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Do you smell that? A slight smell of wood burners toast or maybe wood smoke coming from an old iron stove. When people see stoves and fires, they think of their grandmother’s kitchen, where pies sizzled, or camping excursions when marshmallows turned the correct color of golden brown. The truth is that fire has been with us for a lot longer than smartphones or streaming movies.

Choosing a stove can now feel like looking for a needle in a haystack. Gas, induction, electric, and wood-burning stoves all have their own quirks and loyal fans who are ready to quarrel at any time. With a twist of the wrist, gas comes to life, giving everyone who wants to be a cook control. Induction’s smooth, glassy surface confuses anyone who sees it for the first time in an Airbnb. But wood heaters always steal the show. When the fire won’t catch, you need a lot of patience, a stack of seasoned logs, and occasionally a lot of swearing.

Fire has its own personality. It needs to be respected. If you forget to light a gas stove after letting out half a kitchen’s worth of gas, it won’t forgive you. Electric coils wait, shining in a scary way and burning fingerprints into curious fingertips. If the chimney isn’t cleaned, wood flames can smoke out a house faster than a lousy magician. People often think of fire as warm and comforting, such when they tell ghost stories around a roaring fire or huddle together on chilly winter evenings. But everyone knows how fire behaves. If you take care of it, you’ll get a hot supper. If you don’t treat it right, the smoke alarm will scream like a banshee.

A friend once thought it would be easy to make pizza on a camping stove. The crust was burned and the top was squishy, but the hot sauce and crazy laughter saved it. In any case, failures near fire typically make the best stories.

Kitchen stoves are both useful and places where people can gather. These scenes are what make up home: rushing out the door for breakfast on weekdays and having family feasts that are too loud and too hot. Some folks love their old cast iron skillet, which has been seasoned by a thousand pieces of bacon and pancakes. Others swoon over new convection ovens, which have just the right number of controls to make you feel like you’re piloting a spaceship.

People don’t think about safety unless they have to. Fire will eat what you give it. Always keep an eye open—a loose towel, a hasty reach, a distracted youngster may turn regular prep into chaos. Keep a fire extinguisher close, and remember: oil and water mix as poorly as cats and baths. If oil catches fire, put out the fear first.

Around flames, seasonal rituals grow. Cocoa and boiling stew are what winter wants. In the summer, you have to barbecue, get smoke in your hair, and roast corn till it’s perfect black. Some people look for hard-to-find firewood because they think that maple or hickory adds something that can’t be bottled.

An open flame is hard to resist. Sometimes, it’s the fizz and pop of something bubbling over on a stove late at night. Sometimes it’s the silent crackle of embers as discussions wind down. Fire, with all its insistence and warmth, never becomes dull. It’s an old friend—sometimes wild, sometimes comforting—but always the soul of any home or campsite.