# Induction range insert, anyone have one for home use and your thoughts?



## SeattleBen (Jul 18, 2020)

I've used them professionally and loved them, our insert is trash and I think we've decided to splurge on one. Any ideas out there from people who've got one and their experience?


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## LakeFX (Jul 22, 2020)

I don't have one, but am planning on getting one as part of a remodel later this year. I bought a single burner counter top induction unit about 8 years ago when I first hoped to remodel just so I could see what it was like to cook on it. I highly recommend spending the $50 or so to see if you like induction before committing. I'm sold, especially because I can't get gas service to my house, but it's definitely a different cooking experience.


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## ArthurHolo (Aug 20, 2020)

I'm not a professional but I've recently got an induction cooktop (and still think it was a mistake!). We had no idea that you need specialty pots and pans or something... We ordered new top, read tonns of articles about good cooktops, woks and pans' reviews and suggestions, ordered everything and ... you might already guess that all pans were not for an induction surface and didn't work. So we had to buy everything new because we didn't know that the cooking ring exists. It was a 'great' experience. But at least now we know that we need to be more carefull choosing something new


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## juice (Aug 20, 2020)

SeattleBen said:


> I've used them professionally and loved them, our insert is trash and I think we've decided to splurge on one. Any ideas out there from people who've got one and their experience?


If our new place has gas, I'm ripping it out and putting induction in.


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## Corradobrit1 (Aug 20, 2020)

I have a regular ceramic hob and scraping off burned on crap gets old real quick. My next house will have induction so I'm thinking ahead and have only bought pans that are induction ready for the last few years.


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## GorillaGrunt (Aug 23, 2020)

I’ve got both drop in and stand-alone at work, only used standalone at home. I swear down even though they’re supposedly the same mechanicals the standalone works better. Also the Vollrath units crap out and the manufacturer says they’re essentially disposable: no sense having them serviced. At $400+ a pop?! Also using a Hatco which seems slightly better and a lot fancier but so far has crapped out twice; I think they‘re still engineering it though. However if you are having a 240V circuit put in for a 3600W burner, drop in might be a nice way to go.


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## sethm (Aug 23, 2020)

I have both a stand alone and and cooktop. FWIW, The stand alone unit is never as good as the hard wired cooktop. Regardless of what I have read that is my experience over and over. While stand alone units work they are not great.


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## MarcelNL (Aug 23, 2020)

I'm now living in a place with a drop in Induction unit, and so far I love it!
heats up fast, no excess heat going into the room and results are good. Only drawback is that the hob is far too small to accomodate most of my pans (my plate steel Debuyer is way to bog, same for a cast iron griddle pan etc) .
Is there a way around that issue?


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## juice (Aug 23, 2020)

MarcelNL said:


> Is there a way around that issue?


Yes. Get a bigger induction unit 

You can link a couple of zones on ours, which is handy for the Lodge griddle plate.


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## MarcelNL (Aug 23, 2020)

thanks! That is great news and definitely something I'll look for when we get to pick stuff for the new house.

this one is a EU standard 60cm wide with 4 zones, I definitely need a larger unit!


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## juice (Aug 23, 2020)

MarcelNL said:


> this one is a EU standard 60cm wide with 4 zones, I definitely need a larger unit!


Yeah, ours is 60cm as well, but three zone. Big zone on the right, two smaller and linkable zones on the left. Works well, but when we move, I'm REALLY hoping I can get a 90cm induction cooktop/oven.


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## MarcelNL (Aug 23, 2020)

The oven is already sort of selected, I left a perfectly fine Neff steam oven in the house we sold...selecting an induction hob is new to me, the one in this house is a Neff too but too small for my taste and pans. At the same note; it's nice to get some experience using induction.


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## juice (Aug 23, 2020)

MarcelNL said:


> perfectly fine Neff steam oven in the house we sold


Well, that reminds me, I've got a (possibly) perfectly fine Miele steam oven (that hasn't been used for over a decade sitting downstairs in the laundry (i.e. the space under the stairs). We brought it with us from our previous house when we moved here, but it was impossible to fit into this place when we finally got to buy a place. I tried to sell it but nobody had the first clue what a "steam oven" was, so that went nowhere.

Maybe it'll have a space in a new place at some point, but OTOH, it's a Miele, so it's probably broken while not being used.


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## MarcelNL (Aug 23, 2020)

aah the Miele, the one only doing steam at high pressure? That one I dig too but it's bit of an add on needing a regular oven too.

the Neff is a regular oven that does low pressure steam (and sous vide on the side) too, so you can bake adding some steam or steam stuff and it heats up lightning quick.


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## juice (Aug 23, 2020)

MarcelNL said:


> the Neff is a regular oven that does low pressure steam (and sous vide on the side) too, so you can bake adding some steam or steam stuff and it heats up lightning quick.


Ahhh, nice option.


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## MarcelNL (Aug 23, 2020)

I did quite a bit of research, found it, bought it and love it. Yes it's consumer stuff, but it works brilliantly!


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## BazookaJoe (Aug 24, 2020)

I’ve got an induction insert cooktop and a single tabletop unit. The insert works great, and since the glass top doesn’t get super hot, you don’t get spilled food 


getting baked on the surface. A damp towel is all you need for cleanup. The single is a 5000w unit we use outdoors when we are cooking dishes that would be making a big mess indoors, like frying or making a lot of smoke or smells. It’s a 240v 20 amp unit that can take a gallon of cold tap water to a full boil in less than 5 and a half minutes.


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## juice (Aug 24, 2020)

BazookaJoe said:


> It’s a 240v 20 amp unit that can take a gallon of cold tap water to a full boil in less than 5 and a half minutes.


Because we can't run a dedicated circuit into the apartment we had to throttle our cooktop unit, but when we've shifted, I'm really looking forward to getting a proper setup so I can run a full 8K cooktop again like the one in our old place (where I did run the dedicated circuit).


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## DonnerJack (Aug 27, 2020)

I'm about to have an induction insert in my new place, but now I've read about scratches/should no be moving pans/pots, and how it will warp my carbon pans etc. - Is it that bad? any pointers for a new user? ("Do"s and "Don't"s?)


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## parbaked (Aug 27, 2020)

DonnerJack said:


> I'm about to have an induction insert in my new place, but now I've read about scratches/should no be moving pans/pots, and how it will warp my carbon pans etc. - Is it that bad? any pointers for a new user? ("Do"s and "Don't"s?)


Thoroughly clean the bottom of you pans before using on the induction. 
You will learn to stir more and lift the pan when you want to toss stuff.
Induction is much easier on pans than gas because you don't have heat creeping up the side of the pan. For example, I notice that handles don't get nearly as hot. I think pans are less likely to warp...


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## Lars (Aug 27, 2020)

My induction cooktop is about five years old and beside being a joy to use it's still looking fine to me and I sure don't baby it.
In fact, let me go clean it and take a picture.. Be right back..


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## DonnerJack (Aug 27, 2020)

Lars said:


> My induction cooktop is about five years old and beside being a joy to use it's still looking fine to me and I sure don't baby it.
> In fact, let me go clean it and take a picture.. Be right back..



Thanks! That's what I thought, but then I found all the "Dont's", and "if you use heavy cast iron/carbon", "if it's not smooth", "don't move the pan" and stuff like "induction will kill your carbon-steel pans", and that made me worry.


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## Lars (Aug 27, 2020)




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## juice (Aug 27, 2020)

DonnerJack said:


> Thanks! That's what I thought, but then I found all the "Dont's", and "if you use heavy cast iron/carbon", "if it's not smooth", "don't move the pan" and stuff like "induction will kill your carbon-steel pans", and that made me worry.


I do these things (apart from the "if it's not smooth" which I don't understand) all the time with zero issues. I do keep both the cooktop and the pans pretty clean, which may help, I guess, but I've never heard of anyone else having those issues either.


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## MarcelNL (Aug 27, 2020)

same here, yet I think I need to clean the bottoms of some pans I used on gas until a week ago (plan o using a flappy disc akin to scotch brite on the angle grinder). Actually the carbon steel pan performs best of all.


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## MarcelNL (Aug 27, 2020)

that Siemens looks like a contender for the new hous, seems large enough to hold serious size pans!

Oops, 24cm pans is the limit for most units except the top line....coming in at 5K


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## DonnerJack (Aug 28, 2020)

juice said:


> I do these things (apart from the "if it's not smooth" which I don't understand) all the time with zero issues. I do keep both the cooktop and the pans pretty clean, which may help, I guess, but I've never heard of anyone else having those issues either.


Oh, sorry, some enameled/cast iron are not smooth (bottom side), and are heavy so can scratch the cooktop (again, never used induction/glass cooktop before so I had no idea if that's even remotely a problem). Again, thanks for the feedback! Really appreciated. Cooking with gas is nice but with the weather here it would be nice not to heat up the kitchen so much.


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## juice (Aug 28, 2020)

DonnerJack said:


> Cooking with gas is nice but with the weather here it would be nice not to heat up the kitchen so much.


Exactly, just another benefit of the induction, for sure.


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## Boynutman (Aug 29, 2020)

Plus induction is dry. Burning gas generates water vapor which can be undesirable.


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## Boynutman (Aug 30, 2020)

Another thing: it is great to have real knobs to turn on the front side of the range, instead of finger touch controls on top.
And try to find the unit with the 'burners' spaced apart as wide as possible. For some reason they tend to be squeezed together so it will not hold 2 frying pans.


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## MarcelNL (Sep 7, 2020)

Boynutman said:


> And try to find the unit with the 'burners' spaced apart as wide as possible. For some reason they tend to be squeezed together so it will not hold 2 frying pans.



PLUS 1 on that, the one in the house we rent for now is TINY and I can NOT EVEN FIT 3 DECENT SIZE (as in cooking for a family of 5) PANS on it at the same time, which makes having a 4 burner unit pointless...does the manufacturer want me to revive nouvelle cuisine?

The annoying part is that it almost works but it doesn't, it appears to just fit and it starts heating but then something starts to alarm, overheating surface, controls being blocked, pan bottom lifted, etc


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## Lars (Sep 7, 2020)

MarcelNL said:


> that Siemens looks like a contender for the new hous, seems large enough to hold serious size pans!
> 
> Oops, 24cm pans is the limit for most units except the top line....coming in at 5K


The large zone fits my 32cm saute pan, thats why I bought it.
It cost me a lot less than 5K though.


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## MarcelNL (Sep 7, 2020)

that is great news Lars, as I like that one a LOT.


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## MarcelNL (Sep 11, 2020)

How does one roast Nori seaweed on induction??? In a hot pan is not anywhere near similar to open flame....should I fire up the Foker 9kW propane burner for a sheet or is there a trick someone can share ?


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## DonnerJack (Sep 11, 2020)

Thanks for all the input so far guys! 
Another (silly) question: I was told the drawer beneath the induction range would get really hot. Is that true? Did you melt any utensil?


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## MarcelNL (Sep 11, 2020)

not by far, we have a silverware drawer right underneath the induction range and have not senses any heat in there at all.


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