Oven vs. stovetop

An offshoot of another thread: IF you were for some reason unable to have both appliances, would you choose your oven or your burners?

For me, oven.

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That is a tough one.

I tend to use my oven a lot for preparing dinners. It allows a more hands-off style of cooking which agrees with me these days.

But I would be a bit lost without my stove for cooking eggs!

When I have been without a kitchen (camping and before my appliances were able to be installed) I used a butane single burner stove. After a month I caved and added a microwave to the mix. It was doable but not preferable. But in actuality having just a burner was more versatile than if I had had just an oven.

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Psychologically, it will be tough for me to not have a stovetop. But a stove can’t bake!

So an oven for me. (Can I ask for a steam oven? or can I have 2 of them?)

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Upon first reading this I was thinking oven . . . no, burners . . . no, oven . . . no, burners . . .

I use my burners every day; my oven maybe 4 or 5 days a week. So my inclination is burners. But really, I can’t imagine daily life without both :sweat:

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I cook eggs in the oven more often than stove. So I’ll go: oven. I can fix most things in oven.

Gas or elec? Always gas. Took me several overcooked exp to realize elec is too tricky.

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We’ve always cooked on electric.

As for the OP, whilst I would miss my oven, I don’t think I could manage without the hob.

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For me it would be stove top. I’m reasonably sure with enough trial and error you could figure out how to bake using a stove top. I have a large deep turkey pan with a tight fitting lid, if I were to place a rack in it with a thermometer you could learn what stove top setting it would take to maintain a steady temp for baking purposes.

So I’m a stove top guy!

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Easy peasy to do flatbreads, of course. But I’d be OK to live on them instead of “normal” sandwiches. Somewhere, I think we still have the recipe for a pan fried pizza which we used to do pretty often - and it was better than OK (albeit not by much).

The nephew is currently away at university. Doesnt have an oven but does have a hob with a couple of rings. Now, he is cooking on it - although it’s fair to say that he’s spending a lot of time at the nearby noodle bar and the nearby pub (national chain known for its OK cheap food)

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I lived 40+ years cooking on gas. When I moved to the burbs 5+ years ago my house has electric. I’m still struggling with it at times and have ruined at least 2 good pots. When I first moved I looked in to converting to gas, but apparently there are no gas lines in my township–let the buyer beware :confused: It really never occurred to me that an area in SE PA would not have access to gas.

But how do I bake brownies, cookies and cakes? No, I really need both.

Yeah my mother used to have some kind of infrared electric stove top that would get insanely hot fast and I hated cooking on it because I could never gauge the right temp. Also once I turned it off I was always sh*t scared to touch it for cleaning having no idea how long it took to cool down. Hated that stove!!!

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Apparently we have evolved . . . my range has a “hot” light so I know when it’s safe to clean.

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Stove. I have baked on stoves using large metal bowls, bread, veggies.

A Dutch oven works on the stove as well as in the oven.

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Stovetop! I can do mostly everything I’d need the oven for on the stove (and usually do).

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It’s been over 2 years now since the thermostat on my oven went out while I was baking christmas cookies and I still haven’t bothered to order a new one so for us it’s very obviously the stove top we prefer.

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Stovetop all the way. I can go weeks without turning on the oven, but I use the stovetop every day.

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My Amana cooktop will turn 40 in October, and it has “hot” lights.

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Definitely stovetop.

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I have never owned an electric stove but have used them on tours, rentals, relatives. I just like to see a flame. Gas is more forgiving on the cooktop. Just my preference.

We have more bakers in the family and I have really enjoyed learning how to bake bread and roast foods. I even make Sunday gravy and rice pudding in the oven now.

I would miss the stovetop but I USE the oven.

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Well, as i have found out, i can make do easily with just the stovetop. My oven has been temperamental to say the least for a very long time- and when it is on it’s kind of amazing anything actually cooks because so much heat comes out of it making my apartment very warm.

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Stovetop. I do a lot of braising/roasting and a little baking in the oven, but I have these cast iron and enameled cast iron dutch ovens that are designed to work as - ovens. I prefer braising in the oven even with ECI, but I also do it on the stovetop. Bread on the stovetop would be trickier, but again cast iron skillets and dutch ovens are made for this. If both my grandmothers could do it I’m sure I could do it too. I don’t know how I would roast a whole chicken or a pork shoulder or anything along that line, though, so that’s a bummer.

I’d rather just have both , really.

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