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Smooth-top electric ranges are more aesthetically pleasing. . .
Gotta disagree with you there CajunWon. Smooth-top cooktops look cheap to me. I wish that I had a gas range, but alas it would be too expensive to add to justify it.
When we remodeled our kitchen in MA, I purchased a dual fuel slide in stove/oven combo. The oven was electric (I like that better in ovens) but the cooktop was gas. The old stove was all electric and I never did like it. We had gas in the house though--we heated with it and our hot water heater was gas.
In the house where we're living now, the stove/oven are both gas and I really don't like the way the oven cooks.
IMOP - When you reach a certain price point, options and standards are dictated by the market. If none of the competitors are offering gas as a standard, no builder wants to be the first to offer it.
Since the 50's lots of utility companies have had incentives for all electric homes. Electric for many years was much cheaper than gas alternatives as a result of the rate incentives and the rebates upon hookup.
Most of the applicances are cheaper in the electric version, but builder discounts come pretty close to evening that out.
I think now it is just a result of past practices and public acceptance.
It's not a north/south thing. I had a flat electric stove top in my Rochester, NY house. As did my Mom. My in-laws in Rochester built a brand new house and had to opt for gas in the kitchen as electric was standard. And in fact even if you want gas to cook with you will still need electric run for the oven anyway as those are always electric still.
People like electric because they're easy to clean and safer, though that's debatable in both regards. Electric is pretty standard everywhere, gas is an optional upgrade.
BTW I vote for gas stove tops. Our house came with a Jenn Air one with the griddle/grill on one half. Gas just rocks for cooking. Pans are instantly hot for meat, you have instant/immediate control of temperatures instead of the serious lag time with electric. Have only burnt my rice once in 9 months, usually you kick it on simmer and it's absolutely perfect.
The reason is that the laws changed a few years back on gas stoves because of some wacky environmental concerns and so the restrict the size of a burner to be so small that it takes for ever to boil water. To get around this, some high end models are available that have stacked burners to get the BTU rating high enough to where it generates a sufficient enough level of heat to boil water quickly. At least, that's what the gas company told me. So if you go with gas, then make sure you get a high end cooktop or stove that has greater than 12,500 btu burners.
When we remodeled our kitchen in MA, I purchased a dual fuel slide in stove/oven combo. The oven was electric (I like that better in ovens) but the cooktop was gas.
In our home in Oregon we put in the duel fuel (electric / convection oven) and gas stove top combo. Dacor. Loved that stove. Miss that stove. Should have brought that stove with me!!!!
We have the smooth top electric thing now. While it's not bad it's not the same. I had wondered why so many folks in our neighborhood had opted for electric rather than gas for cooking when fire & water heater & heat are gas. Sounds like the builder wanted way too much for the gas stove and it would be cheaper to buy a good gas stove on our own. So maybe it's not as common b/c it's not worth the upgrade and it's something folks hope to get around to.
BTW, while I love the duel fuel thing (I don't want a gas oven) I recently read that electricity is more efficient for cooking than gas. I was very surprised by this.
We have a gas range and I must admit initially it was a negative for me. I really wanted a smooth top electric range like I had in MA.
I love to cook and I found that I really like the way a gas range cooks. Im not too fond of the gas oven and compared the a smooth top range cleaning it is a real pain. I also dont like that the knobs on the gas range are within my 2 and 4 year olds reach.
So I guess in the end, I really dont care either way.
a gas broiler rocks... I prefer gas but the lines were already done in our house when we chose it, and we chose to go with the smooth top.
Tell the builder to absorb the cost, it is small potatoes to them.
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