As you’re embarking upon your new construction or kitchen remodel journey, there are obviously many important decisions to be made. Your kitchen appliances are some of the monumental choices whose influence will be felt every day.
For your cooking needs, you’ve got two choices for the stove: gas and electric. More often than not, the type of stove you prefer boils down to what you learned to cook on. However, plenty of people find reasons to switch their allegiance. For instance, burgeoning chefs may be swayed by the versatility and accuracy provided by the flame heating of gas stoves. However, parents with young children may prefer an electric stove, seeing it as the safer of the two. The ease of cleaning an electric stove is also a plus for families when considering a whole kitchen remodel.
ELECTRIC STOVE
As with any other investment you’d make in your Florida kitchen remodel, choosing a new stove involves weighing both the upfront purchase cost and long-term operating cost. Keep in mind that most electric stoves require a 240-volt power outlet.
The Good Housekeeping Institute recently compared some of the top model electric stoves, and one of the top ranked models was the Miele Induction Range. This state-of-the-art range can be easily incorporated into a smart home with programmable features like touchscreen controls and an induction cooktop with four cooking zones. This powerful range can bring six quarts of water to a boil in under 15 minutes.
If you’re serious about your cooking and want to "wow" with your kitchen remodel, go with a commercial-style electric range. The Viking Professional 5 Series offers many of the same features, but also comes in colors like graphite or burgundy and has a self-cleaning cycle, a rarity in pro models. A plus: the higher quality range you install, the better the resale value on your home.
GAS/PROPANE STOVE
Although natural gas is much more of an “up north” thing,
a significant number of communities in southwest Florida do offer the option of installing a natural gas line to operate your stove, shares Naples-based realtor Alysia Shivers. Several also allow gas-run whole home generators, a nice option should a major hurricane come through.
Gas stoves are indeed a growing trend in southwest Florida for kitchen remodel. Findings by Naturalgaslocal.com indicate that over 700,000 sunshine state residential consumers prefer natural gas, even though the cost is a walloping 148% above the U.S. average. Another factor is the preferred moister heat of a pro-style gas range, as it’s rare to find one that self-cleans.
Ventilation is also extremely important, reminds Josh Garskof for This Old House. “Pro-style power produces pro-style humidity, odor, carbon monoxide, and, if a recipe goes wrong, smoke. So a vent hood that exhausts outside is a must. The more Btus the range puts out, the more air—measured in cubic feet per minute, or cfm—the blower needs to be able to move. (Use this calculator for sizing a hood to your range and particular installation.) If possible, buy a hood from the same manufacturer and line as the range to ensure a good match.” This can easily be done during a kitchen remodel. The folks at J Sweet Construction can help you make the right decision.
If you’ve got your heart set on propane, the Majestic II Series dual fuel liquid propane gas range could be the one for you. You will need to have a qualified technician install a propane tank outside of your home, either above or in-ground. This is part of the service that we provide during your kitchen remodel. The convenience of this tank means that you won’t have to have a natural gas line installed should that option not exist in your neighborhood. Propane has also been shown to be a safer fuel than natural gas, indicates com, as it comes from the pressurized tank as a vapor rather than a liquid. They are also long-lasting and clean burning.
It’s nice to know there are several options when it comes to outfitting your kitchen remodel to your individual specifications and cooking style.
With over 25 years’ experience designing, constructing and remodeling custom kitchens, J. Sweet Construction can help you put together the kitchen of your dreams. Contact us at 239-325-5150 for some great ideas, delivered with honesty and integrity!