3833

Read the instructions before you purchase

I wrote that yesterday was a dusty day--a new cook top was installed (old one). We ate lunch out because the men were in the kitchen cutting a bigger hole in the marble counter--there was dust and noise everywhere. Tip: you'll need more than a 30" base cabinet to install a 28" cooktop. Anyway, when they were finished, I got out two of my favorite skillets, which are cast iron and over 45 years old, and fixed supper. Not good on glass cooktops when they were used for years on a gas stove (previous home). The residue from the bottom of the skillets applied itself to the top and I'm not sure I'll ever get it off. This was a very expensive mistake. I THEN read through the instructions.

Actually, everyone I know who's opted for some sort of trendy modern kitchen feature from glass tops to granite to Corian sinks will tell you it's not your mother's kitchen! Or even the one you used for years and years. I hate marble counters. Granite shatters and you can't pour boiling water into a Corian sink.

After reading the instructions I'm not sure I would have thought immediately that the bottom of my iron skillets were covered with grease and soot, although I should have realized it because I never washed or wiped off the bottom of the skillets--they were always oven or stove dried.

The brochure says ceramic glass cooktops are tough, resistant to heat and cold, and attractive and easy to clean. They lie. Oh, they lie. The next section is: Precautions.

Check each time that the bottom of the saucepan and the cooking zone are clean and dry.

Lift up the saucepans--sliding can cause scratches

Avoid peeling vegetables over the cook-top as this could lead to grit and scratching

Use saucepans large enough to avoid spillage onto the cook-top, especially if a it contains ANY sugar, as this can cause irreparable damage to the glass ceramic

Keep the surface clear--do not keep plastic or aluminium packages on it which could melt and damage it

Each and every stain or deposit on the cooktop surface must be cleaned off quickly once it has cooled down--unless it is sugar, then get it up quickly!

Use only special cleaning products

This brochure is first in French, then English, then Spanish

Then the safety instructions say

do not to operate or clean a broken glass cooktop, or you'll get an electric shock.

And to avoid steam burns if you're wiping up a spill

Use only a flat bottomed wok (don't have one)

Make sure the diameter of the pan matches the diameter of the surface unit (all stoves instructions say that)

Use only a flat bottomed pan

A pan with a rough bottom (like my iron skillets which are not specifically mentioned) may scratch the cooktop

Never us the griddle or similar cooking sheet on glass cooktops

Do not use plastic warp [sic] to cover food. Plastic may melt onto the surface and be very difficult to clean [I think they mean impossible, since grease is in the "difficult" to clean category]

Aluminum foil will damage the cooktop--do not ever use it

Not a good idea to even use aluminum utensils because they melt at a lower temperature than other metals (there goes my tea pot)

Metal marks from copper bottoms must be removed immediately after the cooktop as cooled or they will become permanent. All the pans and skillets I have that are not cast iron, are copper bottoms.

Oh--I found it--"cast iron, metal, ceramic or glass cookware with rough bottoms can mark or scratch the surface"

Do not use your cooktop as a work surface

Don't use bleach or ammmonia to clean the ceramic surface (there goes the glass cleaner)

Don't slide an oven rack across the surface

Never use a trivet or metal stand between the cooking utensil and the cooktop

Don't drop anything on it because it could break

Don't put any food items on it even when not hot because it will make cleaning difficult

Sugary spills can cause surface pitting

Bottom of cookware must be clean and dry

Minerals in water that collects and drips from cookware may cause a gray or brown film to develop.

Clean daily with special cleaner, but not when it is warm; toxic fumes will result

Never use that cleaner on anything else.

Boy! What they don't tell you at the store. I have a 20" electric coil stove at our cottage that is at least 40 years old, and all it does is cook, get dirty, get cleaned. I won't be able to let anyone else touch this cooktop unless we have a private lesson first!

If you need a new electric cooktop or stove, be a bit less fashionable and get coil burners at 1/3 the cost and 90% less worry!