Than electric, I mean.
Gas cooktops respond faster than anything else to a change in heat. I’ll never use anything else.
(OTOH electricity is great for ovens because you get very reliable and stable temperatures, other side of the same coin.)
It sounds like the OP has a combo unit and will be replacing both. I do not know if there are units that have a gas cooktop with an electric oven. You will probably get better performance out a new gas oven than the one you are replacing. (I have a gas cooktop and a separate pair of electric wall ovens, one of which is convection.)
There are indeed units with both, but they are prohibitively expensive. The cheapest one CR reviewed was about $1,400.
I beg to disagree on this point, every thing i have read, and I have been a professional chef for 15+/- yrs and in food service for 30+ yrs says propane is about 3x the heating capacity of natural gas…
peace and kind regards,
TSFR
Ok let me put in some clarification, I have noticed that if you buy a gas appliance that is convertable from LP to NG the output is usually higher with the NG option (i.e 10,000 BTU’s NG 9,200 BTU’s LP). LP does have a higher heat content then NG, but then again the a smaller orifice is used, so you are getting less LP gas then NG.
I believe that this is done to make conversion from LP to NG easy, all you have to do is replace the oriface. To make them the same BTU wise you would have to change the air/gas mixure which is more complex.
In true sequential thread fashion, he/she is apparently looking to adopt a guinea pig.
He 
If my wife were an SDMB member she would be BakingWithElectricity 
Just WHAT does she plan to do with that guinea pig??? :eek: (Guinea pigs should be spit-roasted over burning coals, not cooked on the stovetop ;))
Got nothin’ further to add here except gas totally rawks for stovetop. Former owners of our house evidently opted for an electric cooktop so that’s what we’re stuck with :mad:
Well, forget that “sometime in the next year” crap, 'cause I just can’t stand non-instant gratification, affordable or not. I’m going to Sears today to get the one I like on the Internet, 0% APR for 12 months here we come!
PS - this is the range I’m hopefully going to get. Does it have everything I need on it? (One hopes so, as I’m going right after work.)
Appliance Expert here. Several years appliance knowledge.
If you have the resources, definitely look into a gas cooktop and separate single (or double depending on the amount of entertaining or baking you do) wall oven. The reason? Flexibility. Putting in cooktop and wall oven in different parts of the kitchen allows you to manuver around a little bit better and also lets you put either appliance in a more practical place. That being said, ranges are a good option if you don’t have the money or patience to go through with all the installation of two separate appliances.
As far as Consumer Reports goes, I like them and I don’t. They’re a good guide for picking out a reliable appliance, and most recommendations will give you longevity, but sometimes price can be a major deciding factor for those reports. That’s why duel-fuel ranges won’t be ranked as high as their all gas or all electric counterparts–they’re somewhat pricey. Duel-fuel ranges DO give you better results though. And Consumer Reports isn’t going to take into account how you’re going to feel after the purchase is made (not to mention that alot of the new appliance lines come out the season after CR is published for the year). Trust me, duel-fuel is the way to go if you can afford it. Electric baking is utterly superior to gas baking (even though I really like how breads baked in gas taste) because it gives you a precise indication of what’s going on inside the oven.
In the oven, look for something with a hidden bake element and a recessed top element. Those features make clean-up a breeze and bad smells virtually non-existent. If you want more advice, email me.
My personal recommendations?
Siemens avantGarde Gas Cooktop
Siemens avantGarde Electric Single Wall Oven
Siemens xTronic Duel-Fuel Range
I forgot to tell you that the cooktop has five sealed (easy clean burners). One 15,000 BTU burner, one 10,000 BTU burner, two 7,000 BTU burners (same side), and one 5,500 BTU burner. It’s also got flame safe, which means that if the flame goes out on the burner, the gas automatically shuts itself off. Continuous grates allow you to slide pots and pans one burner to another without worrying about lifting or spilling. Wide spacing between burners allows you to put large surface area pots and pans on the grates without interference from each other. The LP conversion kit is useful if you don’t have gas, don’t want to put the line in, and want to simply use liquid propane tanks.
Looks rather similar to mine, except mine’s a Kenmore and doesn’t have a Sabbath option.
After using that manky old electric, you’ll flip over that 15,000 BTU power burner.
The low-power simmer burners are also rather nice at holding things warm without burning them.
Could we have an issue date for that?
Sorry, I just found it, May 2006:
I like gas because you always have an open flame available in your house. Every time there’s a major blackout we get friends ringing up and sheepishly asking “Hey… can we heat up our food at your place?” Electric has always felt too sluggish for me - slow to heat up, slow to cool down. Gas is great.
Induction is one of those new technologies that gives high output energy. Using magnetic induction, the element transmits energy directly to the bottom of a ferromagnetic pot or pan and heats food that way. If you were to touch the element while it was on the highest setting, it would be warm and you definitely wouldn’t burn yourself. Radiant electric don’t work this way though, and most really don’t hold up well against gas cooktops. The only real problem about using a gas cooktop is that most of the heat that should be transferred to the pot or pan is being absorbed by the grates that keep the pot on the cooktop.
Unfortunately, seperate cooktop and wall oven is not possible for my kitchen, and dual-fuel is definately out of my price range. The one I really wanted was out of stock, but I just ordered a similar model yesterday - it’ll come into the store on the 20th and then I’ll have to schedule installation. I’ve gotten awfully excited about it!
Grew up with electric in the house, have electric where we live now, lived with gas (actually a camping stove) for a year in halls of residence at uni, had gas when we went on holiday last month, will have gas in the place we’re moving to at the end of the month.
I love my gas hobs- the “visual feedback” isn’t important for me, it’s the fact that I can take something that is on a rolling boil down to barely simmering in seconds with gas, with electric you have to wait for the hob to cool down, and that can take a while. Likewise, going from cool to hot- with gas it’s almost instant, with electric you have to wait.
The only kind of electric hob I’d be tempted to go for would be an induction, but since I like my saucepans, and they’re not induction friendly, I’m going to go for gas when I can.
I am a big believer in gas cooking, but it was pointed out in this thread that some electric stoves are actually faster to respond then gas (due to the heating of the pot support i guess). If this is the case I think the visual feedback can not be ignored. It is easy to get used to flame levels in gas cooking. After a few meals you know how high that flame should be and you don’t pay attention to the knob, but the flame height itself.
It also makes sense, high flame = high heat, you can see it and feel it.
Electric cooking is very non-intutive, you have to set the knob to the level you want, no visable feedback as to hot hot the things really is. Yes you can see that you are somehwhere between med and high, but that’s not precise and hard to duplicate next time, and you can’t assume one setting will be the same on the next stove or even the next burner (coil).