Gas stoves fill the air in your home with particulate matter (pm), which has been found to increase cancer risk in the long term.
So next time you buy a stove, consider choosing an induction stove.
Btw, gas stoves being better or faster than induction is a myth. They have certain specific advantages, but they are actually slower.
Obligatory Technology Connections video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUywI8YGy0Y
You must log in or register to comment.
It’s completely baffling that there are people unironically still defending gas stoves in 2025. There’s no discussion to be had on the subject any more, induction is superior and that’s final.
I think the people who claim gas stoves are best likely grew up either not cooking much, or had a decent gas stove, so their first exposure to an electric stove was super cheap, crappy electric coil stoves in student housing, or wherever they first lived as a young adult. Then when they were able to afford better, they got a better gas stove.
I have a really crappy gas stove, and it makes me yearn for the cheap electric coil stoves of my youth.
People say that gas stoves are more powerful and responsive, when the truth is that more powerful stoves are more powerful, and “responsiveness” is a fake concern. My crappy gas stove takes forever to get a pot of water boiling, especially compared to coil stoves. Yeah, you can turn a gas stove to 100% quickly, but that’s only better if it can put out more power. It won’t heat up any faster than an electric stove if the electric stove takes double the time, but also has double the power. There’s also not many cases where “time to maximum heat” is what you care about, I can’t think of any.
Responsiveness the other way (hot to cool) doesn’t matter when you have a high thermal mass in the pan (or the pan itself has high mass), it only matters when the pan and contents are light, in which case, you just take the pan off the heat.
When the power goes out in sub zero temperatures, and your heating does too, it helps to be able to make hot water on the stove to warm up.
Otherwise, yeah induction is better.
A $50 dual burner camp stove solves that (or even cheaper, a $12 single burner backpacking stove if you have less space).
While you’re correct in general, in places where the power is out for a week, a camping/backpacking stove would be ill-suited to the task of keeping multiple people warm and fed. Especially in a house and not an apartment.
A gas furnace won’t keep you warm when the power is out, either. I will say a camp stove feeds just as well as a regular stove, after all, how often are you using more than 2 burners simultaneously?
A gas (or wood) stove will, which is why they’re still common in rural areas that face power outages more frequently. Your comment is the first mention of furnaces.
Personally, I use more than 2 burners pretty often. Honestly, it’s a bit of a waste of everyone’s time to debate whether or not a camping stove is a universal replacement for a gas stove since everyone has different needs. For the scenario I described, a gas stove is the better option.
I would be pretty pissed if I had to use a camping stove instead of a gas stove during an outage just because. They’re totally different tools suited for different use cases and environments.
Do you have more detail on this? What types of particulate matter exactly?
Not OP, but combustion byproducts/impurities mostly. Get a air quality sensor and watch it go mad when you start cooking.
The one real downside to induction is actually its speed. You can really easily burn your food very quickly if your not careful. IKEA sell an induction hot plate for $40AUD, well worth giving it a try.
idk - there should be some very clear cancer statistics to back up such a claim between countries like Sweden (<1% gas stoves, all are electric) vs other countries then.
One cause of cancer like this probably won’t be visible on a national scale, too many other factors come into play that will muddy the data
However, it’s not “idk”, the current science on gas stoves being bad for your health is quite clear. Not just cancer, but also for other lung-related issues like asthma: https://www.cancercenter.com/community/blog/2024/09/are-gas-stoves-bad-for-your-health
You’re right - the report they link to here (Table 2 is good) makes that quite clear.
Yes, a little bit… Burning any kind of fuel in your home is going to produce carcinogens.
But it’s really nothing to get too excited about, and cooking on electric is bullshit
As other people have said, induction is alright. Way better than traditional electric anyway.
we have a decent quality induction range and electric stove and we’d never bother considering to go back to gas
I think that’s the thing though… You need to invest in a really good quality electric cooker to get something decent… Whereas any old?Cheap gas appliance will get the job done.
Plus every electric hob I’ve ever used has got bullshit touch sensitive buttons that don’t like wet fingers.
It depends. A really good induction stove is fine. The cheap ones they put in rentals are all really annoying though. Bad UI is my main gripe with them honestly.
I think they are more than fine but bad UI is real
I used to be 100% for gas ranges. Except for a couple of specific usecases, my 200v induction stove is great. I have a separate cannister gas stove if I want to really go to town on a wok or something. I’ve been converted.
Cooking in electric is fine, just different. I had an exposed coil stove for a while which was passable, but my glass top coil range is rather good. I grew up on gas and honestly my only complaint about electric is a bit slower heating time and it doesn’t react as fast as I’d like, but it’s not nearly as bad as people like to claim.
Yeah, I prefer my gas stovetop than any crappy induction.
Have they reinvented buttons yet or do you spend your time long-clicking and watching out not to short the touch-screen-top with 1 drop of water?
Jesting aside, induction is probably good but the bullshit that gas stoves causes cancer is just an unfounded lie. It’s like being scared of the microwave owen or “3G mobile”.
I think you’ve confused coil for induction, and gas stoves definitely cause cancer. So do cars.
Show me some propf of that, a scientific study. Make me change my views.
The only thing I know gas stoves to be better at than other methods is traditional wok. But that’s hardly a reason to jeopardize your health for.
You can actually get induction wok thingys.
The induction magnet is bowl shaped, so that when placed in it, the wok is heated all over.
They work, but apparently the really good ones are priced for business kitchens.
Only if you have the proper high btu burner
Exactly this. I went from a cheap gas stove to a nicer induction and my work cooking has improved greatly.
Induction is the best, I’ll never go back
Induction is best in theory, however in practice it’s unfortunately often paired with these shitty buttonless capacitive controls that are harder to decipher that hieroglyphics as well as “”“smart”“” features
They do still sell induction stoves with classic dumb buttons but they are either hard to come buy or aimed at professional chefs, which instantly adds two zeros to their price
Tbf the flat buttonless style makes them really easy to clean.
Mine has simple capacitive controls. Turn it on, higher number is more hotter. Very simple.
Apparently it has other features, not bothered with them.
My stove apparently has wifi. But why I would put that thing on my network is beyond me.
wireless house fire
It’s the best, got one not too long ago, and same, I’ll never go back. Immediate temperature control.
I mean, you have immediate temp control with gas too?
It’s significantly immediate-er with induction - particularly going from cool to hot. Boil water in 2 minutes and handles don’t get hot in the process. And since nothing is heating except the metal of the base of the pan there is no residual heat from the cooktop parts or the sides of the pan when you turn it off. The temperature drops much faster.
I went back to gas after 5 years cooking on induction and miss it a lot. Cooking something like pasta that requires boiling a sizeable quantity of water takes 2x or 3x longer on gas, even with a very powerful burner.
I’ve never seen a gas stove with temp control. I’m not even sure how that would work. Controlling the amount of gas, sure, but not the temperature. In an induction stove, you can set it to 150 degrees, and it will hold that.
They probably had a non-induction electric stovetop before.
Yes, but we’re talking gas vs induction, right?
Right, so it’s the same but without the cancer and explosions.
With free cancer!
Don’t forget your aluminium hat against the 3G
This guy thinks science is a conspiracy lmao
Not quite as immediate! You’d be surprised at the difference
I read that running an extractor hood mitigates the risk a fair amount. Not completely, but enough that you shouldn’t worry if gas is your only option
Many people don’t turn the hood on until food itself is creating a lot of vapor because they are usually so noisy. Meaning the hood often helps very little in practice, although in theory you are right.
Or they have a fan that just redirects the exhaust into the house
My stove has a “hood”/fan that runs through the microwave and into a cabinet and that’s it. What can I do? After reading all this I intend to keep the window open nearby when cooking, and I always have two large air purifiers running in the living room attached to the kitchen.
For a lot of these large scale, epidemiological findings, it’s important to remember that the effects are small enough that you pick them up on a population level over a lifetime. I’d say that if you can, find a way to properly vent your stove outside if you are doing some home improvement. If you are replacing your stove, consider induction instead, and in the meantime, having an air purifier is good. Opening a window is probably also good. Other than that, I wouldn’t be super alarmed. Obviously, if you have little kids or something, you might have a lower tolerance for potential pollution, but it’s good to think about these things in context. Alcohol causes cancer, but everyone still drinks.
I’ve turned mine on, even if only on low, as I light the stove since first reading about this, but I think I’m a little more fact-absorbent than most people
gas stoves being better or faster than induction is a myth. They have certain specific advantages, but they are actually slower.
If you have 380/400V 16A induction, it’s not even close.
But be careful, if you have ceramic coated pans for instance, and you use the high power settings to heat it up, your pans won’t last long, as the ceramic may crack because of the fast heat up. We lost 2 pans that way. 😋
We also had a cheap cooking pot, where it developed a crack between the main pot and the apparently cheaply attached heat spreading bottom.
This made the pot sputter because water was collected in the crack when washed.
When I boil eggs, i time it from the moment the water is boiling. But with out new stove, the water boils so fast, I’ve had to add 2 minutes to the time they boil!!Our electric kettle is 2.2 kW. But boiling a liter of water on the stove is still more than twice as fast!! Meaning the stove must be putting more than 4.4 kW to the pot, on the smallest cooking spot!!
Obviously that is only possible for 1 spot at a time, I figure the max must be around 6kW combined.
They have certain specific advantages, but they are actually slower.
I can’t think of any advantages, gas stoves are slower, they are harder to clean, they give off an insane amount of wasted heat, which is uncomfortable in hot weather, and they noticeably degrade air quality unless you have very good ventilation.
The only possible advantage I can think of, is that you can use cheaper equipment on gas. but not always, because non metal handles tend to get ruined on gas stoves.
All in all induction is superior. 😎
If you have 380V 16A induction, it’s not even close.
Is that a common setup? That sounds very high-powered
I checked mine, which is a fairly basic model, and it’s actually 400V.
Depends where you live, 240v/30 or 50 amps is the standard in North America
Guess that’s what threw me off. 240v is what our electric (non-gas) appliances use in the States, 380v sounded like it could be commercial-style equipment or something
Correct, it exists for commercial applications but sometimes even the grid where you’re at might not support it (if you’re in a more remote location).
It’s the standard for all homes in Germany
Just FYI, I have gas heated water, and a gas stovetop. So I get around 55°C water to start, and the big burner is 5.5kW.
Still use lukewarm water in my kettle for tea. I mean what’s the hurry?
Cooking isn’t just heating stuff as fast as you can, what a curious thing to consider.
and the big burner is 5.5kW.
Yes, but there is enormous waste of heat with a gas stove, so your 5.5 kW big burner, is only equivalent to half of that compared to induction. Our smallest plate at 4.4+ kW is more powerful.
Cooking isn’t just heating stuff as fast as you can, what a curious thing to consider.
That’s a straw man argument, I never claimed any such thing.
But the fast response time makes it easier to adjust correct temperature/levels, and this was for many years a major argument from users of gas, but this argument is completely irrelevant now.
I also mentioned other drawbacks of gas.PS: I NEVER use preheated water for cooking anything, preheated water is generally not meant for consumption. It needs to be designed for that specifically, so unless your preheated water is guaranteed food grade, you shouldn’t use it.
About the strawnan, the discussion was about heating twice as fast with induction, sorry you got caught in the crossfire.
Also, I’m not talking about pre-heated water (bleurk!), I have gas heated water, it heats on demand, so my thé is ready 20 seconds faster than yours! /Jesting
I’m just curious about almost a cult following about induction heating, yes it’s better than almost anything else, but like only my Scandinavia friends has it or talks about it, my French and Italian friends usually don’t or when they do I know because I see it in their kitchen, and with them I talk food, what I’m cooking, what they’re cooking, how to cook this or that, not how fast I can warm water.
No ill intent meant, it’s just so strange for me :-)
gas heated water
In the 60’s and 70’s we also had a gas heater for hot water, and that heater was definitely NOT suited for drinking water, as the pipes the water was heated in were copper.
The heat source is not the important thing, it’s how it’s designed and the materials used. It needs to be positively approved as food grade. By preheated I mean heated before it comes out of the tap.only my Scandinavia friends has it or talks about it
IDK why that is? But I’m Scandinavian too from Denmark, so there you go. 😋
my French and Italian friends usually don’t
AFAIK induction was under patent protection for a long time, and that patent was held by a French company. French stoves are nearly non existent here, it’s all local, German, Swedish, Italian, British or Spanish.
Maybe Induction was cheaper in the past in France and Italy? It only recently (about 10 years ago) became dirt cheap here, as in costing basically the same as the alternatives.
I remember back in the 80’s inductions was about 2-3 times as expensive as a quality stove that was not induction. So Halogen (the ones with red light) were dominant for many years. And also pretty good, but not quite as good as gas for cooking. But convenient in other ways.not how fast I can warm water.
It’s not a big issue, but coming from Halogen it clearly changes the way you use your stove, because it’s so much more powerful and responsive.
About how much faster it is, I had a debate with my brother in law who didn’t believe it could be that much faster than an electric kettle. I don’t remember the exact times it took, but the induction was as I mentioned more than twice as fast! That was a nerd thing because we are both a bit nerdy. 😋
I’m fine cooking on Gas, that’s what we used when I grew up, and when i moved to my own apartment, then for many years I used halogen, and now we have induction. IMO induction is superior, AND it’s also the most energy efficient.So IMO the best reason to NOT switch to induction is if you have something else you are happy with, then the “if it works don’t fix it” may be the way to go for you.
One thing about gas that annoyed me though, was if you wanted to do something fast, and you turn it up, the flames spread wider, so if you wanted to boil a liter of water fast, or heat a stored meal, it was not very efficient at that. Because the flames had a wider spread than the size of the pot.
YSK: Everything causes cancer. Drinking water causes cancer. Living causes cancer.
Yes, but…
Cooking itself also does this. If you are searing or frying that will also release dangerous particulates. Make sure you have and use a vent hood that vents outside the living space when you cook regardless of fuel.
I can say from personal experience of using every kind of home stove, that gas is both the worst and slowest. Boiling water for my morning coffee is fastest on induction, which takes about half the time as resistive or radiant electric, and gas takes nearly three times longer than that.
Though it might just be the american style of burner that directs the flame away from the center of the pan. I’ve not yet tried any other kind.
It probably has to do with the type of burner I’m going to guess.
We’ve had both induction and electric stoves for our whole lives. And the home we recently moved into has a fancy dancy natural gas stove with star shaped burners.
It is night and day compared to anything else we’ve used before, water boils so much faster, I can actually sear a pen full of vegetables now instead of just making them mushy.
Honestly I love it. I just wish the hood wasn’t so shitty and actually had a hood to capture all of the output from the stove.
Check and see if you need to change the filter in the hood.
Oh dear Lord. The hood has a filter???
Yeah, that’s probably fucked up, none of the filters in anything in this house had been changed in years when we got the place. The filter for the furnace was black.
And it’s been over a year since then I’m sure if the hood fan has a filter it’s absolutely disgusting.
But I also meant that the hood could have a shape to it so that it collects air from the front burners which it doesn’t.
Yeah, fam… airborne grease particles. They’re the reason for hood fan filters, and the reason they clog. I would recommend getting a full box of nitrile gloves. And definitely clean the screen cover over the filter.
Edit: re-shaped for collection of fumes from the front burners… Idk, sometimes people change the stove but not the hood, or get a stove and think the hood that would work best with it “clashes” and gets an objectively shit hood instead. Beauty is pain. Or some shit. Idk. I put stones on top of other stones for a living…
Everything else being equal, of course electric and induction stoves are preferable to gas. I spend most of my life with an electric stove, no apartment I ever saw had induction, but I didn’t particularly like the gas stove I had to use for some years.
But if you want the worst user experience ever, find an electric stove with touchscreen controls. What the hell, landlord, where did you even find that one?
Having only cooked on radiant electric and gas, I gotta say I prefer the experience of cooking on gas, but not by enough to accept the documented risks, even if they are small. I hope at some point I’ll be able to have an induction range top as my primary.
Since this is the stove thread:
I had a pot of salt water overflow from boiling on a electric stove and now there is this tough ring of residue around the burner caked on and it won’t scrub off. Is using a razor blade to scrape it off really the only option?
I’m worried I will scratch the stove top and the landleech will have an excuse to steal my security deposit.
I mean… paying for shit you damaged during your stay is kind of the point of a security deposit.
Nothing stopping you from using diluted lye / oven cleaner and wiping it off, just be very sure you take the necessary precautions. Do not breathe that shit in or let it get on your skin.
Bartender’s Friend or Pink Stuff should take it right off.
I legit used car polish once to clean my electric glass stovetop
Works fine as long as you work it by hand and wipe the residue off with a wet rag
I’ve used a razor for really stuck on bits on our glass top stove, but this cleaner also seems to do quite well: https://weiman.com/glass-cooktop-cleaner-polish
For the razor, keep it at a shallow angle (I tend to go around 20 or 30 degrees above the stovetop), and keep a small amount of water on the surface. I usually have a damp rag that I wipe the razor and stovetop with occasionally during the scraping process, to remove the small pieces that come off.
Also, if you are nervous about damaging the stovetop itself, maybe try something only lightly abrasive and warm water, and let the water work it’s magic. (I see you have already tried this, so maybe that isn’t helpful :/ ) From a chemistry perspective, salt water shouldn’t exactly leave behind an insoluble residue, but IDK what else was cooking in the water.
Alright so you screwed up posting this, because I’m actively looking for a dual induction burner setup, and now I want your advice. Ideally I want a “linked” dual burner so that I can put a square skillet pan across both burners, there’s basically like one of those online, and then a bunch of dual burners that are not linked and slightly different power on either side. Wat do? Anyone have a good experience with this situation yet?
You should just get the impulse cook top last range you’ll ever need, super cleanable, magnetic knobs— is expensive but will be the last one you’ll need: https://www.impulselabs.com/
God that looks good, the power and exact temp display is pog
They have certain specific advantages, but they are actually slower.
This entirely depends on the stove. Consumer-lever stoves? Sure, definitely. Commercial stoves? Probably not. Commercial stoves put out 3-4x the BTUs of a high-end consumer stove, and usually can’t be installed in a home because they require significant shielding around them (so you don’t burn a building down) and a very high flow hood. The highest-end Wolf range has a single burner that has a maximum output of 10,000BTU, and costs a whopping $17,000; a fairly basic range top for a commercial kitchen has six burners that can all output 32,000BTU, and costs about $3700. For stir-frying specifically, you can get a single ring wok burners outputting 92,000-125,000BTU starting at about $700 for natural gas (and a helluva lot more if you use LP).
Unfortunately, I can’t find a solid conversion between gas and induction stove capabilities.
Oh, and FWIW - if you live somewhere with an unstable power grid, a natural gas or LP stove will continue to function when the power is out, albeit you’ll need to light it manually. We lose power fairly regularly due to storms–usually only a day at a time, but sometimes as long as 3-4 days–and it would be a real hassle to have all electric appliances when there’s no power.
Oh, and FWIW - if you live somewhere with an unstable power grid, a natural gas or LP stove will continue to function when the power is out, albeit you’ll need to light it manually.
This is only true on the simplest (or older) gas stoves. Most models these days have all sorts of electronics, including features to prevent gas leaks.
1 kW is 3412 BTU/h (=BTUs)
Most induction stovetops have a boost function with around 3-4 kW (that’s about 13000 BTUs).
BUT contrary to a gas stove top, almost all of the energy is actually put into the pot instead of the surroundings (only 30-40% of the energy from a gas stove is used to heat the pot). Meaning that a 4 kW induction cooktop should be comparable to a 40’000 BTUs gas stove (single burner).
4 kW induction cooktop should be comparable to a 40’000 BTUs gas stove (single burner).
So this is 4000 watts? What household circuit can support that?
Plenty can. Just need a 240v 30a outlet or higher
Which isn’t a thing in the states anyway.
I’m confused as to why you’re so confident. The US has 3-phase power and homes get 120V from line 1 to the neutral (split-phase). If you use line 1 and 2, you get 240V. More than enough to power an oven. This is the case in every modern residential home in the US because they have a national building code.
Yes, I’m aware that you can do this but there are not readily available outlets throughout a home for this, lol. Yes, let me move my stove or dryer so I can plug my wok induction stove in.
A random Better Homes and Gardens article clocks a 2000 square ft (185 square meters) home with central air conditioning at nearly 19,000 watts.
https://www.bhg.com/home-improvement/electrical/how-to-check-your-homes-electrical-capacity/
So I think most homes could handle that in general, but I don’t know about specific wiring requirements to handle that kind of power draw from just the kitchen. So do these things require that level of retrofit?
I’ve never had an induction stove, but I grew up with an electric stove - IIRC, it was on a separate fuse from the rest of the kitchen, and it had a weird plug because it needed a different voltage than most other appliances.
I would assume the requirements for an induction stove are more or less the same… Switching from regular electric to induction would probably be easy, but gas to induction would take a lot more work.
Idk about my math but most American household circuits require stoves to be on a (220V) dual phase 18 amp circuit. Which should output around 8kW (18A * 220V)
Should be a lot more than 18A. Should be closer to 30A-50A to account for usage. 18A is what a kitchen receptacle would require and is so low that an oven on a 18A breaker would trip constantly. I’m Canadian so I mostly know the CEC but the NEC requirements in the USA are very similar.
Uhhh, tons of people in Europe are on 240V 3 phase power.
My oven is 3100W and that is just fine. 3 phase consumer induction cooktops can easily go that high or higher.
Once my 3 phase charging pole is put in, my car will charge at >10000W on a household circuit.
Yeah, I don’t mind electric stoves but I gotta have one large high pressure burner for woks and griddles
a natural gas or LP stove will continue to function when the power is out
LP camp stoves work without power and are a good backup for an electric stove
Yeah, a coleman (or equivalent) 2 burner camp stove combined with the adapter to use a full size propane tank is super handy. Combine it with a cast iron griddle, and you can functionally replicate a Blackstone for much much cheaper. It’s also way better for high heat cooking if you don’t have a good stove fan that actually vents outside.
Also, sometimes when power goes out, gas does too (it’s still a grid that can fail).
we got a griddle attachment for my weber babyQ so we can take it camping and fry bacon on it. I’ll take that over a coleman any day.
Yeah, I want one of those, too. I think it fits different needs, though. Stove vs grill.
yeah, it basically takes the place of a frying pan. if we want soup or coffee, we’ve still got a one burner camp stove for that. we end up using the grill more tho.
Also, gas stoves increase the risk of asthma.
