Stoves & Cooktops
Buy and sell stoves and cooktops in Panama.
A stove in Panama can be the freestanding gas range with its oven underneath or a black glass top cut into the counter of a newer apartment. Induction tops suit kitchens with a 220-volt line, and single cast-iron burners come out for the big pot at a family party. New or pre-owned, the brands people know here are Mabe, Drija, Frigidaire, Whirlpool and Samsung. Built-in tops are sold in centimetres, 60, 76 or 90, while freestanding ranges go by inches, so send a seller the size of your gap before anything else.
Tempered glass or stainless steel on a gas cooktop:
the choice has more to do with cleaning and risk than with cooking. A black glass top wipes clean and makes a plain kitchen look finished, but it can crack under a dropped heavy pot or a pan left empty on high. Stainless dents and shows every water mark, and shrugs off the same knocks. Most built-in tops carry four or five burners, one of them a wok ring for fierce heat. Dual tops add one or two electric plates that keep dinner going when the cylinder runs out. Built-in units to go in a column below are under ovens, and what hangs above under extractor hoods.
Induction tops and the aluminium rice pot:
induction heats only pans a magnet sticks to, so the cast-aluminium pot most Panamanian homes cook rice in will not work on it. Hold a fridge magnet to the base of your pots before you buy. A plain vitroceramic top heats any flat pan, but it is slower and stays hot long after switching off. Most four-zone induction tops need a 220-volt line of their own, while a single portable plate runs off an ordinary socket and is a cheap way to try the idea.
The LP gas behind a Panamanian cooktop:
every gas stove here burns liquefied gas, from a cylinder in the cabinet or from the central supply many towers in Tumba Muerto and elsewhere pipe to each apartment. A range or cooktop shipped down from a house in the United States may be set up for natural gas; on LP it throws tall yellow flames until the jets are changed, so ask which gas it is set for.
The high-pressure burner for the big pot of sancocho:
for a big gathering or a family party the kitchen stove falls short. Single cast-iron burners with three or four rings take pots no household top can, and get through a cylinder fast. Ask whether one runs on high or low pressure: a high-pressure burner needs its own regulator.
From a plain 60 cm glass top to a five-burner built-in:
about $150 new for the first, $400 to $500 for a 76 cm five-burner from Drija or Frigidaire; four-zone induction tops start under $200 and reach about $500. Used, a built-in top sells on its cutout more than its badge: one that drops straight into the hole the old one left saves the buyer a carpenter or a new counter. A cracked glass top is worth close to nothing, because the glass is the expensive part.
The safety-valve test on a used gas cooktop:
many tops sold in Panama have a valve on each burner that shuts the gas off if the flame goes out. Light each burner, hold the knob in for a few seconds and let go: the flame should stay. If it dies every time, the thermocouple or valve is worn, fixable but a reason to talk price. Run a fingertip round the glass edge and the burner openings for chips, which is where cracks start. On induction, put a steel pan on each zone at full power: it should be detected at once and heat evenly, with a fan that hums rather than grinds. An error code that keeps returning points to the control board.
Cutout size and gas type on a cooktop listing:
measure the hole it came out of, length and depth, not just the glass: that is the figure a buyer checks against their own counter. Photograph every burner lit and the rating label underneath, and say whether it is set for LP, whether the regulator and hose go with it and, for induction, whether it was wired straight to the panel. Anyone coming from Brisas del Golf to collect a glass top from a Tumba Muerto apartment should bring cardboard and lay it flat on the back seat: tempered glass that travels on its edge against a door is the kind that arrives cracked.