Electric vs. Induction
I know this debate was hashed out almost a year ago, and I’m a pretty passionate home cook very much in favor of a gas range. That said, the building we’re looking to buy in—our first!—has no gas hookups. It’s a sponsor, and we’ve maybe got a little bit of money to play with up…
I know this debate was hashed out almost a year ago, and I’m a pretty passionate home cook very much in favor of a gas range. That said, the building we’re looking to buy in—our first!—has no gas hookups. It’s a sponsor, and we’ve maybe got a little bit of money to play with up front, so I’m almost certainly swapping out the base stove set for, let’s dream big, a double oven and a top of the line range. Will induction be the closest I can come to gas in an all-electric building? Does it even compare? I know that induction is only a few years old, so has the tech gotten noticably better over the last year? What about the prospects of a top of the line electric range? Again, I cook a few nights a week and can’t bear the thought of being miserable in my wonderful new apartment with a dreadful kitchen. I hate to say it, but could this even be a deal breaker? Thanks in advance!
Electric is as good or better for baking, but stovetop cooking is very tricky.
Bobjohn, no wonder you hated that cooktop! My current (Miele) induction cooktop is very even, I don’t have any issues with it, I just love it. I have an electric (I think it’s GE) in my holiday home and I don’t have that issue with it either, I think you might have had either a malfunctioning cooktop or a poorly designed one 🙁
Either that or there is some cooking technique that Japanese use that your top was designed for…
Ray: I had induction cook top in corp apartment in Roppongi. It seemed that it maintained level of heat by turning element on or off. So instead of low-medium heat constantly I got 100% heat for 20sec and then no heat for 20sec. So one moment butter does not spread without heat and next moment crape is burning because there is too much heat.
Again: it was cheap induction cook top. I am not sure whether high end cook tops have the same on-off way of modulating the heat.
Wow. Forget about the brownstoner discussion link I posted. (Nothing like not bothering to click on the links in the original post if you want to be redundant in a response!) The Chowhound one still looks like it might be helpful though. 🙂
When it comes to cooking machines, induction is the future, no doubt about it. As much as I swear by gas, if I were to choose a new range today, there’s a great possibility it would be induction. As for electric? That’s a no -brainer: fuhgeddaboutit. For a discussion on the pros and cons of induction, electric and gas, check out this Forum thread from last year: http://bstoner.wpengine.com/forum/archives/2009/01/induction_or_el.php or this one from Chowhound: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/656882 E
Bobjohn, I make crepes on my induction cooktop most weekends. I actually learned to make them with a French friend in an electric cooktop and have made them in gas too. I’ve never had a problem. what happens?
I really hated induction. You cannot make crapes on it.
I think induction is just great. As cmu says, as responsive as gas, but much faster and efficient. I changed a while ago (somewhat reluctantly, from gas) and have never looked back.
Electric is different, and there is a learning curve – not very responsive and certainly not as efficient as induction. I think you can cook well on an electric stove, but only after you’ve learned to use it, and I find that takes a bit of time – I have electric in my holiday home. At the beginning it drove me nuts.
For me, induction is superior to gas and electric, without question.
50s cooking all came out of cans.
I really dont like induction. It’s not quite a deal breaker, but it’s close.