Wifey tired of electric stove wants a gas stove (Howe: house, water heater)

[jerzstyle00]

My wife keeps complaining of the 'ever-slow' electric stove and wants to convert to a gas stove which she says heats things up much faster. So I'm asking advice from forum on which is the most cost efficient way to convert to either a gas stove?
I'm assuming a natural gas stove would be a big job since we don't have gas lines coming in to our home. Was wondering if there were ovens that run on propane gas jars(the ones ones we use for barbecuing)?.
Any other ideas are much appreciated.

[DitsyD]

Unless gas lines are available in your neighborhood, it is VERY expensive to have gas lines run.

If I recall correctly, propane cylinder stoves will be illegal inside. Too dangerous. That is why you see signs on stores that sell these cylinders that they aren't allowed inside the stores.

Other option depends on your city, but you could install an outdoor, large propane tank and install a propane stove that way. I know that many municipalities no longer allow you to install these tanks.

Any way you look at it, it is still going to be expensive. Might be easier to move to a house with a gas stove.

[DitsyD]

Induction electric is faster at heating than residential gas stoves. You might consider that.

[FalconheadWest]

You'll need to move if you don't have gas to your neighborhood/house and you don't want to cook on your gas grill.

[Ralyks]

We have an induction (electric) and it heats up pretty fast. Depending on your wiring, you may have to pay an electrician to update things for induction, but it won't cost nearly as much as running a gas line from scratch. However, not all pots and pans work on an induction.

[cordata]

The propane cylinders themselves are not allowed inside but I think it's somewhat common in rural areas to have a gas stove fed by a propane tank which is outdoors.

[BigDGeek]

Honestly? Move.

For me, a house NOT having gas service would have been a deal-breaker. My house has a gas furnace and gas hot water heater. No gas line in the kitchen, but I can easily have one added when I am ready to tear out the electric cooktop and install my dream gas range. Since I'm on a pier and beam, it can be run through the crawlspace. No ugly line on the outside walls.

P.S. Wifey?

[SouthernBelleInUtah]

Move. Gas furnace, hot water heater and clothes dryers are much more economical to run.

[ChristieP]

I agree with everyone else: move. Having gas service in our house was also a must for us. I love to cook, and even the fancy electric stoves just don't match up to a gas stove. We also have a gas tankless water heater, which provides an unlimited supply of hot water.

[synchronicity]

Piling on, but...if you and/or wife REALLY want gas, you'll have to move. "Gas range" was a HUGE issue for us in choosing a home, FWIW. It's not just "heats up faster", it's also "when it's off, it's OFF" unlike traditional electric which takes forever to cool down.

Now, if it's only about cooking and moving isn't a realistic option, then, as other posters have noted, you could consider induction. Induction ranges are far more common in many other countries, you can read about them here, among other places: Induction cooking - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The ten second summary - induction cooking uses a magnetic field to cause the cooking vessel itself to heat up. One advantage is that it reduces the danger of burns since the cooktop itself doesn't heat up (other than heat transferred from the hot cooking vessel), it has the same "instant response" of gas, and is IIRC very efficient. Drawbacks are that you are generally limited to using only cookware that a magnet would stick to (stainless steel and cast iron, for example, no anodized aluminum) and if you ever put a sheet of aluminum foil over an induction cooktop and turn it on by accident, you'll have a huge mess.

I'll also note that even if you had a gas line coming to your house, unless your kitchen is "plumbed for gas" already running a new gas line into the kitchen is a major PITA if your house is on a slab, as most are in DFW (BigDGeek is fortunate to live in one of the limited areas where pier&beam is more common).

Good luck.

(PS to BigDGeek - what would your dream gas range be? Thermador, Wolf, Viking, Dacor?