It is uncertain how fires were started at these times; some hypotheses include the removal of burning branches from wildfires, spark generation through hitting rocks, or accidental lighting through the chipping of stone tools.

In some areas it developed into a U-shaped dried mud or brick enclosure with the opening in the front for fuel and air, sometimes with a second smaller hole at the rear.

[8] In similar times, the Ancient Egyptian, Jewish and Roman people used stone and brick ovens, fueled with wood, in order to make bread and other culinary staples.

Due to its large thermal mass the captured heat is radiated over long periods of time without the need of constant firing, and the surface temperature is generally not dangerous to touch.

[citation needed] It had a labyrinthine path for hot exhaust gases to escape, thus allowing heat to enter the room instead of going up the chimney.

Developed amid a wood shortage, it required one-quarter the quantity of fuel as a regular fireplace and could raise the room temperature more quickly.

Throughout North America, the Franklin stove enjoyed widespread adoption, warming farmhouses, city residences, and frontier huts.

Isaac Orr of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, created the first circular cast-iron stoves with grates for cooking meals on them roughly five years later.

These iron stoves evolved into specialized cooking machines with chimney flue pipes, oven openings, and water heating systems.

[9] The switch to gas was prompted by concerns about air pollution, deforestation and climate change, causing the general public to reconsider the usage of coal and wood stoves.

[11] Under common-use conditions, indoor NO2 from gas stoves can quickly exceed US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and World Health Organization (WHO) 1-h exposure benchmarks in kitchen air.

Iron cooking stoves that used wood, charcoal, or coal radiated too much heat, which made the kitchen unbearably hot in the summer.

Modern implementation in the US dates from the early 1970s, with work done at the Research & Development Center of Westinghouse Electric Corporation at Churchill Borough, near Pittsburgh.

Kitchen stoves rely on the application of direct heat for the cooking process and may also contain an oven underneath or to the side that is used for baking.

Today, wood stoves are commonly used for warming homes, and are credited for their cost-effectiveness compared to coal and gas, and connection to the practices of human ancestors.

Generally the appliance consists of a solid metal (usually cast iron or steel) closed firebox, often lined by fire brick, and one or more air controls (which can be manually or automatically operated depending upon the stove).

In June 2023, Stanford researchers found combustion from gas stoves can raise indoor levels of benzene, a potent carcinogen linked to a higher risk of blood cell cancers.

[24] Gas-powered stoves are criticized for environmental concerns with methane emission and the usage of natural gas, the danger of carbon monoxide release, and difficulty in cleaning.

For example, a January 2022 Stanford-led study reveals that the methane leaking from gas-burning stoves has a climate impact comparable to the carbon dioxide emissions from about 500,000 gasoline-powered cars.

These stoves are praised for their cost-effectiveness, ease of cleaning, options to control low heat, and stable base for many types and sizes of pots and other cooking tools.

Only in 1735 did the first design that completely enclosed the fire appear: the Castrol stove of the French architect François de Cuvilliés was a masonry construction with several fireholes covered by perforated iron plates.

Near the end of the 18th century, the design was refined by hanging the pots in holes through the top iron plate, thus improving heat efficiency even more.

Other models use a design that includes firebox insulation, a large baffle to produce a longer, hotter gas flow path.

[27] Increases in efficiency allow users of stoves to spend less time gathering wood or other fuels, suffer less emphysema and other lung diseases prevalent in smoke-filled homes, while reducing deforestation and air pollution.

Since they are highly efficient, they don't need a chimney; instead, they can be vented outdoors by a four-inch (102 mm) pipe through an outside wall and so can be located in any room in the home.

This is largely achieved through causing the maximum amount of material to combust, which results in a net efficiency of 60 to 70%, as contrasted to less than 30% for an open fireplace.

SB 1256, a bill that would ban the sale of disposable, single-use propane cylinders in California, is set to be presented for approval to Governor Gavin Newsom.

Propane stoves are widely used by campers for cooking, lighting, and heating, and the spent gas canisters often pile up on the ground near dumpsters at campgrounds.

The bill is sponsored by the California Product Stewardship Council, a nonprofit local government coalition, in an effort to reduce waste and cut down on the pile-ups of canisters.

[34] Other engineering societies (see Envirofit International, Colorado, US) and philanthropic groups (see the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, California) continue to research and promote improved cook stove designs.