What makes a top a cooktop?

[SnapCracklePop]

I have an old LL Bean cast iron thingie that holds water, sitting on its trivet on top of my Pleasant Hearth. I replenish the water just about daily. The thing gets hot, but the water never boils.

I haven't wanted/needed to use my stove for cooking, but I'm wondering if there's some particular reason why a person wouldn't or couldn't put a pot of soup on top of just about any woodstove. On mine, it would have to go directly on the stove, not on the trivet.

So, why is it that some stoves are described as having cooktops? What am I missing here?

Nancy

 

[Jimbob]

Because of you cook a lot on a "regular" stove like the Summit, or your Pleasant Hearth, you'll eventually wear off the paint.
Other than that, I really can't see why not.
We don't cook on ours, because it's in the basement, and it wouldn't be very conveinient.

 

[begreen]

Not really an exclusive feature unless the stove is purpose built for this task. Some are better than others for cooking, but most work. A trivet is best for slow simmering cooking like stews and soups. Crock pot recipes often work well. On stoves with no trivet or where it is removable, one has direct contact with the hotter stove top. This is better for getting a pot up to boiling.

With all stove top cooking you have to be safe and remember pot handles get hot over the stove top. Also, watch out for spills. A spillover can destroy an enamel finish and stain a soapstone top. Sometimes it's a good idea to put a spill pan underneath the pot in case its contents foam up (beans) or boil over.

 

[pyper]

My downdraft stove probably would only work for cooking with the bypass open. Normally there's an empty chamber between the firebox and the stove top. With the bypass open the chamber is where the exhaust goes (so the top gets hot). Close the bypass and the exhaust goes out the back near the bottom and the top cools off.

Not so cool that you'd want to touch it, mind you!

 

[BrotherBart]

Fried eqqs, sausage and hash browns on the 30 during the last power failure. Baked a pan of biscuits in a Dutch oven too. I usually don't do it because I don't want a spill on the stove and have to smell burned food for a week. So I put a sheet of heavy foil on top of it first.

Usually I just use the propane camp stove.

Besides, cooking on a wood stove is highly overrated. It melts the plastic dish the Banquet TV dinner comes in.

 

[pen]

Besides, cooking on a wood stove is highly overrated. It melts the plastic dish the Banquet TV dinner comes in.

Outstanding!

I cook on my stove some. I have a trivet I use if the stove is really cranking and a piece of soapstone I set down and set the dutch oven directly on if it's not going like the fires of hell.

I use the foil under the pot also.

pen

 

[katwillny]

Besides, cooking on a wood stove is highly overrated. It melts the plastic dish the Banquet TV dinner comes in.[/quote]

Good one BB. I cant wait to bake some more of that French bread on this new puppy.

 

[raybonz]

This stove has a seperate polished cast iron cook top and it gets very hot.. I steam off over 2 gallons of water a day on it with a 3 qt. porcelain coated cast iron dutch oven sans cover.. I tried using the cover but it makes it boil over even if left ajar.. I have cooked on it but not too often.. If the power was off in cold weather for an extended period I would not hesitate to cook on it..

Ray

 

[Shari]

The Oslo woodstove has an oval top plate. Oslo's are sold with 'matching' top plates but there is a 'cooktop' oval available that is, what, unpainted cast iron(?). The idea is when cooking on the stove top you might slide the pot or spill. The tops swap out really easy but best to do the swap on at least a cool stove because you do have to reach inside to do the swap.

 

[Cate68]

I put a cast iron pot of veggie soup on mine tonight. No trivet. Took about a half hour to heat it to hot.

 

[triathlete]

To answer the question ... marketing bafflegab.

 

[OhioBurner©]

To answer the question ... marketing bafflegab.

I would say this is incorrect, or at least sometimes.

The main thing IMO is they are designed to take the abuse of cooking. You would not want to throw a big cast iron frying pan on a majolica porcelain enamel stovetop. That would be a fast way to destroy a nice finish. Nice smooth unpainted cast iron or stainless steel cook plate... sure. Too bad cook plates aren’t available for more stoves IMO, especially those that come with the porcelain finishes. Even a trivet can scratch through, and using a trivet might prevent a pan from getting hot enough in some cases.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

We've had several different stoves over the years. I can't think of even one that my wife did not use for cooking. Almost every day she has something on the stove. Saves on gas or electric and does the job nicely. All that heat may as well be used for something other than warming the bodies.