Electric Range or Stove, convection or not?

[Charlotte K.]

I have that stove, the one with the convection oven! WARNING: IT TAKES THE OVEN FOREVER TO PREHEAT. Like, 20+ minutes to get to 350 degrees! Drives me crazy. And it's not the convection oven, it's the model of stove.

We did next-level in the line for our dishwasher but not the stove and I regret it. The convection oven is not nearly as good as the one in our rental house (which had a high-end Jenn-Air). The stovetop works fine, but Heavens to Mergatroide, I hate how slow it preheats. When I know I'm going to need the oven for dinner, I turn it on an dtake Kimber for a walk!

PS When we built our house a couple of years ago, we did a LOT of investigating on this. The dealbreaker for induction was that you needed a special set of pots and pans. Uh, no.

Both are listed as convection but one is "true convection" with the third heat element. Is the latter the one that you have? It is my understanding that the hidden bake element on the bottom increases the time to heat, convection or not, based on my reading and on a friend's experience with a nonconvection Kenmore.

Thanks for weighing in on the discussion!

[Charlotte K.]

Have the induction for 2 burners and the other 2 are regular- love my convection oven. I love to bake and we use the oven a lot !

Hmm, the best of both worlds, eh? I like that idea, too!

[BogeyBaby]

My kitchen is all gas, no convection. I have a convection microwave combo in our RV and I've never really caught on as to how to cook with the convection. Everything ended up dried out and inedible.

[Scoutpout]

My Jenn-Air wall oven has convection, it has an automatic temp and time adjuster so when i tell it "Bake" at say "450", then hit "convection" it converts it down to 400.
I only got it (used, off kijiji from some folks redoing their 2yr old kitchen!!!) about a year ago, so haven't played with it too much. It DOES take forever to pre-heat, but maintains the heat really nicely, and it seems the thermostat in this one is waaaayyyyy more accurate than my old Frigidaire wall oven (no self clean but a side swing door, have to get used to reaching over the oven door again with the JennAir)

[JenC]

Gas range. No on the convection, unless you are a serious baker, I don't think you'll ever use it. We never did and didn't get it in our new ovens when we built the house.

[Charlotte K.]

For what it is worth, I got the GE smoothtop electric range with true convection oven. It does have a hidden bake element on the bottom, but it heats faster than my friend's Kenmore that looks like a GE. They seem to have come further with this covered bake element heat time. I can't even stir together a brownie MIX before it is preheated, so I am happy. It makes really evenly browned chocolate chip cookies on three racks. Meat comes out well with or without the convection. I haven't broiled in it yet. On the stovetop, it heats 6 qts of water pretty quickly. I am happy. I did take advice here and get a dark "speckled" smoothtop, so it doesn't show smudges or dust motes much first thing in the morning. I am VERY happy with this range, as it even has a melting feature and a warming burner, which gives me the control I previously could only get with gas. There is no gas here, and I have a personal grudge against gas explosions (two homes in the family and two near deaths from burners that blew out in two other homes), so when we got a home, we purposely bought a house with no gas. I am so happy, even if I no longer have an excuse about cooking. I think I will try some board zucchini recipes!

[Polly Pipkin]

Sounds great! Pictures please - of the oven and your cooking!

[Snowshoe]

I've only ever had electric but anyone I know who has had both likes gas better. I have regular convection and use it quite a bit. Really speeds up a turkey the once or twice a year I do one. But I will use it for other roasts and some baking. I had a choice of glass top or element and chose element as I was making a lot of jam and sugar burnt onto the glass is terrible to clean off. Maybe they are better now or cleaners are better. LOL, I only have a regular range and I get the OH to lift the turkey for me. Cold I can manage but when it's hot and needs basting I'm liable to tip it and spill grease on myself.

ETA: Oh, you've got it already. Funny, I couldn't see your post till mine went in. Oh well. Now don't you torment us with photos of nice things you've cooked unless you intend to mail out goody packages.

[doubledip1]

I love what you picked!

For anybody else considering...

I like convection, but you need to cook everything 25 degrees cooler than you would normally.

I have had both gas and electric. I have had electric coils and smooth top. I much prefer smooth top. I prefer electric. I feel the knobs on gas are really easy to accidentally turn on if you're leaning against the stove... but I've never seen a gas range that has the knobs towards the wall instead of the middle of kitchen. I agree, and find them very unsafe. I will always elect to have electric over gas. And I cook all the time, and am a bleeping fabulous chef. If you're making a ton of really delicate things, gas might be better for you, but electric is easy to control if you know what you're doing.

Bar Keepers Friend is a GREAT cleaner, and I LOVE "Scrub Daddy" sponges. As for zucchini recipes, Penzey's Spices had a GREAT zucchini chocolate cake recipe in their latest catalog. You might be able to find it online. Smitten Kitchen also makes a great warm zucchini salad where you julienne the zucchini, barely warm it, and throw in some chopped tomatoes. I like to add some sliced almonds as well.