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I am orienting myself on going from a gas hob in the kitchen to an electric induction one. Plenty of choice now of course, but what immediately triggered both m

I am orienting myself on going from a gas hob in the kitchen to an electric induction one. Plenty of choice now of course, but what immediately triggered both my wife's and my own sense of “I want one of those” was looking at the few modern cookers with actual knobs on them, just like our gas hob has. I've used induction hobs, but I've never found them pleasant to control with the touch controls. There is something so utterly ergonomic and pleasant about physical knobs and buttons. It doesn't matter that they perform digital rather than analogue, mechanical actions. It's a premium feature, but at least it exists. It's disheartening that this is considered either a premium feature or branded as outdated.

throwaway48476 2y ago
The reason a lot of induction cook tops don't have knobs is because they're worried it will be bumped and accidentally turned on. Good knobs will have detents for off. https://www.samsung.com/us/support/range-knob-kit/ https://www.samsung.com/us/support/range-knob-kit/
- echoangle 2y ago
  How does this specifically apply to induction devices? Wouldn’t all cook tops not have knobs then?
- thunfischbrot 2y ago
  The principle of an induction stove prevents it from heating up without cookware placed on it. On top of that, any induction stove I‘ve used detects if it‘s turned on without cookware and turns itself off after a couple of seconds. It doesn‘t get safer than this.
  - Freak_NL 2y ago
    Absolutely. Compared to gas knobs which when turned on without igniting the flame will just flood your home with an inflammable gas. Still, I have one of those now, and beyond the usual “did I turn the gas off?” frittering on holiday, this is never an issue. In fact, most households in the Netherlands still have this type of hob or stove (the percentage is lower but still considerable in many other countries).
    - echoangle 2y ago
      Doesn't every modern gas fired device have a mechanism that doesn't let gas flow if there is no heat by the flame? Every Gas BBQ I know has that, is that not the case for stoves?
      - Freak_NL 2y ago
        Modern stuff? Possibly. Most of the hobs still in use today? Nope. Turn knob, get gas. Mine has a separate button for the piezo ignition. There don't seem to be particularly many accidents with these either.
- kergonath 2y ago
  That does not sound right. Induction cooktops don’t do anything if they are turned on without a pan on top. The worst that can happen is the pan heats up. If there’s nothing on top, or something that is not a pan, it will just turn itself off after a couple of minutes of doing nothing. That page is about cooktops with resistive heating, not induction. These get hot when they are turned on, even if there is nothing, or something not magnetic, on top.
BrandoElFollito 2y ago
One of the things I love in my induction is that there are no buttons. As a matter of fact, it is the fact that it is completely flat. Cleaning it is super simple, if I get liquids I do not worry that they will spill into something (like knobs). There is one very important thing though: I specifically looked only for linear scale. A scale what you can press a position and get to the right level (rough "hot", or "very low heat) and slide to adjust when needed. My brother has one where you have to press 9 times to get to 9. And then 6 times down to get to 3. This is insane.
- Freak_NL 2y ago
  I wouldn't want knobs on the top either, so I'm looking at whole stoves (i.e., a single unit with an oven under the hob) where the knobs are in the same place as the common gas stove models: in the front above the oven door, next to the oven's knobs. If I choose to splurge on this item, this one might be nice: https://etna.nl/keukenapparatuur/fi590zwa/ https://etna.nl/keukenapparatuur/fi590zwa/ Smeg has a similar sweet looking offering, but I'm not convinced of the longevity of their appliances: https://www.smeg.com/products/C9IMMB2 https://www.smeg.com/products/C9IMMB2
  - BrandoElFollito 2y ago
    I was looking for something like that for my parents (who refuse to have a "across-the-kitchen" kind of working surface with the induction and sink going into a hole from the top) but it was quite difficult to find them. The "induction as an object that enters into the hole of the work surface" (sorry, I am not a native speaker of English and there is certainly a word for that :)) seems to be way, way more popular and I could really find what I needed.
    - maxerickson 2y ago
      There sort of isn't a word for it. "Drop in", "built in", "in counter" would all work (with "in counter" apparently also including some that are supposed to be invisible or something).

throwaway48476 2y ago

The reason a lot of induction cook tops don't have knobs is because they're worried it will be bumped and accidentally turned on. Good knobs will have detents for off. https://www.samsung.com/us/support/range-knob-kit/ https://www.samsung.com/us/support/range-knob-kit/

echoangle 2y ago
How does this specifically apply to induction devices? Wouldn’t all cook tops not have knobs then?
thunfischbrot 2y ago
The principle of an induction stove prevents it from heating up without cookware placed on it. On top of that, any induction stove I‘ve used detects if it‘s turned on without cookware and turns itself off after a couple of seconds. It doesn‘t get safer than this.
- Freak_NL 2y ago
  Absolutely. Compared to gas knobs which when turned on without igniting the flame will just flood your home with an inflammable gas. Still, I have one of those now, and beyond the usual “did I turn the gas off?” frittering on holiday, this is never an issue. In fact, most households in the Netherlands still have this type of hob or stove (the percentage is lower but still considerable in many other countries).
  - echoangle 2y ago
    Doesn't every modern gas fired device have a mechanism that doesn't let gas flow if there is no heat by the flame? Every Gas BBQ I know has that, is that not the case for stoves?
    - Freak_NL 2y ago
      Modern stuff? Possibly. Most of the hobs still in use today? Nope. Turn knob, get gas. Mine has a separate button for the piezo ignition. There don't seem to be particularly many accidents with these either.
kergonath 2y ago
That does not sound right. Induction cooktops don’t do anything if they are turned on without a pan on top. The worst that can happen is the pan heats up. If there’s nothing on top, or something that is not a pan, it will just turn itself off after a couple of minutes of doing nothing. That page is about cooktops with resistive heating, not induction. These get hot when they are turned on, even if there is nothing, or something not magnetic, on top.

BrandoElFollito 2y ago

One of the things I love in my induction is that there are no buttons. As a matter of fact, it is the fact that it is completely flat. Cleaning it is super simple, if I get liquids I do not worry that they will spill into something (like knobs). There is one very important thing though: I specifically looked only for linear scale. A scale what you can press a position and get to the right level (rough "hot", or "very low heat) and slide to adjust when needed. My brother has one where you have to press 9 times to get to 9. And then 6 times down to get to 3. This is insane.

Freak_NL 2y ago
I wouldn't want knobs on the top either, so I'm looking at whole stoves (i.e., a single unit with an oven under the hob) where the knobs are in the same place as the common gas stove models: in the front above the oven door, next to the oven's knobs. If I choose to splurge on this item, this one might be nice: https://etna.nl/keukenapparatuur/fi590zwa/ https://etna.nl/keukenapparatuur/fi590zwa/ Smeg has a similar sweet looking offering, but I'm not convinced of the longevity of their appliances: https://www.smeg.com/products/C9IMMB2 https://www.smeg.com/products/C9IMMB2
- BrandoElFollito 2y ago
  I was looking for something like that for my parents (who refuse to have a "across-the-kitchen" kind of working surface with the induction and sink going into a hole from the top) but it was quite difficult to find them. The "induction as an object that enters into the hole of the work surface" (sorry, I am not a native speaker of English and there is certainly a word for that :)) seems to be way, way more popular and I could really find what I needed.
  - maxerickson 2y ago
    There sort of isn't a word for it. "Drop in", "built in", "in counter" would all work (with "in counter" apparently also including some that are supposed to be invisible or something).