Love love love my induction cooktop, we’ve had it for 12 years now. Before it was gas, I could never go back to gas, it’s messy, hard to clean and the stove never really looks clean (compare to induction anyway) despite me scrubbing after each cook, what a pain it was. As far as the heat delivery, it’s pretty much the same to me but induction has the ability to instantly make it hot, and you can have plastic or anything around the cooktop while cooking and it won’t get hot, let alone burned. And it looks so nice and clean all the time. So yeah big fan of induction lol.
P.s just reading comment about serious cook, I am a very serious cook lol. Had 15 guests over the holiday, thank goodness they just left lol, and I cooked and cooked all sort of meals. Many times I had 5 burners on at the same time, normally 3 or 4. Sometimes I turned on the mode where you can sit the pot anywhere and it will cool along with other pots. It was magnificent. The professional chefs are snobs and they like to say snobby comments about gas stove being superior and whatnot but whatever, I don’t care. I have never had a problem adjusting to the right temperature.
Interesting discussion. I love our smoothtop electric range, but DH would prefer the more precise control of gas. Running a gas line would be pricey, and I do worry a bit about fire risk (especially if I get even more absent minded in old age). Maybe induction would be a good compromise for us. Per resale considerations, is there any upswing in induction popularity?
I think there is still a bias towards gas stoves for home buyers. It depends on the target market and region for the property. I think younger urban foodie cooks love induction and an active cook would know the benefits. But a majority of buyers want gas stoves, and believe it or not, they still want “granite countertops”, even though there are superior countertop materials nowadays. Buyers usually lag 5 to 10 years behind
I have seen some portable induction units on various cooking shows on YouTube. I don’t know if they are as good as the permanent units-the fact of @coralbrook’s post about the 240 wiring makes me think they may be inferior.
He has NEVER, not ONCE, cooked a meal in this house. He has grilled (though I do the majority nowadays) and smoked on our Big Green Egg, but he has never cooked a meal indoors, not even eggs for himself. Toaster, sure, blender, ok, and coffee pot yes, but anything on the stove or in the oven? Nope.
He became a “gas person” as soon as he found out the induction stove would be more expensive in the new house.
Keller kept gas for the real hard core cooking, and just went electric for the pastry station where most range top cooking involves not much more than simmering water and all convection ovens have either been electric or gas electric hybrids for years. If he thought induction was better for cooking most food, and didn’t just have a niche role in pastry, he would have electrified the main part of the kitchen as well. I think that is an affirmation of the superiority of gas for professional chefs not a repudiation.
Even in hippy dippy hyper green Berkeley, the restaurant owners are up in arms and filed suit against the City for trying to block natural gas use.
@Nrdsb4 - I have a portable induction unit. We take it to Hawaii when we stay in that Marriott condo without a cooktop, so I could make Mr’s eggs and purple potatoes for breakfast. It works just fine. It makes just a tiny bit of humming noise but I have very good hearing…
FYI, when the city here floated the idea of prohibiting gas in all new construction, including commercial, restaurant owners and chefs went up in arms. Can’t imagine working with a wok on an electric top!
But… the one who cooks picks the appliances. ? Let’s just say I told Mr. that if he wants to select anything for the kitchen, he will get the privilege of fixing our meals… and my kitchen magically appeared as I wanted it.
An ideal would be 4 induction with 2 gas (including wok burner). My gas has no simmer, even with a spacer on the tiny burner. Add Bertazonni to the absolute POS 36 inch,for show not blow ovens. I like my little plug in induction unit. For candy it is terrific.
Sorry but this is absolutely not true and the reason I know this is that when I had my “fun” job at the high-end cooking store several professional chefs from the local, serious restaurants in the area were regular customers. When they would come in to purchase cookware for home use they were always adamant about it having to be induction friendly. At the time, I was surprised and asked them what they had in their professional kitchens. They all said that while most pro kitchens at the time (about a decade ago) had gas cooktops they all much preferred induction for their home. They said that induction was superior in that it was much easier to maintain very low temperatures and that gas simply couldn’t go low enough without some sort of heat diffuser. Also, they all appreciated that induction cooking was far more energy efficient and didn’t heat up the kitchen, particularly during the summer months and that they would never have to worry about catching a stray tea towel on fire or melting a piece of plastic placed too near a burner.
Although I’d used gas previously, these guys were so convincing that when we remodeled about 3 years ago, we got an induction cooktop and I will never willingly cook with gas again.
I cannot imagine cooking on anything but gas. I have a Viking range, which has its flaws (I have to use a flame tamer to simmer), but I can grill steaks in the dead of winter on the grill, char peppers, and toast baguette slices. If I had been the one to put the range in, I’d have gone with Wolf, but it would still be gas.
I’ve done it all, electric, gas, and induction, and had cooked with gas the longest. Never want to see the sight of a flame again unless it’s outdoor grilling. I think the fact that you can “see” the flame makes one feel in control (it’s like driving manual vs. automatic). But really I would love to hear what one can cook on gas but not on induction (with the exception of not able to use a wok). Maybe some professional chefs could come up with some, but I probably wouldn’t care for that meal/technique anyway. And so many of our friends have converted to induction as soon as they had the opportunity because they came to our house endless times for dinner and get together. Gas is messy and dangerous and hard to clean. I am in love with my kitchen partly bc of my gorgeous always lean induction cooktop lol. To each their own.
