Induction Ranges

[ohchaucer 1443]

Moving to a new house that doesn't have gas (insert "unlike the owner" dad jokes forthwith)....    As a home "chef" I'm a little dismayed by this as electric generally sucks.  But does anyone here use an induction range?  I've heard great things.  Current appliances are all Bosch and they seem to make a decent slide-in induction range.

Any insights or watchouts?

[gsoda3 3285]

We have a gas range but have been gifted a couple single indiction burners. They're awesome. So much faster boiling a pot of water on them. There's no energy lost to heat and they're so much faster than a gas range. I try to use them for everything in the summer. You do have to make sure whatever pot you use is magnetic. I do use the gas range for stuff like simmering and braising though. It's hard to control the heat level.

My parents have an entire induction stovetop and seem to like it. Just be careful when you leave a big pot of water on it to boil, when it does boil it's incredibly violent and can throw water at you

[dcbc 14568]

For whatever reason, they didn't run gas to our cooktop.  Because of how our attic is setup and the furnace location or other gas locations, getting a gas line run is more than I want to spend.  Thought about induction, but spent the extra money elsewhere and got a glasstop electric cooktop.  Obviously, it's slower to heat up the skillets than gas, but you have a bit more time to grab things and do prep knowing that there's that delay.  It's easy to fine tune the temperature up or down, with a bit less delay.  Again, you learn to finesse it.  Only downside is that keeping it clean is a pain and no matter how careful you are, you'll get burned on spots.  Also, if you cook with cast iron and drink, eventually, you'll set the cast iron pan down hard and crack it (same danger with induction, I suppose).

Some day, I'll empty my pockets and bite the bullet on having the gas line run, but I'm not entirely unhappy in the meantime.

[Tonesky 1006]

Anyone making a combo gas/induction cooktop, or single or double induction unit that can be built-in next to the gas cooktop? 

Edited June 25, 2018 by Tonesky

[DalTxHornFan 3122]

One of our previous homes didn't have gas.  We did a big remodel after we bought it and went with a glass cook top.  While I still prefer gas burners, the glass top was really good.  We were able to use all of our cookware, including fish poachers, turkey pans and all of our heavy metal cast iron.  Very responsive to temperature adjustments and easy to clean.  

[Mack Tripper 696]

There are Michelin-starred restaurants that use induction over gas and everything else. Costco sells single induction burners for pretty cheap that you can play around with. 

[52-80 19277]

Couple of things that annoying me:

 

Glass tops scratch and Mar and otherwise look bad.  Prefer an industrial surface you could scour the hell out of.

 

You may have to replace some existing pots and pans that are not induction compatible.

 

Induction (rather than gas or electric) are only on when it comes in contact with vessel.  So you cannot do a thing such as tilt the pan to baste sauce since the heating will turn off.  

 

I'm squarely on team gas.  That said, because of above, induction is way safer.  MIL had an accident with her gas stove once and now the wife vows she never wants one.

 

[ohchaucer 1443]

52-80, appreciate the thoughts, but you might want to double check that you're not a Russian bot.

[52-80 19277]

7 hours ago, ohchaucer said:

52-80, appreciate the thoughts, but you might want to double check that you're not a Russian bot.

Da 

[52-80 19277]

And whichever you choose make sure it has an analog control dial.  Those touch control stoves are stupid

[Sam Lin 3564]

10 hours ago, 52-80 said:

Induction (rather than gas or electric) are only on when it comes in contact with vessel.  So you cannot do a thing such as tilt the pan to baste sauce since the heating will turn off.    

One small clarification on this point, it's not exactly correct:

Induction needs to detect ferrous metal within a certain range, as a safety mechanism. The allowable gap differs by brand, but it will heat with a small air gap if you lift the pan, and if you tilt the pan but leave the bottom edge of the pan inside the induction pad area, it will continue to heat.

General rule with induction, esp when you first get one, is halve your "normal" heat settings. IE if you're used to cooking something on Hi, try it on Med first. Induction is far more energy efficient as it heats the pan directly as opposed to needing to heat the air and then have the air heat the pan, so the actual pan heat will be higher than you're used to (hence the comment above about water boiling very vigorously).

[52-80 19277]

timely fucking post... just dropped a glass herb container onto my ceramic cooktop and cracked the whole motherfucker.

 

fuck these things.

[Newdoc 3465]

18 minutes ago, 52-80 said:

a glass herb container

Is that your fancy phrase for "bong"?

[dcbc 14568]

8 hours ago, 52-80 said:

timely fucking post... just dropped a glass herb container onto my ceramic cooktop and cracked the whole motherfucker.

 

fuck these things.

I've got an edge crack on mine from being clumsy with a cast iron pan.  You can get replacement glass usually.  I need to do that.

[dcbc 14568]

Going to get a quote to run a gas line once again before I decide what to do about this cracked electric top.  Considering getting an induction cooktop as an alternative if the $3K quote for a gas line is the same or similar.  One interesting thing I have read is for heavier pans like cast iron, you can put a thin silicone baking sheet over the burner and it works just fine.

[52-80 19277]

13 hours ago, dcbc said:

Going to get a quote to run a gas line once again before I decide what to do about this cracked electric top.  Considering getting an induction cooktop as an alternative if the $3K quote for a gas line is the same or similar.  One interesting thing I have read is for heavier pans like cast iron, you can put a thin silicone baking sheet over the burner and it works just fine.

Change of heart and we're gonna do the same - going to induction. 

Part of the reason is being able to cook with baking paper, or paper towel, or anything else on the cooking surface.  Will come in handy for sautee where it'll absorb splattered oil.  Also the heat is only happening at the pan interface, so if any fluids (like pasta water) spills out, it won't "bake" into the glass top.

And what put me over the edge is finding induction tops with actual physical dials.  90% of the ones I've seen have heating controls as touch-buttons on the glass itself which it stupid for 2000x reasons.  But some oven+stove pairs have analog stove dials built into the oven control panel and that's acceptable to me

 

[Buzzrock 15026]

There was an induction stove in an Airbnb we used in Ireland two years ago. I just remember how alarmingly fast it boiled water. Like, don’t walk away from the stove and be ready to jump back, fast.

It would be cool to have one as part of an outdoor kitchen but I’m not sure how well it would weather.

[dcbc 14568]

2 hours ago, 52-80 said:

Change of heart and we're gonna do the same - going to induction. 

Part of the reason is being able to cook with baking paper, or paper towel, or anything else on the cooking surface.  Will come in handy for sautee where it'll absorb splattered oil.  Also the heat is only happening at the pan interface, so if any fluids (like pasta water) spills out, it won't "bake" into the glass top.

And what put me over the edge is finding induction tops with actual physical dials.  90% of the ones I've seen have heating controls as touch-buttons on the glass itself which it stupid for 2000x reasons.  But some oven+stove pairs have analog stove dials built into the oven control panel and that's acceptable to me

 

Let us know which one you get.  I haven't seen too many with dials, but I'd be interested in that for the same 2000x reasons.

[horn4life 3813]

IF I ever ended up with a place without gas I would go with induction.  Simply because it's as close as possible to gas for the "instant" response of gas in increasing or decreasing the heat.  Plus just ... science!

[dcbc 14568]

I have the GE Profile induction cooktop on order along with a new set of stainless cookware since my old stuff was not induction friendly.  Was holding out for gas, but running the line was going to be more trouble and $$ than it is worth.  Should be here next week.

[RPM 26426]

I have a portable induction cooktop. Maybe it's a cheapo, but unless you have a good flat contact between pan and cooktop it doesn't work, i.e my teapot has a dimpled bottom and will lose contact. 

[dcbc 14568]

I ordered the flat cooktop and flat bottom pans.  No regurts.

[milkman 428]

Take a look at the freedom induction cooktop by Thermador.

[dcbc 14568]

1 hour ago, milkman said:

Take a look at the freedom induction cooktop by Thermador.

Impressive, and not to sound like too much of a poor, but $5,300 is a bit out of my cooktop budget.

Edited June 10, 2019 by dcbc

[NoRagrets 1133]

On 6/7/2019 at 12:04 PM, dcbc said:

I ordered the flat cooktop and flat bottom pans.  No regurts.

RAGRETS!

[dcbc 14568]

Finally got it delivered this morning and installed it this evening.  Cooked up a mean grilled cheese for my kid on it.  Pretty cool.  I figure I'll get used to the slight hum. 

[Gil Bang 26099]

your kid hums when eating grilled cheese?  ME TOO!!!

[dcbc 14568]

Okay, after a few days, here are my takes.

It heats up quickly, but the ultimate settings I use are similar to my old electric glass top.  It's biggest advantage and how it compares best to gas is the reaction time when I change temperatures.  Like gas, it's immediate.  Clean up is simple.  No knobs to clean around.  Surfaces are a bit too hot to touch after cooking, but not so hot they're making candy out of spills.

The down side is that I can't beat the shit out of it like I could with a gas cook top with cast iron grates.  But, oh well.  I have a couple of silicone baking circles to put under the heavier duty pans (cast iron). 

Edited July 1, 2019 by dcbc

[dcbc 14568]

5 year bump on this thread.  GE Profile 36" Induction Cooktop still is running like a champ (knock wood).  The fan tends to kick on during longer cooks, so I open the spoon drawers to help it ventilate.  I use sil-pats under the pans and it still looks brand new.  Clean up is a breeze. 

 

I've also learned that you need to heat these things up slowly.  The magnets always are smaller than the circles on the cooktop, and with things like carbon steel, which don't conduct heat as efficiently as tri-ply stainless, if you heat the center up so quickly that the outer parts of the pan can't catch up, they can warp.  I had to take a mallet to my Matfer Bourgeat C/S pan to get the bottom back to true.  In that same thought, you basically have to boil water in a pan to figure out the various magnet sizes.  On mine, they're roughly 3" smaller than the outline on the cooktop.  My largest is 8" (3,700 watts).  So generally, I try to put the larger pans on that burner (which isn't the ideal position).  But it's mostly fine, and the smaller burner still works for larger pans as long as you take your time heating them up. 

 

If I had it to do over again, I might double my budget and get a Jenn Air, which has six 8" elements @ 3,700 watts.  But overall, I've been really happy with this cook top.

[pops 7044]

Man, I tried to give them a fair shake,  but I just think gas is so superior. 

My parents did a remodel and got a 6 burner induction range. Boiling water is awesome. No question. Definitely looking into a single portable unit,  maybe. But the way I cook where I'm moving pans from burner to burner or tossing stuff.....I just couldn't get used to it. 

And temp selection is so finicky and changes from pan to pan.  Built in safety features are an asswhip. I just want heat I can see and feel and be able to cook.  And for different vessels and styles and flexibility,  I just don't see how you can beat gas.

Induction is definitely cool and I can see it being useful camping or tailgating or whatever,  but in my home kitchen,  give me that sweet blue flame. 

 

[dcbc 14568]

1 hour ago, pops said:

Man, I tried to give them a fair shake,  but I just think gas is so superior. 

My parents did a remodel and got a 6 burner induction range. Boiling water is awesome. No question. Definitely looking into a single portable unit,  maybe. But the way I cook where I'm moving pans from burner to burner or tossing stuff.....I just couldn't get used to it. 

And temp selection is so finicky and changes from pan to pan.  Built in safety features are an asswhip. I just want heat I can see and feel and be able to cook.  And for different vessels and styles and flexibility,  I just don't see how you can beat gas.

Induction is definitely cool and I can see it being useful camping or tailgating or whatever,  but in my home kitchen,  give me that sweet blue flame. 

 

I like gas fine but not enough to spend $4k (probably more now) to drop a line (given how my house is situated with respect to my gas sources).  As far as temperature selection being finicky and changing from pan-to-pan or built in safety features, that's not been my experience.  Understanding the different burner sizes is pretty intuitive on my setup.  I can slide pans around on sil-pats enough without scratching things up or lift them off the burner if they need a good shake (on mine, the pan has to be off the burner for 25 seconds before it turns off; so that's a non-issue; gas doesn't heat the pan if you remove the pan either).  If I want to move a pan to another burner, it's easy, and that burner instantly gives the pan whatever level of power I set when I move it over there because there's no waiting for the surface to heat up and no loss of efficiency.  And as far as cleanup, there's no comparison to gas or a radiant-electric cooktop.  Mine looks brand new at 5 years old.

Like I mentioned before, you can't beat the shit out of your pans like you can on cast iron grates and keep things looking nice.  My pans, though well used, still look good as a result.  And a wok that isn't a flat-bottom job isn't going to work, but other than that, my experience in owning one for five years is that it works really well, even if it takes some getting used to.  Temperature control is extremely precise, especially on the low end.  Keep warm and melt settings work like a charm. 

 

Side note: You do have to bring an empty pan (carbon steel in particular) up slowly because they can warp if you're using a HOB that's undersized for the cooking surface of the pan and you just put it on blast.  But you only need to do this slowly enough so that the temperature difference between the area under the HOB and the outside of the pan doesn't vary wildly.  Or you can just put the bigger pans on the larger HOB and bring it up a little more quickly.  It amounts to a couple of minutes while I'm prepping and is on par with my experience in bringing a pan up to temp on gas.

 

As far as those portable induction HOBs go, I wouldn't bother.  Most are cheap crap with undersized magnets.  Which cooktop do your parents have?

 

TLDR, if you like gas, great.  When I first got my induction cooktop, I felt like it was a consolation purchase with an excuse to get new cookware because getting the gas line dropped was too expensive.  But it didn't take long to get used to it, and now, I don't think about "upgrading" to gas anymore.  That said, I still like cooking on gas, but if and when we have to replace this cooktop, we'll very likely get another induction setup (hopefully one where all of the HOBs have at least 8" magnets). 

Edited June 21 by dcbc

[CHIEF 5096]

As a homebuilder, I always install induction cooktops in all of my homes. I have a gas cooktop that runs off propane, after always having a gas cooktop in Austin, I couldn't go back to electric. As a realtor in a subdivision that tends to have all electric appliances, I tell clients that don't like to use electric cooktops to change out the electric cooktop with an induction model. You can get them from Home Depot or Lowe's, in town, for between $500-$1000. It is a lot cheaper than running a gas line, and will be much safer.

CHIEF

[52-80 19277]

On 6/21/2024 at 4:16 AM, dcbc said:

I like gas fine but not enough to spend $4k (probably more now) to drop a line (given how my house is situated with respect to my gas sources).  As far as temperature selection being finicky and changing from pan-to-pan or built in safety features, that's not been my experience.  Understanding the different burner sizes is pretty intuitive on my setup.  I can slide pans around on sil-pats enough without scratching things up or lift them off the burner if they need a good shake (on mine, the pan has to be off the burner for 25 seconds before it turns off; so that's a non-issue; gas doesn't heat the pan if you remove the pan either).  If I want to move a pan to another burner, it's easy, and that burner instantly gives the pan whatever level of power I set when I move it over there because there's no waiting for the surface to heat up and no loss of efficiency.  And as far as cleanup, there's no comparison to gas or a radiant-electric cooktop.  Mine looks brand new at 5 years old.

Like I mentioned before, you can't beat the shit out of your pans like you can on cast iron grates and keep things looking nice.  My pans, though well used, still look good as a result.  And a wok that isn't a flat-bottom job isn't going to work, but other than that, my experience in owning one for five years is that it works really well, even if it takes some getting used to.  Temperature control is extremely precise, especially on the low end.  Keep warm and melt settings work like a charm.

You can put a silicone mat on the cooktop so you dont need to be as gentle with the cookware. Magnetic field works through the silicone so heating efficiency shouldnt be much affected.

https://www.ikea.com/nl/en/p/baktradition-baking-mat-white-turquoise-60480167/

This mat withstands 450F. Common oven liner products are said to withstand up to 500, 600F.

For size matching the rule is match the size of pan to the cooktop, but if there's a mismatch, use the larger cooktop grid... which is not a problem for induction because only the part in contact with the pan will heat up. 

[dcbc 14568]

3 hours ago, 52-80 said:

You can put a silicone mat on the cooktop so you dont need to be as gentle with the cookware. Magnetic field works through the silicone so heating efficiency shouldnt be much affected.

https://www.ikea.com/nl/en/p/baktradition-baking-mat-white-turquoise-60480167/

This mat withstands 450F. Common oven liner products are said to withstand up to 500, 600F.

For size matching the rule is match the size of pan to the cooktop, but if there's a mismatch, use the larger cooktop grid... which is not a problem for induction because only the part in contact with the pan will heat up. 

Oh, for sure.  I've been using sil-pats under my pans since Day 1. 

[troph 24923]

We love our induction, safer, less toxic, better for the environment and comparable cooking experience to gas to the point we really see no trade off, there is no settling it’s equivalent, it’s really a no brainer imo. Anyone else considering it go for it.

[tigol 2421]

I’ve had a KitchenAid range with induction for about 4 years and it’s still going strong.

I definitely could not go back to a normal electric range. Gas isn’t an option out here. But with safety in mind induction wins either way.

[NoRagrets 1133]

I love my induction, especially with my forgetful wife and irresponsible children. Peace of mind > cooking perfection. If I do want gas, I use my outdoor stove on my grill (really just for wok). 

[NoRagrets 1133]

PSA - there’s a special glass cooktop cleaner that makes cleanup easy. 
https://a.co/d/4AkYHSR

[dcbc 14568]

34 minutes ago, NoRagrets said:

PSA - there’s a special glass cooktop cleaner that makes cleanup easy. 
https://a.co/d/4AkYHSR

I use that one about once per week.  They also make a spray, which is good for quick, every-day wipe downs.

[Okie State 3855]

I'm not fully against induction. I think they have some advantages. I really don't understand the 'comparable to gas cooking' reviews though. It's not even close to the same in my opinion. Maybe that's okay for some people, but not for us.

[dcbc 14568]

18 minutes ago, Okie State said:

I'm not fully against induction. I think they have some advantages. I really don't understand the 'comparable to gas cooking' reviews though. It's not even close to the same in my opinion. Maybe that's okay for some people, but not for us.

It's comparable to gas in that the changes to temperature settings are immediate.  You turn the flame down, it's down (as opposed to an electric element).  You turn it up, it's up.  There is no lag in the heat source because there is no medium.  It's the same with induction.  There is no coil to heat up or, if you turn it down, that is releasing heat into the pan.  The pan is heated directly by the magnetic HOB or the gas flame directly. 

 

Otherwise, they're not 1:1 comparable.  Induction is far more efficient than gas in heating up a pan.  Gas can be better at heating up the side of the pan.  Both can have issues with hot spots and cold spots depending on the type of gas burner or the size of the induction HOB relative to the size of the pan.