Best Gas Cooktops of 2021

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There’s a reason chefs love cooking on gas. Seeing a flame rise and fall with the turn of a knob gives you a sense of control over your meal. But it’s not just about warm feelings.

“One of the biggest advantages of gas burners over radiant electric is response time,” says Tara Casaregola, who oversees testing of ranges, cooktops, and wall ovens for Consumer Reports.

With gas, the cookware is in direct contact with the heat source—the flame. That makes it easy to fine-tune temperature and less likely that you’ll burn certain foods, such as delicate sauces or soups. With a radiant cooktop, the glass slab over the burners retains heat even after you turn down a burner, leaving your famous tomato sauce vulnerable to scorching.

If you’re considering replacing an existing gas cooktop, you’ll be bound by the dimensions you have—standard sizes are 30-inch and 36-inch. But know that newer models have more burners, including a mix of high-power and low-output simmer burners.

We test every cooktop at low and high heat. Just about any cooktop will fare well enough when cooking over medium heat, but a stellar model will also boil quickly and simmer steadily. For high-heat cooking, we use a standardized pot, filled with about 4 quarts of water, on the largest cooktop burner. We jack up the burner to the highest setting and note the speed with which the water heats up.

For low-heat cooking, we use the smallest burner to melt chocolate and then simmer water and tomato sauce, gauging how well cooktops hold a steady simmer temperature without dropping too low or scorching the contents of the pan.

We test 30- and 36-inch gas cooktops from brands including Bosch, GE, Ikea, Kenmore, KitchenAid, Samsung, Viking, Wolf. Start with our cooktop buying guide if you’re deciding which kind of cooktop to buy or debating whether it makes more sense to choose a range.

CR members can read on for reviews of six of the best gas cooktops from our ratings. Browse our comprehensive cooktop ratings for even more options.