Induction Cooktops for kitchen remodel?

[Melensdad]

While looking at cooktops, I stumbled across induction cooktops.

The cooktop doesn't get hot! Using some sort of magnetic energy, the pan gets hot, but the cooktop stays cool. Does anyone have any clue how this actually works? Have you used one?

Downside: Cost
Downside: Pots & pans must have iron content (no aluminum, glass or copper pots)
Downside: all our current pots & pans are aluminum so we'd have to buy new pots and pans

Upside: Safety
Upside: Efficiency
Upside: Better control over the heat output

 

[OkeeDon]

Not a clue how it works. I've seen them at kitchen shows, but never had the chance to try one.

One question, because quality stainless steel is non-magnetic, is stainless cookware eliminated, also? That gets pretty restrictive. I like cast iron skillets, but somehow getting the skillet hot through induction just doesn't sound like cooking the way Grandma used to; hot is hot, I suppose, but I wonder if the cooking is the same without direct heat below the skillet?

Cookware with iron content that reacts to magnetism (if that is how it works) is also prone to rusting. That may not be as much a problem in Lowell, but it would sure make us suffer in tropical South Florida.

Personally, I like cooking with gas.

PS, on the upside, you forgot the "coolness" (pun intended) factor.

 

[Junkman]

I have used one in the past and I liked it very much. The wife prefers gas for the cook top and electric for the oven. We have both type of stoves in the kitchen so there is already enough cooking appliances without adding more. I would say that it is worth it to use iron for cooking. I have a complete set of old Griswold pans that I like to use. They are hands off for the wife, because she usually burns what ever she puts into them. Cooking with iron pans requires new skills. They hold the heat well and continue to cook whatever is in them long after the heat has been removed.

 

[Melensdad]

Well the lovely Mrs_B likes to use electric for the cooktop so gas is not an option.

There are some great claims of efficiency with Induction. Gas is supposed to be about 55% efficient, electric about 65%, induction close to 90% efficient (all numbers vary slightly depending on the source you read)

Don, to answer your question about Stainless Steel on induction: Heck I dunno! The induction cooktop does not use magnetic strength to hold the pot in place so it doesn't use magnetic force in the way we normally would think about a magnet. I was told the pots had to have some amount of iron in them for them to work, I presume the higher the iron content the better they would work on an induction cooktop? But really I have no clue.

I suppose the biggest drawback now to Induction cooktops is the lack of choice. I did a quick search of Sears Appliance Store, they carry a couple hundred cooktops, only one is an induction model, and it is only a 30" cooktop. We are shopping for a 36" cooktop.

 

[OkeeDon]

Do a little more searching. Viking makes both a 30" and a 36" induction cook top, at least one of the models is a hybrid, with 4 radiant elements and 2 induction elements. Diva de Provence makes a 36" model; found an online price of $3995. Wolf Range makes a 15" wide, 2-element model that is interesting in conjunction with their normal stuff -- it has some means of transferring power from one of the elements to the other to make it a super heater. Check with your local high-end appliance dealer. You may have to sell the Avanti...

 

[Melensdad]

Well she decided on KitchenAid. I think she got tired of shopping?

Anyway she is going with a 36" KitchenAid electric 5 burner unit, black ceramic surface with touch controls instead of knobs. It is a traditional radient heat surface as opposed to induction elements.

I just appreciate the fact that she decided after a visit to only one appliance store. She looked at the higher end stuff but our house doesn't have the industrial kitchen look to it.

http://www.kitchenaid.ca/english/product.php?id=KECC568R&context=features&colour=PS