# Flat topped stove questions

Category: Daily Living

## Post 1 by rainbowheart (Newborn Zoner) on Friday, 05-Jun-2015 19:48:59

Hello folks,
I am new here so... hi to everyone! I have a question for you. I am totally blind and will move soon with my boyfriend in our very first house. Quite exciting! since we both have an appart for now, we both have stove, fridge, washing machine, etc, and it's time to choose which ones we'll keep. I have my parents old stove, which is about 25 years old, so probably about to die or kind of. It has burners on it so it's very simple to use it. My bf have a more recent stove, but it is a flat topped one. I know I could find some ways to use it, I already surfed the net to read about blind use of this kind of stove, but i was curious to have your advices, ideas, ways to deal with it, etc. Is there something you can use to kind of mark or delimit the burners on a flat topped stove? Anyway, tell me your ways to deal with it, how you use it, etc. I want to know everything! lol
Thanks very much in advance,
Audrey

## Post 2 by rainbowheart (Newborn Zoner) on Friday, 05-Jun-2015 19:50:54

Oh also, if there's already a post about it, just tell me the title please and I'll go through it!

## Post 3 by forereel (Just posting.) on Friday, 05-Jun-2015 20:06:27

No need to do anything special really.
It is a stove.
I'm not saying that to be smart assed. Smile.
When you turn on the burners, you'll feel the heat.
Next, the hot places are rougher then the smooth, so you just put whatever you are cooking on, then turnit on.
You can touch the cool places while you cook with your hand, so pretty soon you get use to it.
The hardest thing, and this isn't a blind thing, is cleaning them, but you can get products for that.
Have fun.
Oh, and if it is completely digital, you'll have to put some tape or something on the on and off for the oven, but is a blind person is using it already, that is done.

## Post 4 by Flidais (WISEST IS SHE WHO KNOWS THAT SHE DOES NOT KNOW) on Friday, 05-Jun-2015 22:54:59

disagree Wayne. I have a flat top stove and the burners are the exact same texture as the top. So don't think that's necessarily true.
Agreed about the heat. I usually turn my stove on and use my hands to tell where the heat is and center the pot. Then don't touch around there obviously cause it's going to be quite hot. If you flick a droplet of water and it sizzles, then you know that's a hot spot. So I'll adjust my pot accordingly. I sometimes do that around the pot I'm cooking on if I feel it's off center, since with the flat top they can move around a bit. I prefer cast iron cookware for that very reason they stay put more easily.
Hope that's helpful.

## Post 5 by Flidais (WISEST IS SHE WHO KNOWS THAT SHE DOES NOT KNOW) on Friday, 05-Jun-2015 22:55:48

oh and was going to say, after a while you get used to more or less each burner size and location, so it becomes almost second nature.

## Post 6 by Reyami (I've broken five thousand! any more awards going?) on Friday, 05-Jun-2015 23:35:02

I'd ditch the 25-year-old stove if it is on its last legs. Come to think of it, I don't think I've heard of a stove lasting that long, so whatever your parents were doing to maintain it, wow ... Anyway, as others have said, it takes some getting used to, but you'll get comfortable with it the more you use the flat-top stove. good luck wwith the move.

## Post 7 by forereel (Just posting.) on Saturday, 06-Jun-2015 13:20:35

Ah. Interesting. I've own two of them, and I can feel the difference.
Even in the stores, so I assumed it was how it was.
The texture to me is a bit rougher then the regular top.
But even so, that isn't a problem as suggested.
Good stoves can last period, especially gas ranges.
If there stainless steel, you can clean them perfectly, and on the gas ranges, replace anything at all.

## Post 8 by rainbowheart (Newborn Zoner) on Saturday, 06-Jun-2015 16:15:17

Thanks to everyone who wrote and to everyone who'll write about it in the future! hehe I kinda tried my bf's stove, but just like a few minutes. I didn't feel a difference of texture, unfortunately. But I think that by turning it very low, I will be able to use it. I know I have to do it anyway, since majority of stoves are like that now. I am just worried and do not have a lot of self-confidence, even though I know I'll end by dealing with it very well. haha Always looking for ideas though, sometimes, you just don't think and someone comes with something very simple and you are just ashamed that you didn't think about it before!! haha

## Post 9 by SilverLightning (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Saturday, 06-Jun-2015 19:01:00

There are ways of making flat top stoves accessible, though usually its fine to
just feel it with your hand. Just using it on low won't do you any good though.
How will you saute onions, or boil water in less than an ungoldy amount of
time? You need high heat for some things, low won't always cut it, in fact
frequently won't cut it.
I'm actually kind of surprised the house you're moving into doesn't already
have a stove. I've moved into several houses, some pre-owned and some brand
new, all of them had stoves and refrigerators and the major kitchen appliances.
But I digress.
All you really have to do, if you or your boyfriend is particularly crafty, is find
some material that can resist heat. I've known people using everything from
steel plate to glass. You can find people in your area who cut such things, and
have them cut out a plate which will lie on the top of your stove, with circular
cut outs for each burner. Then, you can feel with the pan, or a utensil of some
sort, where the burner is. It shouldn't cost too much. Shop around for metal
workers or glass cutters, even tile would work if you found a big enough plate.
Once you have it, put it on your stove and you've made it successsful.
There are aints and such which claim to be heat resistent, but I've never
found them to be good products. Spending that much time close to sustained
heat will make just about any paint product fail.
If you want a slightly harder but cheaper method, have your boyfriend show
you how far from the edges each burner is. If you can use triangulation, you
should be ok. As long as you know that burner A is so far from the left edge and
so far from the front edge of the stove, you should be able to find it. After a bit
of practice, you'll be just fine.
Hope that helps.

## Post 10 by forereel (Just posting.) on Saturday, 06-Jun-2015 20:41:50

You can purchase stoves with burners, and nobs too.
Digital hasn't taken over.
Go to Sears, or the Great Indoors, or Best Buy just for fun and check out options.

## Post 11 by Shepherdwolf (I've now got the bronze prolific poster award! now going for the silver award!) on Sunday, 07-Jun-2015 17:21:02

I'm with Wayne on one thing. I can personally tell the difference for a burner on a flat-top stove, although the difference is very tiny.
If you can't, though, it's moot, and it's completely fine. There's actually no real sense in any of us saying that you should or shouldn't be able to feel a difference; if you can't, then that's an end to it.
Cody's options are good ones. And he's right when he says you're going to have to cook on more than just low heat.
As someone who used to be afraid of heat near my hands, I can tell you that the only way to do this is to just do it. Use oven mitts or oven gloves if you have them, that way you don't get burned; with most of those, you can still feel heat but it won't hurt you.

## Post 12 by odicy (Zone BBS Addict) on Tuesday, 09-Jun-2015 4:21:46

agreed with all the suggestions on here. I know when I made the switch I was super nervous about if I could do it because I love cooking so much. I will say that mine does have some texture difference but as stated before, some stoves may not have that, and some people just may not be able to feel it. After a year of cooking on a flat-topped stove it really is just second nature to put the pot pretty much right on the burner. Something I'd recommend doing is instead of finding the burner first, put the pot on where you think the burner is, then turn the burner on and feel where the heat is coming from in relation to the pot and adjust it accordingly.
Congrads on the new place, I know how exciting that is!

## Post 13 by AgateRain (Believe it or not, everything on me and about me is real!) on Wednesday, 10-Jun-2015 14:06:49

I've never seen a flat top stove with texture around the burners, but I'll have to really look in the future whenever that will be. Also, all you have to do is turn the burner up, and feel with your hand for the heat, and adjust your pot. It's simple really.

## Post 14 by SilverLightning (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Wednesday, 10-Jun-2015 21:05:06

This method does work the first time you put a pan on the stove. However,
there are several dishes which require moving the pan on and off the heat, and
that method would be rather difficult to use in such moments. However, practice
will make it easier.

## Post 15 by Shepherdwolf (I've now got the bronze prolific poster award! now going for the silver award!) on Wednesday, 10-Jun-2015 21:20:47

It's not so much that there's texture around the burners, Lakeria. It's more that the burners sometimes feel very very slightly less smooth. If you were to gently scrape your fingernails against a burner, it might give just the hint of a chalkboard-scratching feeling as opposed to the rest of the stovetop. Some may not be like this, but every one I've seen, in my own limited experience, has been.

## Post 16 by AgateRain (Believe it or not, everything on me and about me is real!) on Thursday, 11-Jun-2015 9:49:25

Interesting, will keep all of this in mind.

## Post 17 by moonspun (This site is so "educational") on Thursday, 11-Jun-2015 11:56:28

The texture of a burner is completely irrelevant. How are you going to feel that when it's hot? Fine for the first time round, but what about when you need to move pots on and off the heat quite rapidly? Then you need to have the skill of feeling for the heat round the rim of your pot with your hands, or as another clever poster suggests, get a cut out for the stove. I hate flat tops and would use gas every time, but this is more to do with the fact that I can make the heat control much more fine tuned, whereas electric stoves take a few minutes for the heat to regulate.

## Post 18 by forereel (Just posting.) on Thursday, 11-Jun-2015 13:33:21

For me the texter of the burner is vary rrelevant.
I can place the pan directly on the burner when the stove is cool. Now I know what size the burner is, and where it is located.
Once I had that, it didn't matter if I needed to take a pan off or on while the stove was hot. I don't need to touch it anymore, because I've got a sense of what the burner placement is.
I can also move the pan a bit to recenter it with the feel of the heat on my skin, because I know how large the burner is.
I do the same thing with stoves with raised burners.
If I'm at a strangers home, I can cook without a problem, because I can feel that texture.
All stoves don't have the same sized burners in the same places.
For me, this apply's no matter what I'm using to cook with.
If I'm cooking on a camp fire, I feel what I'm going to be using first, and get that picture in my mind. Now I can light the fire, and I know where everything is.
Grills as well.
To me feeling a cooking area makes it possible for me to cook on anything at all.

## Post 19 by LeoGuardian (You mean there is something outside of this room with my computer in it?) on Thursday, 11-Jun-2015 17:00:36

It seems like it would be something similar to cooking on a grill.
Any of us who have cooked over charcoal, where you use both the direct and indirect fire method.
When I was younger, and these first came out in the early 90s, I thought this would be very difficult for the blind. Anymore I think it would be pretty straightforward. I figure if I can grill when near wasted I should be able to cook atop one of these if I have one.

## Post 20 by forereel (Just posting.) on Thursday, 11-Jun-2015 19:44:48

No. It is just like cooking on a regular stove with raised burners.
If you think about it, once you have your pan on the burner, you normally don't move it about, but move the food around inside the pan.
You have knobs to move the heat up or down.
A grill is different depending on the type of grill, but nothing like the flat stove.
Once you'd done it once, it is just a stove. Smile.

## Post 21 by Meglet (I just keep on posting!) on Friday, 12-Jun-2015 15:02:54

Most flat-top stoves don't have tactile differences to designate burners, though when I had a bit more vision I could sort of see them because they were paler than the rest of the surface. I had a gas stove back home and I miss it a lot. People always fear that they are unsafe for blinks, but I have yet to have issues with them, and they give way more auditory feedback, at least from what I've experienced.

## Post 22 by LeoGuardian (You mean there is something outside of this room with my computer in it?) on Friday, 12-Jun-2015 15:06:49

I do love my gas stove, and IMHO food tastes better cooked on a gas stove.

## Post 23 by AgateRain (Believe it or not, everything on me and about me is real!) on Friday, 12-Jun-2015 15:23:40

Gas stoves scare me simply because of the fact that it's gas. I prefer electric all the way. We currently have one now, and that smell!

## Post 24 by forereel (Just posting.) on Friday, 12-Jun-2015 15:42:56

When I have a pick, it is gas.
Gas stoves can serve other purposes then cooking.
I also personally feel they are easier to repair, and will last you longer.
Even a cheap model.
The upscale models can last a life time.
Most times you get tired of looking at them, or you move.