[Mag]

Purchased an Induction Cooktop. Would like tips and advice on how best to use it.

I put a pot of water with power level 1800 and the water was boiling in like 3 minutes, that's fast.

But is it better to cook with temperature control, which I'm more familiar typically 350 F and 400 F for boiling water?

[macrojack]

Can't answer your question but would like to know what you bought.

[Mag]

Can't answer your question but would like to know what you bought.

Crawford Induction Cooktop, Made in China. Ordered on Sunday night April 9 on amazon.ca approx $204.00 CDN. Was sitting beside the door when I got home from work yesterday, 4 days free shipping that's pretty fast.

[Early B.]

You're gonna need plenty of cleaner:  https://www.amazon.com/Cerama-Bryte-Best-Value-Burnt/dp/B0076ANLYY/ref=sr_1_1_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1492202164&sr=8-1&keywords=induction+cooktop+cleaner

We purchased an induction cooktop stove several months ago and don't like it. Impossible to keep clean. Nothing's better than a good old fashioned fire. We'll get a gas stove next time.

[Nick77]

Been cooking on Induction for 3 years now and love it. No reason to ever go back to gas. 30" GE Profile Induction 4 burner $1200. 

[gregfisk]

My Dad has one of these cook tops at his mountain cabin and I hate it. It is similar to electric coils in that it doesn't cool down very fast so you have to move the pot off of the burner to stop the food from cooking. This creates a problem when you are are out of space. And, as EarlyB stated they are impossible to keep clean without a lot of elbow grease.

I did stir fry once when they first got it and I was swearing for 30 minutes after trying to get it clean. I know they are popular but give me a gas burner any day, even thou they can be hard to clean as well. I guarantee no Chef in his right mind would use one of these cook tops for work, the whole idea is control of the heat when you need it, these fail at that big time.

Just my opinion of course, YMMV.

[Nick77]

There must be quality issues with some brands. Your discription doesn't line up with induction as I know it. Ours is instant on and off just like gas but no mess with smooth glass top.

[Russell Dawkins]

My Dad has one of these cook tops at his mountain cabin and I hate it. It is similar to electric coils in that it doesn't cool down very fast so you have to move the pot off of the burner to stop the food from cooking.

I don't think this can be an induction cook top.
One of the major benefits of induction is that it does cool down instantly—as fast as gas—because all that is heated is the metal of the pot or pan. The glass beneath is heated only by the metal of the pot above. Most glass-topped stoves are heated by resistance elements below, and these are slow to cool, like most electric stoves. Professional cooks like induction second only to gas, typically. For commercial use, gas wins by being more robust in use and easier to clean. For accurate low temperature cooking, like sauce making for example, a good induction stove is so good you can dispense with the need for double boilers.
When we're boiling a liquid and boiling temperature is reached turning the element off results in instantaneous reaction; bubbling stops instantly.

Cooktops vary in fineness of control, of course. Ours (an Electrolux http://www.thebrick.com/product/item/appliances/kitchen/ranges/electrolux/electrolux-30-electric-range-with-induction-cooktop-stainless-steel/1642493) has very small increments of heat control near the bottom of the heat range—1.0, 1.2, 1.4, etc.—increasing in coarseness as you go up in temperature.

I am not recommending this model though due to two factors:
1. after 5 years the touch control circuit board appears to need replacing ($120 part) as it is getting a little quirky, and
2. the oven is puzzlingly slow to come up to temperature

Having said that, we really do enjoy using the unit and it is easy to keep clean—much easier than a conventional glass top stove where the glass gets really hot. On ours, you can boil a pot of water, take the pot off and immediately touch the glass. It's hot because the bottom of the pot was hot, but you won't get burned with a quick touch.

Additionally, we had to have a relatively expensive wiring upgrade to the stove as the installation specs called for a heavier wire than was in place for the conventional electric stove that it replaced. 10 gauge in place of 12 gauge, if I recall, requiring a minimum 40 amp circuit.

I see your stove top is 120 V and 1800 watts max, shared between two elements, that is 1800 watts total at any one time—so if you need one element to run at 1800 watts, the other must be off, or you could run 900 watts on each element simultaneously. At 120 V, 1800 watts is 15 amps which is typical for a household circuit.

Here's the stove top after 6 years of use. No fancy cleaners, just general purpose cleaner, a damp sponge and drying with a microfiber towel.

[RPM123]

Been cooking on Induction for 3 years now and love it. No reason to ever go back to gas. 30" GE Profile Induction 4 burner $1200. 

+1  We also purchased a Fagor portable induction burner to use during our kitchen remodel and it worked great! Easy temperature control and fast heating and cool down.  They are also great when the weather is warm, since they won't heat up your kitchen like gas burners.  According to a co-worker of my wife who hails  from Ireland, most kitchens in Europe use some form of electric oven and stovetop, as gas is considered "primitive" for home use.  The only real issue I have found is that they do require a bit more maintenance to keep clean.

[bacobits1]

I have that Electrolux too. I like it but you need to adjust your cooking routine from gas a bit. Start med and then lower down the temp to almost low when done. It cleans nice with a bit of elbow grease, don't be a slob and clean often. Sure beats taking the grates off and all that on a gas stove.

One note clean your pots and pans on the bottom with oven cleaner if these were used on a gas stove. They will look like new and leave much less marks and easier to clean the glass.
We have had it 5 years now.

[Syrah]

gregfisk - are you sure it's not halogen?  They are often confused.  They've been confused on this forum even.  They're quite different.

[Syrah]

My perfect stove would be 3 induction burners and two gas burners.  That way I wouldn't need to throw out half of my pans and I'd have a flexible stove.  I remember reading an interview with Ferran Adria.  He said that they only use induction because the temperature can be fine tuned and then repeated with relative certainty.  Pretty compelling argument.  Gas is kind of loosy-goosy, and pretty pan dependent when it come to temperature control.  And forget about low and slow.

[Russell Dawkins]

Two more points worth mentioning.
1. Some manufacturers make hybrid tops that include both induction and radiant or gas elements on the same surface, for example:
http://www.magneticcooky.com/hybrid-induction-cooktops-freestanding-range/
2. The common notion that the pan has to be magnetic (a magnet will stick to the bottom) to work is not always true. We have two stainless Italian coffee makers that have no magnetic attraction that both work fine with our stove top. I have also seen some aluminum pans that will work. It seems to be a function of the specific alloy.

[Syrah]

Ha.  I have a portable induction burner, maybe I'll give it a go with my many aluminum bottomed pans to see if it works.  I also have lots of cast iron (which I know is not a problem) and copper (which probably is a problem).  Thanks for the info.

[RPM123]

Ha.  I have a portable induction burner, maybe I'll give it a go with my many aluminum bottomed pans to see if it works.  I also have lots of cast iron (which I know is not a problem) and copper (which probably is a problem).  Thanks for the info.

If they don't work on it, you can get an induction converter disc. See link: http://www.magneticcooky.com/best-induction-cookware-converter-disks/

[Russell Dawkins]

If they don't work on it, you can get an induction converter disc. See link: http://www.magneticcooky.com/best-induction-cookware-converter-disks/

Only problem with that system is you are now back to relying on the conduction of heat from the converter disc to the pot/pan the efficiency of which depends, as it always did on a standard stove, on how good the contact is between the bottom of the pan and the hot surface. It would be the equivalent of those solid metal elements which were particularly slow to react to temperature setting changes.
It would let you use those old pans, though, but without most of the benefits of induction.

[RPM123]

Only problem with that system is you are now back to relying on the conduction of heat from the converter disc to the pot/pan the efficiency of which depends, as it always did on a standard stove, on how good the contact is between the bottom of the pan and the hot surface. It would be the equivalent of those solid metal elements which were particularly slow to react to temperature setting changes.
It would let you use those old pans, though, but without most of the benefits of induction.

Not sure how that differs from induction ready cookware, other than the inner layers are usually aluminum or cooper bonded to a stainless steel bottom layer. As long as the cookware is not warped, it should work fine. (perhaps a bit less efficient) Plus, if it doesn't work, you can always return the converter.

[Russell Dawkins]

Not sure how that differs from induction ready cookware, other than the inner layers are usually aluminum or cooper bonded to a stainless steel bottom layer. As long as the cookware is not warped, it should work fine. (perhaps a bit less efficient) Plus, if it doesn't work, you can always return the converter.

Well it will work—but only the converter is heated by induction; the pot on top is heated only by contact with the converter, so you are back to the equivalent of a resistive coil-heated iron hotplate type electric stove in terms of speed of heating and cooling, and thus the 'response time' of the system would be pretty much as slow as a conventional stove, so the advantages of induction would be pretty much absent. The variable is the thermal mass of the converter which is probably not very different from the thermal mass of the iron hotplate in that type of electric stove.  The only result would be that conventional pots and pans can be made to work on an induction stove, but at no particular advantage over a conventional stove.
With an induction surface heating an induction-ready pot the only thermal mass to be heated is the pot itself and the contents of the pot, so response to control inputs would be essentially instantaneous.

[RPM123]

"The only result would be that conventional pots and pans can be made to work on an induction stove"... . And that is the whole point of having a converter...the ability to use any "conventional" cookware, e.g., expensive all copper cookware, etc. No need then to replace those items. 

[gregfisk]

Thank you to Russell and Sarah for correcting me on the cook top and doing it kindly. I was at my Dad's cabin last weekend and it is definitely not induction. From what has been posted here and being used to gas I could probably get used to induction. The fact it is fast at heating and cooling off is a must. I still don't like the glass top issue thou. It is much easier to wipe off the top of my gas burners and even if it's not perfect you don't really notice it. I guess I'm just too lazy to spend all the time it takes to make the glass look good.