Gas hob or Induction

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I'm being a complete lazy cow and hoping to piggyback someone else's research here! In my head I have that induction is a more environmentally friendly/sustainable way of cooking, is it more expensive though what with the electricity??

We cook from scratch 6 out of 7 nights.

Will be looking at a modern range. Spoke to a really helpful in most ways chap at an independent place who does the brand we're looking at and he was pushing me toward gas....but I don't know if that was because he had one of those on order for stock due in in next week or so, so would have got all his money quicker (big wait time on orders from the manufacturer currently)

Induction

Recently switched from Gas to Induction. I can see it both ways. Gas is still nicer to cook with, but induction has to be the way forward in a sustainable future.

Gas pros:

• Cheaper in the short term
• Even heat distribution (esp up the sides of the pan)
• Simple
• Visual and intuitive - big flame makes big hiss means food is on high.
• Works in a power cut

Gas cons:

• Fossil fuel
• Pollution in the home
• Heat lost out to the room

Induction pros:

• Easy to clean
• No wasted electricity
• Safer
• Water boils pretty much as fast as a kettle

Induction cons:

• Electricity is more expensive than gas in the short / medium term.
• Bloody touch controls - useless with wet hands, or if a pan boils over etc. Cheap models have crappy touch controls with only a few buttons, meaning that a pan that's boiling over or burning takes several presses to rescue - stressful.
• They've got a computer in them! I've known induction hobs which go into 'sulk' mode, needing to be rebooted from the wall, meanwhile the food is going cold etc. Reminds me of a hideous christmas dinner cooking experience I once had (ended up cooking some of the food in the empty neighbour's flat next door because the induction hob in our kitchen was so capricious as to be useless).
• All but very expensive models only have very small inductors, so food burns in the middle of the pan and doesn't cook at the outside. The rings painted on the surface of the hob usually bear no relation to the size of the inductors below them - they're just lipstick.
• Only the bottom of the pan heats up (not the sides), so food needs more stirring to heat through evenly. This makes more work, and for some dishes can compromise the food texture.
• No way to tell visually how high the heat is - need to look at the number and get used to what eg. '6' means for that particular ring on that particular hob. Trust me, this leads to burnt food more regularly than gas. I've known pans of food to be burnt at the bottom but still apparently cold and uncooked at the top. No good for woks / stir frying for this reason.
• No good if you have anything like regular power cuts.
• Risk of scratching surface (most are made of glass, though there are exceptions). My induction hob acquired a scratch within five minutes of ownership, before I'd even used it.

As I say, I am now on induction but have major reservations. At least ours has got proper knobs that you can turn just like a gas cooker, not silly bleepy fussy slow touch controls. I also have a £20 back-up gas stove just in case.

Final thought, I stayed in an AirBNB for 16 people with quite a big kitchen that had new, posh Neff Gas and Induction hobs next to each other. Four families took turns at cooking and no-one used the induction hob for more than five minutes before moving the pans across to the gas hob.

Yes. My induction hob gets hotter than my gas hob did.

We had a new kitchen installed last year, and I had specified a gas hob. The supplier sent an induction hob by mistake, so I checked all my pans with a fridge magnet and told the fitter that I would keep the induction hob. I have no regrets.
Another plus is that as the hob just heats the base of the pan the metal handles don't get as hot.

There is just one caveat with induction hobs - don't get one if anyone has a heart pacemaker.
Induction hobs generate electromagnetic fields, so you need to eep a distance of at least 60cm (2ft) between the stovetop and your pacemaker.

Another plus is that as the hob just heats the base of the pan the metal handles don't get as hot.

See, that lack of heat transfer is what makes me concerned about their suitability for woks. It isn’t just about max heat but the spread of it. And @footchewer's comments seem to confirm.

Not sure why that underlined instead of bolding.

Yes I'm another induction convert!! Absolutely! Cleaner air, safer!
Very, very easy and good to cook with.

Ours is a cheap but which best buy from ikea.
Over a year and not one scratch, no burning and I stir as much as I did with any other dish

We have just changed to induction from gas as part of a kitchen refurb. It’s brilliant. As good compared to gas as the difference between gas and standard electric hobs. Plus as PP says gas is being phased out. No new gas boilers soon so eventually you’ll just have gas in the house for your job which seems mad.

The point made above about touch controls when you have a burning/boiling over pan - just take it off the hob! Lift it off and there’s no heat source whatsoever.

We started with a gas hob. Had it replaced with an induction hob when we had the kitchen don and absolutely loved it.

Ended up back with gas when we moved out and missed the induction hob immensely.

Moved house again (another gas hob) and had a new kitchen put in and the first thing on the list was as an induction hob. I'm happy again with my induction hob finally!!! 😂

Hmmm, seems I am in a minority then.

There were 6 adults on our last family holiday but every time anyone tried to cook a meal there was a lot of swearing and banging of pans as none of us had a clue how to work the bloody thing.

Maybe all the houses I discounted due to having an induction hob need to go back on our search list!

yes, I know I could just replace the hob, but would prefer not to have to

Induction hob just because it's so easy to wipe clean and we use the surface when not in use too (as it's big and flat). In fact it's so easy to wipe the clean the teenager is expected to do it after they've used it (the glass cools down really quickly). 2nd Best Buy after the self-clean oven!

Can any induction fans explain if you can get woks to work ok on them?

(Following with interest as trying to buy a house and planning to swap to an induction)

I have a Bosch induction and I love it. Never have any issues working it, it's very simple ! Super easy to clean and 9 heat settings.

To add, I cook from scratch most nights too.
Most of my pans work with induction, including le creuset casseroles but my old copper set didn't so I gave them to my mil.

Mine works perfectly well on my hob. It gets hotter than my gas job did. You have to stir more as you are cooking as the side don't really get hot. My wok is the most used pan in the kitchen. I use it to start casseroles, make risotto, pasta sauces, curries, mince dishes and basically most foods except to cook potatoes and vegetables.

Sorry I’m really confused, surely if the sides aren’t getting hot then your wok isn’t working properly?!

It works for me.

It sounds as if you're just using the wok as a generic big pan, though, rather than actually as a wok.

Induction is faster (if you have the right pans), more controllable than gas and an absolute doddle to keep clean. Looks much better too.

The only thing you might struggle with is using a wok.

Wok wouldnt work that well because you dont have the flame going up the sides to heat them and you wouldnt be able to do the shaking about which imo is really just for display.

We stir fry in a large frying pan instead which is fine. What do you use your Wok for that realistically cant be done in a flater base pan and just use another technique?

My wok has quite a large flat base, and I make stir fries with no problem.

Another vote for induction here.

They're not perfect and sometimes do annoying things like beep too much or switch themselves off unexpectedly. But they are much easier to clean and much safer - no naked flame, no risk of a gas leak, etc. And they look better imho

It is the definition of a wok that is causing the confusion.

If it has a "large flat base" is it a wok or a western style deep frying pan pretending to be a wok?

We use a pretend wok/deep frying pan for stir frying on our induction, a real wok and wok cooking techniques (the high heat achieved with a round bottom, tossing) are not really practical on induction but also not necessary for most home cooked stir fries.

You must have a different model to me.

If I place anything accidentally on the hob when it's not in use it starts beeping at me'

I hate it, it's expensive but we have no gas here so I'm stuck with it.