When we bought our house 22 years ago, there was an old 4 burner 28" wide electric range in the kitchen. When the 1st owner built the house in 1958 he custom-built all the counters and cabinets in the house. He inexplicably decided to put in the 28" range. We always figured that someday we would remodel the kitchen and put in a full size range, but that would require a full scale tear-out and we've never been able to afford it.
Over the years we replaced burners & rewired sockets until we no longer had any working burners on the range top. The oven works fine. I've looked for a replacement, but a new one is way more than I can afford. (Just the basics, not even a window in the oven door, and cost 50% more than a 30" range.) I have searched high and low for a used one but I've not found anything. (I did find a couple of 'trailer-sized' 24" stoves, but then I'd have a 4 inch gap between the stove and the counter.) Sometimes I fantasize about waking up and finding on my front lawn a perfectly good, working 28" electric range. That someone had a stove that they didn't have a use for, and realized I was the most worthy recipient of it. (Yeah, right!)
Since I had few good options I decided that I would start using the catering burner we bought years earlier for our emergency/earthquake kit. It uses butane that comes in a pressurized can that looks like a can of spray paint. I go to the local Costco Business store and buy it by the case.
Cooking on a single burner presents challenges that you don't usually find when you cook in a 'normal' kitchen. Timing is EVERYTHING. Like I said, the oven does work. I also have a crockpot and an electric skillet (which I don't use much), but day to day we cook all our meals on 'Max'.
Max
The little burner that could