to not get an induction hob?

[Heathofhares]

I need to get a new hob. I want gas. Everyone is telling me I need induction, mostly because "it's easy to clean". I have tried cooking on induction a few times on a few different cookers and have hated it every time. I am a keen (and to be truthful - a very good cook). My cooking is pretty instinctive - and I certainly don't want to program a cooker to decide what temperature to cook a steak at! I want a hob for cooking - not for cleaning so...please tell me why IABU...

I am also a keen and good cook. I have induction, it was in our house when purchased. Thought I'd hate it and had plans to remove immediately - BUT I had to use it for a couple of months before we could get gas connected to the right place and ot turns out I LOVED it. Its been nearly 5 years and I wouldn't change a thing. As others have said, those with dials and 9 settings plus a boost for boiling water/stirring are the ones to get - they are actually better for temp control than gas and the boost setting provides very high heat suitable for stir-fry- like having a deep wok burner of using gas. Yes it turns off momentarily when you lift to stir-fry or flip things but the induction top reheats immediately so i have never noticed a reduction in pan/wok temp. Better temp control at lower ranges too eg better hollandaise, better simmer control, just better all round. More even temp through the pan bases so less stirring required when making sauces.

And mine has one ring which is elongated for cooking fish in a kettle. You might be able to get this on a gas stove but I've never seen it.

Plus is easier and safer for the children to use- my 13 year old makes dinner once a week and the 7 year old is learning and I don't have to worry about them burning themselves/blowing up the house/ wasting gas by taking pans off stove but leaving gas on. And easier to clean as others have said - now children and husband clean up too, I'm not the only one.

The only 2 downsides are having to use a separate implement to char (I usually use a blowtorch, sometimes just the grill for capsicum), and the fact that the top beeps like a bastard when water spills. That second one is fecking annoying - but not annoying enough to me to warrant going back to gas.

Can someone recommend a good wok for induction?

I was talked into switching to induction hob, thought I would hate it, but it’s mostly great. I hate hate hate the older ones where all the controllers are combined and you have to press a million buttons to change any temps, but mine (one of the cheaper AEG 4 ring models) has 4 separate control scales with numbers 1-14 where you can slide your finger along or just press in the place you want to set the temp, it works perfectly. Much much easier & more precise than adjusting a gas flame. I can melt chocolate directly in a pan on the lowest settings without any danger of burning it.

I switched all the beeps off, except for on/off which I don’t mind and the “you’ve put something on top of the control panel” beep which is quite annoying tolerable.

It’s fine for stir frying, it doesn’t turn off when I lift the pan so is only a couple of seconds away from the heat and then carries on cooking the moment I put it down.

The only annoying thing about mine is the size of each ring is smaller than I expected so in a big frying pan the edges of the pan aren’t hot until the heat has spread from the middle. If I was getting one now I’d look for one where larger areas heat up so you can position pans wherever you like. But the most important thing for me was being able to switch all the extra beeps off which some let you do and some don’t.

I know this sounds greedy but I have both a gas job and an induction hob! Both are well regarded brands. I do agree the induction is easier to clean it boils things super quick Ive got 6 rings on mine so don’t need. an electric kettle but I find it harder to turn down it’s either boiling over or barely heating anything up. You have to start everything on the highest setting: 9. A friend advised me to turn it down gradually leaving a minutes between each setting as you turn it down so 9 to 7 to 5 etc but this seems like a PITA frankly. Mine has 9 temp setting and also has a simmer setting and a low simmer setting I’ve never used the simmer settings and can’t imagine what you would be cooking that would require such a low temperature as 3 is the lowest I’ve ever used even to cook things that curdle easily. I’ve also read that you should avoid sliding things across it as it can break and I try not to and have an kitchen island that I can easily put things I take out of oven onto and plenty of work top but I often forget and slide baking trays etc over it.
I too am pretty good cook and a gas hob would always be my first choice.

I felt the same as you and moved from a house with gas to induction and I was a bit gutted. I also love cooking (I dont clean so that bit didnt bother me).
Benefits are-
It heats up really quickly which I love now, boiling a pan of water with gas seems really slow, I have to boil a kettle. You can boil a large pan of water in just a few min

You can set a timer really easily to turn it off after x minutes. I use timers daily.

Disadvantages are
You cant char things like aubergine or chillies
It was a bit harder to get used to, as with s flame you can see how hot it is if that makes sense. But within a couple of weeks I'd mastered it, for example I know that x recipe on y ring needs to be at number 3 for simmer and number 7 for boil, I know I can leave oil on for deep frying at set numbers and the temperatures will be steady (unlike my old gas one where it was a sliding scale rather than set numbers and difficult to get it exactly where you wanted it to be).
I'm not sure on the longevity compared to gas, I think things that are electric have more of a tendency to go wrong but saying that ours is 10 years old now and doing well.

I'd say if you pick induction go for one where the controls are obvious which ring belongs to which control. I've seen some that look neater because they've got one central control and you press a button to switch between rings and it's not instinctive at all

@ICanSmellSummerComing

* doesn't everyone d turn the heat down for scrambled eggs?

You can only do this on induction and presumably gas. On electric you have to start low, no good for impatient cooks.

I have gas and want to get induction! Much more energy efficient, safer, don’t have the issue of wanting to turn up the heat but the flames being too big for the pan. Plus I agree gas hob is so annoying to clean and so was the electric one in the place I lived before this. Induction you can just wipe without anything getting in the way.

Re woks - mine's a Baccarat Iconix. I bought a cheap one as I thought I'd hate induction and would only be using it for a couple of months. But it works well so I've not replaced it.

@TheKeatingFive I’ve got this wok and I love it, it’s not nonstick but nothing sticks - they don’t seem to be selling it online anymore but you might be able to get one in store www.johnlewis.com/john-lewis-partners-5-ply-thermacore-wok-dia-30cm/p1369535

Re price point- I don't know as it was in the house already but it's a Siemens.

@Howzaboutye

It's electromagnetic radiation, non-ionising. Said to be safe for the home environment. Apart from if you wear a pacemaker. Personally not something I would chose to install.

Can also interfere with tin foil hats.

Ooh thanks pattypan

@CrimsonImp

I've not yet encountered an induction hob that doesn't make a horrible high pitched buzzing sound when in use. We thought about induction when we fitted our kitchen but at that time inductions were a lot more expensive and prone to breaking. Having experienced induction hobs in various places since I'm glad we stuck with gas.

It’s funny you say that because one of our gas rings makes a weird buzzing/whistling sound on a low heat (solutions welcome if anyone has any idea what might cause that)

I switched to induction about 18 months ago. I prefer it it gas. I find that I can get a wider range of heat. I could never get the gas flame low enough for a simmer but with induction I can. Also I found it hard to get a rolling boil on gas but with induction it gets hotter and quicker.

No need to program it. No buzzing.
I have been using my stainless steel pans quite happily.

Keating I treated myself to a whole set of JL pans over the last year or so, all suitable for induction. As well as the wok I got this frying pan, a set of 3 saucepans and a steamer and I’m impressed with them so far. The wok and frying pan have a good weight to them. www.johnlewis.com/john-lewis-partners-5-ply-thermacore-stainless-steel-frying-pan/p5123437
Got so sick of non stick coatings coming off after a year but these all have a lifetime guarantee so hopefully will last a bit longer!

Museumum

Snap

If you managed to burn creme caramel as it carried on cooking, then it wasn’t an induction hob but a standard electric. They can look the same. Electric stays hot after you turn off or down so would carry on cooking to heating things. Induction doesn’t.

The whole professional cooks won’t use is rubbish as well. Many well known chefs and restaurants are moving to induction.

We have an induction hob, which has a metal edging which is not flush to the worktop. It's an absolute pain to clean as tiny bits of gunge get caught in the edging and I have to dig it out with a toothpick. It's foul. If you do go for induction, I would say avoid this finish.

"Can also interfere with tin foil hats."

Following with interest as I need to replace my 20-year-old gas hob in the foreseeable future and I'm very much in two minds about induction.

I was interested to see though that the Great British Menu kitchen used induction hobs (although to be fair they also had build-in griddles and deep-fat fryers).

Decisions! Decisions!

We moved recently into a house with no gas. It's an older house but has an air source heat pump heating system which was fitted when the old gas boiler failed. At the time there were incentives to move away from gas but I think it's likely that people will be forced to stop using gas at some point so think how long you want to keep it for. The ceramic hob here was a nightmare to use and clean. Recently had a neff induction hob put in which I love. Prefer to the gas hob in the old house which has really surprised me. As responsive as gas but super easy to clean.

I wouldn't switch from gas. Any inductions I've used in the past have had a safety cutout long before the pan is at a high enough temperature for searing steaks. It's also better for wok cookery.

Over the years I've done quite a few classes at cookery schools around the world. They mostly have induction hobs for safety and appearance (so easy to keep clean and shiny) but most of the tutors/chefs say they prefer gas.

I have an induction now and it's great

It's much more controllable than gas, much easier to cook very low and the high is amazing, would never boil a kettle now for potatoes or whatever

@42andcounting

We have an induction hob, which has a metal edging which is not flush to the worktop. It's an absolute pain to clean as tiny bits of gunge get caught in the edging and I have to dig it out with a toothpick. It's foul. If you do go for induction, I would say avoid this finish.

To be fair a lot of gas hobs are fitted like this too. The edging is a nightmare to clean on top of all the other bits.

I have a five ring gas hob with a big double burner in the middle that I wanted especially for my wok. I just prefer seeing that fire, maybe I’m primitive. I wouldn’t want an induction ever.

Any inductions I've used in the past have had a safety cutout long before the pan is at a high enough temperature for searing steaks.

This isn’t true of modern induction. I can get very high temps on mine.