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

[Juliette Corazón (jrcorazon22]

From Valorie Rockney and Melissa Tuckey of the cook team (and me) at EcoVillage 
at Ithaca, NY:
> 
>> 
>> Hi Carolyn and others,
>> 
>> We’ve had a smooth-top electric cooktop (plus two ovens) in our Song (second 
>> neighborhood) CH for about 10 years. It hasn’t cracked or gotten damaged. 
>> We've been looking at induction stovetops  to replace our electric because 
>> electric doesn't heat fast enough when cooking large quantities.  The 
>> induction will reduce our electric bill and heat as quickly and responsively 
>> as gas, while turning off immediately-- less hot stovetop to deal with. Our 
>> new third neighborhood has two commercial induction stovetop/convection oven 
>> ranges in all-electric, (close to zero net-energy!) common house.  The 
>> induction stove tops have worked fine with light usage so far – we have not 
>> started cooking major community meals here yet.

One other consideration if you go the induction route, it requires pots and 
pans that are magnetic-- fortunately most of the heavy duty  pots and pans we 
have purchased are magnetic. This is very simple to check for as you shop.
>> 
>> We typically serve 30-70 people at a meal, so we use largish pots, some with 
>> steamer inserts and well-fitting lids. These are great because you can steam 
>> vegetables, cook pasta, and many other tasks more easily and safely. Really 
>> humongous pots of food can take an hour or more to heat up, and when full 
>> they are very heavy to lift.
>> 
>> It’s good to compare pot size with the size of the burner elements under the 
>> surface. On a residential stove, the burners are often too small and close 
>> together to accommodate larger pots, and stovetop space is usually at a 
>> premium during cooking. Burner controls on the back of the stove often get 
>> melted by the heat from a large pot, requiring expensive replacements. Front 
>> controls don’t do this.
>> 
>> We’ve learned by experience to buy heavy-duty stainless steel pots and pans. 
>> It saves money in the long run. Heavy-duty  oven pans like caterers use are 
>> also great, as you probably know. About 20-24 servings per pan.
>> 
>> If you have a relatively small community, some of this may not apply to you. 
>> Would still encourage you to go as sturdy and heavy-duty as you can afford, 
>> though. Sometimes you can find great things used.
>> 
>> So great that you aren’t using natural gas in your community! 
>> Congratulations!
>> 
>> All best wishes,
>> 
>> Valorie and Melissa 
>> cookteam members
>> 
>> 
>>> On Oct 12, 2016, at 8:56 AM, Juliette Corazón <jrcorazon22 [at] gmail.com> 
>>> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Hi Roz, Valorie, and Rob,
>>> Carolyn Dyer on the cohousing listserve from Iowa City Cohousing is looking 
>>> for advice (see below). If one of you has a minute, you could make a brief 
>>> reply and I will pass it on to them.
>>> If you don't have time, that's ok, too.
>>> In community,
>>> Juliette
>>> 
>>>> We are interested in learning other community's experience with smooth top 
>>>> electric stoves in the common house. Our tentative plan is to install two 
>>>> residential models in an all-electric community.
>>>> 
>>>> Have you chosen them?  Have you had problems with their cracking or 
>>>> breaking, or irretrievably staining? How large are the largest pots you 
>>>> can use on them? Are there models you recommend?
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Sent from my phone
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Author, Tenuous Chapel 
> Co-Founder, Split This Rock