Hi Folks, we have a cast iron stove which includes an oven and a hot plate on top. Unfortunately a crack has appeared on the top near the hot plate. This is either down to its age, or maybe we put a pan of water on top to warm up and some of that cold water and the temperature change was too much for it and caused the crack. Has anybody got any advice on that? The stove is around 15 to 20 years old (we bought it second hand). We are now looking to replace it and have looked at steel stoves, with those bricks inside that retain heat. The first question is: do steel stoves produce the same amount of heat as cast iron stoves and can we put pans directly on to it to cook on? One shop said we could put pans on top of steel ones but another shop said the circle which looks like a pan ring was just for access to clean it. Thanks in advance for any help.
Secondly with cast iron ones, can we put a pan anywhere on the top or do we have to stay inside the marked out ring zones? We are a bit wary now of cooking on the top after the last one cracked.
Thank you guys.
