Induction Cooking Hobs

[koolkat]

Below, I describe my experience with this new cooking technology, which I strongly recommend to members. It uses induction to heat just the bottom of the pan placed on it. The cooking surface stays cool and only picks up a little heat from the bottom of the pan.

So, having decided to do something about the recent high energy bills, I got myself an induction heating plate.

First impressions are very positive. It boils water in (claimed) half the time taken by an electric hot plate, or (checked by me) in 2/3 of the time it takes on my strongest gas flame. And that’s at a setting of 1600W which is less than its max of 2000W.

Use is straight forward. It has 5 pre-sets for standard cooking tasks and/or you can set power, temperature and time. Display is large and bright. The noise level is reasonable.

It also has various protection mechanisms, like Automatic pot detection (automatic shutdown in case of unsuitable pots).

It should be safer to use than regular electric hot plates and gas.

The main disadvantage of the technology is that it doesn’t work with aluminium pans, only with steel or iron ones, so you may need new pans. To see if your existing pans are suitable, see if their bottom is attracted by a magnet.

Mine was cheap and has plastic construction, but this is common nowadays and doesn’t impair operation, it may even provide protection from electric shock.

From my research and also following logic, apart from its speed and convenience, it is the most efficient and economic way to cook, because energy goes exclusively where it’s needed. This is particularly important at today’s high energy prices.

My advice. If you are thinking of buying an induction cooking hob, the sooner you act, the more you’ll save on the electricity and gas bills.