Stoves come in all shapes, sizes, and colors. Modern stoves have come a long way from the time when the only method people had for cooking was to suspend food over an open flame or attempt to cook it on a flame-heated piece of stone. Once the wood stove was invented, modern stoves took off! To be sure, there are still some people who use wood stoves to this day, for cooking and for heating their homes. The most common stoves, however, are the combination stove and oven units that burn electricity and natural gas. Designers have worked tirelessly for decades to figure out how to create modern stoves that are fun to use and beautiful to look at.
Knowing that technologically advanced stoves are available, why would anyone choose to use a wood stove? The main reason people choose wood stoves for cooking and heating is because of the money they save by doing so. Wood is cheap and easy to get. It costs much less to heat a home and cook in a wood-burning stove than it does to pay for the electricity or natural gas it takes to run one of the more modern stoves.
When most readers read the words “modern stoves,” they think of something that looks like it belongs in a sterile or clean room in a hospital. This is largely because the modern art and decoration movement puts a lot of emphasis on clean lines and a lack of decorative touches. In a small, modern kitchen space, this lack of decoration can help make the space seem larger than it already is. In a larger space, a lack of decoration keeps the space from feeling cluttered.
Today, modern wood stoves are used primarily for heating, and an electric stove is used for cooking. If you are forced to use an electric or natural gas range in a small kitchen space, you should consider splitting the unit. Instead of choosing a modern cooktop and cooktop combo, look to countertop cooktops and wall-mounted ovens. These make more use of the space you have available and work around your current layout rather than forcing you to work around it.
When it comes to color, almost any color will work in a modern kitchen. Modern art tends toward bold, contrasting colors, so the color of your modern stove should blend in completely with the rest of your kitchen or stand out in stark contrast to surrounding cabinets and counters. If you are worried about the small space in your kitchen, the matching color will help make the space appear larger.
The most important elements of many modern stoves are whether or not you like the way they look and whether or not you will enjoy cooking with them. Choose a unit that makes you happy and expands your small kitchen space! You will use your modern stove a lot, won’t you like it?