Step-top or flat-top stove?

[titan]

Anybody have experience with both?I'm gonna buy a new stove for my cottage,Just wondering if one has an advantage over the other..i.e.-larger heat exchange area?I'm considering the step tops from Regency and Quadrafire.Let me know your thoughts.

 

[BrotherBart]

My old stove was a flat top and the new one is a step. I prefer the step with the thinner steel being used today for the structural rigidity it adds to the top plate. The old one never warped the top plate but it was 3/8" steel. Most top plates now are 1/4" or 5/16". The original reason for step tops was the higher temp on the upper step and lower temp on the lower step for cooking different stuff at the same time.

 

[titan]

Thanks BB-thecooking part makes a good case for the step-top design.....so..It's bread rising on the top shelf and beans baking on the lower?MMM.

 

[begreen]

The bread will be burning on the upper step. That's the hottest part.

 

[WidowMaker]

Not on my Lopi Endeavor. Bottom step is hottest ...BY far...

WidowMaker

 

[nshif]

Not on my Lopi Endeavor. Bottom step is hottest ...BY far...

WidowMaker

My Quad is the same, I can boil water on the lower step while just a simmer on the top.

 

[John_M]

I like the looks of the step top stoves compared to the flat top stoves. I also like the contemporary looks of a stove w/pedestal base compared to the classic legged models. I guess that is why some manufacturers make both kinds of stoves.

Best wishes,

John_M

 

[begreen]

Good point on the Quad and Lopi. Some stoves have ventilated step tops, some are solid. Stoves with ventilated step tops will be cooler on the upper step because of the air space. Regency has a ventilated top step as well I believe. Englander's 30NC, Drolet's Pyropak, Buck's 261 step are not.