"phaeton" wrote in message
I can see her point in that
every time you fire up a gas stove you are releasing a great deal of
toxins into your living space. As small as this house is I'm starting
to wonder if she's right- Baking a few loaves of bread or
slow-simmering something might asphyxiate us.

Natural gas is probably the cleanest buring fuel available. Millions of
homes use it to simmer pots of soup and bake bread. It is really not a
consideration. I've had gas heat and cooking most of my life and that is
the preference in our house.


And then there is the big picture environmental impact. No need to
start a debate about fringe groups but we both tend to lean a little
towards the "green" crowd. Sure, electricity generator plants burn
fossil fuels to create energy also (around here they are coal) but
they're probably a model of efficiency for what they are doing.

If you are leaning green, go with gas. In spite of the efficiencies of the
power plant, natural gas is still going to be cleaner overall than the coal
used at the power plant and resultant loss of efficiency in delivery.
Another consideration is reliability. If you are in an area of power
outages, electric won't work, With gas, the oven may not work, but the
burners will. Sure it nice to be able to cook a meal even if you can't make
toast!



Regarding electric stoves- my current roommates have a brand new
smooth-top electric. It seems really nice, actually- it heats up
quick, but my guess is that will change as it gets older. Still
remains hot for an hour after you turn it off though.

There have been many improvements in the smooth tops, but I'm still not fond
of them. They do not take kindly to the heavy cast iron skillets we like to
use. I still hear horror stories about tops getting broken and other
malfunctions.