Hello,

We are currently planing renovation of our kitchen - a DIY/IKEA job. We have a strong preference for a gas hob/electric oven cooker, but are off the gas main where we live.

The cooker we want can easily be run off 47kg propane cylinders, mounted outside the property, with pipework run in. In UK this is a relatively common arrangement in countryside. Here in Switzerland, where people seem to have a strong preference for electric hobs, plus an irrational fear of gas, it's more unusual.

Has anyone got such an arrangement, or visited a property where people had it? I imagine it might be more common in restaurants/auberges etc, as professional chefs prefer gas.

Obviously this needs to be done properly, according to various regulations on citing cylinders, pipework etc, and should be done professionally and/or inspected before using.

Any thoughts gratefully received.

Thanks in advance

Richard

Hello Richard,

Have you considered an Induction cook hob at all? It is a great alternative to gas oven (first hand experience here!).

I grew up in Taiwan where gas stove is standard. Later when I moved to north America I hated all the electric cook tops because the heat output is simply not comparable, and you cannot adjust the heat/flame as good as the conventional gas top.

However with an Induction cooktop, the heat output and the ability to adjust are just as good as the gas stoves - and you never have to worry about the danger or mess associated with liquids boiling over.

We have been living with our brand new kitchen for about 3 months now and I must say I am totally won over by the induction cooktop.

If you want more information - feel free to PM me and I'd be very happy to share our experience.

Hi,

Thanks for the reply. We have thought about the induction route - if we stick with electric we will certainly get one of these. I understand they are much better than any other the other hobs, if a bit more pricey. It's good to hear they live up up to the marketing hype.

I guess I just have this old fashion preference / prejudice for gas

In answer to my question. Having spoken to our architect it seems it is feasible to get this done, but quite expensive...

Will give it some more thought.


Richard

Actually one question? What make of induction hob do you have?

Thanks

Richard

One of the things I was not looking foward to when moving here was an electric hob after using gas in the UK.
My fears were confirmed when we rented a place with a halogen hob - what a load of rubbish.

When we got our own place, we got an induction hob (Electrolux) and it's brilliant. Any drawbacks compared with gas are negated by benefits over gas including a timer, a set-back function and not having to look at the flame to see how high it is. Feedback from the controls is instantaneous.

The biggest time-saver is that it only takes a few seconds to clean with a damp cloth as, because the hob itself doesn't really get very hot, nothing burns on to it.

We have a Miele induction hob. We had a chance to actually test it in a showroom before we purchased and I was "sold" on it after that.

Like TOM1234 said above - the control of the heat output from an induction hob, just like gas-stove, is instantaneous; and it is soooo easy to clean up afterward (already had a few pasta water boiling over...). Not to mention you never have to "watch" (did a lot of that when I was a child ) the stove in fear that liquids boiling over could put out the flame.

The only thing I *might* have done differently is perhaps getting a model with traditional knob-control or the slide-touch-control instead of the touch-control. It is sometimes a nuisance when you have greasy or wet finger (as we all do when we cook) as the sensor does not function as smoothly.

Induction hobs require special saucepans, right? How does that work when using a wok for stir frying? I assume it has to be a flat-bottomed one and must be constantly kept on the hob and not moved around.

Pans for induction hobs need to be magnetised - so you can check if your pans will work by seeing if a magnet sticks to it.

You can get hobs that have a round indent fitted


Or buy a flat bottomed wok.

Richard - from a selfish point of view - what's your take on Ikea kitchens? (see my thread for motivation for question: Your experience of IKEA kitchens?)

We are now in the process of planning our new kitchen and we are also interested in gas. We have found a company in Bulle who sell a wide range of gas stoves - the ones I am looking at have a grill integrated into the cook top, and also an attachment to mimic the typpanyaki grill. The stove itself is not terribly expensive - around CHF1,800 - but the installation of all the tubes and the housing outside the house, which includes the purchase of two house-size cylinders - is really expensive - that costs around CHF3,000. I went to the supplier just this afternoon and he says that it is so costly partly due to the distance the installators have to travel, since we live close to Lausanne, on the Geneva side. So we are looking at around CHF5,000 just for the gas stove. Am wondering whether this is worth the expense. If you would like more information abaout this, please feel free to email me at joyfor@hotmail.com.

Hope this helps.

Joysuisse

Why not buy the grill from them and have someone closer to Morges install it? Otherwise, personally, I would say it's not worth it. But I'm cheap.

Exactly what I am trying to do. Actually found a cheaper, more esthetic model made by Siemens and just heard that in Morges they have an installer so am looking into that. Really like Induction but don't like the radiation it may give off and if ever I have to have a pacemaker, it won't work with induction, so that is what we are looking at gas.

Thanks for our support.

We don't have induction. Just plain old regular electric. I'd love gas but I just find it too expensive and a bit of hassle as you have to change the bottles. I mean it's not the end of the world to do that. But you have to monitor it and think ahead, which I'm not very good at.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

It's not "may", it does give off radiation, but it's pretty harmless if you're a foot away or so.

If you are worried about radiation then I'd ditch that cell phone. That's an intentional transmitter of radiation which you hold against your head.