Cooktop Questions – 5 Stovetop Styles to Consider for Your Kitchen
Whether you’re building your dream home or redoing your kitchen, this is the room where all of the family’s most defining day-to-day activities take place – it’s the heart of the home. Having the perfect stovetop turns cooking into an art form, eliminating some of the tediousness. Creating beautiful, flavorful, healthy dishes for the family is easier, and the clean-up is simpler with a stovetop that fits snugly between the counters and offers great heat distribution. Of course, if you have young children, you’ll also want to consider safety.
To ensure you cover all the important factors, here are five stovetops to consider for your kitchen:
- Induction Cooktop
An induction stove is one of the safest modern-day innovations – all you need is an induction cookware set. Like a microwave, it uses a magnetic field to heat up, which is why you also need magnetic cookware. It’s safer to have in a home with small children because there’s no heat on the actual stovetop, preventing curious little fingers from burning.
Induction stovetops also reach their target temperature very fast. You can boil a pot of water in under a minute, making it extremely energy-efficient. In terms of aesthetics, they have no protruding parts, so they can sit flush against the countertop, creating a neat and seamless finish.
- Gas Stovetop
While a gas cooker requires you to connect a gas cylinder, it makes the overall cost of running the appliance cheaper. A gas stovetop tends to look a little more rustic than the electric and induction versions because the gas requires burners and the grill stands up above the countertop.
Modern gas stovetops offer electric starts, which enables you to get the burners hot without using a lighter or matches, using only a turn of a knob. Gas stoves are still a firm favorite among many chefs, but the ovens can sometimes struggle with even heat distribution.
- Slide-in Stoves
You can get a gas or electric slide-in stove. The defining factor is the way in which they slide into their space, only standing slightly higher than the countertop. The snug fit ensures that you won’t struggle with crumbs falling into small gaps and crevices. There are a number of choices when it comes to slide-in stoves – you can choose between models sporting the controls on the stovetop itself or on the front face. There are also models with a convection setting that can self-clean.
- Electric Stovetop
Electric stove tops can add to a modern aesthetic. They’re neater than gas stoves but often more power comsumptive than their counterparts. Built-in electric stovetops are usually made from glass, and while they look sleek and modern, the glass gets scratched and scuffed easily. Additionally, they require special cleaning products to keep them shiny and well-kept. If you’re happy to do the maintenance and avoid scraping your pots across the stove (to prevent scratches), electric stovetops are a beautiful and efficient option.
- Cooktop with Individual Components
A stovetop can be customised to your preferences. Passionate about Asian cuisine? Add a built-in wok. Want an induction stovestop with a normal oven? Easy. There are also other great add-ons, like steam-units and gas functionality. The idea is to take the aspects of every stovetop you like and combine them into one giant and amazing cooker.
Love Your Kitchen
Having a stovetop that works for your cooking preferences will improve your day-to-day activities in the kitchen. You’ll find yourself enjoying these simple meal preparation tasks with joy and calmness.
