Hobs: ceramic vs induction cooktops, practical considerations and experience (plus which stove mode/brand)

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#1186197 1-Dec-2014 10:36

6FIEND: I'm also looking at induction cooktops...

I realise that this may not be directly helpful to the OP, but I am surprised by the stated $1600 price differential. I was looking at a Bosch induction hob at Kitchen Things that was $1699 total! (admittedly, that was on sale - and not a stand alone oven...)

Nevertheless, I would consider that to be reason enough to reconsider the "deals" that you're looking at! The difference in cost between the two types shouldn't be anywhere near that great...

I'm looking at standalone stoves, not just hobs, because of the kitchen setup it's not practical to buy separates. I think it's partly the product tiers, with low, mid, and high range having more and more features increasing the price. Have a look here:
- Good stove, basic hob with solid metal rings, $900.
- Good stove, ceramic hob, $1700 (though I can get for $1350 from memory)
- Very good stove, induction cooktop, $2500.
- Excellent stove with pyrolitic lining, induction hob, more cooking modes, $3000.

Problem is the two higher end ones in that brand are touch controls which my wife has trouble controlling - she has to get others to help her to even turn them on sometimes.

We only use the oven occasionally, we use rings a LOT more - probably ten times more. If anyone can suggest a freestanding stove with an induction cooktop but an average oven that's better value I'm all ears.

BlueShift

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#1186198 1-Dec-2014 10:39

timmmay: Thanks Andrew.

I'd like to reframe this discussion slightly. I don't care about gas, and I only care about induction if ceramic won't get the job done because we don't really want to buy a $3000 stove for a house we may not be in for very long. I'm really interested in practical experience.

My only question now is given we're happy enough with our very old coil style elements, and given we cook things hot and quickly, will we likely be happy with a ceramic stove top? My wife has used them and likes them fine (she's not a chef), my father in law who owned and ran a kitchen business for 20 years and likes to cook has one and likes it, I just haven't used one personally in years and have never owned one.

Beko has a $900 stove that has solid rings that would do the job, this one. It's pretty cheap and ugly looking, but if it's the best tool for the job we'd be ok with going with that one.

If you like to cook hot and quick, and you already have the right pots & pans, go induction. We have ceramic, and its fine for most stuff, steak cooks fine in a heavy cast iron skillet. But it truly, really sucks for stir-frying, it just doesn't get hot enough. I haven't used induction myself, but it can't be worse for stir-frys than ceramic.

MikeB4

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#1186202 1-Dec-2014 10:48

KiwiNZ: We used Gas for along time, just on a year ago we replaced our cooker with a freestanding electric with induction hob. Will never go back to gas. Induction cooking is fantastic.

Ceramic is good however some things for you to think about with induction...

1. Power saving with how quickly things reach the required heat, which is very fast
2. shorter over all cooking times again considerably quicker
3. greater control of the heat, that is when you turn it down the heat drops instantly no allowing the element to lose temperature.
4. Safety, the cooking surface remains considerably cooler during and after cooking.

flynkiwi

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#1186204 1-Dec-2014 10:48

I have had two induction cook tops now at our last house and then our current place that we have just renovated. One thing to take into account when going induction is that you will need to consider the power requirements as induction requires its own dedicated feed from the circuit board. We had the old oven and ceramic cooktop on the one circuit and had to run a new line due to the power requirements of the induction cooktop.

It is well worth it though. Once you go induction you wont want to go back. This time when we went from Ceremic to Induction we burnt things as we forgot how fast it cooked :-). The other thing I found with induction is the precision of the temperature. You can turn it down once you have it at the boil and easily control the heat. I can cook perfect poached eggs that I cant do on the ceramic cooktop.

If you are in Auckland then Kitchen Things distributor Applicco has a yearly sale from their warehouse in Penrose about March. We got our Baumatic non-branded Induction from them for less than $1000.

k14

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#1186212 1-Dec-2014 10:56

I went from ceramic to induction at my house about 3-4 months ago and will never go back. So easily worth the $$. Easy to clean and I never get tired of showing people when they come to my house a full pot of water boiling in under a minute :)

timmmay

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#1186214 1-Dec-2014 11:06

Thanks guys. I know induction is the best option, but on a budget I want to know if ceramic is good enough. If anyone can recommend a freestanding oven with an induction hob that's reasonably priced that would be really interesting - $2500 is the cheapest we've seen but we don't much like the touch controls as my wife can't easily use them, dials are better for us.

If I currently have an old style stove will I likely need a new circuit if I go to induction?

I've found a couple of friends who have ceramic stoves so I'll go try them. Neither of them love them.

MikeB4

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#1186219 1-Dec-2014 11:13

timmmay: Thanks guys. I know induction is the best option, but on a budget I want to know if ceramic is good enough. If anyone can recommend a freestanding oven with an induction hob that's reasonably priced that would be really interesting - $2500 is the cheapest we've seen but we don't much like the touch controls as my wife can't easily use them, dials are better for us.

If I currently have an old style stove will I likely need a new circuit if I go to induction?

I've found a couple of friends who have ceramic stoves so I'll go try them. Neither of them love them.

They used the existing circuit for ours, they just had to change the wall outlet which was at no cost to us.

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#1186264 1-Dec-2014 11:58

timmmay:
edge: Simply put, I would say that ceramic is indeed "good enough" by the sound of your situation!! Put one in 15 years ago with kitchen upgrade and have no complaints. I have no problem cooking steak on high heat (and we do cook a lot of meat, still getting our own cattle killed for the freezer!). I think you said that all your pans are compatible, but that is an issue for us - have lots of high quality copper bottom pans (not cheapies!) and, more importantly, our fantastic Scanpan Classic and Professional range frypans are not compatible with induction hobs (and I would be very loathe to get rid of them we love them to bits). Disclaimer - have seen induction hobs in action at friends' place but have not used them. Just my two cents worth in response to your direct question.

Thanks, "good enough" is exactly what I want to know. I do cook a fair bit, but I'm not a chef or particularly fussy. I just want a hot pan! A friend says her ceramic hob doesn't get hot enough to sear meat properly..

hmm ... just read your needs. ceramic won't sear meat nor make steak. they however will give you meat soup. it is nowhere hot enough to do that as there is a thermostat that shuts the element off when it gets hot, so your pan is kind hot ish but it won't make steak. nope. try as you might. no way. that's another reason why i hated it. in fact it won't fry anything i tried. my ceramic was the bane of my existence while i lived there.

so if you buy ceramic either remove the thermostat or ... umm ... buy a good barbie!

k14

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#1186277 1-Dec-2014 12:06

timmmay: Thanks guys. I know induction is the best option, but on a budget I want to know if ceramic is good enough. If anyone can recommend a freestanding oven with an induction hob that's reasonably priced that would be really interesting - $2500 is the cheapest we've seen but we don't much like the touch controls as my wife can't easily use them, dials are better for us.

If I currently have an old style stove will I likely need a new circuit if I go to induction?

I've found a couple of friends who have ceramic stoves so I'll go try them. Neither of them love them.

I can't remember the numbers but when I installed my the maximum rated current was higher than the circuit is designed for. So technically I should upgrade but decided that the breaker will protect the cable so have taken the wait and see approach. So far the breaker hasn't tripped once so I don't think I will need to upgrade the circuit. Talk to the sparkie though when you get it installed and see what he says.

timmmay

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#1186298 1-Dec-2014 12:41

joker97: hmm ... just read your needs. ceramic won't sear meat nor make steak. they however will give you meat soup. it is nowhere hot enough to do that as there is a thermostat that shuts the element off when it gets hot, so your pan is kind hot ish but it won't make steak. nope. try as you might. no way. that's another reason why i hated it. in fact it won't fry anything i tried. my ceramic was the bane of my existence while i lived there.

so if you buy ceramic either remove the thermostat or ... umm ... buy a good barbie!

Good to know, thanks. I do cook things very hot, I'll take things to a friends house with a ceramic hob and see how things work.

billgates

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#1186302 1-Dec-2014 12:51

20% ~ 25% off all Whiteware today at Noel Leeming.

https://www.noelleeming.co.nz/shop/kitchen-laundry-appliances/ovens-cooktops/freestanding-ovens/award-afeind151-60cm-freestanding-electric-oven-with-induction-hob/prod132342.html

Do whatever you want to do man.

timmmay

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#1186308 1-Dec-2014 13:05

That's a pretty good price, thanks, $1760. If they'll do it today they'll no doubt do it another day, and should be plenty of sales around Christmas.

Tempted to buy the cheap one with solid metal elements, a well proven technology.

flynkiwi

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#1186431 1-Dec-2014 15:07

I got a single plug into the wall socket induction cook top from Mitre10 to use when we renovated the Kitchen. We had a make-shift kitchen in our downstairs bathrooms as we demoed and put in the new one. Not an ideal solution but it was only $150.

qyiet

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#1186445 1-Dec-2014 15:36

Late to the party here, but I've upgraded to induction and would never go back. The speed and responsiveness are amazing.

I've ended up trading my stand alone jug in for an old whistle kettle that sits on the stove because the induction was so much faster. My trick when looking for pans (as it's sometimes hard to tell if they will work) is to take a magnet with me. If the magnet sticks, the pan should work.

Warning: reality may differ from above post

mattwnz

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#1186448 1-Dec-2014 15:51

I would go induction over gas, as induction doesn't off gas into the air. I have both. The only negative with induction is you need the right saucepans to work, most new ones will now work with it, but older ones can have aluminium and copper sandwiched bases which don't work. So good quality saucepans can add on up to another $1k. Also some of the touch controls on some of them can be a bit temperamental, and may have limited increments of control.

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