Gas oven - a good idea?

[InsolentAnnie]

We are renovating our kitchen on a shoestring. We’ve found a secondhand range cooker, but it’s all gas except for the grill, and while I’m used to a gas hob I’ve had an electric oven for the past twenty years. I enjoy cooking and baking, and I gather electric is better than gas for baking, but tbh I find our nice Bosch fan oven still cooks unevenly so I’m wondering if it’ll make much difference.

Are there any big disadvantages to having a gas oven? Also, would we need to do anything with the gas supply to replace a gas hob with a gas range? (Aside from obviously get a gas engineer to connect it - I mean will the current supply to the hob be enough to supply the whole range cooker?)

I've got a gas oven and I prefer it to electric instant heat no preheating and instant drop off when you turn it off

I still miss our ancient gas cooker. Electric ovens cook “dry” so for bread etc you may have to mess about with trays of water at the bottom. None of that with gas as it cooks “wet” . But you may get a waft of steam as well as heat when opening a hot oven. You may also find that the heat is more zoned than you are used to, so you may have to play about with placement in the oven, the top runs hotter than the bottom shelf etc; electric fan ovens should cook more evenly, as in the same heat throughout, but mine certainly have hot and cold spots! The instruction book should tell you what shelf is best for cooking what food.

And for installation, you should be ok with the gas feed you have for both the oven(s) and hob, they used to have just one connection, but if not a gas safe engineer will be able to sort that. You’ll need an electricity connection for the grill, and also maybe the gas ignition.

Good for cooking but a major source of indoor pollution, I would go induction or electric if having a kitchen refit, especially if you have kids or open plan/kitchen diner type room

Ah, if only we were having a kitchen refit!! Budget doesn’t allow it - we’re replacing the hob and oven with a range, painting the worktops, and using the unit that was under the old hob to create a peninsula. Whole refit is probably at least ten years off..!

I completely forgot the indoor air pollution angle. My excuse is that I am old, and when I was a kid most people had gas ovens. In fact I am so old that they ran on town gas back then, and I remember the burners had to be adjusted for them to run on natural gas. Still, the cooking results were very good, even if they were doing us all in whilst roasting the Sunday lunch!

When we moved in we inherited a fully gas range cooker. We now have gas burners only. If I was to do it again I'd like induction. The electric ovens are much better than the gas ones.

I’ve had gas all my life, recently changed to very good brand electric .. I’d change back to gas in a heartbeat 🤷‍♀️

I never want a gas flame in my house again. I can't believe how much better my asthma has been since switching to electric.

Personally I don’t like being dependent on one type of fuel. At least with a gas oven you can still cook even in a power cut.

Hate my gas oven.

Had to get it as electrician said £2k to run the right kind of cable for an electric one from the fuse box, and the gas oven doesn't need said cable.

Never ever heats as hot as it says it is. Baffled at PP who says no preheating time. Mine takes forever. Plus I now have a gas alarm plugged in at all times because I'm paranoid.

Only use it for pizza and massive roasts now I have an air fryer.

I've been using electric fan ovens for a long time, but I like gas ovens. They seem to make less hot fat smell when roasting, and to give a better skin on a rice pudding. Gas hobs are fine.

I think the amount of fumes is quite low, but your extractor or hood should be enough (unless it is a recirculating hood).

I had a gas oven and hated it! I much prefer electric.

We had a power cut this morning and using our big camping kettle was able to have a brew and if it had gone on till evening would have still been able to cook dinner so I'm sticking with gas

Can you use modern gas ovens during a power cut? I thought they wouldn't work for safety reasons.

Usually not ovens. They often have an electric timer and ignition and will not light unless power is on and the clock has been reset.

But sometimes people say "oven" when they mean "cooker" and it is more likely that the hob will work without electricity, if you light it with a match.

I have a dual fuel cooker with gas job and eld truc oven. IIRC the hobs works in z power cut. I might try it tomorrow if I remember.

I wouldn’t have a gas oven. Just too difficult to clean and turn on. Electric is so much easier!

gas ovens aren’t hard to turn on? I just turn a knob - I think they’ll old days of crawling in to light them are long gone

I set far too many gas grills on fire with sausages in my 20s to ever consider a gas oven. Melted a few door seals too!

Yes I was only using one ring so lit it with a lighter and by cook if no electric I'm talking something like a stew in one pot

Huh? You turn a knob - how difficult is that? And it's just as easy to clean as an electric one.

I've always had a gas cooker but recently move house to one with an electric oven. I hate it with a vengeance as it's bloody useless. Takes too long and uses too much money in comparison to gas. I would put my previous gas cooker in but it's 45 years old and probably ready for retirement *sobs

I hate my gas oven. I really don't like it for baking at all. It's ok for roasts etc.

I love the gas hobs though - which as others have pointed out is handy in a power outage .

The burners need to be cleaned and it’s difficult. They need a spark to work and that’s not always reliable. I don’t know a single person with one now as they aren’t a clean fuel. You obviously have a cheap electric oven if it’s not efficient. Takes too long? Set it to the correct temperature. Do yourself a favour and get a decent electric oven.

I would say electric is better if you get a fan oven but I think it depends what you're used to. We went for gas hob and electric oven as that was the recommendation at the time, but since changed to induction hob as they are so easy to clean, but mainly because of the reduction in moisture and nitrogen oxides given off.
Also they are less likely to be left on as induction hobs stop as soon as you remove the pan.
Another advantage of electric is if it's your last gas appliance then you can get rid of the meter and save 100 quid a year on standing charges.

By "range" do you mean a 60cm wide freestanding cooker that would go in place of your hob/oven unit? Would you have to change the gas/electric connections?

If you're on a tight budget a gas oven is fine for everyday cooking and baking. You'll soon work out how to adjust timings if you need to. There are usually loads of freestanding cookers second hand though so if you hold out you might find a dual fuel one or even induction. I think freestanding cookers are great value, in the space of a single oven you usually get a fullsize double oven and grill.