As long as there is a double oven!

The lack of gas wouldn't stop me from buying the house

Not necessarily a deal breaker, but if two houses were "tied" for consideration, I would lean towards the house with gas.

When we bought a few years ago, Dh liked house #1 (electric, larger, less expensive--in the $525,000 ballpark) and I liked #2 (gas, smaller, more expensive--in the $575,000 ballpark). We ended up choosing #2---and a big part of that was the gas.

I prefer electric to gas because I am super paranoid about leaks, lighting the pilot, etc. I also like our glass cooktop: I've heard that a gas stove matters if you are really into cooking, but I'm not and can't tell the difference. We had an energy audit and some insulation work done in our 2300 sq ft house, and our monthly electric bill averages about $120 since then.

My only issue with all-electric is power outages, so I would recommend a secondary method of heating at least one room in a pinch: generator, wood fireplace, etc.

Anonymous wrote:A boiler as an expensive money pit? A new boiler is expensive, no doubt, but operationally it's much less expensive than forced air and creates a more comfortable environment. It's also smaller than a forced air unit, so I'm not sure hyour "waste of space" argument makes much sense. Are you sure you know what this is?

Radiators take up room and who wants to have an oil truck come and fill up a dirty smelly oil tank. Yes we all know they make nice heat but most buyers don't want to put up with that shit.

A boiler as an expensive money pit? A new boiler is expensive, no doubt, but operationally it's much less expensive than forced air and creates a more comfortable environment. It's also smaller than a forced air unit, so I'm not sure hyour "waste of space" argument makes much sense. Are you sure you know what this is?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We did. There's gas along the street so we can connect it if we want to convert from oil-fired boiler to gas, but our boiler is less than ten years old and they last forever. We did request a quote for bringing gas to the house for a whole-house generator, but haven't done anything with that yet.

boiler would be worse then electric heat on resale

I would disagree. The oil-fired part of this might be true, but a boiler for heating is much more efficient than gas or electric, and as PP noted it lasts virtually forever. Also can make or help make hot water. Our climate here is not as suited as further north, but having a boiler and having either radiant heat or radiator heat is much more comfortable than forced air.

I see it as an expensive money pit and a waste of space as do most buyers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We did. There's gas along the street so we can connect it if we want to convert from oil-fired boiler to gas, but our boiler is less than ten years old and they last forever. We did request a quote for bringing gas to the house for a whole-house generator, but haven't done anything with that yet.

boiler would be worse then electric heat on resale

I would disagree. The oil-fired part of this might be true, but a boiler for heating is much more efficient than gas or electric, and as PP noted it lasts virtually forever. Also can make or help make hot water. Our climate here is not as suited as further north, but having a boiler and having either radiant heat or radiator heat is much more comfortable than forced air.

As far as the cooking, it wouldn't matter to me if I had the money for an induction cooktop and new cookwear. I would be concerned about the costs of electric heat but if I had the money for either solar panels or geothermal, I would consider those options a potential plus.

We just bought a house with gas but an electric stove. Was considering bringing gas to the kitchen, but after reading up on them am going to try out an induction cooktop first, since I really HATE electric stoves.

That said, I do know I *have* the option to add gas in should I not like the induction range. But it's at least something you could look into / consider, since I agree that the electric stove is really the big downside to electric.

And as for power outages - I have a camping stove with gas canisters that I can always call into service for emergency cooking purposes, though honestly when the electricity goes out I'm probably driving to Starbucks anyway since I generally use my (electric) drip coffeemaker.

Anonymous wrote:


Wtf is a weekend place

so, what you're saying is, not EVERYONE has a "weekend place"?

My husband is the cook (mostly) in our house and really was hoping for a gas stove. We did not find a house with a gas stove. We bought a house anyway.

We could convert the stove to gas (we have gas heat), but the cost of that was pretty high and would require excavation (we're on a slab)

I don't know if I've lived in a place in my adult life that had a gas stove, honestly.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I definitely prefer a gas stove for cooking, and I think gas furnaces work better than all-electric heat pumps. I don't like gas fireplaces (strongly prefer wood), so that wouldn't bother me.

If you otherwise love the house, then this isn't really an abstract decision. Our weekend place is all electric. I don't focus on the lack of a gas stove when I am there because there are other things about it that I love.

+1

Wtf is a weekend place

Ask to see the electric bills during the winter months. Our house has 2 systems for heat -- electric for top floors, and gas for lower floors -- and the electric bill can go really high during the cold months, like $400+.

Anonymous wrote:I definitely prefer a gas stove for cooking, and I think gas furnaces work better than all-electric heat pumps. I don't like gas fireplaces (strongly prefer wood), so that wouldn't bother me.

If you otherwise love the house, then this isn't really an abstract decision. Our weekend place is all electric. I don't focus on the lack of a gas stove when I am there because there are other things about it that I love.

+1