Burned another dinner on my stylish GE Profile cooktop

Welcome to the wonderful world of GE appliances! I will never buy another GE appliance - everything from GE, stove, frigs, dishwasher, microwave, waher, dryer and undercounter radio/cd player have had or are having problems. GE customer service is terrible.

So what kind of pan do you have and what did you cook?

I've never understood the appeal of those glass cooktops from any maker.

And all that I've cooked on I've disliked.

Induction is appealing in a lot of ways, but it has cookware limitations that might cause other issues for you.

Phil

MikeLM,
I feel your pain. We'd have to run a new line and use expensive propane to get gas out here. So after 1 1/2 years with a GE Profile electric, we've found almost everything gets sauteed at about "2." If we want to bring something up to a simmer, we start around "4" and then watch to see if it needs to go back down to "2." We boil water for pasta at the highest setting and forget about all those other numbers inbetween. And, other than boiling pasta, we NEVER EVER walk away from anything on the stove top for very long.

Mike, you might try preheating your pan on one burner then transfering it to a different one, at a lower temp. for actual cooking. Watching your pan and lifting it off the burner as needed to cool, and then lowering burner setting sometimes works. What kind of pans are you using? Are you having trouble with all recipes? Are you able to cook well using the same pans on a different electric cook top? I can understand the investment you have in your current kitchen, that's why we have a great variety of cookware some are only used for specific things , and specific methods. With a bit more info perhaps I can give you some more useful ideas. Using one of these glorified hot plates one can produce good food, but it's seldom fun. Good Luck.

OK, I'll be the dissenting opinion here...

I have a GE Spectra glass-top stove, and I LOVE it. I would never go back to gas. It's about 10 years old, and when I built a new house last year, I insisted on moving this old stove with me. I plan on using the oven door as my tombstone--the closest I can get to taking it with me. :bounce:

I have found that using heavy pans and a low setting help to keep the heat at an even level. I have some old Calphalon hard-anodized pans that weigh a ton, and also enameled cast iron, and I never burn things with these (except if I just do something stupid). I've been less happy with stainless steel, and you can forget about cheap pans.

I do think there is a huge difference across brands of glass-top stoves. I bought a Kenmore for our cabin last year (very limited choices for a 24" stove), and it's really difficult to keep the heat at a consistent level with either the glass-top or oven.

I had to cook on one of those for Christmas (my friends don't have gas). I could not find a temperature setting that was what I wanted. I would spring for the propane(a 100 lb cylinder would be plenty big) and stick in a gas cooktop.

can you get one of those infrared temp guns?

Mike,

I'm sure you already explored this option but I gotta ask.... what type of heat the condo uses? The reason being is that if you have gas heat (hard to believe a condo in Chicago would use a heat pump or electric to heat) then you have the availability right there. The Gas Co. (or a plumber) could tell you if a line can be added or tapped into for the kitchen.

Having been through both the gas and electric routes for coking I'd have to say that gas is the way to go. But if there is absolutely no affordable way (reasonable too) to do the gas line maybe an induction top like the new Electrolux might just be in order

Never owned a GE smooth top electric so I can't say what to do but..... having had a Maytag and Kitchen Aid, the Maytag was close to 7 years ago and the Kitchen aid was as recently as two years ago, I'd say the range is not working properly. My experiences with GE (Monogram included) would have to guess that the Tech called the service help line and got no-where with them and this is why nothing was wrong. If the appliannce was newer I'd say apply a little more squeek to the wheel and the grease would follow. Unfortunately if the appliance is 5 years old then it's almost lived it's full life and maybe just needs to be replaced.

As an observation......GE ain't what it once was. In the last 5 years (2 houses worth mind you) we have gone through warranty replacement of a Monogram cook-top (36" gas with grill and 4 burners), 2 Monogram Dishwashers plus a Monogram Refrigerator at our previous house and in the second and current house it's been a GE Profile Refrigerator (1 year old and the same unit as the Monogram only less expensive unfortunately this one cost us big-time because it died and was full of food), a Profile oven that has needed 2 circuit boards and a control panel in less than 2 years and an Advantium oven that has needed a new fan motor for the Convenction and speed cook operation in the same time frame.

Makes me wonder if we should taken out the bigger loan to get the Wolf and Sub-Zero.:look: And companies wonder why consumer confidence is at historical lows. By the way....just remember to say.....Extended warranty.

I agree, an old equipment should be replaced.. It's 5 year old, if it's just cookware it's okay but if it's equipment and not working well you should replace it of course.

That's what I was going to say, the infrared kind.

I have an electric stove at my condo, and at my girl friend's condo, and they are definately hard to get used to, it just takes practice, and I usually start out a little lower then I think I will need and then raise it if needed.

They should definatley last more than five years, my appliance repairman said most appliances will need at least on repair by the time they are 5 years old, but they should definatley last more than that. Especially a stove top where their is not much mechanical with it.

Are they able to replace just the heating elements? And then maybe the circuit board that controls those?

Has anyone used a double cast iron grill on a glass top? Can it be done?

I have a glass top..Not real impressed with it. Harder to keep clean.

Those are usually rimmed and won't make direct contact with the glass. Meaning terrible heating. And cast iron is likely to scratch up the glass top as well.

Phil

That is exactly what I was thinking...As where burners are raised above the top.

That's defective. No way is 475F "2".