[BeetleB]

Do we have statistics on people's preferences?

Anecdotes:

I've yet to live in an apartment/house that actually had a gas stove.

No one I know made gas a criterion when house/apartment hunting. They use whatever the place has. When leaving a place with a gas stove, none of them cared if the new place would be electric or gas.

On the flip side, I know quite a few people that exclude places with gas stoves when hunting for housing, because they're used to electric and are worried about fires (never mind if their worry is reasonable or not).

So I've definitely met more people who insist on electric than on gas.

[hnov]

Gas and (real) rangetop extraction are definitely things that I consider, but I do love to cook. An inductive stove-top would be fine, but a resistive one would be a huge negative for me.

[saxonww]

I would prefer gas over regular electric for kitchen stove and range. I like having a gas water heater, although I understand there are more expensive electric units that end up being more efficient, and that is appealing. I would like to have a gas clothes dryer vs. electric, but don't have the option.

Regular electric ranges typically do not perform as well for cooking. They can be better for cleaning and aesthetics, e.g. smooth top ranges are attractive and easy to clean, but most everyone I've ever talked to who actually likes to cook prefers gas ranges because they can get hotter and are better at temperature control. I don't know if I've ever talked to someone who cares about electric vs. gas ovens though, and I am not sure that either would necessarily have a performance advantage over the other.

Induction ranges are a very appealing subset of electric, but tend to require beefier circuits than most people have running to their kitchen; I've pointed out in other conversations that older houses in the US often don't have the panel capacity to retrofit without also replacing the panel. Induction is also not compatible with aluminum, copper, or glass cookware, which may comprise the majority of cookware in the US (just a guess).

I would agree that most people don't care about this, and will use whatever they have.

[cmclaughlin]

> I've ever talked to someone who cares about electric vs. gas ovens though, and I am not sure that either would necessarily have a performance advantage over the other.

Actually lots of people care about gas versus electric ovens. If you look at high end ranges, “dual-fuel” is the product category name which is gas stove with electric oven.

One reason why chefs prefer electric ovens, or rather why gas ovens are not preferable is that gas contains humidity. That additional moisture is desirable at times, but not always. On the very high end, an electric oven with a steam reservoir allows the chef to control the humidity. For instance, you can bake bread with steam for a soft rise and finish with no humidity for a crunchy crust. I’ve never seen a steam oven fueled by gas, but I haven’t sought one out. If this has peaked anyone’s interest Anova makes a countertop steam oven that’s great - previously this was only available on commercial equipment and the fanciest home ovens.

[BeetleB]

> I like having a gas water heater, although I understand there are more expensive electric units that end up being more efficient, and that is appealing.

Oh for sure - for heating the house and water, I prefer gas. At least where I live it's more cost effective than electric. In fact, my electric bill in my 1 bedroom apartment (all heating was electric) was just a tad lower than my gas + electric when I moved into a much bigger house.

And of course, gas fireplaces. Once you get used to it, you can't imagine life without it. Electric heaters are horrible in comparison.

My comment was really just about cooking as that is what the parent was referring to.

[trekz]

> I prefer gas. At least where I live it's more cost effective than electric. In fact, my electric bill in my 1 bedroom apartment (all heating was electric) was just a tad lower than my gas + electric when I moved into a much bigger house.

Doesn't this prove the opposite of your point that gas is more cost-effective than electricity? Perhaps I'm misunderstanding, but the last sentence seems to illustrate that electricity is more cost-efficient.

[BeetleB]

> Doesn't this prove the opposite of your point that gas is more cost-effective than electricity?

I never made that point.

[PaulDavisThe1st]

> Induction ranges are a very appealing subset of electric, but tend to require beefier circuits than most people have running to their kitchen;

Resistive electric ranges almost always require a 240V circuit, and unless you go for a high-end (high output) induction unit, the most that might be required is a new breaker in the panel.

[Larrikin]

I've only lived in apartments that have had had gas ranges or connections in Philly, Tokyo, and Chicago.

The biggest annoyance after my latest move was that every single apartment had flat top electric ranges so I didn't even have option of preferring apartments with gas ranges.

[matwood]

My preference is a high end gas cooktop with an electric stove. I also like gas fireplaces. Almost everyone I know has gas and prefers it.

[turtledove]

What about induction? The choice isn't gas vs electric anymore. Induction cooktops are night and day different from the old glowing rings style electric cooktops (which are terrible, agreed.)

[grogenaut]

I personally insist on gas for cooking currently. I also insist on having multiple power sources in a house I buy. And that's helped with the wind storms that knock electric offline every year here in the PNW.

I like cooking with gas, I've had electric and induction as well.

Generally I like having options and backups.

[MiddleEndian]

My preference for electric (although not a dealbreaker, my condo has a gas stove) is solely because they're so much easier to clean. Having an entirely flat stovetop is very relaxing.

[BeetleB]

> Having an entirely flat stovetop is very relaxing.

That sounds like an induction stovetop (which is electric). Those are nice and becoming more common, but they cost more. The majority of electric stove top ranges are like this:

https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/corroded-kitchen-electric-...

Not exactly flat.

[PaulDavisThe1st]

These are common and cheap:

https://blog.bellinghamelectric.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Above%20the%...

Not induction, so not the same plusses, but the flat stovetop thing is nice, even for an old gas head like me.

[bobbean]

I have a flat glass electric stovetop, not induction. They seem to be becoming more common from what I've seen.