Is an Induction Cooktop Worth It For Me?
When you're cooking up your favorite recipe on your cooktop, the last thing on your mind may be energy efficiency. But opting for a modern induction cooktop may not only ensure a more precise heat control but could also save you money. This is all due to the fact that your cookware will get most of the heat rather than the air around your cooktop. An induction cooktop uses an electromagnetic field to heat up a pan while leaving the cooking surface cool to the touch and without heating up the kitchen. Even high-end gas or electric cooktops can't make the same claim.
Induction cooktop Benefits - We can easily state that no other cooking technology that we’ve used and tested is faster than the fastest induction elements. We're talking real fast, like 4 minutes faster than the competition to bring water to a near boil. This is Life Changing? Probably not but it is still impressive.
Quick Cooking - With some exceptions, cooking speed is one of the things that you would want in your cooktop. This part is among the induction cooktop’s primary selling points. During induction, heat is generated through EM waves, which is a more efficient means of energy transfer. This direct method is much better compared to heat conduction done by both electric coils and gas. Heating the pan directly through induction allows for faster pre-heating of the pan and cuts swathes from typical cooking time. This method is in fact very potent that it cuts preparatory cook time as much as 25 to 50 percent. This means you can boil water faster, prepare soups and stew stocks quicker and cut minutes from fry time.
Ultra-Safe - Contrary to popular belief, induction ranges and cooktops do get hot. The plate itself has a glass on top that gets hot when you cook with induction-compatible cookware. Since the cookware is hot, it conducts this heat on the glass surface. If you leave an induction cooking unit without any pot on top, the cooktop itself will stay cool. If you accidentally turn on the unit but forgot to put anything on it, it stays cool as well. This reduces the chances of children and pets getting into kitchen accidents by receiving a burn from a hot surface.
Precision Temperature Control - If there’s something to thank for the digital age, that’s the precision temperature control that is standard in all induction stovetops. This means you get more accuracy with your temperatures when you’re boiling, frying, simmering and making those temperature sensitive mother sauces. What’s also good about this is that the direct heating with induction-compatible cookware provides very little heat loss, further reducing any heat errors.
Efficient Energy Consumption - Electromagnetic energy is a wonderful technology, generating the heat on the pan itself. This method provides a much better heat transfer, which means it heats up to the same temperature as electric cooktops but with less power consumption. The pitfalls of electric cookers are their absurd power consumption – something induction cooking minimises. More efficient energy use means lower power bills and extra savings in the long run. You also don’t get radiated heat around the stove, which means no “slaving on a hot stove”.
Easy Cleaning - Induction cookers are notable for their sleek, flat top design and a lot of people love this futuristic minimalistic design. This also serves another use. This sleek design makes them easy to use as there’s less grooves, nooks and crannies that you would need to wipe. All you need to do is to wait for the glass to cool for a few minutes and wipe stains and food particles off the surface.
Expensive - If you think your gas cooktop is an investment, you haven’t seen how much induction cooktops can cost. They’re far from cheap and they can easily break bank if you’re not careful. The years have made induction units made them a bit less inexpensive than 5 years ago, but these devices are still quite costly upfront for some for the leading brands.
Induction Compatible Only - So, you’ve spent some money on buying your new induction cooktop. You go home, you connect it, you try to cook but nothing happens. You forgot that only iron cookware, also known as induction compatible cookware, are the only ones that work with induction ranges.
This means you’d have to buy new pots and pans especially designed for this cooktop. These can get expensive. Provided, you have other options like stainless steel pans and cast-iron pans. If you have copper pots and pans? Might as well toss them away.
Cooking is More Difficult - This is one of the most common issues that people have with induction cookers: they need to re-learn their basics to cooking. The same cooking efficiency the technology is lauded for is known to throw cooking veterans off their game. It heats quickly but the new settings and understanding overall operation to get the right heat makes cooking more difficult. This is especially true for frying, searing and deep frying, where you can easily burn a batch of chips if you don’t pay attention.
Professional Installation Required - A lot of cooktops require professional installation from qualified and licensed electricians. For one, they would need to confirm that you have the right electrical circuit setup. This means you when you buy induction cooktops online, you need to factor the installation fees into your budget. DIY is the last thing that you want.
If you would like to more information on some brand new induction cooktops or induction cooktop installation please give us a call on 1300 567 637.