Thread: Induction cooking

Having an air quality meter in the house led me to tossing out my gas stove. It was surprising how much the air quality deteriorated when using gas to cook.

Months ago I replaced the oven with a convection oven, which works great. Now I have replaced the hob with a two burner induction cooker.

It is amazing. It heats up lightning fast. It’s easy to burn your food when you first use it because you aren’t expecting the speed your pan will heat up. Most of my cookware will work on it; the exception is the ceramic pots. The thing is so easy to clean since it is a flat cooking surface made of glass.

A small drawback it the noise it makes. Not that loud but a noise you don’t expect to hear from a hob.

Do any of you use induction cooking now? Have any suggestions on a grill plate/griddle big enough to span the two burners?

^ I wonder what the difference is that makes yours slow to heat but mine nearly instant. Maybe the wattage? Hmm.

And the contrast makes me want to know what brand your cooker is.

Has it made your bills more expensive overall?

@misskit - I've used an induction stove in one of the Airbnb's that I've stayed at. I burned the eggs! It was my 1st time to use such type of stove and I didn't know that it got hot so fast. The pan wasn't non-stick so it was fun (not) cleaning up afterwards. Oh, and I fried some sausages on the same pan after the eggs. Oh joy - cleaning the pan! My companion & I had laughs afterwards. (It was an Airbnb so I had no choice in terms of pan or stove.)

I use an electric stove in my apt - the one with the coil. It also heats up fast & my lexy bill isn't high. I have a portable camping stove (w/ butane canister) as backup in case of power cuts.

^^ Hafele 3000 watt induction cooker.

^First thing I did was burn my eggs, too. I poured the eggs in and turned away, looked back and they were bubbling up. Next thing I knew, browned eggs! It was in my brand new non-stick pan, so all was well.

Maybe pickel is mistaken and has an electric ceramic top stove instead of an induction cooker. He says it makes no noise but apparently all induction cookers make noise.

Well, you guys got me thinking so I did a bit of research and realise I have an electric ceramic stove top. They look very similar and my landlord is a drunken liar.

Pickel, can you see the coils when you heat up the stove? If yes, is electric ceramic top. Induction cookers do not work at all if there is no pan on top. It takes the pan to heat up.

^^ Yeah. My parents had one of those and it was not enjoyable to use.

As far as power usage, I don’t know. Ask me again when summer is over.

Originally Posted by cyrille

Has it made your bills more expensive overall?

My thoughts too.

We have an inbuilt gas stove, the renovator placed the gas bottle the laundry room, we use an electric oven and I'm thinking of getting a gas oven connected up instead of the leccy one.

The 450thb gas bottles lasts 4 months.

With the price of leccy, 40 minutes for a few chicken legs or whatever everyday is no doubt adding a lot more than that to the leccy bill.

^If you are worried about Chiang Mai air pollution, check out what your gas stove does!

Unless you have a Thai outdoor kitchen, it ain’t a good thing.

Originally Posted by misskit

As far as power usage, I don’t know. Ask me again when summer is over.

After nearly fainting at the leccy bill during last year's hottest month, I started looking at ways to measure how much usage each electrical device uses, but never followed up.

Instead I did a Mendy and hid the kid's aircon remote.

Is there a monitor tool device thing that shows you how much each electrical device is using? Though I'd hate to have to turn off the computer and TV and save TD from my daily wisdom.

Originally Posted by misskit

Unless you have a Thai outdoor kitchen, it ain’t a good thing.

We have lots of air flow through the kitchen for most of the year...but not at the moment.

Originally Posted by Edmond

I'd hate to have to turn off the computer and TV and save TD from my daily wisdom.

Surely daily pics of the 'usage used' by each device would be appreciated?

^

Originally Posted by misskit

Most of my cookware will work on it; the exception is the ceramic pots

Can be solved by using an induction hob converter plate

^I thought that for induction stove, the pots must be compatible too - the one with dots at the base of pot? (I may be wrong.)

Originally Posted by katie23

I thought that for induction stove, the pots must be compatible too

its a steel plate that heats up and then heats your pan you place on top - not very efficient

Originally Posted by Edmond

Is there a monitor tool device thing that shows you how much each electrical device is using

you can get smart plugs that show consumption in the uk but they won't help with hard wired appliances

Originally Posted by misskit

Now I have replaced the hob with a two burner induction cooker.

be careful of your pacemaker MK

Induction saves you 40-50% on the electric bill

Originally Posted by helge

Induction saves you 40-50% on the electric bill

Compared to using gas?

Originally Posted by malmomike77

its a steel plate that heats up and then heats your pan you place on top - not very efficient

So will any kind of metal pan work on it? Even aluminum?

I don't have an aluminum pan, but my parents used to have those - so just asking. Or should we use only steel bottom pans (or cast iron) with the dots at the base?

Just thinking out loud. If/when my coil stove conks out - if I should replace it with an induction one. TIA.

I know that it's supposedly uses less power & cooks faster. Just wondering if my present cookware will be suitable for it.

I had an induction cooker for a while. It was good to cook on if you used the correct pots. Mine didn't make any noise. I didn't burn any food.

Originally Posted by katie23

So will any kind of metal pan work on it? Even aluminum?

i always took it to mean steel, i have always had stainless steel pans, and have had an indiction hob for over 10 years.

googles tells us

If the pan has magnetic stainless steel, cast iron, enameled iron, or nickel base you can use it with induction cooktops. However, if the nonstick pan is made from one of the unapproved materials (such as aluminum), the pan will not be compatible with the cooktop