Fast heating, wipe clean, works off clean electricity, roasts me less in the summer, doesn’t care about the air coming from a window, starts the first time every time, what more could I ask for? I got this cheap plug in one and it dropkicks my installed gas stove in basically every metric.
Yeah fast and easy to clean. What more can you want?
Physical knobs to turn instead of the tests of the limits of my patience that are capacitive buttons on a cooking device.
Please and thank you.
Some induction stoves do have real knobs. Smeg makes one that I have not used so I can’t say anything about the quality, but I’m just happy that they exist.
That’s an unfortunate company name. Especially for one that makes kitchen appliances.
It’s an acronym for Smalterie Metallurgiche Emiliane Guastalla (“Emilian Guastalla Metallurgical Enamelling Works” in Italian). They’re actually a pretty high end brand, but yes, the name is amusing
Smeghead
I hate capacitive buttons so much
Aaand actual temperature control. Not just on/off 100% power.
Ah yes, the duty cycling is annoying, too!
Temperature control seems to have so much delay that it seesaws wildly and isn’t actually useful in practice. I couldn’t get mine to boil eggs without it stopping the boil constantly, unless I set it to 160°+ IIRC.
Maybe not temp control, struggling to find a word, but a constant power flow instead of the on off duty cycle
I’ve never noticed a duty cycle with my induction, only conventional cooktops. Is that a problem with particularl makes, models, or price points?
My induction just sets the power output to the level I choose and holds it there. It doesn’t hold a temperature, just a power output, so I do have to watch it because setting it to medium will be very different on a hot pan vs a cold pan.
We have one at work that does this. Super annoying. If you put it at 5/10 it’s full blast 3 seconds and then off 3 seconds. It’s probably prevalent on cheap models.
i guess to be able to cook my food and keep me warm when the power goes out.
As a backup for the induction cooktop I have a propane camping stove and a full gas cylinder. Last power outage when I actually needed it was in 2021.
Benefits of induction greatly outweigh the minute possibility of the power going out.
In my life I don’t think I’ve seen a power outage longer than a couple hours, and that was maybe once? I don’t even remember the last time I’ve seen one. Maybe experienced 10-15 in my whole life, with most lasting minutes.
Am I just really lucky in my area? Or is this the experience most people have?
Texans need not answer, I already know.
it happens to me about once a year, where i lose power for like 2 days due to a snow storm
Where do you live? US?
2 days with no power? Damn! I can see the allure of gas much more in this situation
I live in Seattle, and this has been my experience. Techno-city powered by dams = reliable
Where in the hell do you live to see a power outage? I live in the EU and the longest power outage was for three hours when I was a child. That was the only one in my life.
In the US, objectively the greatest country in the world (/s), you can expect a major power outage every other year, and it will be blamed on the very people who fucking called it.
Last big one in my life was just a couple years ago, no power for two weeks. Greatest country in the world my ass.
I got this cheap plug in one and it dropkicks my installed gas stove in basically every metric.
like a hot plate?
which one my hot plate is too shitty to use my moka pot on but i have zero problems using the moka pot over gas
Probably because your moka pot is aluminum (or otherwise non-magnetic) so induction can’t heat it.
On this topic, there are adapter plates you can get for moka pots (basically just a piece of steel on a handle) so you can use them on induction.
Aluminum is more conductive than steel so eddy currents flow more easily in aluminum. Some pans have an aluminum disc inside, for induction stovetops. Maybe it’s too much aluminum vs just a disc? His hot plate might be too low power or not induction just a glass top
This is wrong. Induction requires magnetism, not conductivity. A pure aluminum pan will not get hot on an induction hob. Some aluminum pans have an iron or steel plate inserted in their base to allow them to work on induction.
OK you’re saying the higher resistance of the steel is needed for adequate heat. Got it
No, I am saying the pan has to be magnetic, which is what I have said 3 times now. You are completely wrong about how induction cooking works.
Heat from eddy currents is a small fraction of what magnetic hysteresis can produce. You can technically heat any good conductor with eddy currents alone if it is non-magnetic, but the equipment needed is significantly more complex and power hungry than induction cooking hobs.
You’re wrong too, what on Earth does hysteresis have to do with heating??
Because we’re working with AC, we need a small skin effect, which is given by the inverse square root of [pifrequencypermeability*conductivity]. It’s permeability that’s going to be the deciding factor here, because all metals have reasonably similar conductivity but ferromagnetic materials have four orders of magnitude higher permeability.
This also means that steel which is not ferromagnetic will not work on an induction stovetop. The stove will detect it and the chip will reject the pan to prevent damage to the coils.
oh, my shitty hot plate is one of those coils. it’s really shitty.
its problem is that it only has two settings, on and off, and it reaches the desired temperature by cycling between those. and full blast hot boils the water too fast.
Oh yea, that’s a different problem. One of the big drawbacks of all radiant electric unfortunately.
what more could I ask for?
Longevity. My first induction lasted 10 years. My second 3 years, my 3rd six months, my fourth weeks. I use a conventional glasstop electric now.
Interesting. Is everything alright with your wiring/electric source? Because them dying in progressively shorter time tells this way.
Still, conventional electric is not bad.
Electrical is fine. Planned obsalescence is shit.
If there was a problem with the wiring, wouldn’t conventional electric also have issues?
Dang, that sucks. I’m still daily using an electric stove from the 1950’s lol. I would love it if modern “environmentally friendly” appliances could last this long
if i could afford an induction cooker with a bowl shaped coil to fit a wok, i’d be fully satisfied.
The main downside is that your pots and pans need to be compatible. In particular we have a few nice small pans, like actually small, and they work exclusively on the front left burner, and need to be a bit off center. I imagine there’s something wrong with the stove or the pans, but it’s a class of issues you don’t have with resistive or gas stoves.
Basically anything you can buy now is compatible…of course that means your grandma’s pots downt work any more but all my stuff is now nearly 30 years old and works with induction.
There are flat induction adapters for this very purpose, look 'em up, they’re cheap. They heat from induction and then transfer the heat to anything that doesn’t support induction itself, or is too small to work on a given burner.
While it obviously defeats the efficiency gains of induction, it’s otherwise workable and can help you with everything that can’t be put straight on the stove.
Is there a ‘gib hot’ supremacy gang? Ive litteraly made eggs on a hot stone just give me some temperature ill figure out the rest.
Deyre goin to take muh gas stowve
Imagine having less asthma in kids and the elderly! Imagine having your inside air be less ubhealthy
Call me a dumbass, but until a couple of years ago I had no clue anything was unhealthy about gas.
CH4 + O2 + fire -> CO2 + H2O
I suspect most of Gen X and earlier still believe gas stoves to be harmless.
They better. It’s already affecting your spelling part of the brain
My neighbor’s daughter bought an induction stove for her best friend who happens to be a trans dwarf porn star. She goes by Munchkin Cock Jenny and let me tell you she can cook a hell of a good meal on that thing. She hosted us all for Thanksgiving breakfast last year and made Vienna sausages with coconut rice and strawberry rhubarb pie, all mixed together on the stovetop. None of it got hot because she just placed it all on the surface but at least she tried. She died of meningitis about 4 hours after we left which is unfortunate because whoever had to deal with her estate had to clean the stovetop.
Luckily induction is really easy to clean.
123 Via Elephant
Elephantsburg
F4T LF🐜Hello Mr elephant
Sometimes I have to go back to cooking on a ceramic or gas at someone else’s house and it always annoys me how long boiling water takes.
Induction has just gone from “cool, but for the rich folks” to simply an undisputed king of stovetops.
Much like solar and other green technologies.
Induction rules but the touch controls that almost always come with them can fuck right off.
You can usually attach real knobs if you have the space (and permission)
We couldn’t possibly use these button things. They are secret arcane technology.
“We should put touch controls on things that are permanently greasy” -Kitchen appliance and gadget designers hired by Satan’s evil twin.
I mean you really should wipe your stovetop off any time it gets greasy, that way it doesn’t build up so you don’t have a mess to deal with later. Even on an old one with knobs I’d advise that.
Also all my pots and pans are…aluminum
Are they anodised?
Ok, I’ll bite, what difference does anodizing make, and do you know what anodizing actually is.
Oxidises and creates a hard layer so the aluminium doesn’t leach or react with acids.
Wouldn’t oxygen in the air oxidize aluminum and create that layer regardless?
No
Yes, they are modern aluminum, so no dangers. They just don’t work on induction.
Absolutely. Luckily, there are induction hobs with knobs (I personally own one), and I hope we’ll see more of them going forward.
Cool! Can I ask which one you have?
Some of the Gorenje Infinity series, don’t remember the model as I bought it second-hand. Here’s a very similar-looking one, Gorenje Infinity EC6INB, except mine has knobs facing front, not right:
Looks sick, works flawless, got in good condition for $50. Can’t complain.
Yeah, that looks awesome! I love the colors.
By front-facing, are the knobs still facing up from the face of the stovetop or do they point out like on a classic stove?
Yep, still up. The unit is separate and doesn’t have the oven included, so it doesn’t have space for knobs that would point out.
But generally, they don’t interfere with anything, if only sometimes when I use a large skillet on front left burner with low settings, but I can just move the skillet a little and it works anyways, so, no big deal.
Here, this is how it looks IRL:
Thanks for the picture, appreciate it.
I had to buy a used induction stove because they no longer sell new ones with physical knobs at a reasonable price.
Same. Somehow not having complex system of sensors and having a simple knob instead is a premium feature. I begin to see a pattern right there…
It’s like EVs. A great paradigm shift in the underlying base technology, accompanied by puzzling interface and control designs that really detract from the enjoyability of the transition.
Been for some time now.
Was still too expensive for many parts of the world until a few years ago.
You won’t be able to make any proper Asian stir fry on this shit. You need huge heat for a short period of time that only a gas stove can do. My parents in law have a gas stove that looks and works like a jet fighter afterburner, including the sound. No induction here mate.
Induction has more energy and transmits more energy to pots. Also there are induction woks https://youtu.be/CzJKxUCKOBg
Well you need a really strong stir fry rated burner if you want that. 99% of people that have gas stoves do not have one that can do that. You ain’t stir frying shit on this kind of gas stove believe me.
I am sorry but you are somewhat wrong. My induction stove can heat my steel wok to smoking hit in 5 seconds and glowing red in 20. Induction can deliver the energy much quicker and more efficient than gas.
You still need a good induction stove top with enough power though. In Europe that is easy with 400V outlets. In North America you usually need one with a built in capacitor to get a similar result.
I do have induction in my kitchen, the most powerful plate is 2.7kW. IIRC I could get gas up to 11kW on one burner.
Maybe there’s more powerful ones, the electrics are 3 phases of 220V with 16A - so theoretically I could push up to 10.5kW of electrical power into the stove.
It would need to communicate with the oven in that case, as the oven currently uses the 3 phase.
Eh, yes and no. You are getting the areas that are in contact with the cooking surface red hot, which with a flat bottom wok is a really small area. Since most woks are made out of thin metal, you aren’t getting much heat transfer to the majority of the pan like you would with gas.
Tbh the best option imo for stirfry is just to have an outdoor wok burner hooked up to a propane tank. Unless you have an industrial stove, you aren’t getting the pan hot enough on gass either.
There are actually special wok induction plates. The are shaped like the wok and are much closer to the real heat distribution of a gas burner. Nevertheless I don’t think that is necessary. My wok gets plenty hot where it matters and I make a killer fried rice.
There are actually special wok induction plates.
For a stove top, or like a stand alone device?
Nevertheless I don’t think that is necessary.
I mean… It is, especially depending on what and how much food you are cooking.
My wok gets plenty hot where it matters and I make a killer fried rice.
Making a “killer fried rice” isn’t the end all be all of wok cooking. I have had plenty of white people make what they claim is great fried rice that is greasy dog shit because they can’t get their woks hot enough.
As someone who grew up in Chinese restaurant kitchens… I can assure you a flat bottomed wok on an induction stovetop is never going to be adequate for traditional Chinese cooking. If there is an induction plate shaped to fit a round bottom wok and you could rock the wok on without damaging it…that would be a different story.
Until then I’m going to stick to using my outdoor burner, especially considering that the only electric utilities I have access to are already created with natural gas.
They make curved induction stovestops to rest your wok like a traditional wok burner, but a strong induction stovetop will be able to do the same, you just won’t be able to set it down on anything lol.
Its not as common in consumer because gas is still very common in Asia, but there are several models available as well as full sized restaurant induction wok stoves that can fit proper big woks with ease and hit the very high heat needed for the first use seasoning stage.
The heat response time is slightly better than gas, you just lose out on the visual
queuecue of your flame.
Cannot roast marshmallows OR light a joint, literally what is this used for???
Justice for jiffy pop!
I bet if you made the induction coils stronger, it could work on aluminum
(Imagines an induction stove surface powerful enough to induce heat in non-ferromagnetic metals. Shudders in fear. Twitches in excitement)
Induction is anti smoking propaganda. They want to take away our freedoms!
Upvote for funny.
Man, so many people have zero sense of humor.
Who the hell roasts marshmallows inside???
Also buy yourself a lighter
People with proper stoves.
And I’ve got a lighter, it weighs 200lb, has four burner heads and gets my hair for me at the same time.
People with proper stoves.
Aka the mentally unwell.
Good to hear you have a non portable lighter.
Dr says the fumes are good for my mental health.
Handheld lighters are fine for beginners or if you really need to be able to move your lighter, but if you look at any enthusiast or professional setup you’re gonna see fixed / static lighters most of the time. Handheld lighters just don’t have the stability or lighting capacity needed for more serious applications.
I see. You must be a real lightsr enthusiast to be so invested in serious heavy duty lighters
Aka the mentally unwell
dude this is the fediverse what did you expect to find here
I was not expecting anything.
Now I’m picturing someone putting a marshmallow on a spoon and holding a lighter under it to roast it.
Induction is fast, but actually cooking is a PITA because mine at least adjusts power output via PWMing the whole output with a very slow square wave: i.e. it alternates between full on and completely off. Yes that’s also what thermostats do on electric stoves with resistive elements, but those have extra thermal mass and thermal lag that smoothes out the overall heat output.
Make one the size of my 12" skillet so it doesn’t create a neat little zone of heat surrounded by sticky cold pan, and I’m all yours. Haven’t seen one yet.
Consider one of those where you can combine the burners/zones
Maybe I just haven’t gotten to use a nice one yet - every time it’s a landlord special, cheapest junk on the market.
Yeah landlird specials suck. But if it’s a newer one even the cheapest induction hobs are quite good
Don’t get me wrong they boil water faster than hellfire, and if the pan is the right size they do great. I’m just too loyal to my big ol’ skillet
Yeah I get you
i had one (a couple decades ago) that the large burner had two zones: both the ring and the center of the ring could be activated independently. it’s been a hot minute so i don’t remember exactly how it worked.
and i need a 14 inch skillet for my good pastas
Neff Flexzone…
Looked it up, seems like the widest zone is 23cm, about 7 too narrow for my skillet. Looks cool though
You can add zones together… and that is possible over the complete width.
And burners are also only heating certain points…
Right, I did look at the dimensions. You can’t fit a 30cm circle into a rectangle 23cm wide no matter how long it is though.
Cast iron heats up quite slowly, so any part not being heated means the pan is still going to be partially sticky, at least in my experience with induction.
Ultimately if I was in the position to be choosing my own hob, I’d probably just also buy a pan that fits the area. I’m not a gas burner advocate by any means.
I did…
Neff N90
Left and right 20x23 cm, center 30x23cm they can work together
I do this all the time
And yes, there is a dead zone but its just a few centimeters and conductivity for heat in metal is pretty high
Or Siemens iq700 No knob however
That’s one of my biggest objections - too many cheap ones with tiny coils. When I got mine, I ended up spending double what I planned, mostly so I could get useful sized coils
And this being the US where induction is rare and expensive , I had to get a double oven and and “smart” features in order to get larger coils
not quite 12" but the biggest element on mine would probably be great with your skillet (if its the right metal)
I have a GE profile. That has the various sized burners. The odd part is the matching microwave got rid of many touch buttons and replaced it with a knob, which actually works well, but the stove has no knobs. Stove touch buttons work fairly well though, added bonus is you can lock the controls with a lock button. When looking my favorite choices came from ge profile and bosch.
Looks good enough! All the ones I end up with are usually closer to 8" at most, and I ended up shifting the pan awkwardly to heat it evenly.
What model?
Not OP but the GE Cafe line has a big “burner” like this for a large pan. And physical turn knobs for control.
Bosch Benchmark, from 5 or 6 years ago
Omg yes. I’d been wanting to try one out for a long time. My friend got one. Stayed over and tried to make my specialty giant pancakes. Sorely disappointed with the useless results. Now I just bring my waffle iron instead.
I love the idea. I hate the shitty unreliable overly digital implementation. Induction came around after everything was already well on the way to enshittification. Components are sized to last through warranty, not to last 20 or 30 years.
My gas stove, which has certainly many issues, hasn’t got a chip in it, and with occasional replacement of igniters will likely outlast me, unless we choose to replace it. This is a unique stove though, I will admit.
Our last induction lasted 15 years untill somebody cracked it so you just need to not buy the cheapest ever and it’s alright.
15 years is not long for a stove to last.
We only replaced it because it had a huge crack in it. It still worked no issue.
Your gas stove will outlast you. Partly because it is a very simple appliance, but also because gas stoves are fucking terrible for your health.
They are terrible if you don’t use an exhaust system sized to your stove.
Cooking on induction unvented is also bad, less bad than cooking on unvented gas, but you’re still putting things in the air that you’re not supposed to breathe.
If you have an exhaust fan, turn it on no matter what you cook with. If you don’t have an exhaust system, open a window.
I have an air quality monitor in my living room, and it knows when the stove is on in the kitchen, even if I have the windows open. It’s debatable how much of an effect it has on your health, but overall, we should stop burning fossil fuels wherever and whenever possible. Ditching my gas appliances in my house is high on my list of things to spend money on, even though it’s probably going to be ~10K to get them all switched over.
I want to systematically test air quality when cooking with gas versus electric. Do you notice anything different in the air quality when you use a toaster or other electric appliance that heats food above 350°F/175°C?
I’m similar. Surprisingly quick jumps in particulates and voc in the family room when the stove in the kitchen was turned on.
I don’t notice it on small electric appliances (but never explicitly tested them), and no longer have a gas stove
I also have a hepa filter in the family room that would come on surprisingly quickly and made a significant difference …. When it was new. Unfortunately that has gotten bumped so many times that it is usually throwing an error
With gas stoves the issue is mainly NO2, however all cooking releases volatile chemicals which typically get worse depending on how oily the food is.
Really the problem is with ventilation moreso how or what you are cooking. Most non industrial range hoods are severely underpowered and installed incorrectly.
I have a relatively small range hood to which installed an industrial inline exhaust fan too. Even though it’s small, the motor is strong enough to clear any smoke in the kitchen within a min.
Yeah I’ve been a little worried about that ….
My detector does not measure NOx, so I have no idea. But now that the gas stove is gone it’s no longer relevant
And yeah, definitely concerned about ventilation. I also have a pretty powerful inline exhaust fan, however there is no hood at all. The previous owners installed a pot rack in place of the hood and the kitchen is small enough that I can’t really change that. The exhaust fan is just a ceiling vent. I have no idea whether that balances out as positive (strong fan) or negative (no hood), but now that the gas stove is gone, that’s also a bit less important.
I don’t know if visual spatter/smoke, or smell are useful indicators but the induction stove has less of these. It only cooks what I intend
I do not have a gas stove but I do have have multiple air quality sensors. Any amount of cooking causes particulates to increase from a base range of 2 to 200+ for 2.5 and 10 ppm.
I’ve had too many induction stove tops turn off too many times by moving a pan over the on button for this to be true
It’s not a problem inherit to induction hobs. But oh god do I agree. On mine it’s any little spill or pot out of place on any touch button will turn it off. I will demand physical knobs on my next stove top.
That’s not really an induction top issue, but rather a general issue with “smart” appliances. Electric stove tops with touch have the same issue and my induction top with knobs works fine.
In my experience at least the vast majority of induction tops have touch controls but I understand that they can come without
Which bits on, who can say. Perhaps none of it is on, perhaps resistive touch screen controls are a bad idea on the surface that might get wet. Who can say.
God I would kill for an induction stove with the classic interface for sure
They exist!
I have a hybrid cooktop. one burner is radiant, the other is induction. this solves all my problems.
I also regularly buy bar keepers friend to clean the pots as stuff stuck outside those pots tend to get fiercely stuck when not using LPG.
I wanted capacitive but couldn’t, where I live that spike in electricity is simply not sustainable, power wise
I’m pretty sure capacitors aren’t used as heating elements in cooktops, it’s just resistors and inductors that are options. A capacitive cooktop would be fucking weird in any of the ways I can picture it being done
