Its a control issue

No, inthefields, it's not just you. We replaced our old solid ring hob with an all singing, all dancing thing that bleeps alarmingly when you haven't done anything, lowers the heat when you want it to stay where you set it and turns itself off if you sneak away to make a phone call. It sulks if you don't give it your full attention and refuses to recognise that YOU'RE the boss!

It's such a goody-goody I have a mental image of it sitting smugly in my kitchen, wearing a 'health and safety, hat and ticking off my misdemeanours on a clipboard.

Having said that, I suppose I'll congratulate it for turning itself off the first time I leave the potatoes boiling simmering and go to Sainsbury's

Mine has the same 'thingy' that can drop the heat from boiling to simmer.. trouble is the dang thing either switches over before its reached boil or it boils over because it hasn't reduced the temp early enough. I gave up trying to use it thinking 'it must be me'. Maybe it isn't!!

My car tells me when to change gear - its 18 months old and I've been driving for forty

And, don't get me started on Naggy Aggy - the satnav!

You will never be able to make jam on that. Its a good idea in theory but clearly it was never designed by a cook! Is there no over ride?

When I get back from holiday my Rayburn sulks and refuses to work properly until it has been looked at by an expensive engineer!

Yes, being beeped at by an inanimate object is annoying - but what I'm most annoyed by is the fact if they did not beep, I would forget I had put them on......and to think I used to tease my dear Mum no end about her 'forgettory'!

In John Lewis Oxford Street toilets the other day, I was discombobulated when the toilet flushed itself whilst I was standing zipping up. How did it know is what I ask myself?

Are these hobs the induction ones and you can only use steel pans? We have looked at hobs and there seem to be a lot of that type and not so many 'normal' ceramic ones.

Mine is just a normal ceramic hob, I do love the top so easy to keep clean. Nelliemoser I have to choose to use the self adjust heat on mine so I just don't use it and stand and wait for the pans to reach the correct boil.

Nelliemoser ..... I haven't found an over-ride, and you are quite right about not being able to make jam! or marmalade! .... or the caramel which led to today's frustration!!

I have had simmer rings before, but the whole set working that way is just driving me crazy.

And on the matter of other inanimate devices which tell me what to do .....why did I ever buy a camera which won't let me take a picture if it thinks it isn't light enough!! I appreciate it may know better than I do, but if I don't even have free choice to get it wrong with a camera ....well. what hope is there!

I just think gas hob nobs n electric oven is the way forward.it's the very
easiest Solution?!

Moving slightly away from topic but still on the subject of stoves - how do other people feel about fan ovens? I rue the day I got rid of my old (non-fan) oven which baked cakes and pastry evenly. I thought the whole point of a fan oven was that it baked evenly, but my oven bakes things dark at the back whilst the front is still barely coloured. To compensate I have to turn cakes round half way during cooking - difficult with sponges. I've also noticed casseroles bubble at the back but not at the front, so again I turn them round during cooking. I don't know any of my friends or family who actually like their fan ovens and would happily revert to a non-fan oven (if you could find one!!!)

I love my fan oven it does cook evenly and I've never had a failed cake from it. . Maybe yours could be faulty york46? It works for defrosting and bakes a beautiful meringue and sponge . I've not heard anyone I know with a fan oven complain about its lack of consistancy or uneven bake.. both my daughter and sil have one .
I always adjust my oven temp down when cooking as it does get slightly hotter than a normal oven but that's a well known fact that's pointed out on most recipes or cooking instructions. If it were mine I think I would get it checked out to make sure it was working properly.

When I bake, I turn the fan Awf. So its just normal oven. An adjustable on/off fan oven is a must.if you possibly can.

Thats another option laidback , I turn it off if I'm cooking a casserole which doesn't benefit from the fan being on anyway. I agree it would be an essential for me too.

I meant to add but I've never turned it off for baking.

If am baking with the kids I just find the results are easier and better to achieve with the oven on non fan. That's not to say you cannot bake perfectly well in a fan oven.

I've got an electric fan oven and an ordinary gas oven. I use the gas one for cakes, it seems more natural, but the heat seems hotter somehow. I can't turn my fan off!

My preference is for the reverse .... I like to have a gas hob with instant temperature control, but prefer electric ovens as I always found gas ovens gave me a less stable temperature. Isn't it a blessing that we are all different.

I do miss having gas though ...this is my first home, in years, without a supply, and they are not even close to routing it to the village at the moment.

I have a very old gas cooker which probably needs updating. About twice a year I feel I could do with a larger one.

The oven is not good I also think an electric oven would be a better option. The gas burners are excellent. One very fast, two normal and very reliable very slow simmer one which works wonderfully for a lot of things. I also have an eye level grill.
I have heard that fan ovens can be tricky it might just be a matter of experience.