Question about glass cooktop/range - Do you have one?

[Kim-n-Dean]

Ordered this sucker Sunday night and it was here at 11:00a.m. today. Damn, that was fast! Couldn't wait for the weekend, so I quickly unpacked it and got to work. Took about an hour to rip out the old and install the new. Piece of cake!!

The old cooktop was a coil version with downdraft. Gonna have to install a hood, now. The new one is radiant, not induction.

When they say "radiant" they aren't kidding!! This thing heats the whole kitchen. The walls are super hot, too. My question is, am I going to melt the stuff around the cooktop? Haven't cooked on it yet, so perhaps the cookware absorbs a lot of the radiance. What kind of heat do you see on surrounding areas? If you've been cooking all day (which we do) is the counter top on fire?

Did I really need to include pictures? No, but it looks so nice, I just had to.

[longrider]

I have used smoothtops for many years and have never had problems with overheating anything around it. I originally had a built in like that in my old house with no issues, even having one of those over the stove microwaves. The pots and pans do absorb that radiant heat you are feeling, in use it is no worse than a coiltop. On a funny note, in my present house I have exactly the cabinets you have! Only difference is the handles.

[Kim-n-Dean]

Yeah, it definitely is different with pans on the elements. We made breakfast for dinner late last night. With three burners going it wasn't near as bad as just turning one on with nothing on the cooktop.

[birchyboy]

Our coffee maker sits on one side of our range and a knife block on the other. I can definitely feel heat from ours, but it isn't enough to make me move anything.

[Sully]

Looks great, Dean! Congratulations. I have a glass top and I have no issues with items melting around it. I would however prefer a gas stove

[Kim-n-Dean]

Looks great, Dean! Congratulations. I have a glass top and I have no issues with items melting around it. I would however prefer a gas stove

We really, really want gas!!! The cooktop that got replaced was the original that came with the house (1986). It only had two burners because the other side was an indoor grill. The grill was pretty much useless. It had been falling apart over the eighteen years we've lived in the house. Melted wires, you could hear the controls arc when the thermostat kicked in. It was definitely a fire hazard! A few months ago the large burner plug-in disintegrated and we were left with one small burner. I have a hook-up with GE and got this top for half price. When I redo the kitchen the way we want, it will definitely be replaced with a gas cooktop.

[Captain Obvious]

We have a oven/stovetop unit that does push out some heat. I haven't moved anything away and have not noticed any issues since install 5 months back.

I do have a question for the people here with a glass top re cast iron. I have read about cast iron, specifically the cast iron that has the single lip ridge around the bottom of the pan. I have not used mine due to stovetop manufacture warning of the bottom must be perfectly smooth. However I have seen plenty of people who have used cast iron with no issue (that do have the ridge). I wanted gas as well, but we are not renovating the kitchen for another year and hope to get the gas run then.

until that happens.....
what experience do people here have with cast iron on their glass tops
has anyone found heat diffusor plates that work and are large enough to use (alternate method to still using pots/pans which are not perfectly flat?

[Kim-n-Dean]

I do have a question for the people here with a glass top re cast iron. I have read about cast iron, specifically the cast iron that has the single lip ridge around the bottom of the pan. I have not used mine due to stovetop manufacture warning of the bottom must be perfectly smooth. However I have seen plenty of people who have used cast iron with no issue (that do have the ridge). I wanted gas as well, but we are not renovating the kitchen for another year and hope to get the gas run then.

until that happens.....
what experience do people here have with cast iron on their glass tops
has anyone found heat diffusor plates that work and are large enough to use (alternate method to still using pots/pans which are not perfectly flat?

Our manual says to not use cast iron or ceramic coated pans. As you read further and read all the details, they're worried the cast iron will scratch the top. Ceramic coated, they're worried that if you run it dry it can fuse/melt to the stove top. Pay attention and you'll have zero problems. We use cast iron and ceramic with no worries.

Ridged or curved/warped bottoms aren't as efficient, but still work. Never tried a diffuser plate. It's probably not recommended as the temp. sensor will probably not read correctly and start to melt things.

We threw out all our warped stuff, but kept a few things that are slightly warped and they work perfectly. Well, not being perfectly flat they tend to rotate a lot and work themselves off the burner, but cook fine. Definitely will be replacing those item, though.