Electric Range Cookers vs Gas Range Cookers

When buying a new cooker, it's important to know all the options available to you. Knowing the colour or size of the cooker you want is just as important as understanding what is required for your cooking. The most important thing you should consider when buying a new cooker is the type of fuel needed – gas or electric. 

Electric Range Cookers vs Gas Range Cookers
[image: pexels by max vakhtbovych]

Every cooker has its benefits and setbacks, so when choosing between electric and gas cookers, it’s important to consider how you like to cook your food and how you like your food cooked. 

In this article, we will go over some of the things you should consider when choosing the right cooker. 

Efficiency and Reliability

Gas cookers have easy-t-control settings and instant heat that tends to speak evenly across the base of your cooking pots. This means that less stirring is required when cooking. However, gas cookers can be much slower at heating up large volumes of food. With this in mind, it may take a little longer to get everything properly cooked if you're cooking for a large family. 

Many modern electric ovens have fans which means your food will cook much more quickly and evenly. Some multifunction ovens have various heating elements that you can make use of, such as grilling and fanning at the same time to cook different foods at once. If you purchase an electric oven with an induction hob, this can speed up your cooking times even further. 

Running Costs

It’s important to understand how much of an effect your new cooker will have on your monthly budget. Many comparisons see gas and electric cookers as using roughly the same amount of energy. However, gas cookers have lower running costs. 

With this in mind, though, a gas cooker may not suit what you need for your cooking requirements, so it's worth comparing the prices of some prospective models to see whether it's worth spending that bit of extra money for your convenience. 

Maintenance

Electric cookers tend to come with an electric induction top or a ceramic electric top. Either way, the flat surface of these cookers makes them much easier to clean than a gas cooker. Since the hob doesn’t get hot on an induction cooker, you can clear away any accidental spillages right at the source with a simple wipe away. 

A gas cooker is usually more difficult to clean as it has raised burners and supports for the pans. It can take much longer to clean a gas cooker. Cast pan supports tend to be more susceptible to collecting dust and excess bits of food from accidental spillages. 

Environmental Impact

A gas cooker is usually more environmentally friendly than an electric cooker when considering the overall carbon emissions. Natural gas cookers heat more efficiently than electric cookers, so less energy is needed on the hob to produce the same levels of heat. 

However, electric ovens heat up quicker than gas ovens. It's important to consider where your electricity comes from. If your electricity comes from a supplier of renewable energy, then an electric oven would be beneficial in terms of the carbon emissions. If you get your electricity elsewhere, gas would be the better option as electricity lets out more carbon emissions than gas. With this in mind, the environmental impact will depend a lot upon where you get your energy. 

Conclusion 

As you can see, there are pros and cons to both electric cookers and gas cookers. We hope this information has helped to answer a few of your burning questions. It's worth considering your cooking style and which elements are more important to you when choosing between a gas cooker and an electric cooker.