Three burners vs 2 burners stove

[bobconnie]

If you find that the 2 burner stove is not enough, get a separate 1 burner wall hung stove to increase your cooking area! We have found we can cook so many one pot or pressure cooker meals on our wall hung gimbled stove !! That we use it as much or more them our 3 burner stove !(except for the over LOL) Seems folks forget that you don't really need to cook those many dish meals at sea ! Remember that your deck mounted Bar-B-Cue will become one of your main stoves if the weather permits! And it cuts down on heating up below deck area cooking in the tropics !! Just our 2 cents

[Steadman Uhlich]

The first photo shows a typical 3 burner stove with a separate one burner gimbaled burner (with pot, but not showing the 1 pound propane canister which hangs below).

The next photo shows a Dickinson Pacific diesel stove/oven, which is useful for creating heat in an colder climate boat. Popular in the PNW. This does require a flue about 4 inches diameter.

[Pelagic]

I am more of a bottle washer than a cook, but I observe my culinary partner and while she rarely uses more than 2 burners, she likes to choose the size.

We have one very large, one large, one medium and one tiny burner on board. She uses all of them, but at different times

[Delancey]

Am I the only one who bought the 3-burner stove specifically because it had one big oversize burner and two small ones? Don't you guys ever boil water?

Only a few times in my life have I used more than two burners to cook a meal but I use that single big burner everyday. Plus as mentioned, bigger oven than you get with most two burners.

Haven't really had a problem with the gimbals so far.

[Thin Line]

I've had 4 burner, 3 burner and sought out a 2 burner for my current boat.. The 4 burner was almost completely a waste, never used more than 2.. The next one came with a 3 burner and I was excited, only to find out once again, we never used more than 2. We are a family that cooks almost every meal, we provision so that we ALWAYS eat well. I found a great, hardly used, solid, older 2 burner Force10 for a couple hundred bucks and we are in love with it.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by Delancey

Am I the only one who bought the 3-burner stove specifically because it had one big oversize burner and two small ones? Don't you guys ever boil water?

My new Force-10, 2-burner came with one large burner and one smaller one. Forget the BTU difference, but it is significant. About the only time I use the large burner full-blast is when I'm boiling my morning coffee water. Cooking rarely requires that kind of intense heat, so luckily I can dial the large one down quite easily.

A larger oven might be nice, but then it would be less efficient for most of the baking and broiling we do. I was initially concerned with the size of ours, but we can roast a full chicken, or bake three loafs of bread at one time. For the two of us, it works just fine.

[BobH260]

we like to cook and eat. We get along fine with a two burner propane stove with oven, a good BBQ (it is a Magma, designed so it can be used as a single burner stove), a microwave, an electric kettle and an induction cooktop. If we are in a slip we will use the microwave, electric kettle and induction cooker a lot. On the hook mostly the BBQ and propane stove. We do have a generator and if we need to run it to top up the batteries then we will plug in our electric appliances. It saves our propane and gives the generator a bit of a load. If we did run out of propane we can still cook a meal.
Bob

[boatpoker]

I had a 3-burner, now have a 2-burner. I never used more than 2 but I sure do miss the space for two bigger pots that the 3-burner gave me.

[Island Time O25]

The boat came with a 3 burner stove but one burner always had a problem being lighted. So we never use it. In 5 seasons don't think there was ever a need for a 3rd burner. And we cook a lot. But we also BBQ a lot on our gas grill off of a stern rail.

Since our stove is CNG and not all places have the refills I keep a small 2 burner ss camp stovetop as a spare and use my 1lb propane grill cylinders for it. On my 27 footer that camp stovetop was my primary means of cooking.

[rwidman]

Originally Posted by Hank Kivett

Is there a huge difference between a two burner stove and three burner. Is it worth changing out before taking on a 6 months cruise...the number on the cruise would only be 2 adults.

There is a 50% increase in the number of burners!

When you cook on the two burner stove do you often run out of burners to cook on? If so, you should consider a stove with more burners. If not, two will be fine. Is there an oven? Sometimes you can cook things in the oven or start them on a burner and finish in the oven.

Is this an electric stove or propane? If electric, you could just buy one of the new induction single pot cookers to add to your cooking capacity. If you have a genset or stay in marinas this could still be an option. Reports are that they work well if your pots and pans are compatible with induction cooking.

We have a three burner propane range with oven and broiler but honestly, I think we could deal with just two if that's what was on the boat. In reality, the microwave gets used the most.

[zeehag]

i cook. a lot. i traded my force 10 3 burner stove with fairly large oven i rarely ever used for a 2 burner. only difference is essentially oven size. i dont use my oven, i do use 1 burner at a time, so it doesnt matter which one i have.
i am fulltime liveaboard cruiser in tropics, have been x 4 yrs.
dont have microwave--i dislike them. they change the flavor of foods and use way too much power. i like anchoring more than the summer marina hiding from named storm time.

[barnakiel]

I used 4 burner and 2 burner stoves and I never used the extra 2 burners on the 4 burner one ...

Sure nice to have, if you are a cook par excellence.

b.

[Hank Kivett]

Thanks guys and gals..two burner it shall stay

[19 and counting]

You'll be fine with your two burner. The only reason I'm not complaining about having 3 is that I figure one of the burners will eventually fail, doesn't everything? So I have an extra in case. For you who like to bake to heat up the boat we have found that using the oven bags and throwing your meat, veggies and seasonings in them sealing them up and then baking gives a great meal with no cleanup! Gotta love that. We are on a mooring can so we save water this way too.

[19 and counting]

Wow those single burner wall hung units have scared me ever since we were cruising in Mexico and the gal on our buddy boat backed into hers in her bikini. Branded! Note: practical gal slapped a bunch of vinegar on it right away and it didn't even blister.