Real Estate Investor · Omaha, NE · Member since 2014 · 18 posts · 3 votes
I've often wondered why almost ALL apartments, Duplexes and just about any residential rental real estate including new homes all have electric ranges.
I'm a BIG fan of gas ranges as are most home cooks and professional chefs alike.
Is there a reason WHY rentals and even new homes now a days have electric ranges?
There are so many benefits to gas vs. electric when it comes to cooking.
Thoughts.....?
Realtor, General Contractor, and Developer · Redding, CA · Member since 2009 · 7k+ posts · 4k+ votes
11y
@Adam Worth I think it must be a regional thing, and be tied to the cost of the utilities. Here in California most people have gas. If the cooktop and oven are separate, they use gas cooktop and electric ovens (more consistent temperature).
Investor · Philadelphia, PA · Member since 2015 · 3k+ posts · 3k+ votes
11y
Electric appliances are cheaper to buy and install than gas.
Gas appliances are cheaper to run then electric.
In most apartments, tenants pay the utilities. From the landlord perspective it's a no brainier.
Not always. We prefer and have converted to gas heat, the cheapest way to heat, even though we don't pay the heat the tenants do. Electric baseboard heat is the cheapest to install but the most expensive to operate. Tenants stay longer when the utility costs that THEY pay are cheaper. Some of our tenants have stayed decades.
The reason for electric is pretty simple. Generally most of the time the contractors are given chepo stoves, washers and dryers for free by the local electric company. If you bid gas appliances against them you won't win the bid. They also tell the contractors to not install a gas line to the appliances. Obviously the payoff over several decades is massive compared to cheap volume purchased appliances. Obviously this is not the story with all situations about but it has been a "new home" racket for the last 50 years in the US. California was built on this profile.
Auburn, WA · Member since 2018 · 16 posts · 1 vote
8y
I have electric cooktop. By the way, I am a member of many cooking forums. And the folks on Chowhound have been raving about electric cooktops lately - lots of folks claiming they're as good as gas. Here are the reviews on the best electric cooktops - https://www.cookwared.com/reviews/best-electric-cooktop/ . I guess they can be useful for you.