I Ditched My Gas Stove

I remember editing a draft of the first story Chatelaine published on the environmental impacts of gas stoves. In the piece, writer Brett Tryon interviews Dr. Melissa Lem, board president of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, who tells Tryon that it is “ almost impossible to meet safe indoor air quality guidelines with a gas stove.” My first note on the piece? “Unnecessarily alarmist.” (To be fair, at the time I had been happily cooking on gas for a solid decade.) 

Then I began reading the research the writer had cited about the air pollutant cocktail of nitrogen dioxide, carbon dioxide and formaldehyde created by gas ranges—including a 2022 study that found that about 13 percent of childhood asthma cases in the U.S. are attributed to gas stove use (an impact comparable to that of secondhand smoke). I don’t have kids, but I do have asthma, and this gave me pause. As did the fact I had just moved into a house with an old stove that constantly smelled of gas and had no outdoor ventilation system.

Fast forward five years to my kitchen renovation, when I replaced my gas range with induction. Sure, I consider myself influenced by Chatelaine’s most environmentally minded editor, Gillian Grace, who keeps telling me how “natural” gas is actually mostly methane, one of the most potent greenhouse gases. At the same time, the research into the health impacts of gas stoves doesn’t lie.

I bought my induction stove for around $4,000, but cheaper (and far more expensive) options abound. My existing pots and pans work just fine on the new stove, and I can discern absolutely no difference between cooking on gas versus induction. (To be honest, I thought induction would heat faster than gas, but in my experience the difference is negligible.) I use my induction stove a lot, but my electricity bill has increased by a few dollars per month—a small price to pay for cleaner air.