3 ms·

Cool design. Unfortunately, the "put the pots anywhere you want" concept requires induction to work. You'll have to pry my gas stove "from my cold dead hands" :

Cool design. Unfortunately, the "put the pots anywhere you want" concept requires induction to work. You'll have to pry my gas stove "from my cold dead hands" :P

tptacek 15y ago
Why? Induction is nothing like an electric cooktop. It's very responsive and very very fast. They're also pretty cheap; a single burner cooktop from a good brand costs under $70. My understanding is, gas is the gold standard in the US mostly because gas (cooking fuel) is so incredibly cheap here; induction is more common in Europe.
- DanBC 15y ago
  Gas oven with induction hobs are a popular choice. Natural gas is cheap (in the UK), but the efficiencies of induction are nice. I did have trouble a few years ago finding a good quality pan suitable for use on induction hobs with a non-stick coating for my US sister.
  - tptacek 15y ago
    You can get metal slugs that sit between any pan and the induction surface to transmit the heat.
- micheljansen 15y ago
  I'm actually from Europe (The Netherlands), but it is not the price of gas that appeals to me, but the flexibility of a gas stove. I do a lot of stir-fry cooking with a wok and the only way those things work well is if there is a blazing inferno below them. I also like to use cast-iron pans for grilling, because they hold heat well and don't cool off as quickly as aluminium cookware, which helps a lot with big pieces of meat and fish. I must admit that the cleanliness and beauty of induction stoves does appeal to me. A combination stove where half of it is induction (for boiling water, cooking pasta etc.) and half is gas for more heavy-duty work would be perfect.
  - tptacek 15y ago
    The gas burners designed for woks also supply heat all around the wok, not just from the bottom-up; woks are supposedly notoriously poor performers on conventional cooktops. Gas cooktops are great! For me, based on my limited experience and knowledge, it's (Tied for 1st) [Gas, Induction], then the 2-slice toaster, then the microwave oven, then electric.
54mf 15y ago
Truth. Not to mention, I'd be terrified of throwing my cast icon pan anywhere near that glass top.
- tptacek 15y ago
  That's the thing that bugs me most about induction cooktops too.
kondro 15y ago
Induction is as responsive as gas, faster to boil water (no wasted heat, or need to heat the pot before heating the contents) and more energy efficient.
- tptacek 15y ago
  It's marginally slower to boil water than a good gas burner (my tests, but also Cooks Illustrated's, and they're not usually wrong about stuff like this), but they the two are so close that it's not worth comparing. Also, not sure how energy efficient. It may depend on the specific cook top. At max power, the things drain a lot of power. It's possible that they consume less "energy" than gas but are still more expensive, right? Gas is very cheap. It's very trippy to sear meat or boil water on a burner, lift the pan off, and have the cooktop surface be cool to the touch.
  - kondro 15y ago
    Gas may be very cheap, but we pull it from the ground. We may pull a lot of our electricity from the ground at the moment too, but there are options for renewable sources of electricity. GE rates their induction cooktops are being able to boil water about 25% faster than their gas cooktops with similar gas output. But I have seen other scores that show that induction is only slightly faster at boiling water.
    - tptacek 15y ago
      I think I agree with all this; I'm just making (or actually regurgitating) an argument for why induction isn't as popular here as it is in Europe. Again: induction is awesome. But I've done my own tests and so has Cooks Illustrated and it doesn't look like the typical induction unit boils water faster than gas. On the other hand: who cares?

Cool design. Unfortunately, the "put the pots anywhere you want" concept requires induction to work. You'll have to pry my gas stove "from my cold dead hands" :P

tptacek 15y ago

Why? Induction is nothing like an electric cooktop. It's very responsive and very very fast. They're also pretty cheap; a single burner cooktop from a good brand costs under $70. My understanding is, gas is the gold standard in the US mostly because gas (cooking fuel) is so incredibly cheap here; induction is more common in Europe.

DanBC 15y ago
Gas oven with induction hobs are a popular choice. Natural gas is cheap (in the UK), but the efficiencies of induction are nice. I did have trouble a few years ago finding a good quality pan suitable for use on induction hobs with a non-stick coating for my US sister.
- tptacek 15y ago
  You can get metal slugs that sit between any pan and the induction surface to transmit the heat.
micheljansen 15y ago
I'm actually from Europe (The Netherlands), but it is not the price of gas that appeals to me, but the flexibility of a gas stove. I do a lot of stir-fry cooking with a wok and the only way those things work well is if there is a blazing inferno below them. I also like to use cast-iron pans for grilling, because they hold heat well and don't cool off as quickly as aluminium cookware, which helps a lot with big pieces of meat and fish. I must admit that the cleanliness and beauty of induction stoves does appeal to me. A combination stove where half of it is induction (for boiling water, cooking pasta etc.) and half is gas for more heavy-duty work would be perfect.
- tptacek 15y ago
  The gas burners designed for woks also supply heat all around the wok, not just from the bottom-up; woks are supposedly notoriously poor performers on conventional cooktops. Gas cooktops are great! For me, based on my limited experience and knowledge, it's (Tied for 1st) [Gas, Induction], then the 2-slice toaster, then the microwave oven, then electric.

54mf 15y ago

Truth. Not to mention, I'd be terrified of throwing my cast icon pan anywhere near that glass top.

tptacek 15y ago
That's the thing that bugs me most about induction cooktops too.

kondro 15y ago

Induction is as responsive as gas, faster to boil water (no wasted heat, or need to heat the pot before heating the contents) and more energy efficient.

tptacek 15y ago
It's marginally slower to boil water than a good gas burner (my tests, but also Cooks Illustrated's, and they're not usually wrong about stuff like this), but they the two are so close that it's not worth comparing. Also, not sure how energy efficient. It may depend on the specific cook top. At max power, the things drain a lot of power. It's possible that they consume less "energy" than gas but are still more expensive, right? Gas is very cheap. It's very trippy to sear meat or boil water on a burner, lift the pan off, and have the cooktop surface be cool to the touch.
- kondro 15y ago
  Gas may be very cheap, but we pull it from the ground. We may pull a lot of our electricity from the ground at the moment too, but there are options for renewable sources of electricity. GE rates their induction cooktops are being able to boil water about 25% faster than their gas cooktops with similar gas output. But I have seen other scores that show that induction is only slightly faster at boiling water.
  - tptacek 15y ago
    I think I agree with all this; I'm just making (or actually regurgitating) an argument for why induction isn't as popular here as it is in Europe. Again: induction is awesome. But I've done my own tests and so has Cooks Illustrated and it doesn't look like the typical induction unit boils water faster than gas. On the other hand: who cares?