So, I’m buying a big ole farmhouse in the country (woo hoo!!) In it are two cookstoves-a gas stove (runs on propane) and an electric stove. I have cooked on a gas stove for most of my adult life, and am somewhat skeptical of the electric stove-I guess I just like to see the pretty, pretty flames. 
Anyway, fellow Dopers please fight my ignorance…what are the pros and cons of electric vs gas stoves?
Mods please move this to Cafe Society if you see fit…
I have always found gas stoves to be far far far superior to electric. You have much more control over the cooking. To me, even a crappy gas stove, trumps an awesome electric! 
Gas stoves let you control the heat without a lag time for heating up or cooling down. If I want to bring something to boil on high, but then turn it down to a gentle simmer, I don’t need to anticipate that moment and turn it to a lower temperature several minutes early. One can also juggle items between several different burners on an electric stove (eg, once it hits boiling, move it to another burner that you’ve turned to low), but I’m cooking multiple pots often enough that this would get to be a big bother.
You have to search for advantages to electric. Here’s one: when boiling eggs, you can just cut off the electric burner when the water boils, and leave the pot on the glowing coil as it cools. This simmers them effectively, and there is zero chance of forgetting all about your eggs and setting the house on fire. Here’s another: you can’t forget to check your electric gauge, run out of electricity, and then schedule a delivery for next week, until when you’ll do without.
On the other hand, of course, your propane won’t go down in a storm. If you’re moving to the real country for the first time, you may find power outages much more common than you’re accustomed to.
Personally, I’d keep the gas, get rid of the electric, and then start shopping for a wood stove, which gives heat and entertainment and can also be used for cooking in a pinch. Congratulations on the house.
Electric stoves don’t heat as evenly. Well, maybe some of them do but every one I’ve ever used created terrible hot spots. I’m stuck with an electric stove right now but given a choice I’d take a gas stove in a heartbeat.
Thanks guys! You are definitely confirming my suspicions about the electric stove. Good point Spark240-I’m the only house on my road, so I’m thinking that if the power goes out it might be a while…
Most people find cooking by sight (the visual confirmation of how high the flames are) to be easier than cooking by numbers (the settings on the dial).
Switching between the two always involves a learning curve, but IME it’s easier to switch to gas from electric, if that’s what you’re used to, than the other way around.
Another vote for gas. Concerning boiling eggs, put them in the boiling water then turn off the gas and leave them to cook off in the cooling water. I also like it that if the power goes off you’ve still got cooking facilities, and the electric cooker always seemed more expensive.
Taking those directions literally would yield way undercooked eggs, I think.
- You don’t start with eggs in cold water? Don’t they crack when dropped straight into the boil?
- After boiling temp is reached, you don’t simmer at all? When you cut off gas heat, the heat input is gone instantly; when you cut off an electric burner, the coil itself cools gradually, so you still have heat input to the pot for a minute or two–this effects the simmering stage.
Of course, the comment about eggs was kind of a joke, the point being that you have to look hard for an electric-over-gas advantage.
Speaking as an exprofessional … optimum is gas burners for all of the above reasons but an electric oven as it heats more evenly and dependably. Gas is touchier. Ultimate is adding convection to the equation.
Is there already a propane gas hookup? Propane I think would be cheaper to operate than electric and responds instantaneously - this would be my choice.
As a person who has heated with wood for years before graduating to propane, wood stoves can be a pain in the ass - not just due to the obvious labor of handling the wood - but the dirt, dust - both from the raw wood and the ashes, which eventually have to be dealt with discourages me from recommending. It can be cheap though if you have a cheap source or can cut your own.
(How much money do you have? 
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Also, know it’s simple… but I love the creative title of this thread!