Induction Range Buyer Guide
Intro
If you are teetering on the fence let me push you over the other side. When I first read about induction I had a beefy, recently purchased Blue Star gas range that I loved so I was very reluctant to let go of it. The burners were powerful, you could shove pots around on the uniform cooking surface, and it worked well for my kind of throw it all in the pan kind of cooking. I think what ultimately convinced me to take the plunge was several instances of my daughter almost losing her eyebrows when a gas burner took a few extra seconds to light and in retrospect, the oil and gas industry must have had some brilliant people on their advertising team to convince the bulk of Americans that having explosive gas plumbed into their kitchen was a good idea. It was a little bit awkward to make a running swap from gas to electric so we had to do take out for a few days but the new Bertazzoni range was so sexy we soon forgot about our transition troubles.
We definitely fell for the looks of the Bertazzoni immediately but I’ll be honest…it took a good 6 months of daily cooking to fall in love with how it works. Induction cooking requires cookware that is purpose-built but we didn’t mind replacing our ragtag cookware with a new set of All-Clad induction compatible pots and pans. The hardest thing to get used to was what level (1 to 9) was appropriate for a given desired result and the fact that the delivery of heat is very precisely placed at the pan and doesn’t radiate up much at all. Once I realized this I quickly developed a new sauté technique in which I remove ingredients from the pan and put them aside rather than piling them all together. This is probably the superior cooking technique anyway but the induction format forces you to do it lest you burn dinner. I was initially bummed to realize that there really are only the 9 levels for cooktop temperatures. Gas burners have infinite levels which is very beguiling but when I met an accomplished chef who cooked on an Aga stove with only two always-on burners (a hot and a simmer element) I realized that it all comes down to technique. Induction ranges are very precise such that once you know that eggs cook at level 5, then you can very consistently deliver your eggs over easy every time and 9 levels is plenty for this.
Now that we have been cooking on our induction range for several years I’m completely committed to it on many levels. Here are the main points I’d like to make:
Safety: Induction is inherently safer than gas or electric resistance as the glass surface does not get nearly as hot as the pan does. Also no open flames means fewer fires. This often means that I don’t need to use an oven mit for my pan handles anymore.
Health: Gas ranges emit methane and smog precursors into your kitchen—kids who grow up with gas cooktops have a 40% higher chance of developing asthma.
Environment: Induction uses electricity and is 70 to 80% efficient (compared to 30 to 40% for gas) and can be offset with solar panels on your roof or grid renewable energy.
Power: The power burner on most induction ranges can boil a large pot of water in just a few minutes—MUCH more powerful than the average gas range and still more powerful than most if not all “commercial style” residential gas ranges.
Control: Induction elements have precise power delivery for consistent results. Electric ovens offer much more flexibility with up to 4 different heating elements.
Before You Switch
An electric/induction range represents the single largest dedicated load in a typical single family home (40 to 50 out of 100 amps) which can lead to capacity and cost issues down the road. If you already have a newer 200 Amp main panel then you don’t have capacity issues, but if you…
have an older electrical panel and/or it is 100 Amps or less
it is located within 3 feet of the gas meter
the distance between the closest electrical panel is large
running a 40 Amp circuit would be disruptive (and expensive)
…then you might want to get a plug-in hybrid range (like the Charlie from Channing Street Copper Co) since it lets you just swap the ranges out (after capping the gas line) and you can plug the stove into the shared 120 Volt outlet. The Charlie has a battery that lets it deal with instantaneous demand issues. See more below.
Making the Switch
If you are lucky enough to already have a 40 Amp/240 Volt plug behind your gas range or you have determined that you can easily add that circuit then you just need to find a contractor who will make the switch for you. Based upon experience best results are obtained if you have your electrician run the circuit and then put the gas range back. Then you can order the new range and have the delivery guys take away the old one. Take a picture of the capped gas line and you might get a rebate from BayRen.
Considerations
I suspect that most of the components that go into the induction ranges available today are all made in the same handfull of factories in China, so the differences are going to be more about the features, the design, and the size.
Size
If you are designing a new kitchen then you might have the option to consider a larger range. Most ranges are 30” wide but several manufacturers make sizes up to 48” wide with more “burners” and two ovens.
At 36” the number of inductors goes up to 5 or 6 and the oven gets larger but you end up paying almost twice as much to make this size jump
If you have a 36” gas range and no exhaust hood you might consider dropping down to a 30” range and adding a 6” oven tray cabinet
When you go to 36” or larger the circuit size needed might jump from 40 Amps to 50 Amps
Features
most induction ranges fall either into the retro category with knobs and no buttons or the full tilt techy ones with touch screens and wifi. I’m not a fan of a lot of tech at least not on something that gets hot and banged around but some people might appreciate some of the automation.
Ilve seems to be an exception in that they have very traditional knobs for the inductors but a digital display for the oven
Controls
again there are essentially two categories here: front controls and rear controls. I can see that rear controls could be a good kid-friendly feature but reaching over your pots to adjust the temperature seems to be a bit of a pain and wouldn’t be my preference. Most induction ranges have a kid lock feature anyway and one of the selling points for me on induction is that it is kid-friendly when your older kid starts to get interested in cooking.
Cooktop
The layout of the cooktop may end up being the most important consideration as some people might prefer larger inductors in both of the front positions yet many of the available ranges place a small simmer burner in front. I hardly ever use small sauce pans so I would prefer the small burner to be in the back.
Think about how you typically cook and check out the models in the showroom or download the spec sheet so you know what you are getting. Larger inductors should be able to adjust to smaller pans but trying to use a large pan on a small inductor is going to be frustrating and likely lead to burning.
Design
The more main stream brands like GE, LG, and Samsung tend to offer very staid contemporary minimalist designs
The American and Italian brands tend to offer several design approaches with both modern and antique looks availble sometimes in quite a dazzling array of colors (and you can get a matching exhaust hood, dishwasher, and maybe refrigerator)
Some Options
Frigidaire 30”
Good budget/entry level for rental
LG 30”
Most reasonably priced full-featured front control induction range
uses knobs for control
has a large skillet induction element at right front
GE Profile 30”
Relatively affordable for the quality and available features
Lots of features
Large elements are in the front, smaller ones in the rear
Bertazzoni 30”, 36”, 48”
Elegant, classic design with minimal tech
All mechanical interface (no push buttons, touch screens, wifi, etc)
Bridge mode for griddle cooking
Oven has 4 elements and 9 modes with triple pane glass door
multiple elements have a 3700W power/boost mode
36” size has 5th element centered left to right and front to back
48” model has 6 elements and a 2nd oven
Big Chill 30”
available in Retro or Pro in a dazzling array of colors
can order matching hood, refrigerator, dish washer
All mechanical interface (no push buttons, touch screens, wifi, etc)
Channing Copper Co. Charlie Hybrid (120 Volt plug-in/battery)
this is the one to get if you don’t have a 240 Volt circuit
plugs into the shared circuit 120V outlet behind your old gas range
4 kilowatt-hour battery (qualifies for 30% federal tax credit)
Can cook during power outages and can plug your fridge in too
all 4 inductors are full size and automatically adjust to pan size
inductors run off of DC current so there is no harmonic buzz
programmed to not use grid power during peak hours 4 pm to 9 pm
currently only available in 30”
Ilve
high end designer brand handmade in Italy
multiple design series available
sizes 30”, 36”, 40”, and 48”
manual induction controls with digital oven control
VIking
available in 30” only
available in about 15 different colors
All mechanical interface (no push buttons, touch screens, wifi, etc)
Smeg
available in stainless in 30” and 36”
minimal tech
Cafe
Kitchenaid
Smeg
Bosch
Beko
