Christine Dabney
Hello Christine:
We have two stoves in the kitchen. "Mine" is a smoothtop. "Hers" has coils. Both were roughly the same price ($500-600). The smoothtop is definitely easier to clean, looks nicer, it's easier to control at low temps, and it has a 'warmer' area which is convenient. Pans are more stable on the smoothtop. However....although the smoothtop burners appear (visually) red-hot very quickly, it takes a while for that heat to get through the glbutt and to the pan. The coil burners heat a fixed amount of water to boiling significantly more quickly than the smoothtop. That's not an opinion; my daughter's science project a couple years ago was a comparison of heating speeds of the two stoves.....
I've noticed that the smoothtop doesn't get as hot as the coil, for example when stir-frying and sauteing. And you have to watch out.... if grease or sugar gets on the hot surface, it leaves a permanent mark. And smoothtop burners take much longer to cool.
The bottom line: the coil stove gets used MUCH more in our household. However, that's partly because the coil stove is vented outside, while the smoothtop has a ductless vent which is just short of useless.
Caveat: There are different types of smoothtops. Check Consumer Reports for a rundown of features.
Hope this helps -- Terry
