Induction hobs - who's got one and whos looking?

[Zak33]

I have used two now and frankly they amaze me!

there's no mains gas where I live so I'm stuck with electric hobs and the old style orange glowing thing is ... crap.

There's quite a lot of sub £350 Induction hobs now, and so....

what have you got, or would you suggest?

[philehidiot]

I've only ever used a posh one that was in a cottage we go to. It's just as good as a gas hob. I seem to think the brand was Firestone or something. They're not a revelation comin from gas but thy may well be better than an electric one.

[peterb]

Ive got one on a freestanding cooker. Its a Belling and I'd think twice before going back to gas. Only drawback is that pand have to be compatable - copper and Aluminium pans have a steel/iron base - but they work really well with cast iron pans.

The other alternative for you would be bottled gas - propane in 42 Kg cylinders or if you were going to have gas heating as well, a bulk storage tank.

[aidanjt]

Old man got one recently, it's fantastic, the pot/pan starts boiling very quickly, and since the heating occurs in the pot/pan itself and is temperature regulated by evaporation, the surface is much much cooler and doesn't burn in spills anywhere near as badly as a regular/ceramic hob.

[Zak33]

Old man got one recently, it's fantastic, the pot/pan starts boiling very quickly, and since the heating occurs in the pot/pan itself and is temperature regulated by evaporation, the surface is much much cooler and doesn't burn in spills anywhere near as badly as a regular/ceramic hob.

thats what I found. and the energy use seems lower as it's not heating the element to start with.. the pan gets hot immediately.

i'm close... and as Bosch units are senbile price now... its' getting closer

[Zak33]

The other alternative for you would be bottled gas - propane in 42 Kg cylinders or if you were going to have gas heating as well, a bulk storage tank.

looked at a small gas bottle just for the hob, and its a good idea,.... except I have no where for the bottle to go outside really.

[peterb]

looked at a small gas bottle just for the hob, and its a good idea,.... except I have no where for the bottle to go outside really.

A lean-to sort of slatted cupboard? - they don't need to be weatherproof - just disguised!

[silk186]

I picked up an electric hub from China for hotpot. Otherwise, I prefer a gas range, even if I need to use a tank.
Some of the fancy electric ones are nice though. They get hot right away and you can slap you hand down right after because they don't stay hot due to black magic.

[Saracen]

I picked up an electric hub from China for hotpot. Otherwise, I prefer a gas range, even if I need to use a tank.
Some of the fancy electric ones are nice though. They get hot right away and you can slap you hand down right after because they don't stay hot due to black magic.

There's a huge difference between older "electric" hobs and induction. It's not quite true that you can put yoyr hand on the hob right ater use. The hob itself doesn't cause the surface to be hot, but if you've had a hot pan on it for 20 minutes, heat transference from the pan sure does. It's not like touching a solid ekectric hob, radiant ring or gas hob, but it certainly will not be nice and will burn you.

Overall, having had one for several years, I rate induction extremely highly. Pans react evety bit as fast as gas, and they're very fuel-efficient. Also, the hob senses the presence of the pan and cuts power to the induction coils so if you take a pan off for some reason, you aren't wasting gas or 'leccy heating air.

Two minor downsides, IMHO

One, already mentioned, is needing suitable pans. Just about all new(-ish) pans will work, but older sluminium based ones won't,

Also, I have some older thin-bottom Prestige stainless steel pans. These work, but thin pans don't spread tne heat evenly, and quickly. Not great.

Second, about the one thing I prefer gas for is a wok. Yes, you can get flat-bottomed, steel-core woks. I have one. And yeah, it works. But it's not the same as gettting a good old seasoned wok really, REALLY hot and using the wok sides for temperature control. I use it for sttir-frys, frued-rice, etc but I prefer gas for this For everything else, induction.

I recommend them VERY highly, Zak, Great to cook with sbd when it comes to cleaning ....

Mine? Can't remember for sure. German firm. Something like Liebherr.

No problems with it.

Things to look out for. Size (physicaly) of rings. Most have a coupke if bjg and a couple of cmaller ones. Big pans beed yo be on big rings, ideally,

Also, check power rating of each ring. Higher power = faster heating, just like a 3kw kettle will heat a pint of water about twice as fast as a 1500w one.


Oh, and make sure tge controls are clear to see and easy to use.

Some have individual up/down for each ring, while others have a single uo/down, and you have to select the ring it applies to first. Go for the former, if at all possible.

[Zak33]

A lean-to sort of slatted cupboard? - they don't need to be weatherproof - just disguised!

now that's what you and I would do....

Mrs 33 thinks otherwise..... so ref gas bottles.. move on.. there's nothing to see here....

[Zak33]

i saw a Bosch one with proper knobs, and I HATE touch screen controls on a hob but... thge knobs took up half the bottom corners making the hob smaller.. and I guess the benefit elec hobs is that when cold they're work surface..

so I utterly take on board the idea of individual controls because...

my current hob doesn't have that.. I have to select the element every time and then use the + - signs and its.....

well tbh it's a bag of crap.

[Saracen]

I take the point about touch controls BUT the advantage of one single, flat uniform surface is in ease of cleaning. Usually, a quick wipe does it.

I've seen i-hobs with individual touch controls per 'ring', unlike mine, with the selector and a single +/-.

Frankly, you get used to that but if you need to switch in a hurry, like something boiling up and nearly over, it can be the difference between nearly boiling over, and cleaning up the mess.

[aidanjt]

Yeah the auld fella got a Samsung induction hob, the touch controls are a *tad* bit clunky, but all in all, work well enough to get the job done. I mean I wouldn't worry all that much about boilover because of the controls specifically. Hygienically it's the best solution, the implementations could just use a bit of smartphone touch tech love.

[Saracen]

Yeah the auld fella got a Samsung induction hob, the touch controls are a *tad* bit clunky, but all in all, work well enough to get the job done. I mean I wouldn't worry all that much about boilover because of the controls specifically. Hygienically it's the best solution, the implementations could just use a bit of smartphone touch tech love.

I've had boilover a few timesbecause of the controls.

Say, water on ring one, beans on ring two. Water starts to boil up. What follows is :-

1) Press - several times to reduce boil. Nuffing happens.

2) Look puzzled

3) Realise you had the selector on 2 to control beans.

4) Curse under breath.

5) Change selector to ring 1) for water and .... beggar it, too late. Boiled over.

6) Spend a couple of minutes cleaning up.

7) Wonder why beans aren't heating.

8) Remember those -'s that you meant to turn down water? They turned down beans.

9) Double curse under breath.

10) Turn up beans.

11) Curse, for the n-th time not having independent controls.



Put it this way. While otherwise delighted with the hob, shared controls is not a mistake I will make again, even if it means buying a more expensive hob. Which would be induction.

[GoNz0]

Cannot remember the name of mine without getting up but it is a kitchen brand, worktop single one that I use for big cooke when all 5 rings are in use. Love the way it heats up my Circulon pans and the best thing is it was only £25

[pp05]

I'm currently sorting the kitchen out, was looking into an induction but I just can't buy an induction hob. Something about cooking with gas cooker.