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Wayne Potgieter

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OIkay, people in the know - It's time to buy a gas stove, and the question is...

 

Full gas, or gas hob & leccie oven?

 

I won't settle for an oven without a thermofan, and I like cooking at low temps sometimes. Any issues with full gas?

Ok so when I bought my new house end of last year I had to re do my kitchen so I did a bit of asking around. The common answers that came up where if you bake a lot then you need an electric oven, If not so much then gas is fine. One guy told me his mom bakes a lot with gas oven and once she got the hang of it all was good but initially she struggled.

Apparently keeping the temperature constant with gas is not easy and also some people recommended a separate thermometer inside the oven to rather work from.

My wife HAD to have a SMEG so I bent over and bought the one with 5 gas burner on top and electric oven. It has some fancy twin fan system and it literally takes a few min the heat up to 220odd. It also somehow(don't ask me how, maybe its just a sales pitch) has the ability to allow you to cook and bake at the same time without mixing flavours so you can save time with the oven only on once for big meals.

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OIkay, people in the know - It's time to buy a gas stove, and the question is...

 

Full gas, or gas hob & leccie oven?

 

I won't settle for an oven without a thermofan, and I like cooking at low temps sometimes. Any issues with full gas?

One of my cousins is somewhat of a South African celebrity chef. Published a few cookbooks and does culinary tours in France.  Last time we spoke, she recommended gas hob/electric oven.

 

If money wasn't a consideration, I'd get myself one of those new electric "smart" AGAs, but at GBP 9000+ it is out of my league. We're planning to redo our kitchen in the next two years, so I'm doing research as well. Like the look of the Falcon range, Lacanche also nice (PRICY). Might even consider a medium duty industrial cooker (check out www.culinary.co.za)

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Just checked out the range at tafelberg furnishers. Something I never noticed before is that even though other manufacturers put out a good product at a lower price than smeg, the difference in finish is substantial.

 

Looks like I'm in for a bit more cash than I had hoped...

 

Truthfully though, I did WANT a smeg....

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The thing that sealed it for me is eskom. The look on my wifes face said it all when i came home the other day and the gas had run out in the middle of baking something. now i know that was my fault and shouldn't have happened as I was supposed to get a refill but that is besides the point. What i am getting at is that eskom will do to your stove if it is electric what I did to mine, only instead of it happening once in a blue moon eskom will do it to you every time you have something in the oven!

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One of my cousins is somewhat of a South African celebrity chef. Published a few cookbooks and does culinary tours in France.  Last time we spoke, she recommended gas hob/electric oven............

 

 

Just checked out the range at tafelberg furnishers. Something I never noticed before is that even though other manufacturers put out a good product at a lower price than smeg, the difference in finish is substantial.

 

Looks like I'm in for a bit more cash than I had hoped...

 

Truthfully though, I did WANT a smeg....

Funny small world this. R.M, I bought a Smeg gas/electric stove from Tafelberg on the recommendation of Patensies' cousin!

 

Tafelberg had a special on Smeg at the time and it didn't cost me much more than the other brands. You can also negotiate a bit with them. What I like most about it is the fact that all the knobs are metal. Plastic things just don't last and look ragged after a while. The boss is also very happy with it.

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Funny small world this. R.M, I bought a Smeg gas/electric stove from Tafelberg on the recommendation of Patensies' cousin!

 

Tafelberg had a special on Smeg at the time and it didn't cost me much more than the other brands. You can also negotiate a bit with them. What I like most about it is the fact that all the knobs are metal. Plastic things just don't last and look ragged after a while. The boss is also very happy with it.

Haha! Awesome. The thing is, I'm the one doing the cooking, and I have to use it. I do cook at low temp every so often, but the big question I suppose is which is more economical ito oven cooking... gas or leccie?

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Haha! Awesome. The thing is, I'm the one doing the cooking, and I have to use it. I do cook at low temp every so often, but the big question I suppose is which is more economical ito oven cooking... gas or leccie?

That I honestly don't know, but at the time we bought it I was told that the newer electric ovens are much more economical/efficient than the older designs, for what it's worth.
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That I honestly don't know, but at the time we bought it I was told that the newer electric ovens are much more economical/efficient than the older designs, for what it's worth.

Yeah but with gas you have 300 degree heat in seconds.
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Yeah but with gas you have 300 degree heat in seconds.

is it really that much faster? How different is it to cook with, and what is the min temp?

 

EDIT: I see - 50 & 275. Same as the electric ones. 

 

Frankie - how long does a bottle last on the full gas option, cooking every night?

Edited by Renaissance Man
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is it really that much faster? How different is it to cook with, and what is the min temp?

 

EDIT: I see - 50 & 275. Same as the electric ones.

 

Frankie - how long does a bottle last on the full gas option, cooking every night?

The gas bottles used to last me many months and you know I use the oven a lot but in my experience they are guaranteed to run out around 10am on Christmas day like clockwork for three years on the trot.

FWIW I would still say that an electric oven is the way to go if baking but the gas ovens have improved a lot. You can do any kind of cooking you want with gas but it may take a bit if experimentation to get used to it

Running costs? Not sure but the last article I saw still had electric as cheaper but not by much.

Edit - every Christmas I made vague promises to keep a spare gas bottle, but well yeah...

Edited by marko35s
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The gas bottles used to last me many months and you know I use the oven a lot but in my experience they are guaranteed to run out around 10am on Christmas day like clockwork for three years on the trot.

FWIW I would still say that an electric oven is the way to go if baking but the gas ovens have improved a lot. You can do any kind of cooking you want with gas but it may take a bit if experimentation to get used to it

Running costs? Not sure but the last article I saw still had electric as cheaper but not by much.

Edit - every Christmas I made vague promises to keep a spare gas bottle, but well yeah...

As much as I cook, I don't bake that much. Yet. But even then I don't see myself pumping out cupcakes every weekend :)

 

Pricing is the same, full gas has a 6 burner hob, and gas/leccie has a 5 burner hob. Major thing is that I want to be able to cook no matter what... 

 

I guess that makes my mind up for me then...

 

Oh, and we'll be getting 2 gas bottles. 2x9kg. 

 

Anyone know the regulations regarding a standalone (non permanent) gas installation with a 9kg bottle? Same as if I was using a gas heater?

Edited by Renaissance Man
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Let me say it again. When loadshedding strikes unexpectedly halfway through whatever you are baking it doesn't really matter how much the gas costs. It is worth every cent!

Even 1 messed up baking/roasting session per month will probably outweigh the extra cost of gas. Also electricity prices are set to double over the next few years anyway.

As far as the end result of baking in the gas oven, everyone always raves about the stuff my wife bakes in ours. I think the biggest drawback is the grill. It is difficult to get the heat from the flame to go down!

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As much as I cook, I don't bake that much. Yet. But even then I don't see myself pumping out cupcakes every weekend :)

 

Pricing is the same, full gas has a 6 burner hob, and gas/leccie has a 5 burner hob. Major thing is that I want to be able to cook no matter what...

 

I guess that makes my mind up for me then...

 

Oh, and we'll be getting 2 gas bottles. 2x9kg.

 

Anyone know the regulations regarding a standalone (non permanent) gas installation with a 9kg bottle? Same as if I was using a gas heater?

Not sure of the regulations but we have had two installations done in the not too distant past and one ran the piping through the wall to outside and other was into an adjacent cupboard.

If you buy from Tafelberg they can recommend an installer but I don't see why you can't do it yourself.

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Let me say it again. When loadshedding strikes unexpectedly halfway through whatever you are baking it doesn't really matter how much the gas costs. It is worth every cent!

Even 1 messed up baking/roasting session per month will probably outweigh the extra cost of gas. Also electricity prices are set to double over the next few years anyway.

As far as the end result of baking in the gas oven, everyone always raves about the stuff my wife bakes in ours. I think the biggest drawback is the grill. It is difficult to get the heat from the flame to go down!

sweet. Decision made then. 

 

When the money arrives, that is. 

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Not sure of the regulations but we have had two installations done in the not too distant past and one ran the piping through the wall to outside and other was into an adjacent cupboard.

If you buy from Tafelberg they can recommend an installer but I don't see why you can't do it yourself.

problem with an external source is that I need to get body corp approval and then an engineer / installer to sign it off. And then get one of those cages to house the gas canisters and and and... it'll definitely be an internal "in the cupboard" installation. 

 

I just need to know If I need to get a gas installer to just hook up a single pipe, cos that's piss easy. 

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