Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Electric smooth top stove in common house?

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

I only had a smooth top electric stove for a few months. I would never 
recommend it for the common house. It requires too much care, people don’t know 
how to use it, it soon will scorch and look awful, and you have to have 
specific pans. The Corning ware pots are probably best. And worst of all you 
can’t accept donations of pots and pans.

And I don’t know if the top is strong enough to support a huge pot with gallons 
of soup or beans.

For reasons unknown, our first stovetop was gas but had a glass surface under 
the burners. I’m not sure anyone realized it was glass. One day it exploded. 
The large pots hold more heat over a broader area than a residential pot would. 
It gets very hot.

AND our plastic knobs are all melted. When I bought stove top for my unit, I 
got what is called “professional” class adn it came with stainless steel knobs. 
I contacted the company that made our stovetop to ask if I could get stainless 
knobs for it. The service person said NO. The stovetop is sent with plastic 
knobs because it is only designed for the temperatures that will not melt 
plastic. If ours are melting we are cooking too hot for the stove top.

When people say cohousing is a learning experience, they are usually referring 
to learning about ourselves and others. It is also a learning experience in 
real estate development, construction, mechanical systems, plumbing, electrical 
wiring, sprinkler systems, foundations, water flows, etc.

Sharon
----
Sharon Villines, Washington DC
"Nothing exists without order. Nothing comes into existence without chaos."