Pacific Energy Alderlea T6 Cook top cleaning question

[di96]

Hey all.

I've learned alot from reading through this forum the past few weeks and ready to purchase a new stove. We had narrowed down our selection to the Alderlea T6 but a new concern came up when we looked at the stove in person. There is a gap between the cook top and cast iron plates, specific concern is how hard is it clean in that space if something boils over spilling between the steel box and cast iron? There was no lip or anything to prevent liquids from going down this gap, just flat cook top straight to the edge. Water would not be an issue really.. but get a few milk spills and the smell may not be pleasant.

I should have taken a picture to post here that would help explain this, but I did not. Hoping those with Alderlea stoves can help provide input here? We plan on utilizing the cook top as much as possible and spillage is bound to occur (stoves get dirty, fact of life #874).

Thank you!!
-Craig

 

[begreen]

Welcome. Mindfulness is important when cooking on a stovetop, no matter what the stove. A spill on a hot stove top is not good under any circumstances and worse on an enameled stove. With a bit of care there should be no spills. Use a stove top thermometer as a guide. A pot placed directly on a 650F stovetop is going to boil. However, the good news is that it is unlikely there will be a boilover with a pot on the trivet top. The air gap dramatically reduces the trivet-top temp. At the most we see just a low simmering boil with water in a pot on the trivet. Think more like slow cooker or crockpot temps. If the pot has an unvented lid on it consider putting a pan under the pot to catch any drips. Or use a vented lid to allow moisture to escape.

FWIW, our stove will be going on its eighth season. It still looks great

 

[stovelark]

Shouldn't be too difficult to clean/touch up too if a mishap occurs. If you're getting Matte Black, easy to clean off any spillage and touch up. Same with underneath on top of actual stove firebox. Touch her up with high temp black. Good choice of stove too.

 

[di96]

Thanks you both for the quick input!

When you mention easy cleanup, does that include the cracks down the side of cook top area (in behind the cast iron)? I can just imagine cooking up some macaroni & cheese and you stir a little too aggressively and the cheese sauce splashes out and runs down those hard to reach places. Is that easy to access/clean when the stove has cooled? Is the cast iron sides 'easily' removable on this stove for a cleaning every now and then?

Very specific questions, and I apologize but want to ask now before I plunk down the $$ for this puppy.

 

[begreen]

Burnt cheese stinks. Spill macaroni and cheese all over a hot stove top and you are going to have a big mess. Same with most any stove. Small blobs not a big deal, but a big spill will not be fun to clean, especially if it dribbles over the front or sides. The cast iron trivets swing out of the way, but the sides do not come off easily.

 

[Offset]

Maybe I am reading this wrong but the grates on my T5 swing out allowing access to the actual stove top. Mine is really easy to clean and the movement of the grates allows you to pickup different temperatures for cooking.

Do the grates not swing out on the T6 as well??

 

[begreen]

The top trivet swings out on the T6 and small spills are no big deal. It's a fun stove to cook on with a wide range of temperature control.

 

[di96]

So we hit up several stove dealers in the area as my wife and I are unable to find agreement on the T6. What we looked and results below.


**Please note it is August right now and none of these stoves were burning when we saw them.

• PE Summit Classic - neither of us loved the looks. ruled out pretty quick.

• Jotul F600- Probably the one I was most excited to see in perso, and at first impression it did not disappoint. The design feature on the top does not appear to allow easy cooking on it so it got ruled out. If I could have taken that silly thing off the top and tossed on a cook plate we could be in business. salesman said they don't offer cooktop on this stove though.

• Lopi Liberty- Step top design does not appears to be our style. ruled out

• Lopi Cape Code really caught our eye in the store. Beautiful stove, took note of it and moved on to research later (which I have done a little bit just prior to posting this). Looks like some quality concerns and pieces made in China(?). probably getting ruled out, but so beautiful it is not fully crossed off our list yet. Noted in store that it may not be ideal cook top (temperature wise). Research to be done here, the least I can do as this would be a showpiece in any room.

• Harman TL300 - very impressive in person. functionality was probably better then any other stove we looked at. The front door handle is a great design. Ash tray was hands down best we looked at. Pedestal was nice as well, felt like it position the stove at a good height. Thumbs up on the top load of course and grill option. Negative is the clearances required for this stove, larger clearances then any other stove we looked at. Still if it was up to me we would own this stove right now. Wife did not like the looks of the stove. Shoot me now.

• QuadraFire Explorer III - Was not on our list, but noticed it near the TL300. Great looking stove. Door handle appears to be normal/low end design and honestly not sure how the ash tray works. I didn't see any way for ashes to get down there. Probably ruling this one out, but will research a little more first as the top load was pretty cool design, though not impressed with how the top is opened. It requires a little key/handle which is stored on the side of the stove, use to open and then remove to storage when done. It would only be a matter of months before that disappeared I think, poor design IMO.

I think that is all that we saw of note.. will add later if I missed one. At the end of the day we are tired and still without agreement on a stove. As it stands now my top stove picks: Alderlea T6 & Harman TL300. Wife likes the QuadraFire Explorer III & Cape Code

Stoves of interest for our next outing:

• Jotul F55
• A few Napoleon stoves?? Dealer was closed today.

 

[Offset]

You folks are really doing your homework before buying. An educated consumer. Thank you for sharing your insights into the stoves you have looked at.

Best of luck making a decision but I can tell you that where I am Fall feels like it is in the air. After early Fall comes Burning Season so don't wait too long.

 

[di96]

I haven't mentioned it yet, but we do have a wood burning furnace that we can use if we don't have the stove replacement figured out in time for the heating season. Will just keep looking until we find something we can both agree on, which is bound to happen eventually.. or at least that is my hope.

 

[di96]

Just in case anyone finds this in the future and wonders, we ended up ordering a Progress Hybrid. This stove checks just about every box on our list and based on the reviews from others we have high hopes for this stove.

 

[begreen]

Nice choice. Avoid spills on the stone.