Have you had both induction and gas hobs? Which did you prefer and why?

[BewareTheBeardedDragon]

If you've had experience of owning/long term using both induction and gas hobs please could you share your preference between the two with reasons?

Note - I'm only interested in the comparison between induction and gas - not other types of electric hob and gas.

TIA

If you do go ahead and get and induction and get a stovetop kettle, don’t make my mistake and pay a fortune for a lovely Le Creuset one. My hob killed it within two weeks-all the non stick coating came off! Turns out even though they can be used on induction hobs, you shouldn’t use them on the boost setting! I got a Pykal one from amazon, looks good and works well.

Good tip - thanks! Is it the induction that destroys the coating, or the contact with the glass? I have seen protectors that people put over the rings to avoid scratches - seems you can cook through them. My mind is slightly blown

The protector I bought lasted all of about a week before I binned it. It was a peculiar woven-like texture, so splashes of hot fat went through it onto the hob (and seemed much harder to clean off that way) plus the thing itself, once coated in splashes of fat, proved impossible to clean.

I just try to be careful with the pans. I've still managed to make a slight scratch in one place.

Hated the induction hob in our rented house. Couldn't get the hang of cooking on it. It's made me really appreciate my gas hob!

Had induction for about 14 years and gas either side.

Induction is better for bringing pans to the boil quickly and, if you have a good one, for very low simmering without worrying about the flame going out. The hobs are easy to clean and don't stay hot for long, so safer with pets and children (and adults like me being absent minded about where they put the tea towel or reach across!)

I never did a good stir fry on mine, though. Just couldn't get the all round heat that you can on a gas burner. I've also had a few casualties. Our first, and expensive at the time AEG, shorted out, our second cracked. Meantime, the gas hob in our current house is about 14 years old and, after some tlc, works just fine. It's a pig to clean, though, and I've had to get used to boiling kettles for pasta and veg.

Gas. I miss my gas hob. I felt like I could control it better.

@WoolyMammoth55

Realise there's a chance I'll get crucified but!!

I've personally got reservations about the long-term food safety aspects of induction.

I'm a luddite/hippy type and don't have a microwave because I don't like the idea (and in fairness usually also dislike the end results) of irradiating food rather than using heat to cook it.

The reason induction is fire-safe and quick is that it also uses this heating model, albeit a different type of radiation. Hence why there are warnings for people whose pacemakers can be affected by the strong radiation the stove produces.

For me, I just feel like when I'm cooking - or even boiling water! - especially with feeding young kids, I'd rather it took a bit longer but was actually cooking with heat, vs in reaction to the radiation being produced and transmitted through the pan base...

It feels like humans have been cooking with flame since the dawn of time and we understand the dangers, vs cooking with radiation where we don't really know the long-term effects of what that does to the body.

So yes, totally prepared to be flamed and shamed as anti-science (which I'm actually not! Have vaccinated said kids BTW!) but FWIW that's why we've got gas going into our new kitchen.

Induction jobs do use heat. They are not like microwave ovens. Instead of electricity making an element hot, which then radiates heat to a pan, the electromagnetic field produced makes the pan hot, directly.

Didn’t think I’d like it but love my induction hob - not an expensive one, but does the job very well. A flat bottomed wok sorted the stir fry issue, you just need a slightly different technique.

Gas for us. We cook some food directly on flame as well which isn't possible on induction.

What an interesting post and how timely! I'm about to buy a new hob and it is interesting to see how many of you prefer induction. I've never tried induction and always had gas so I was planning to stick to what I know. Simmering on a gas hob is the big downside but overall I think it would work best for me.

On this note, I was going to ask you which gas hob (i.e. make/model) you would recommend. A friend recommended Bosch but I noticed that their last year reviews seem to be pretty poor (wonderful reviews in the past, 2-3yrs ago, though).
I am member of Which? but they also seem to favour induction hobs over gas. And those few gas hob reviews are dated so I'm not sure I can really rely on them.
Is there anyone who happened to have purchased a gas hob in the last year or so who is really happy about it?
Thanks!