November 23, 2010 | Kitchen Appliances Repair, Help & Advice |
The oven. Along with the hob, the most important and most regularly used appliance in the kitchen. It’s not inconceivable that you use it two or three times every day. Without it, you couldn’t make lasagne; enough said. For this reason, replacing your oven has got to be a measured decision. And the first thing you have to decide? Well that would be whether to go for gas or electric. Both energy sources have pros, both have cons. So which is more suitable for you?
How Good Is It At Actually Cooking?
While we need to remember that ovens are ovens – and that no matter what the source of its heat is, it will cook your food. If it doesn’t, it’s just broken. I think the decisive factor here is the time it takes to preheat. And this is where the electric oven just can’t compete with its gas counterpart. When you turn on the electric oven, the electricity flowing through the element takes minutes to get the oven to a level of heat that you’d consider worthy of roasting a potato. But with gas ovens, the gas is ignited and the flame is immediately hot enough to cook with, and therefore the air in the oven will get hotter quicker.
Which Is More Reliable?
When you’re oven cooking, you want to be confident that the food in the oven will cook at the temperature you’ve set for the time you’ve allotted. No one likes chips that are burnt to a crisp or lasagne that’s brown on the outside but positively tepid under the first couple of layers. Fan assisted ovens evenly distribute heat throughout the oven. You can get fan assisted gas and electric ovens, but the gas versions tend to be a little more expensive.
How Much Are They Gonna Cost Me?
This is where the electric oven comes in to its own. You can pick up a basic electric oven for less than £200, but you’d be extremely hard pushed to find an entry level gas model for less than £300. No contest on this front.
Maintenance
There’s a Gas Safe Register for a reason; you must be registered as an engineer with these guys if you want to carry out any repairs to things like ignition switches or gas jets on your oven. If you don’t have the official accreditation, trying these repairs yourself could end in tragic and lethal circumstances. Don’t try these fix-its yourself. And while electricity must be treated with respect too, it’s ok for you to try and fit a grill element yourself. In fact, we encourage you to – just check out this video. Basically, something going wrong with your electric oven is easier (and cheaper) to fix yourself.
So it looks as though the electric oven may have just edged it; it certainly does if initial cost and potential fix-it problems are your main concerns. What do you think? Any gas users who want to argue their side’s case?
