Should I buy a gas, electric or induction stove?
Match the hookup you already have unless you want to pay to change it. Radiant electric is cheapest to buy and fix, gas suits flame cooks and power outages, and induction is fastest and most efficient but needs a 50-amp circuit and magnetic cookware.
ENERGY STAR puts induction at about 85% efficient, radiant electric at 75–80% and gas at about 32%, and Consumer Reports finds induction brings a large pot toward a boil 2–4 minutes sooner. At an hour a day, though, gas and electric running costs differ by only a few dollars a month, so efficiency rarely decides the choice.
In one retailer's first-year service data, induction ranges needed service about 8.7% of the time versus 6.9% for gas and 6.2% for electric, mostly for control boards. Gas raises indoor nitrogen dioxide, so it needs a hood vented outdoors.
Switching fuel adds cost: a new range circuit runs $250–$900 in national guides and $2,500–$3,500 in the Boston area; income-qualified households in states with live HEEHRA programs can get up to $840 toward electric cooking.
Confidence: multi-source · Based on 7 cited sources.
Sources
- The Most Reliable Induction Ranges · Yale Appliance
- 6 Steps to Convert Your Gas Range to Induction · Yale Appliance
- Induction, Gas, or Electric: The Stove That Cooks Food Fastest · Tasting Table
- Residential Induction Cooking Tops (Emerging Technology Award) · ENERGY STAR (EPA)
- People with gas and propane stoves breathe more unhealthy nitrogen dioxide · Stanford University
- How Much Does a Stove or Oven Cost? · HomeGuide
- HEEHRA explained: The federal home energy rebate that still exists in 2026 · Aurora Solar
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Best Stove for the Money: Gas, Electric or Induction, and How Much to SpendBy Purchasd Research. We compared gas, radiant electric, induction and dual-fuel ranges, and ranges against cooktop-and-wall-oven setups, using one retailer's published first-year service data (Yale Appliance, 2025 data, updated October 2026) for gas, electric and induction ranges; Consumer Reports' 2025 brand scores and its 2026 induction pick through secondary reporting; ENERGY STAR efficiency figures; a Stanford indoor-air study; national cost guides for prices, installation and repairs; a nine-company repair-technician panel; CPSC recall and safety notices; a home-inspector checklist for used units; and fourteen Reddit threads (about 300 comments) plus owner forums and secondary roundups. Owner evidence was used to find recurring complaints, never to estimate failure rates. No range was tested by Purchasd. Purchasd received no manufacturer payment, review units or affiliate consideration for this research. Several sources sell appliances, repairs or related products, and each is labeled by bias. One Consumer Reports summary was read from a reprint hosted by LG, whose brand scored first.