A stove

A stove is a heat-producing device. The word typically describes an appliance used either for generating warmth or for cooking. In British English, however, the term cooker is normally used for the cooking appliance, and stove for a wood- or coal-burning room-heating appliance. Another American English word for a cooking stove is range.

There are many types of stoves. A kitchen stove is used to cook food, and refers to a device that has both burners on the top (also known as the cooktop or range or, in British English, the hob) and, often, an oven. A cooktop just has burners on the top and is usually installed into a countertop. A drop-in range has both burners on the top and an oven and hangs from a cutout in the countertop (that is, it cannot be installed free-standing on its own).

In industrial usage, stove may refer to the place where fuel is combusted before being fed to a large heat consumer such as an open hearth furnace.