I always, always use the right burners (front & back) of my stove. The only time I use the ones on the left is when I’ve just spilled something on the right ones and have to move things quickly before it bakes on and becomes immovable.
Is this a common thing, or does it depend on stove/counter placement? In my childhood home I always used the right burners, too, but the counter there was also immediately to the right.
Who’s side are you on?
Brad says
I use the front left burner before I’ll use any of the others. For me, I think it is about stove/counter placement. My prep counter is to the left of my stove.
Deanne says
New stove, so I’m playing around with it. Right front for boiling the teapot. And I know it would be greener of me to use a plug-in one, but I have little counter space. Front left to do anything big -- fry pans, pots. And -- this is the surprise -- rear left for the little oatmeal pot. I think I’m using a preponderance of left because they’re nearest the sink.
Kristi says
I play both ways. I have two large burners -- one on each side. I like to use them both. However, I choose the one on the right more often, simply because it’s right next to the counter.
Beth says
I use the front two burneres of my stove. Almost exclusively. THe front left for the small to mid-sized pan (mac’n’cheese, oatmeal, ramen, rice…), the front right for my mid-sized to large pots and frying pans (browning ground beef, frying chicken, big pots’o’soup…).
I almost never use the back two burners.
I don’t have much counter space on either side of my stove -- my counter space is on either side of my sink.
And I think my use is about burner size, not counter location. I use the burner that fits the size of the job, and my front two are most accommodating.
Christina says
I use the right front and the left back, and like Beth it is mainly about size. I use the right front for my fry pan and the left back for the stock pot, these are the two largest burners. Well, actually the front right burner is a small burner inside a larger burner, so it works for multiple size pans.
Peggy says
I use the right front the most. But my counter that I prepare stuff on is not on the right side. I think I must use it because I’m right handed????
2nd most used is left front. I guess I’m front sided.
Gretchen says
I see no pattern in my burner use so far. The front left is the largest so it gets used the most. The other three are teeny. (I just blogged about my beautiful German kitchen -- check it out!)
Ecoteri says
My sweetie is on my case to replace the 13 year old stove that I love. Problem is that the stove has old-fashioned burners, none of this flat-top never-get-hot-enough-to-make-Jam but easy-to-clean stuff for me. The enamel is chipped at the front from all the times I have put the canning pot on the front right burner. The back left burner is where we put big pots that will simmer for a while -- it is more under the fan. the right back burner is often where I go with a little pot, but that is also where the extra electrical plug is so my sweetie prefers the front Left burner for small pots. Took a while to teach him to keep the handles in -- there are smallish kids in the house and he wasn’t used to that…Mostly we juggle pots and each other and counter space and make a mess and eat really well. guess that is boasting not complaining, eh?
Lloyd says
We got our stove about a year ago, and I had no idea that these flat top stoves took so long to make things hot. We certainly would have purchased something else had we known.