Converting electric cooktop to gas on slab home (Plano: homes, cost)

[synchronicity]

Originally Posted by 4Movingeast

I wish there was a lady like that at all the design centers/ wherever! I cook a lot and for me nothing measures up to the control and searing power of gas. But it's just a testament to the fact that people don't cook as much anymore, they also tend to not cook "from scratch" or homemade items, they use the microwave and hear things up so performance isn't the key. But when you really put time in the kitchen, performance is important.

Sing it! I saw all these giant kitchens, with vast expanses of granite countertops...and cr@ppy electric cooktops. "Oh, and the appliances are 'stainless steel'". Yabbut, they're not high quality. I always wonder how many of those kitchens actually get USED.

(and as someone who has cooked a lot in tiny kitchens with cheap electric cooktops - yes, it can be done, but if you are paying for a great big kitchen, why not have it designed to make it easy to cook WELL in it?)

[ChristieP]

I've never met a professional chef who cooks on an electric stove...

[ParkerPal]

That's surprising, almost every home that we looked at, had gas cooktop or combo cook top and we only looked at homes built during 90's.

[Lowexpectations]

Our house had an electric cook top not plumbed for gas on the island. The choice was to run a line from the attic down the thre island and add a column to hide it or run in down the wall, tear up a row of tile, have space cut into the slab to run the line through, run the line and put it all back together was roughly 4,000.00

[Telegan]

Originally Posted by ParkerPal

That's surprising, almost every home that we looked at, had gas cooktop or combo cook top and we only looked at homes built during 90's.

It depends on where you look. Back around the mid-2000's there were new homes being built in parts of Frisco, for example, that only offered electric from what I remember, whereas in other parts of Frisco, gas was standard.

[synchronicity]

Originally Posted by Telegan

It depends on where you look. Back around the mid-2000's there were new homes being built in parts of Frisco, for example, that only offered electric from what I remember, whereas in other parts of Frisco, gas was standard.

IIRC, there are parts of Colleyville that are "all-electric", as in EVERYTHING is electric (heat, dryers, cooktops, etc.). As you note, it varies by era, as apparently there were times that electric was "in".

Lowexpectation's comment about running gas to an electric island cooktop mirrors what we were told.

To the OP's point, I'd just strongly recommend having "gas cooktop" or "plumbed for gas" as a high priority, and generally avoid electric unless the house really REALLY stands out otherwise. Yeah, it'll take longer, but (IMHO) living for years in a home with something that is a constant source of annoyance is far worse than taking an additional couple months to find a house you will truly enjoy.

[ChristieP]

Throughout the 1980s, the "all electric" homes were popular. Natural gas was expensive, and electric was cheaper. Now, it's the other way around. Personally, we made gas a priority when we bought our house. I did have to pay to have gas run down an exterior wall so I could have a gas stove, but the house was already equipped with a gas water heater, central heat, and fireplace. (I have no idea why there wasn't a gas line for the stove!)

[SouthernBelleInUtah]

Gas is there when you lose power. I have used the gas logs to heat a house and a match to light the gas stove. Very handy at times!

[4Movingeast]

Originally Posted by SouthernBelleInUtah

Gas is there when you lose power. I have used the gas logs to heat a house and a match to light the gas stove. Very handy at times!

Very good point!

[octo]

Not everyone is a chef. I personally think that gas cooktops look ugly so I prefer a nice looking glass cooktop which is just fine for my level of cooking.

I would not want my residential kitchen to look like a commercial one.

I say this just to point out that some like me could not care less if there's a gas line in the kitchen.
Some may even consider it a hazard.