DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

I'm looking at a house and it has a pretty nice kitchen which includes an induction countertop stove. I've never used one before so I thought I'd ask if anyone here has.

As I understand it, the stove "burner" produces a strong AC magnetic field which induces electrical currents in metal cooking implements, thereby heating the implement but not the countertop (although since a pot would sit on the countertop it would transfer some heat). However, not nearly as much as if it were a flame or resistance element. It would not work on a ceramic pot unless it was made to include conductive materials in the base.

Any comments positive or negative?

rwilson1942 Loc: Houston, TX

Google knows a lot more than we fine folks here at UHH: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Induction_cooking

MichaelH Loc: NorCal via Lansing, MI

I have read that a quick test is to test a magnet on your cookware. If the magnet is not attracted to the pan/pot then it will not heat up. Aluminum and some types of stainless steel are not magnetic. It works very well with cast iron. As far as efficiency, check with Google for comparisons but I cannot imagine it would cost that much more for the power even if it was not really efficient. But you may have to buy some new pots and pans. I bought a table top version of an induction burner for doing deep fat frying on the deck outside of the kitchen to avoid the smell and it came with a cast iron flat plate that you could put on the burner surface and put a non-magnetic pan on top of the plate to heat it. The range tops certainly look nice.

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

I too have always been fascinated by them, back in the 80's a friend of mine had one in his kitchen ( one that actually does not have any burners) and I still don't know how they do it. He put on a pot anywhere on the stove and it does heat up whatever is in it, you put your hands on it and it stays cold. I know it did not have anything to do with metal, because if you put a pot on empty is was not heating either, only if it had stuff in it!

MichaelH Loc: NorCal via Lansing, MI

I did not know they were "smart" enough to know when the pot was empty. Here is a Consumer Reports short Pros and Cons article:
http://www.consumerreports.org/electric-induction-ranges/pros-and-cons-of-induction-cooktops-and-ranges/

And CR seems to suggest they are energy efficient. It may be because no heat is lost around the sides of the pot - the heat is generated BY the pot.

paulrph1 Loc: Washington, Utah

We have had induction for over a year and simply love it. But cannot in reality be compared to other types of heat. First you need a special sort of pan one that is made of magnetic metal. Aluminum will not work or ceramic. The plate will not heat up per se but heat from the pan will transfer to the base but it lights up with an "H" meaning hot but you are less likely to burn yourself on it than with a regular stove. Some pans are hard to find and you might consider taking a magnet when you look for pans. If they are magnetic they will work but they have on the pans symbols that tell you if they will work. Electric wise they are less expensive to operate. less likely to burn and almost as fast as gas. If safety is a concern it is the best way to go. It is the metal pan that heats up by magnetism and not the burner. The heat from the metal pan transfers to the food.

melismus Loc: Chesapeake Bay Country

The pot does not need to be magnetic, but it must conduct electricity. Aluminum works fine.

nikon_jon Loc: Northeast Arkansas

I have one of those induction cook-tops that sits on the counter top. Absolutely love it, but as someone else commented, the pan has to be iron or steel. You can get cookware that has non-stick ceramic coating on the inside and a built-in plate on the bottom that is made of steel and will heat up under the influence of the magnetic elements that make the whole thing work. One big plus is that it doesn't heat up the room like a gas or electric burner does.

dakotacheryl Loc: Near Mt Rushmore

Aluminum pans only work if they added a steel plate to the bottom..look for the induction compatibility sign on the bottom of the pan. If a magnet will not stick to the bottom, the pan will not work.

I love my induction cook top. Fast to heat up and to cool down.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

I see several comments that the pot material has to be ferromagnetic. I am puzzled by this. I thought the pot was heated by eddy currents induced by the AC magnetic field applied to a conductive material. I don't see why an aluminum pot wouldn't heat up. I saw a statement that the cooktop could melt aluminum foil and make a mess on the surface, which implies to me that an aluminum pot would also heat up.

dakotacheryl Loc: Near Mt Rushmore

My cooktop automatically shuts off when a magnetic pan is not on the surface. No way for aluminum foils to heat up, let alone melt...unless you put it inside a conducting pot, but of course you wouldn't do that LOL.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

http://home.howstuffworks.com/induction-cooktops.htm (et seq.)

It appears that copper and aluminum pots will work, but not nearly as well as iron pots. The difference is that copper and aluminum have too high conductivity so the currents induced in the metal do not produce enough heat. Iron is a relatively poor conductor (high resistance) and the current induced by the magnetic fields produces power proportional to the square of the current times the resistance. The iron has a high resistance so it produces power. The copper/aluminum has a low resistance so it doesn't produce much power. If this is the correct explanation, a ferromagnetic material is not essential to the cookware. However, ferromagnetic materials generally have poor conductivity (high resistance) so the magnetic susceptibility of the material is a good indicator of a material that will work well. If you had a pot made of copper alloyed with materials that would decrease the conductivity, it would probably work on the cooktop. However, there's no real reason to make such pots since the alloys would probably be more expensive than iron-bearing alloys that are inherently poor conductors.

The whole reason that some pots are made with copper or aluminum is that the electrical conductivity and the thermal conductivity are related so the copper pots transfer heat more efficiently from an external source (flame or heating coil) to the contents of the pot. On an induction cooktop the source of heat is not external, but is actually in the pot material itself.

PS: The cooktop driver is not just a 60 Hz magnetic field, but is up in the 20-75 KHz range.

Bmarsh Loc: Bellaire, MI

Have had an induction stove for about 4 years and both I and my wife love it. Nice to be able to dial in small increments of heat like you can with a gas stove. Ours has a "power boost" setting which will run for about 9 minutes before it dials back to HIGH and it useful for getting water boiling, for example. Takes about 30 seconds for an inch of water. Haven't had a problem finding pots and pans but you can't go to your local yard sale and pick any old pan..

CaptainBobBrown

We've been using induction stoves for years and love them. They heat in a controlled way very quickly, are easy to clean because spills don't get heated nearly so much and cooked on the surface, and because the only hot part of the stove is from conduction of the heated cookware they cool down much faster. Also no excess water vapor as in gas burning stoves and they are very efficient. They are like magic in their quickness to heat. For example, a quart of water will come to a boil in a minute or so whereas any other kind of stove will take 3 or 4 minutes at least. Finally, the heat level you set is the heat level the utensil reaches and stays at because the stove electronics cycle on and off to keep to the set temperature instead of continually dumping more heat into the utensil...consequently a lot less overcooked or burnt food due to momentary inattention.

paulrph1 Loc: Washington, Utah

Some have posted on here that Aluminum will work but we tried some and they did not heat. At least we saw no satisfaction. We even had a nice set of pans from Italy which I loved and we tried them and they too did not work so we gave them to a daughter who uses them on her gas cook top. They were not aluminum but not iron either so they did not work. Look at the symbols when you go to the store and I have yet to see any aluminum that is recommended for induction cook top. But like another comment that was made they make a plate made of metal that will heat up and therefore transfer the heat to your cookware. You can find virtually any type of cookware that you want but you might have to look a little further. Is it worth it. In my estimation, yes. I asked my wife what she thought and she says she also loves but there is one drawback and that is when she home cans it will not work. But there are ALTERNATIVES there also.