it’s not going to get hot.
Mrs DCF doesn’t like the idea. So we have the heating element type.

Our place was plumbers for gas and we had it decommissioned.

Electric is cheap here. Niagara Falls and the hydro plants are less than 20 miles away.


If you’ve got some older pots and pans that you don’t want to replace, and they’re not quite flat-bottomed, go for gas.

The other plus for gas is that you can still cook if the power goes out.



We’re going through a redecoration/remodel right now.
We couldn’t really make any significant changes to the layout and the cabinets are good quality cabinets.
So, we just got them refaced and painted.
New countertops. New sink and faucet. New lighting. New appliances. Fresh paint on the walls and ceiling.

It should be nice, but the process seems to be very much a gong show.
Stuff is going to have to redone before the project is finished.


Anyway, good luck with the project.
Pick a good designer/contractor and trust the process and try not to watch the sausage being made.

 

[Bob411]

It's never too soon to start planing your temporary kitchen.

I like gas. Don't think it's better than electric, just what I like. I also like a range instead of separate cook top and oven. Again, just what I like, mostly for the look. Other people like separate, whatever floats your boat. Only thing I can think of that is an advantage is everything is under the vent hood.

I love the floor to ceiling cabinets. Ours have roll out shelves on the bottom part. They are our pantry, filled with canned goods, ect..
To makeup for loosing wall cabinets, can you add am island?

 

[jbj]

It's never too soon to start planing your temporary kitchen.

I like gas. Don't think it's better than electric, just what I like. I also like a range instead of separate cook top and oven. Again, just what I like, mostly for the look. Other people like separate, whatever floats your boat. Only thing I can think of that is an advantage is everything is under the vent hood.

I love the floor to ceiling cabinets. Ours have roll out shelves on the bottom part. They are our pantry, filled with canned goods, ect..
To makeup for loosing wall cabinets, can you add am island?

No space for a proper island unfortunately but if we can get the dream idea with the wall coming down there'll be a breakfast bar type thing coming into the dining room.

If the wall can come down we can remove the back door which will give us some more cabinet space and we're planning on making a corner of her office into a utility so the washing machine will be moved out and give us more space for units.

 

[micwalt]

When we did our kitchen remodel, I opted for a slide-in, electric double oven/range with a glass top. It looks slick, and the top is easy to clean. I also went with one floor-to-ceiling cabinet for the pantry, which worked out really well.

 

[MonkeyZero]

Gas gas gas gas gas. Induction sucks. Flat glass cook tops suck. They ALL SUCK.
GAS GAS GAS GAS GAS GAS GAS.
I will never live with a glass top stove again. They don't regulate properly. They're fickle as all hell. You're either barely simmering or burning the shit out of everything. Stupid, dumb and lame. Get gas.
I have owned 6 different brands of induction and regular glass top stoves. Spent WAY too much money. They suck.

And, you're a hell of a cook. Don't piss yourself off with a glass top.

 

[yabba]

Gas uber alles. Electric sucks with its slow ass response to adjusting the temp. Induction is a cybertruck - sorta neat technologically in theory, but actually super limiting and dumb in practice. Listen to @MonkeyZero

 

[jp_nyc]

I know I’m supposed to be a good liberal and saw go with induction because climate emergency and all. But I love my monstrous six burner gas range.

 

[jbj]

I know I’m supposed to be a good liberal and saw go with induction because climate emergency and all. But I love my monstrous six burner gas range.

We've got an 8 burner just now but only a few of them work due to the state the previous owner left it. Even in our old place we have a decent brand 4 burner but the amount of times we ever had more than 2 on was minisicule, I don't think we ever had the 4 on simultaneously even doing Christmas dinner for 15 people.

I do like a heritage range cooker but looking at the firm we're going to use, even the entry point good brand one they offer is going to be around £2k and I'm not sure how much wiggle they'll have with being able to give us a discount on brand appliances as opposed to their in house ones.... Certainly the last time we had to put the foot down to get an AEG hob and oven because the designer was trying to save us money on the appliances/

As an aside, we're away with the dog for a week and the place has a Smeg induction hob, just a little 2 burner but It's been interesting to use. The buttons aren't very responsive - you know when you've got like a cheap remote or something and you've really got to press to get anything to register, if that sucks on a decent brand like Smeg I've no idea what it would be like for something cheaper. It also done this weird thing boiling pasta where it boiled on and off continually for a few seconds at a time. I assume this is how it regulates the amount of heat going to the pot or pan but, and I could be wrong, if I was doing eggs or steak or something on the gas it would be the equivalent of lifting the pan on and off it throughout the whole cooking process which can't be good for results.

I digress,

 

[MonkeyZero]

I just find that the ability to get a consistent, repeatable setting way easier on gas than anything else. The description of the boiling water is exactly the kind of thing I'm talking about. They just don't maintain properly. Flat/glass/induction tops seem to have been designed around the high setting and that's it. And even that doesn't work right. There's no nuance.

 

[jp_nyc]

I’ve never actually used more than five burners on one stove at one time and trying to keep track of them all almost made my head explode. Now no meal gets more than three pots. And I got a nice rice cooker and air fryer so I’m just using fewer pots in general. But the big stove is great because I can spread everything out when I am cooking a big meal.

 

[Tig]

When we rented years ago, we had a white glass top that sucked and showed every burned in stain. It was nearly impossible to clean. Maybe the black tops hold up better.

I love cooking with natural gas. We had plenty to eat during Hurricane Beryl and the big freeze a few years ago.

 

[jbj]

I just find that the ability to get a consistent, repeatable setting way easier on gas than anything else. The description of the boiling water is exactly the kind of thing I'm talking about. They just don't maintain properly. Flat/glass/induction tops seem to have been designed around the high setting and that's it. And even that doesn't work right. There's no nuance.

Yeah I'm now seeing that. To be honest the only other time I've used induction was another AirBnB with a golf body (God Rest His Soul) where all we were doing was making rolls and sausage of a morning so this is my first time doing anything requiring technique.

We're next to a lovely local market town so I drove in today (too hot to walk with Lola) and got some nice grub and spent a fortune in the butchers so we could fire up the BBQ this evening.

We got absolutely obliterated with a downpour (yellow weather warning but it was so warm earlier on I didn't even think to check the forecast) so decided I'd try the viral steak from a cold non-stick pan deal.

The good news is Lola's venison steak which I just obliterated at level 9 for a couple of minutes on each side was delicious, of what little I felt morally entitled to eat.

The Ribeye and Sirloin steaks for me and mrs JBJ sucked. I'm pretty sure I managed to accidentally turn he burner off on the first turn when it was going full pelt so after that when turning down I was never going to get the amazing sear HOWEVER as mentioned earlier, it's hard enough to change the settings when you mean to so how I could accidentally switch the whole thing off which spending 5 seconds turning a steak, I do not know.

Greta be damned, gas it is for the new kitchen if for no other reason than to try and claw back some of the £££ we spent on those steaks.

 

[jbj]

I know their TV stuff is good but does anyone have experience with Samsung kitchen appliances?

Out of the good brand names our fitter supplies they're the only one offering a 5 year guarantee.

AEG, NEFF, Bosch and even Mielle are all 2 years so that's pricked my interest purely from a build quality perspective.

Sidenote, having looked through 150 odd pages of our fitters brochure, the biggest thing I'm excited about is getting a full sized sink and dish washer back!!!

 

[tiger roach]

I know their TV stuff is good but does anyone have experience with Samsung kitchen appliances?

We are on our 2nd Samsung refrigerator. They have been excellent for the most part, but their ice makers are crap. The first one was merely inadequate - I didn't want a Samsung the 2nd time around for that reason, but I was overruled. The current one is inadequate when it works, and now it keeps frosting up so it doesn't work at all.

Have not tried their other appliances.

 

[MonkeyZero]

We are on our 2nd Samsung refrigerator. They have been excellent for the most part, but their ice makers are crap. The first one was merely inadequate - I didn't want a Samsung the 2nd time around for that reason, but I was overruled. The current one is inadequate when it works, and now it keeps frosting up so it doesn't work at all.

Have not tried their other appliances.

My Samsung fridge ice machine does the same. I also had a Samsung microwave, it failed within 2 years.
We have a Samsung stove and fridge. Fridge is great except for the mentioned ice maker woes. The stove, unfortunately, is a glass top (non-induction) and I hate it. I love the oven though so if it had a gas top it would probably be fine. The oven is convection and has an air fryer setting that is amazing. I don't see the stove issues being a Samsung thing, I see them being a glass top thing.

 

[jbj]

Weirdly the fitters in brand stuff has a very good warranty too.

I've to call the dude tomorrow to organise a planning visit and I'll ask if the stuff is decent - TBF we never had any issues with their in house fridge, dishwasher and washing machine in the last kitchen but I've got a thing about using their cooking appliances.

 

[jbj]

Guy is coming out to measure up on Monday.

I've gone through the brochure from page to page circling and highlighting stuff I like and think would be good, Mrs JBJ will "get round to it at some point"!!!

I'm starting to think opening the wall up (if we even can) might be more trouble than it's worth and it'll create a kind of weird flow.

Just now you come through the vestibule and have the stairs in front, the kitchen door down the hall and the living room on the left.

If we put the wall through we'd block out the door so it would be stairs, kind of weird end of hallway space with no light then you have to go left into the living room, right into the dining / sitting room and right into the kitchen again. There's an arch between the living and sitting room plus it'd have a big column so it's not quite as open plan or free flowing as could be.

I dunno, unless the guy tells me it's a straight forward job and won't add a shitload of time onto the build I'm thinking we just work with what we have space wise.

 

[jbj]

Above is what we have just now.

The idea is to block off the door (it's left through the door you can see into the hall, this us our current entry to the kitchen), knock in the entire right side wall of the dining room and have a crescent built in island thing going on (black) so you'd enter the kitchen on the right hand side as you go into the dining area (blue is meant to be the wall that's opened up...) Mrs JBJ also wants sliding doors fitted across the archway,

 

[jbj]

Guy is here measuring up and doing the design. Exciting though slightly marred by him suggesting the best location for the sink would be where Mrs JBJ said it should go, not that we had an argument about my space for the sink being a better idea this morning before he arrived.