Gas or electric cookers

In terms of running costs there are significant differences between cooking gas or electric. Although electric cookers use fewer units of energy then gas, the price per unit of energy is more, so cooking electric will always be the more expensive option. As a direct price comparison, if you use your electric cooker including the oven and hob for around one and a half hours a day, then the annual dost will be around £100. If you used a gas cooker instead then the annual cost would be around £35.

The advantage of a gas hob over an electric one is that with gas you can get instant heat. A disadvantage is that gas hobs are more difficult to clean. There are several different types of electric hobs. These include solid-plate electric hobs, glass ceramic hobs, and induction hobs.

Ceramic hobs have a smooth surface and are very easy to clean. They also heat up relatively quickly (though not as fast as gas) and modern ones have reasonable distribution.

Induction hobs do not get hot; instead they heat up the cooking pan using electro-magnetic induction. The pan absorbs the electromagnetic field emitted by the hob and converts it into heat. This means that only certain types of cooking pans will work. They are also highly efficient as no waste heat is generated.
Electric plate hobs are now very dated and use solid electric plates or coils and use electrical resistance heating. They take a very long time to heat up and cool down and are very inefficient.

A disadvantage of a gas oven is that the oven is not heated uniformly and you can’t install a fan, so the top part of the oven will always be hotter than the bottom. Electric fan ovens heat up quickly and uniformly, and they also allow you to reduce your cooking temperature.

Many electric ovens allow you to select whether to provide heat from the top of the oven or the bottom. They even allow the fan to be used while food is being heated under the grill.

Many people chose to have cookers which combine gas hobs with electric ovens and thus they enjoy the best of both worlds in terms of the instant heat of a gas hob and the convenience of an electric oven.

make your own choice, I like the gas hob, electric oven but my misses is 'electric all the way' and we have to say, we have never seen a quality 'domestic' gas grill