Induction Hobs?

I've only had my electric cooker with Induction hob for a month or so. It was not bought as part of a kitchen refurbishment but simply because the previous cooker 'died' in the middle of the jam making season. I LOVE it! 6 or 7 batches of Jam/jelly/chutney made with out it ever sticking to the pan and as a bonus ALL my pans except the wok work perfectly on it. I have just used the deeper frying pan for stir-fry in the meantime with great success. Best of all it really does clean with a wipe with a damp cloth. Best thing since sliced bread.

I always had gas and couldn't imagine life without it until I got an induction hob 6 years ago. Now I would never choose anything else and when I move I will definitely get another.

Thanks to you all for your comments - I think you've convinced me this is the way to go. We don't have little hands around but we do have little paws which in a panic (one chasing the other) has resulted in one cat landing on the gas hob which had just been turned off so that is a also a plus. Skullduggery we saw the Neff oven with the slide in door last night and I will definitely be going for one of those if we decide on the eye level cooker. So many changes in the past 10 years since we did the last kitchen upgrade!

Good to read as we are actively planning a new kitchen at the moment and interested in everyone's comments. DH has already made enquirys about his pacemaker at his yearly checkup and he was assured no problem.

We have a Siemens domino hob which has both induction and gas rings . My OH insisted on it , but now he admits he never uses the gas ones and the induction is just as efficient, much safer and easier to clean. We are now planning to get rid of the gas rings and get a bigger induction hob

I love it!!!

I have an induction hob. I have no problem moving my pans around. I lift off the frying pan to shake the contents around, the ring remains on for several seconds, (I've never timed how many), and the heat setting flashes. Then I put the pan back down and carry on cooking. I live it, and would definitely want another if we moved. Mine is a Caple. I'd never heard of the make before but it's very good, has child lock and timer function.

There was another thread on this earlier this month I think. I got my induction hob on the advice of my son, who does a lot of cooking (he trained professionally) and had nothing but praise for his. He does very good stir fries on it. If you need an extra blast of heat, get one with a boost button. Okay, they take a bit of getting used to and you have to change your pans, but I wouldn't be without mine now. I never have to worry that I might have left a gas ring on very low (which used to happen). If it can't detect a pan, it switches itself off. If you life a pan off, it will give you some time (not a lot) to get it back on again before it switches itself off, but it only takes seconds to have the ring back to status quo if that happens. And they are very easy to keep clean, which I could never say about my gas hob, with the best will in he world.

I got an induction hob some six or seven years ago and wouldn't go back to gas now. i dont have a problem frying stuff although tbh, I don't do much frying apart from browsing meat and softening onions, that kind of thing.

It's much better than gas for making things like white sauces because the heat is so steady and controllable. I didn't mind having an excuse to buy new pans!

I have a little portable induction hob too Swanny which I bring out as an extra . Cheap as chips around £30. I couldn't manage with just induction though as I like stove top cooking .

I moved to a flat 6 years ago that had such a tiny kitchen there was no room for both fridge and cooker. I had a combi microwave that I could use as an oven so bought a single unit induction hob, which was fantastic. Unfortunately the microwave died on me and I bought a table-top mini oven with 2 electric hobs. Left that behind when I moved to a flat with larger kitchen and 'proper' cooker. The induction hob comes out of the drawer under the bed as an extra when the family comes for a meal and I have nothing but praise for it.

It made me buy some new pans too which I'd been promising myself for ages but just not got round to doing it

Very difficult to do a good stir fry on an induction hob J52 as the pan base cannot leave the "induction". When you stir fry you need to lift and move the pan around which will stop the induction from working .

I get where your coming from gilly , having gone from a dedicated Wok burner, we had to buy new wok pans. But DH does the stir fries, so it is his problem

Hobs with 2 induction and two gas are available, but I wonder if residue, splashes etc from the gas might spoil the induction bit.

Also if you are intending using the whole hob at the same time you will need a higher electricity supply than the average 13amp plug.

In an ideal world I would have one induction ( ring) and my usual 4 gas all in one hob.

I used to love the idea of an induction hob but have decided against it . My DS has one and as a keen cook he is very disappointed. For example if you enjoy stove top cooking lifting the pan on and off, moving it around, flashing off liqueur etc. Then an induction is no good . Also best bear in mind that only certain pans will work in order to create the induction and the pan has to stay firmly on the induction . My DS is so disappointed that he has bought himself a little portable gas stove to do " proper" cooking and will get rid of the induction as soon as he can afford to . We have done the opposite and bought a very cheap portable induction ring to use when we are caravanning. Induction jobs are good for boiling and bring a pan to the boil quickly . Easy to clean too but no other benefits as I can see .

Induction Hobs are amazing! There's nothing not to like.

I used to have a modern electric Aga but I never really liked it. You can't see what's cooking in the ovens. I now have two Neff single ovens on top of each other and I'm much happier. I love the sliding door feature which means you can get much closer to the oven when lifting out the heavy dishes.

Induction Hobs are very efficient and low energy.
If you put a pan of cold water to boil and set it to boost, it will boil just as quickly as in an electric kettle.

When you turn the power off under the ring, it cools instantly, wth no residual heat so milk won't boil over.

You can't beat it for safety. No hot spots to burn little hands.
When we had a demo in the store, the salesman put a tea towel on the hob and then the pan on top. He put cold tap water in the pan which we dipped our fingers in and then switched on. After boiling the water in super quick time, he then remove the tea towel. The tea towel was still cool.
My DH was convinced. (I already knew that's what we were buying but I wanted him to think it was his idea...)

Great trick with a tea towel that I've often done for visitors who are a bit sceptical about how good they are.

Also, a quick wipe with a damp cloth and it's clean.
I also bought a set of Circulon pans for mine as my very ancient ones weren't compatible and I wanted good quality non stick ones to replace them.

We have a Rangemaster J52 which is really like new (I'm not much of a cook lol) but the kitchen is very small and it does take up a lot of room so going back to a single oven. I'm hoping I don't miss it! Glad to hear the induction hob works though - I'm giving that some serious consideration now.

I was very sceptical until I used the one already fitted into my new kitchen. Now I'm completely hooked. It's a Dedetrich ( SP) make and is great. It doesn't make a noise(!?), is super easy to clean and has lots of safety features, including a child lock.

I did get a set of new pans, mine were due for replacement, but quite a few of the more specialised pans still worked, including Le Cruset.

There's no residue left on the outside of the pan so they are very easy to clean. I do still miss my Rangemaster, but that was like a friend who helped me cook!