The house we moved into a few months back still had the original (low quality) oven, it’s about 17 years old and inefficient AF. Ordered a new Bosch unit on Tuesday and it’s being installed this afternoon. whoohoo! Next up will be replacing the gas hob with induction but I don’t know anything about those so will have a chat with the oven installer. Does anyone here have induction?
I’ve been using a portable induction plate instead of my gas for a while now. It’s really nice to use, and creates noticibly less heat around the pot, which is going to be very nice over summer.
I did have a few issues with using my cast iron frypan initially, as it would get too hot and the stove would shut down. I’ve put a silicone mat on the stove that goes under the pan which solved that problem, as well as protecting the stove from scratches.
I am going to look in to getting a couple of commercial portable burners instead of a full stovetop, as I do like the flexibility of being able to move everything around (plus a breakdown will only effect one burner, not everything).
I’ve been considering buying one of these too. What brand do you have, are you happy with it? I was thinking it would be useful if cooking messy stuff I could do it outside, and not have splatters all over the stove to clean up.
I can’t remember the brand - it was just a cheap one online. I am happy with it, although the controls are a bit clunky to use (you have to repeat press to cycle through the settings) so I don’t really bother with most of the settings.
I’ve had every type of cooktop. Currently have a Bosch induction. The only advantages I can see is cost saving, ease of cleaning, and that bitch heats very quickly. Boils water faster than a kettle ( there’s a “turbo” function)
I would still rather have a gas cooktop though just because I feel like I have to tiptoe and not scratch or break the glass. I like using cast iron and it’s not ideal for that.
Anyway the Bosch is five years old and no issues thus far.
I use a silicone mat on mine, which both protects against scratches and stops the stove overheating when I use cast iron. You can get sheets that cover the whole cooktop if you want, or just single burners (or whatever the induction equivilent of a burner is).
As far as I know any silicone mat that is heat safe would be fine, but there are ones sold specifically as mats for induction stoves. I’m just using a Baccarat mat that came with a set of saucepans I bought ages ago, I think it is just designed as a trivet to protect the bench from hot pans, but it works really well on the stove too.
I have a portable induction cooktop,sourced from Temple & Webster, which someone in my fam gave me last xmas. I’ve used it a bit, and find it interesting. The trouble is a lot of my cookware doesn’t work on it. Also, I find any cooking appliance with pre-set buttons is a bit of a pain. I would rather have the ability to choose the temperature and cooking time for myself, as the preset buttons are never useful for their stated purpose. On this cooktop the preset buttons all do wildly different things - I ended up using the steak button to cook rice, and the quickboil button to do steak. Which is sorta defeats the purpose of having the named buttons. I think they expect ALL customers will have their steak done in exactly the same fashion with no ability to choose a different way. And I like steak done slowly after the initial sear - juicier and tenderer and harder to stuff up imo. I’d get an induction if I was doing a new set up, but at present I feel no urgency to change over my existing arrangements. If I have any advice, it would be to avoid getting an induction hob with preset buttons.
which brand? I’ve been eyeing them off for His Lordship since the kitchen reno keeps getting kicked down the road (and no money wasted with a portable since he’ll find a use for it in the brewery eventually anyway)
The branding is ‘Healthy Choice’ - but it’s the $60 one from Temple & Webster. Available online only nowadays. Plasticky and lightweight - I’d seriously consider using a ceramic tile under it just in case of meltdowns. The biggest hassle is that for some of the preset buttons, you can’t change the temperature - only some of the buttons allow you to do that. Link
The house we moved into a few months back still had the original (low quality) oven, it’s about 17 years old and inefficient AF. Ordered a new Bosch unit on Tuesday and it’s being installed this afternoon. whoohoo! Next up will be replacing the gas hob with induction but I don’t know anything about those so will have a chat with the oven installer. Does anyone here have induction?
I’ve been using a portable induction plate instead of my gas for a while now. It’s really nice to use, and creates noticibly less heat around the pot, which is going to be very nice over summer.
I did have a few issues with using my cast iron frypan initially, as it would get too hot and the stove would shut down. I’ve put a silicone mat on the stove that goes under the pan which solved that problem, as well as protecting the stove from scratches.
I am going to look in to getting a couple of commercial portable burners instead of a full stovetop, as I do like the flexibility of being able to move everything around (plus a breakdown will only effect one burner, not everything).
I’ve been considering buying one of these too. What brand do you have, are you happy with it? I was thinking it would be useful if cooking messy stuff I could do it outside, and not have splatters all over the stove to clean up.
Mine’s Panasonic. 4 years still working.
I can’t remember the brand - it was just a cheap one online. I am happy with it, although the controls are a bit clunky to use (you have to repeat press to cycle through the settings) so I don’t really bother with most of the settings.
We want induction too… Got the pans already, my partner discovered Solidteknics. They are brilliant.
Ooh they look great!
I’ve had every type of cooktop. Currently have a Bosch induction. The only advantages I can see is cost saving, ease of cleaning, and that bitch heats very quickly. Boils water faster than a kettle ( there’s a “turbo” function)
I would still rather have a gas cooktop though just because I feel like I have to tiptoe and not scratch or break the glass. I like using cast iron and it’s not ideal for that.
Anyway the Bosch is five years old and no issues thus far.
I use a silicone mat on mine, which both protects against scratches and stops the stove overheating when I use cast iron. You can get sheets that cover the whole cooktop if you want, or just single burners (or whatever the induction equivilent of a burner is).
Thanks Rave. I have been using a couple of squares of baking paper. Seems to work pretty good but maybe I’ll check out the silicone 👍
I hadn’t heard of this silicon mat magic! Can you recommend a particular brand?
As far as I know any silicone mat that is heat safe would be fine, but there are ones sold specifically as mats for induction stoves. I’m just using a Baccarat mat that came with a set of saucepans I bought ages ago, I think it is just designed as a trivet to protect the bench from hot pans, but it works really well on the stove too.
I’m very interested in this because my gas stove top will need to be replaced at some stage. I’m going to buy a portable and test it out.
Been using induction for years and love it
I have a portable induction cooktop,sourced from Temple & Webster, which someone in my fam gave me last xmas. I’ve used it a bit, and find it interesting. The trouble is a lot of my cookware doesn’t work on it. Also, I find any cooking appliance with pre-set buttons is a bit of a pain. I would rather have the ability to choose the temperature and cooking time for myself, as the preset buttons are never useful for their stated purpose. On this cooktop the preset buttons all do wildly different things - I ended up using the steak button to cook rice, and the quickboil button to do steak. Which is sorta defeats the purpose of having the named buttons. I think they expect ALL customers will have their steak done in exactly the same fashion with no ability to choose a different way. And I like steak done slowly after the initial sear - juicier and tenderer and harder to stuff up imo. I’d get an induction if I was doing a new set up, but at present I feel no urgency to change over my existing arrangements. If I have any advice, it would be to avoid getting an induction hob with preset buttons.
which brand? I’ve been eyeing them off for His Lordship since the kitchen reno keeps getting kicked down the road (and no money wasted with a portable since he’ll find a use for it in the brewery eventually anyway)
The branding is ‘Healthy Choice’ - but it’s the $60 one from Temple & Webster. Available online only nowadays. Plasticky and lightweight - I’d seriously consider using a ceramic tile under it just in case of meltdowns. The biggest hassle is that for some of the preset buttons, you can’t change the temperature - only some of the buttons allow you to do that. Link
That’s the one i was looking at, the presets are a turnoff though for same reasons as yours.
Might go the 2000w westinghouse, $150 on catch