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A stove is a heat-producing device. Typically the word is used to refer to a kitchen appliance used for either generating warmth or for cooking. In British English the term cooker is normally used for the cooking appliance, and stove for
a wood or coal burning room heating appliance.
There are many types of stoves. In the common experience, a kitchen stove is used to cook food, and refers to a device which has both burners (also known as a
cooktop, or in British Enlish as a hob) and an oven.
Stoves may generate heat by:
Common Features
Stoves have many convenience features
- digital display
- one or more countdown timers
- one or more ovens
- usually 4 to 6 burners
- knobs for controlling heat on burners and oven may be located on the backsplash, on the cooktop, or on the front of the stove
closest to one's hips.
- automatic cleaning mechanisms that raise the oven temperature to over 500
degrees fahrenheit and reduce
accumulated food spills to ash
- locking mechanisms for the oven door
History
The Franklin stove is a wood burning stove invented by Benjamin Franklin in the late 1700's. It has a labyrinthine path for hot
exhaust gasses to escape, thus allowing heat to enter the room instead of going up the chimney.
A similar labyrinth stove called the AGA cooker, invented by Swedish
Nobel prize winner Dr. Gustaf
Dalén is considered to be the most efficient design and is a much sought after kitchen 'must have'.
The AGA, and similar products such as the Rayburn are examples of 'always-on'
stoves which continue to burn fuel even when cooking is not being performed. Stoves (or ranges as they are also
known) such as these are often used instead of boilers or furnaces to supply hot water and central heating to the rest of the house.
Commercial Producers
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