We are about to remodel a kitchen. The woman of the house would prefer a gas cook top to the present electric one. It must be a drop-in and not a full range, as it fits over existing cabinets. The real challenge is to find one that will work with propane, as there is no natural gas near the house.
Does anyone have experience and recommendations or cautions for high quality gas tops that will work with propane?
Joe
Replies
Most of them are convertible. I installed a high dollar one about 2 yrs ago, Jenn-air I think, and when the HO ordered it they specified propane orfices.
"Put your creed in your deed." Emerson
"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt
That's interesting.
Any take on which are better than others?
J
No. We bought an electric GE glass top for our house cuz it fit the space and the budget. That HO thought money grew on trees, so she bought whatever looked good. That Jenn-air did work very well though. 5 burner with the pop-up downdraft vent."Put your creed in your deed." Emerson
"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt
You said tht you are remodeling, but then say that it has to fit exisitng cabinets. Or do you just mean the exisitng layout.
I think that you might have a problem findin one that is shallow enough to fit in the space that held an electric cooktop.
.
A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.
Bill:
This is early in the process. The cabinets will be kept, but the counter tops and cook top will be replaced, so some space adjustments could be made. For one thing, the top drawer immediately under the cooktop could be sacrificed. It depends on what she and the architect want. I just need to know what the best choices and their dimensions are.
Joe
We install them all the time. Thermador is a good brand. Wolf and Viking are good for high-end chef-style kitchens. Jenn-Air and GE make good ones. They're all good, really just look at them in person and look at the BTU ratings. Almost anything that runs on NG will run on propane, you just have to order a kit to change over the nozzles.
I've had the thermador cook top with propane for 18 yrs' works fine. I has the pop up fan behind the burners. We can't use it because it is so strong that it wants to suck the flame out. Other than that we like it. We can always cook when the power goes out.
Thanks to all for the good advice.
Joe
We installed a five burner, 36'' Kenmore Elite gas cooktop about eighteen months ago. It comes with a set of orifices for propane and natural gas. I think they all do. It works well and didn't cost too much. You can pay triple+ and go with Viking, Wolf, etc. For the extra money you get higher output burners and cachet. If you like to cook with extremely high heat, and have a hood with a powerful fan, go with the pricy stuff. Otherwise, the medium priced cooktops are fine. Let "the woman of the house" decide: "Lets spend 3K. Do you want $800 cooktop and spend the rest on whatever, or do you want a 3K cooktop?"
Goot points and good strategy.
Joe