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If you are looking for a way to green your kitchen, you may want to think about the way that you cook. Cooking isn't a huge strain on your electric bill, but every little bit helps. Stoves have been around for ages. They are a stout, reliable friend. Their cooking methods are favored by gourmands. Microwaves, however, are easy to use and fast. Even those who are inept in the kitchen can make food in the microwave. Unfortunately, they suffer in the classiness department. You wouldn't have a five-star general over and feed him something cooked in a microwave. It would be gauche.
So which appliance is better for the environment?
Round 1: Energy
Microwaves have the added advantage of being speedy. There is no faster way to cook than to microwave. Microwaves can use a lot of wattage to cook food, about 800 watts in some cases. Because it cooks so quickly, those watts don't add up to much. For small meals, microwaves are far and away the superior choice. Something cooked in the microwave on high for fifteen minutes burns a little over a third of a kilowatt hour and costs the user about a nickel.
To cook in an electric oven at a 325-degree temperature for forty-five minutes costs about fifteen cents, depending on your service provider, and uses nearly 1.4 kwh. A stove's heat will be more thorough and last longer, because stoves cook through conduction and microwaves cook through wimpy induction.
The microwave saves a slightly more-than-negligible amount of electricity over the stove when it comes to cooking.
Round 2: Health
There is a lot of concern about microwaves and health issues. Stoves have been around forever, so they get a free pass. Incidentally, a house has never blown up due to a electromagnetic radiation leak coming from the microwave, but more than few people have been gassed or fire-balled by their stoves.
There is some validity to the health issues surrounding the microwave. Years ago, prepackaged microwavable food leaked benzene when cooked. Benzene is a known to cause cancer in humans. Another recent microwave issue is diacetyl, a hazardous byproduct of microwave popcorn. Of course, you would have to eat copious amounts of microwave popcorn to suffer from diacetly-induced popcorn lung, but it has happened.
Personally, I am skeptical when it comes to worries about microwave radiation. I feel that people get scared when they hear the word radiation. In the fifties, a cadre of hoary B-movies starring giant animals portrayed the general public's overblown fears towards radiation.
Radiation can be dangerous, but there is plenty of good radiation in the world. Good radiation helps us see and causes plants to grow. My non-expert opinion is that microwave radiation is mostly safe. If you stand with your head pressed up against the microwave window as the food cooks, I would also predict that you might suffer from some deterioration of health. But if you're the type of person who pulls shenanigans like that, your life was probably going to be truncated in one way or another, anyways.
The winner: The electric stove.
The electric stove doesn't use up natural gas, and there are no dangerous leaks. The energy savings of a microwave isn't really worth its existence. There isn't really anyone who owns a microwave but no stove. The stove is a mainstay. The stove is time-tested and will remain with us for a long, long time. The microwave is a luxury that we can afford to live without. But if you already have a microwave, you might as well use it. Remember, it is more efficient to cook snacks and small meals in the microwave. The stove, however, is more practical and useful overall.
Read more about green kitchens:
Build a Green Kitchen
Kitchen Grease: How to Reuse and Safely Dispose
Recycled Glass and Concrete Countertops
Five Ways to Save Major Energy While Cooking Thanksgiving Dinner
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