# Switching from electric to induction, worth it?



## Ruso (Mar 22, 2019)

I have an electric flat top stove right now. It's fairly mediocre. I hate how long does it take for the "burners" to get hot and how slow they respond to temperature control. My old old coil stove was much better in this aspect.
So I am thinking to get a better stove. Since I can't get gas (condo building), does it worth to switch to induction instead? 
Most of the discussion I've seen compare gas to induction; but what about electric vs induction?

Any first hand experiences?


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## inferno (Mar 22, 2019)

I have not used gas so i can't comment.

I have used old style electric stoves (metal plates with coils inside and 1-6 switch)
glass tops with coils beneath (you can see the glowing coils)
Induction glass.

you obviously need to use steel/cast iron stuff or alu with steel inserts for induction to work at all. 

My findings while using maybe 10 different systems from all these types is that. the old stuff, the round steel plate stuff heats stuff up the fastest. At least bioling water. 

The induction can be slow or fast depending on what juice and freq they are powering it with. I have used 100kw systems for heating 1 ton parts and consumer stoves, and i guess its simply depends on what juice they want to put into to system. either its slow or it could be fast. and it has the potential to be scary fast.

then we have the electric with glass top. with the glowing coils. All of these i have tried are significantly slower than induction and old style metal plates. 
I closely examined these I have been on to find that the coils are several centimeters under the actual glass! no wonder these are slow. I think these are at least twice as slow as the regular old style stoves.
Heat moves about 1000 times or so more efficient in metals than in air!

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cleaning the glass top systems can also be problematic. I have tried cleaning my current one (glass/glowing coils) and whats burned in there seems to stay there. I have tried scraping with sharpened knives. soaking the surface in lye sulution, all different kinds of cleaners, brake clean, alcohol, several other different solvents. nothing will get them clean. and obviously all different types of regular "kitchen cleaners" and gels.

The good old metal plate/coil stoves I just heated up to 6 for a short time (boiling water and dish detergent) and then simply poured that around the metal plates and scrubbed clean. done. 5 minutes.
These are almost always some kind of enamel/baked on/ceramic coat. so its very easy to clean. 

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also another thing not many people are considering. I worked at the main parts warehouse for one of the biggest brands in scandinavia for home appliances. 
and on some days i sent out like 20-30 controller cards for these glass top/induction stoves. and usually when one breaks it will bring another card with it. And if its touch screen it gets about twice as unrealiable!

the old style metal plate stoves dont have these digital gizmos with pwm psus and touchscreens and all that crap so they pretty much last 30 years, then the coils in the plates wear out and short circuit, and then you swap the plate for a new one for like 20 bux.  or the actual 6 way switch wears out. 15 bux or so. 

for actual function the old style ones are the best i think. and also for ease of cleaning. 

your wife will probably have another opinion though. 

I would avoid glass with glowing coils. though. slow as fuxk. at least the ones I've tried.


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## DamageInc (Mar 22, 2019)

Gas > Induction > Glass Electric > Coil > Standard Electric, at least in my experience

If I couldn't have gas and a whole bunch of copper cookware, I'd have induction.


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## Lars (Mar 22, 2019)

Made the switch from Glass Electric to Induction years ago and it made a really big positive difference.

Lars


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## buffhr (Mar 22, 2019)

Currently have both gas and induction here, used plenty of glass electric is early to mid 2000's and flat and coil top electric stoves and well gas and inductions are just so far ahead of any other for cooking.

Electric is just too slow to respond to change, one of the big upsides of induction vs electric is you dont have to plan boiling large quantities of water 30 minutes ahead just a few minutes and your golden, even faster then gas.


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## ACHiPo (Mar 22, 2019)

If I had it to do over again I would have installed an induction cooktop rather than gas. I have a Wolf gas cooktop and it heats fast and controls well. I bought a single induction "burner" for outdoor/mobile cooking, and cooking things that splatter like bacon--I can cover the surface with towels and just toss them in the laundry and the cook top stays clean. The induction burner is at least as fast and controls better than the Wolf.


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## Talim (Mar 22, 2019)

Switched to induction a long time ago. The only thing I miss is being able to use round bottom woks. Other than that, it's just much faster and safer than anything else out there.


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## Ruso (Mar 22, 2019)

Hmm, looks like all the electric glass tops suffer from slow response to heat change. And I just did some more digging and I need to check now if my kitchen outlet is rated at least 40amps to accommodate an induction. 
Perhaps, back to the coil top? :/


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## vlad (Mar 24, 2019)

Home cook. I have tried everything, mostly high-end. Ended up with induction and very happy, even though we had to broom over half of our existing cookware to do it. Extremely fast, great control, don't find cleanup much of an issue. Had a stand-alone induction wok for a while but finally moved to a flat-bottom wok to keep everything on the cooktop and minimize countertop clutter. Bosch unit.


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