Traditional woks have a deep bowl shape designed to fit into a circular opening directly over the hearth. Unless you have a custom wok insert in your range (if you do, you probably aren’t reading this article anyway), you want to avoid round-bottomed woks. They won’t work, period, on an electric range, and are tough to use on a gas range—even with one of those wok rings. On the other hand, woks with bottoms that are too flat defeat the purpose of a wok, making it tough to flip properly and to move food in and out of the high-heat zone.
Your best bet is a wok with a four- to five-inch flattened area at the bottom, with gently sloping sides that flare out to between 12 and 14 inches. This will give you plenty of high-heat space for searing meats and vegetables at the bottom, while still providing ample volume and room to maneuver when flipping.
As for handles, you have two choices. Cantonese-style woks have a small handle on either side, while Northern-style woks have a single long handle, and usually a smaller helper handle on the opposite side. The latter is the type of wok you want. The large handle facilitates flipping and stir-frying, while the short helper handle makes it easy to lift.
