# How to Know If a Pan is Centered on a Burner

Category: Daily Living

## Post 1 by ApplePeaches (If the zone bbs was a drug, I'd need rehab.) on Monday, 30-Nov-2015 17:01:59

When I cook on the stove, I know that a pot or frying pan has to be centered
on the burner. I can't tell if it is centered, so does anyone have any tips for
me? For any of you who cook on the stove, how do you go about knowing if
your pot or pan is centered? I have a gas stove.

## Post 2 by LeoGuardian (You mean there is something outside of this room with my computer in it?) on Monday, 30-Nov-2015 17:33:57

Gas stove burners are shaped like a star.
It's really easy to set the pot on and make sure it aligns with the middle circle. You can also feel when you turn the burner on and it lights, if the heat is generally around the edges of the pan evenly.
I'm going to miss mine as we're moving to a new place, although the flat top stove is no doubt far easier to keep clean.

## Post 3 by forereel (Just posting.) on Monday, 30-Nov-2015 19:04:02

Naw, that glass top stove if you drop food on it will be a bitch to get it off. Buy the cleaner stuff, it makes it easy.
On a gas stove, put your pan on it while it is cool, then feel. Practice it and you'll get the hang of doing it.
Food will still cook even if your pan isn't exactly centered, but it is easier to locate it if it is.

## Post 4 by forereel (Just posting.) on Monday, 30-Nov-2015 19:06:54

Question. You live with people.
Does your mom try to help you?

## Post 5 by sia fan bp (I'm going for the prolific poster awards!) on Monday, 30-Nov-2015 20:09:15

ah, great tips, wayne and leo. so, okay, I also had a question about stoves
too. how do you know wich dial to turn? In this stove that my parents own,
iit has 4 burners but they each have their own dials. it's weird to know wich
one to turn. I get confused on wich one.

## Post 6 by vh (This site is so "educational") on Monday, 30-Nov-2015 20:42:08

it depends on the stove top, but almost every stove I've seen the two outermost dials are for the front burners and the two middle dials are for the two back burners, the outer dial controls the burner closest to it. (For example, the left outermost dial corresponds to the front left burner, the inside left dial corresponds to the back left burner, etc.)
Usually, the oven dial is in the middle of the burner dials.
Sia Fan, is this a gas or electric stove? If electric, try this:
Ask your parents for some help. Make sure there is nothing on the stovetop and familiarize yourself with it while it is cool. then turn on a burner, raise your hand high over the burners and feel which one is emitting heat.
If it is a gas stove, you can do the same but it can be trickier. For example, the last gas stove I worked on, you had to turn the dial slowly and as soon as you turned it, it would start clicking. After it was turned to a certain point, the flame would start and the clicking would stop. (The clicking sound was to alert you that the dial was turned and the gas was open.)
It is also good to know beforehand whether the flame starts at high or low (this determines how full and high the flame gets).
The sound also changes depending on the dial setting. A low flame makes a lot less noise than a high flame.

## Post 7 by sia fan bp (I'm going for the prolific poster awards!) on Monday, 30-Nov-2015 21:31:34

thanks, vh, and this is an eletric stove so, will ask my mom to show me wich
controlls wich. thanks again, Vh! too bad you have all messages off! :( :d

## Post 8 by forereel (Just posting.) on Monday, 30-Nov-2015 23:17:48

Yes, that be how.
The clicking is actually the electic starter on a gas stove.
The clicking sound is it striking a spark to light the gas.

## Post 9 by ApplePeaches (If the zone bbs was a drug, I'd need rehab.) on Tuesday, 01-Dec-2015 5:31:12

Yeah you just have to know which knobs control which burners. I know
that for my stove, the outer knobs control the front burners, and the inner
ones control the back burners. I was living with my stepdad and in that
house, the layout of the knobs was confusing. He had a gas stove, but
the outer right knob and the inner left knob controlled the front burners,
and the outer left knob and the inner right knob controlled the back
burners; it was really confusing.
Wayne, when I first started cooking, I told my mom I have a hard time
centering a pan on the stove. She said it's a little tricky, centered it once
for me, and didn't help me with that. I did go to a training center, and
they taught us how to center a pan, but I didn't get enough practice;
learning involves repetition.

## Post 10 by ™ (Veteran Zoner) on Tuesday, 01-Dec-2015 9:58:20

one method that was shown to me when I was first learning to cook blind.
get bump-ons.
clean and dry the counter to the side of the stove. by the hob you'll use most often.
then on a cold stove place the pan so it is nicely centred and then hold the handle of th pan so your pointer finger faces down to the counter top.
then, take the bump-ons and place those around your finger tip in a tri-angle formation.
from then on, when working with a hot stove, you hold the pan over, drop your finger and you should be spot on, or close enough.
As your conferdence grows you'll not even use this.

## Post 11 by VioletBlue (Help me, I'm stuck to my chair!) on Tuesday, 01-Dec-2015 13:57:24

Turn on a burner, hold your hand several inches above the stove, and feel the location of the heat. Isn't this just a common sense answer? It's not a difficult thing to do! no need to memorize anything, although I guess after a few times, you'll know the location of the knob for each burner. Gas burners are especially easy, they make more noise.
I grew up with an older gas stove that didn't click, but you could still hear the puff of the gas flame lighting.

## Post 12 by LeoGuardian (You mean there is something outside of this room with my computer in it?) on Tuesday, 01-Dec-2015 18:15:03

Ah yes and with the stoves that don't click, you'll need to learn how to light the pilot light occasionally.

## Post 13 by forereel (Just posting.) on Tuesday, 01-Dec-2015 18:56:24

As I was cooking today I was thinking about you. Smile.
You know, the sides of the burners won't get all that hot when you first start to cook. Saying that, if using the gas, turn it on, and get your flame the way you want. You still have time to put a pan on and check around it, because the pan will guide you so you won't burn your fingers.
Just pricatice on the cold stove.
I think if I wanted to light a gas stove and was not good with matches, I'd get one of these barbecuelighter things. Turn the gas on so you can smell, or hear it hissing. Put the end of it to the center of the burner, and pull the trigger until you get it lit.
Now, that is the way to light your gas stoves folks.Lol.
Thanks for sharing about your mom. I wondered.

## Post 14 by ApplePeaches (If the zone bbs was a drug, I'd need rehab.) on Tuesday, 01-Dec-2015 19:29:04

Blind people can not use lighters. But yeah that's the good thing about a gas
stove is that when there is a power outage, you can light it manually, so a
sighted person would need to do it. Yeah I like gas stoves better because
the burners make more noise so I know the stove is on. Well even if a pan is
not correctly centered, you still feel the heat above it so yeah.

## Post 15 by VioletBlue (Help me, I'm stuck to my chair!) on Wednesday, 02-Dec-2015 8:01:35

Blind people can use lighters, I haven't, but I've seen it done.
IMO, electric stovetops are easier to use, they reliably come on as they should.
Forereel is correct, the outer ring or edge of the burner doesn't become instantly too hot to touch, so use it as your guide to center the pan. Even if it is hot, the quickest and lightest of touches should give you the information you need, safely. This is just something you learn by doing and repeating. Or use the handle end of a utensil to touch the burner ring, although I think that would be less efficient.

## Post 16 by forereel (Just posting.) on Wednesday, 02-Dec-2015 11:52:00

I'm a blind people. I use lighters, matches, and such.
The gadget I was talking about is a lighter technically, but it isn't like a cigarette lighter.
It is a long item with a trigger. It makes a spark of flame not like a regular lighter that makes a study flame.
Each time you pull the trigger, it sparks.
Your hand is no wear near the fire, so you can click away until you get a light.
Next, the end of it is steel, or whatever, so you can't burn it if you leave it in the fire a bit long.
It only sparks when you pull the trigger, so it is not dangerous.
If you have small children, you should put it away of course, but it has a locking switch in the handle as well.

## Post 17 by LeoGuardian (You mean there is something outside of this room with my computer in it?) on Wednesday, 02-Dec-2015 14:46:09

lol many of us have used lighters. Flame is really easy to control as a blind person, once you understand how fire works. It tends towards one direction -- up. Depending on what you're lighting, a match may be easier to guide. Good call on the barbecue lighter Wayne. My sister, who is sighted, got pretty badly burned when we were younger, trying to light a gas oven with a lighter.
Anymore you shouldn't have to light the stove burner, just the much smaller flame which is the pilot light. And for the oven, you shouldn't, period. That's not a blind thing: gas being colorless, so sight isn't an issue. But an oven is an enclosure so that's why the gas company wants you to call them to reignite a pilot light inside there.
Stovetop, no problem. You raise the top, it'shinged. Then there are either one or two lights. If there's one, it's just a single small hole in the middle. Two, it's at the center on either side.
Your concerns about lighting a pilot light should be equal whether you have sight or not. Safety is an imperative, but it's doable.

## Post 18 by AgateRain (Believe it or not, everything on me and about me is real!) on Wednesday, 02-Dec-2015 17:47:31

So Kristin, I'm curious as to why you asked this question? Is your stove flat topped or something? Because centering a pot is pretty simple.
Or, is this just another one of your board posts?

## Post 19 by Shepherdwolf (I've now got the bronze prolific poster award! now going for the silver award!) on Wednesday, 02-Dec-2015 19:17:49

I have an electric stove, and I will often put my skillet or pot on a burner before firing it up. That way, I can center it just the way I like before everything gets way too hot to touch.
If I can't do this - or if I have to bring the pot back again after removing it from heat - I do it by inference. I know how big my burners are, and how far they are away from the edge of the actual stovetop on any near side. Thus, I put the pot back down and use the tips of my fingers to measure distance right up to the point where the fingertips get hot, but just before they actually come in full flesh contact with the outer edge of the bburner.
And if the pot is off by a sixteenth of an inch or something, it shouldn't matter.
If your stove is flat-topped, or gas, then that's going to be a bit harder, at least while the heat is on. Otherwise, you should be home free.

## Post 20 by Reyami (I've broken five thousand! any more awards going?) on Wednesday, 02-Dec-2015 21:03:22

I have never used a lighter myself, but know of blind people who do. I was taught to light candles by using matches. Unable to practice that skill here in my apartment. There is a rule about not lighting candles or incense due to a fire that happened some years ago.

## Post 21 by forereel (Just posting.) on Wednesday, 02-Dec-2015 23:04:41

She said she's got a gas stove. Just has to touch it a bit and practice. The grates are up.

## Post 22 by CrystalSapphire (Uzuri uongo ndani) on Friday, 04-Dec-2015 19:15:41

You were given all good advice.

## Post 23 by loves animals (This site is so "educational") on Saturday, 05-Dec-2015 21:34:23

I like the tips that were given here and yes there are blind people who do know how to use a lighter or a match and then there are some of us whom don't like myself and it is only because I was never taught how though I did ask but there was concerns I'd burn myself.

## Post 24 by SilverLightning (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Saturday, 05-Dec-2015 21:57:48

Using a lighter is easy, burning yourself is hard. If you want to avoid burning
yourself, don't touch the hot thing. If you want to learn how to use a lighter, let
me know, and I'll walk you through it. Its really easy.

## Post 25 by AgateRain (Believe it or not, everything on me and about me is real!) on Saturday, 05-Dec-2015 22:18:10

Yeah, I just put the pot or pan on first, then turn the heat on.