Rangemaster with induction hob - worth it?

[PorkyandBess]

We are getting the Rangemaster Professional range.

We have no gas, so have to get all electric.

My dh is insisting that we get the induction hob rather than ceramic.

I am baulking at the considerable extra price.

Has anyone got an induction hob? Are they as fabulous as he insists they are?

Claude,

Oil is not an issue as it has no magnetic moment. Water is a polar molecule so it can interfere.

Maybe the automatic switch off is a Siemens (or unit specific) fault. It is not more powerful than gas. It may be more powerful than your typical feeble gas hob but a professional gas hob can be immensely powerful. And as for control, I would have thought that gas and induction were identical. After all, you can adjust a gas flame anywhere you want as quickly as you can move your hand.

No automatic switch off when water boiling here either (and it does rather frequently )

Couldn't bring myself to abandon gas totally when planning our new kitchen although dh is a total induction convert so we have compromised and will have both - a flexiinduction and a gas wok burner.

Where can one get a single, commercial quality gas wok burner? Sorry for the thread creep but have been trying to find a good one for ages!

We had a lovely 120cm Rangemaster with induction hob in the Uk. I found the one I wanted which was about two and a half grand and then looked on ebay.

I found one for 1000 pounds, returned stock. When it arrived, there was the very smallest dinge in one side that wouldn't even be seen when installed.

I found it very easy to cook on, and have found gas such a faff to get used to again. I'm quite often to be found with a burner still going but no saucepan on it (as the induction turns off after circa 30seconds with no pan). I also loved how low a simmer it was possible to have. Ours was totally touch, no knobs, and so lovely to keep clean.

larry, i'm sure it is down to brand. you could probably swap out your siemens or see if they will replace it?

i've used several gas hobs and ime they never burned low enough for a very gentle heat, nor high enough (although one hob did have a double ring that did the job well). not saying you couldn't get better gas burners in pro kitchens, just that's been my experience.

Compare and contrast :
Pan of pasta boils over in spectacular style

Gas : all jets go out, manky bits in all the nooks and crannies, have to relight hob gently to evaporate water
Conventional electric : sizzling steam, possible short out, cannot tidy up rings till they cool down
Halogen : surface too hot to touch and clean but hob still burning it in
Induction : alarm goes, lift pan off cool hob, wipe dry with kitchen towelling, reset hob, carry on cooking

no brainer to me

all the modern inductions have induction areas the same size as the marks on the glass
if you were used to using a bigger pan than burner, you clearly had money to burn
in a commercial environment, wasted energy is wasted profit and wasted space is wasted profit
and cleaning costs eat into both
induction or its successors WILL take over

I love my induction hob

Downside is that it's not as controllable as gas which after using for over 30 years I am getting to used to.

To clean - just spray Mr Muscle on and wipe off with kitchen towel.

I am very very very happy with it.

Had to buy new pans just went to TK Max and took a magnet with me so pans were inexpensive.

Remembered another disadvantage

Cat likes sleeping on the hob

He sets the warning beep off laying on the control panel so we have to turn the hob off at the socket overnight otherwise it wakes me up!

bleurgh

Exactly my first job every morning is to clean the hob - at least it's quick and easy!

gosh that reminds me. someone i met had their house burnt down by their dog.

the dog was in the habit of jumping up and putting his paws on the counter to see what food was there. one day the dog knocked the gas switch on the hob and thank goodness, while the bloke was out with the dog, the house blew up.

another reason not to have gas!

What I can't understand is how he lays there napping and doesn't want to get away from the regular loud beeping alert that is giving

he's thinking that you can't get good staff these days

Well it's worked we're not partioning off the dining room so they can sleep in there instead...

Flatbread Where can one get a single, commercial quality gas wok burner?

I've chosen a single gas wok burner from Neff simply because the dimensions will work/match with the flexiinduction hob also from Neff. I suspect it will perform the same as an inexpensive one and I've fallen for the style over substance aesthetic. Well... at least, it'll look good together!

I have had a rangemaster prof plus 1000 with induction hob since christmas and I love it! Replaced a 4 year old more expensive gas top range cooker with it as I hated cleaning it so much. Mine does not cut out either when pans boil over and also does not have any alarms (AFAIK) when I notice a spill, just lift up pan, wipe up, then replace pan and it carries on cooking. I find it is much quicker than gas but I also find it more controllable because gas you control more by sight of the flame whereas with my new hob i can set it to power to level 7 then hold there and i now know that 7 is the gentle boil point of most pans I use so I can set it and not worry. Havent found any disadvantages with mine so far!

Flatbread, we have this one Gaggenau VG 231.
Funny, how my kitchen does not look half as stylish as that photo... nothing at all to do with piles of stuff, mainly children and DH related, lying about .

pacific, what's the thing on the right? a griddle?

claude, I think it is a griddle, but we don't have it.
The whole line is modular, so we went for 2x2 induction fields, the gas wok thing and a steamer which I was really doubtful about but now use literally every day of the week. My memory is a bit hazy, it was 5 years ago.

Re the overcooked steak with raw bits if the pan is larger than the induction field: all my pots and pans are so heavy bottomed and transfer the heat that this has not happened to us.
The fields have 1 larger and 1 smaller 'ring' and I use the larger one for, say, a frying pan and pay no attention to the size for a smaller pan.

we looked at a big range with induction last yr when fitting a new kitchen - the mercury one. Our builder/electrician put us off because he claimed the electrical load it would take up "if" we used both ovens and all hob rings at once ( e.g at christmas or any big family party) we'd be using up about 90% of the power load coming into our house. Or summat like that. He said it'd be fine in a new build house but not in an old house like ours (victorian) and we'd need to invest in our circuit to cope.

We had new kitchen with induction hob and two full size pyrolitc ovens (self cleaning) and needed extra power put onto our fuse box (non-technical explanation). All has worked fine since. A friend had two ovens installed and one hobb which, for the way I cook, has worked v well and was cheaper than a huge range.

Sorry, I meant that I copied a friend with her oven/hob arrangement. They are in different places in the kitchen which works well if more than one person is cooking.

Myron, I am not worried about looks, just performance. It is hard to stir fry properly and sear the veggies with a low btu / kw burner.

Pacific, the one in your link would work, as it is modular. Any idea of what the kw is and your experience with stir frying? I think we want around 7 kw.

Totally agree about the steamer. in fact your combo of induction, gas wok and a steamer sounds perfect to me. Suits our cooking style to a tee.

6.0kw here. My friend has domino hobs which I have lusted after and I think that it's powerful for my needs - I'm a keen cook and make lots of stir fries!