They aren't as popular in the US because they're considered commercial appliances and it's assumed you are on a business budget if you want to buy one. This means the store carries like 3 models and they cost literally ten times as much as a traditional glass cooktop. $250 vs. $2500.
Whoa. Is that an import/export opportunity here? In EU the prices of both are comparable.
There is also good to remember that these units at least higher powered are designed for 3-phase 400V that is 3 230V phases. Which I have understood isn't very common or easily available in households in some places around the world.
As a fellow German I didn't go induction on purpose, because I prefer the ceramic hob cooking experience. "Pans cannot be used" wasn't part of the decision. Having "control nobs" on the front rather than a touch area on the cooking surface was a hard requirement for me though and seems to be getting rarer every year. I'm actually amazed how much people love induction here, but I guess that's also because it's mostly…
What? Ceramic cook tops are crap, they get stained easily, scratched easily, and in the US at least, the way they work to "adjust" the temperature is to cycle on and off every few seconds. Oh and if any of your pots or pans get warped, they become completely unusable! Drop anything heavy on it, and the cook top breaks. I once waited for 20 minutes for a small pot of water to boil on a ceramic cook top. The old fashio…
Some glass top stovs work better than others. I won't go back to coils, but I currently have a glass top that bad. However I've has glass tops that were good so I know they exist. But I'll take gas over electric anyday. (I have never used induction so I reserve the right to change that stance)
Cannot imagine why op wrote “flat bottomed wok” instead of “A pan similar in shape to a wok, but with a flat bottom, so that it can be used on induction cooktops but still allows for the tossing motion that cooks use to mix ingredients in a wok”
Easy tossing for stir fry is just one feature of a wok. For example, the round bottom causes liquids to pool in the center. I’m not saying that large flat bottom frying pans with high edges aren’t useful, I have one and it’s probably my most used pan, it’s just not a complete replacement for a wok.
They aren't as popular in the US because they're considered commercial appliances and it's assumed you are on a business budget if you want to buy one. This means the store carries like 3 models and they cost literally ten times as much as a traditional glass cooktop. $250 vs. $2500.
It's not like they are drop-in replacements for whatever you've got, either. I was interested in these about 15 years ago when I bought a house. They want a dedicated circuit with a 240V outlet and 40 or 50 amp breaker. My house has a gas range, so I don't already have a 240V outlet there, and I've only got 100 amp service at the panel - which claims 100 amps is the max it's rated for. I decided it was not worth the…
I bought a newer home (2016) with a gas range and it doesn’t have the wiring either. We desperately want induction plus a outdoor vented range hood, so we are considering a partial remodel to do it. The idea is to bring in an electrician, replace our 150A panel with a 200A one, bring up wiring for induction into the kitchen, and wrap wiring around the house for a level 2 EV charger (another want, might as well knock it out together if we have to get an electrician in anyways).
My house was built 6 years ago but is already outdated in this respect. Replacing the panel is a pain as it requires shutting of electrical service for the day and an inspection from the city when they switch it back on. At least our meter and outdoor wire to the grid are already 200A…I hope.
I did not know that induction cooking is a novelty (or at least worthy of an article) in the US. When you go to an appliance shop in France they would be 90% of the offer (and 9% gas, 1% vitro-electric). BTW the big photo on the top of the article is not induction but vitro-ceramic (the first version of something that would look at glass and not have flames, but this is not induction, just heating of a tingie under t…
I’ve always wondered how Italians will handle the transition when it inevitably happens, that tilting & just a ton more movement in general over the flame seems super common there
My guess: cast-iron cookware and induction stovetops designed for them. That gives you pretty much the best of both worlds, with the ability to retain heat while manipulating the pan while still having extremely precise temperature control.
As a fellow German I didn't go induction on purpose, because I prefer the ceramic hob cooking experience. "Pans cannot be used" wasn't part of the decision. Having "control nobs" on the front rather than a touch area on the cooking surface was a hard requirement for me though and seems to be getting rarer every year. I'm actually amazed how much people love induction here, but I guess that's also because it's mostly…
I have induction with the control nobs to the front in the oven. That does exist, I guess you have to buy it together with the oven. Induction is greatly superior to electric heating plates, ceramic or even metal, as it is much faster and more energy efficient. Whenever you use it you never want to go back.
Built-in separate cooktops are only the fashion trend right now, there isn’t anything intrinsic in induction that require such controls. This goes hand in hand with the separate built-in oven trend (often with a second oven or a microwave). Kitchen renovation fashion, I guess.
Are you sure you don’t have a normal electric stove?
Yes, it won't work without a pan on it. Doesn't work with aluminium. Is relatively cold to the touch despite having just been used to boil a kettle. Says 'Induction Hob' on it.
Top reader comment seems apt w/r/t the pollution aspect anyway: As a scientist (an immunologist) who leads a research lab on lung inflammation including asthma, the cavalier attitude Times columnists have toward scientific references in their articles is appalling. RMI is a thinktank with an agenda. Not a research institution. And Brady Seals is not a scientist. Note the lack of PhD. She has an MBA and has never work…
Before anyone reads this and decides, "oh ya the NYT is lying to me and gas is fine", it's not. Gas in your home is objectively bad for your health, the environment and is overall worse than induction when it comes to the cooking experience in just about all ways.
That being said, It might not be as bad as living with a smoker (as the NYT asserted) but it is bad for you. The YouTuber Climate Town did an excellent video on gas cooking which exposed some very nasty truths of the gas lobbyists and the negative health effects it has on the population.
Now I want a cook top with a burner that goes to 11. My last gas stove had a 'hot' burner. Problem was the scaling doesn't match the other burners. I have a glass top range now and it sucks. Problem is most of the good induction units in the US are built in cooktops. Good ranges (combined cooktop+oven) are $$$$.
> Problem is most of the good induction units in the US are built in cooktops. Good ranges (combined cooktop+oven) are $$$$. Build one yourself, that's what I did when I bought my house in the Netherlands somewhere in the 90's. I wanted induction and a hot-air oven but did not want to pay for the privilege. I built a heavy wooden frame sized to fit the oven and the induction cooker, made a drawer for oven utensils in…
We are thinking about doing something similar for our kitchen. We currently have a gas range with a over range microwave, but want to replace all that with an induction cook top and a dedicated range hood vented outside (under cabinet or built-in, 700 CFM or so). We lose our microwave and our oven, so we have ti replace those somewhere. I’m liking the microwave oven combos (not the combined microwave convection oven, though that is cool also), which we would have to build a new cabinet for elsewhere, not beneath the cooktop (or maybe a drawer microwave beneath the cook top and the oven…somewhere else?).
Do you only have a single “burner” running off 120V outlet, or multiple? Considering a custom dual fuel setup. Since I’m limited by a 125AMP panel and we are almost maxed out between an electric heat pump, washer/dryer and maybe an EV.
I have a single "burner" that I got from Amazon for $50. It is a 120V, 1800W version. If I were buying a stove/oven for my house, I'd still buy a gas stovetop with an electric convection oven in a heartbeat. I had one in a previous house and I miss it constantly. It had two very large burners and two smaller burners. I loved the exact control with almost instant response of cooking on a gas stove. I work in the energ…
Most gas ranges are gas stove tops with gas ovens. To get a gas stovetop and a convection oven, you’d have to do them separately.
We are done with our gas stove top, it is just so much harder to keep clean than an induction stove top. And it boils water a lot faster.