New oven dilemma - your thoughts

I love my induction hob. It is more efficient than a ceramic hob and easier to clean. Mine is over 10 years old and still looks like new. It heats up very quickly is very controllable and you don't lose masses of heat through convection/conduction. You do need suitable saucepans though as not all will work with induction hobs.

For over fifty years, I always had gas hobs and electric oven. So, when I moved into my current flat with a ceramic hob, it was a learning curve.

Indeed, when I was cleaning out underneath that soon after I arrived, and found the old, sealed off, gas pipe I did think of having new gas hobs installed. Decided was silly to go backwards and resisted.

Amazingly, it took me very little time to work out the difference between cooking with gas to that of electricity.

However, after two and half years finally got that kitchen completely re-fitted and had induction hob installed. A new learning curve - except it was not - Induction is exactly like cooking gas, without the dangers of flame, etc. Immediate heat on and off to pots. One month along - I am happy with this.

Induction does give so much more - particularly taking away the dangers which are present both with gas and electric hobs.

I would never go back to gas again, think those flames would actually frighten me. And they are so much more complicated to keep clean. Ceramic was good about this latter, but this induction hob is just so simple. First time I have had hobs with a timer on them!!!

Self-cleaning ovens are wonderful - but then so are the people who we can get in to clean our non self-cleaning ovens. So, that is not something I would actually choose to be part of any new oven decision.

Only advice I have on electric jobs - you soon get used to cooking on them but avoid anything with knobs (collect grime) and the ones like mine which bleep the minute a foreign body approaches - even a drop of water or grain of rice sends it into hysterics. Took weeks to discover what the bleeping was when we moved in - the hob, like every surface in the kitchen, was stacked with unpacked dishes etc and it didn’t go down well! Happens whether it’s on or off. A safety feature of course but very annoying!

Whoops -hobs not jobs!

Beware! Induction hobs should not be used by anyone with a Pacemaker.

We replaced our gas hob with an induction hob and it is much better, easier to clean and heats up very quickly. As dottiem says they are nor suitable for anybody with a pacemaker. You also have to have pans which are compatible with an induction hob.

We have recently purchased a 5 in 1 cooker that fits on the work top.
It`s an oven,air fryer,grill,rotisserie and a dehydration setting,it`s brilliant and very cheap to run.

cooking by induction is wonderful and very money-saving. It relies on magnetic fields provided by coils and it only heats up the pan in direct contact. The pan needs to be attractive to a magnetic field such as stainless steel. It heats a pan up very quickly and mine has very useful timers. No wasted heat and no VOcs from gas flames

There’s no gas here, I have a ceramic hob but my DD has recently bought an induction hob and she loves it!

Induction, every time. I swapped from gas and will never go back to it. The saucepans thing isn’t really a big deal, unless you’ve got expensive ones you don’t want to part with. Even relatively cheap pans nowadays are suitable for induction hobs.

dottiem7

Beware! Induction hobs should not be used by anyone with a Pacemaker.

Mr S does have a defibrillator but has spoken to his cardiologist who says induction cooking is most unlikely to be a major problem for him. He doesn't cook often in any case.

The manufactures all seem to say they can be used by people with pacemakers etc but the device should be kept about 60cm away from the hob.

As for saucepans, the ones I'm using are 30 years old so I think I have had my money worth from them.

I was brought up to use gas but over the years have switched between the two. I had one of the halogen hobs when they first came out but then went back to gas, I do like cooking on gas but hate having to clean a gas hob.

I had a new kitchen a couple of years ago and went for a Neff induction hob, I like it, much safer and easy to clean, It has two large 'rings' and two small ones, the two small ones can be joined together to make one large heat space, for a fish kettle or big preserving pan etc.. I did worry that getting older I might do something stupid like put the electric kettle on the gas (It does happen!) and I also got a Neff 'hide and slide' oven, which I love, no door to get in the way!

I had a gas hob and gas oven; both were difficult to clean and nowhere near as easy as electric to control. I also didn't like the greasiness of gas appliances, no matter how much you cleaned them they still felt grimy. So I changed to gas hob/electric oven; oven much easier to clean, easy to manage thermostat, no "uneven hotspots" when baking. Gas hob was still a greasy job to clean. Changed kitchens and now have electric oven and induction hob. Game changer! No fiddly knobs to poke an old toothbrush into to retrieve bits of dirt and food, no heavy pan rests to lift off and scrub; absolutely instant heat control and timer and a quick wipe over with a cloth and it's clean again. I'll never go back to gas.

Thank you to everyone who commented. You have been very helpful.
I’ve ruled out trying to come to terms with gas so now just need to decide if it will be ceramic or induction.

Induction will not cause any issues with Mr S’s defibrillator as it works via wifi not magnetic field.

I’m leaning to induction as there is a greater range but will go and look at options later in the week. It looks as though whatever I choose there will be a wait of several months before it is available.

I had my first induction hob when they were new to the market. When we moved here, there was a solid hob. We changed that when we remodelled the kitchen. I'm now on my third induction hob and wouldn't have anything else.

Decision made and the new oven bought.

I've gone with an induction hob but did have difficulty finding one. Supply issues, shipping costs etc. etc. Most places said they would not have any stock before September. Found an online place that will deliver one tomorrow at a lower price than anywhere else. My only reservation is that I have not actually seen the unit.

Now I need to buy new pots!

You’ve made the right choice with induction. To be fair, most pans you buy now are suitable for induction (still check, though), so it’s not as expensive to replace your existing pans as it was.

I hope so Greyduster. I was a bit impulsive but had done a lot of research so confident with the brand and the rest I’ll get used to.
Saucepans vary so much in price but there are good bargins to be had at this time of the year

You might not need to buy new pans. If a magnet will stick to the bottom of your old pans then they'll work on an induction hob.

No they are not magnetic. They are also over 30 years old so owe me nothing

I’ve cooked on gas hobs for years and still love them but have decided to put an induction hob into our new house. Can’t wait to use it. So many advantages with them.
I’ve tested all the pans with a magnet and will only have to replace our two frying pans.

Definitely induction! I have had ceramic/halogen hobs for over 30 years and when our previous cooker needed replacing decided to try induction - the best hob ever, so quick and responsive and a doddle to clean.