Thanks, Mr Mister, for your wrap-up assessment of your choice to go induction and your satisfaction with the decision. Can I inquire about which Bosch induction range you ended up with? And is your wife a convert now?

We're only 3 months in but couldn't agree more. We went from gas to a 37" Bosch 500 cooktop. Similar to you we went in sight unseen and relied on all the info and reviews found out here.

Could not be more happy with it!

Very nice eval from someone who actually cooks family meals and isn't concerned with marketing.

Thanks for this. I'm sure it will be very helpful to many going forward.

MrMr
Nice review. I will second your review and the positives. I am 2.5 years into induction.

My epiphany was cooking on a friends big gas range (after having our induction for a year) and cooking myself in addition to the pasta!

My Wolf does have a pancake setting. It took me a bit too find it. - OK it doesn't say pancake but makes perfect pancakes. And perfect grilled cheese, rice, scallops, pot roast and more.

My Negative List
My current Wolf does not officially bridge burners. The rep/repair center gave me the go ahead to try but I don't own a bridge griddle. I gave my SIL my All Clad non ferrous and haven't invested in a new one. The new Wolf has 5 way bridging. I can keep my current Wolf or my DH as he is not going to approve a new cooktop. LOL

Noises - it took me almost 2 years to figure out the LED can lights enhance the noises. I need to have Sparky come by to see if he can figure out the interference issue. The issue is confirmed by Wolf but not the answer.

I have an eclectic collection of cooking vessels. I have at least one of almost every major brand and none are the same size. They all make some noise - it is more noticeable when the pans are cold and settles down after cooking for awhile (or turn off the offending lights). Multi layer pans make the most noise.

Just like MrMr - I would do induction again. Hoping my Wolfie lasts many years.

Great to read an update.

OMG! Thank you for your review of induction from someone who has used both and has had for a long enough period of time to talk from experience!! Now I just have to decide what brand. Too many choices...I am not excited about the shiny black. Thermador has a mirrored top, but that might be worse? Anyone out there with suggestions?

If induction wok cooking is important, Cooktek makes an induction wok with curved Schott glass that fits their supplied wok. The 3500W model (roughly equivalent to 30k BTU/hr) is capable of dealing with a significant amount of food (although DW and I cook in portions when the overall quantity to be made is large). On the plus side, this device can provide more power than regular "pro" ranges, but not the 100k BTU/hr that Chinese restaurant stoves can easily supply. On the minus side, the induction field appears to be annular (hottest part of the wok is an annulus near the bottom), and heating at the very bottom seems to be indirect via conduction and oil flow.

Instead of wok shaking and displacement relative to the flame, the technique for induction is to leave the wok relatively still and control the food with a spatula while adjusting the hob power with the rheostat-like control. You will need about 90 CFM/sq. ft. of hood aperture to deal with wok effluent (mainly peanut oil and water vapors) at this power level.

kas

Great points on the update, which I somehow missed when it was a new post. But you take 45 seconds to clean it, Mister? You must be way more thorough than I am! Kidding aside, although I love cooking on it, it is when I wipe it up that I feel a big smile growing on my face...

Great write up, this is definitely making me think more about an induction range and I will ahv to send it on to my wife. We have been considering the Miele 30". I was wondering, it would make sense that you could have a lower power hood for induction versus a range with over 100k BTUs of flame. Is this true?

While there are various rules of thumb relating to required flow rate, including some scaling by the BTU/hr output of the range, and others by the length of the (commercial) hood, the actual physical effect that determines containment is upward effluent velocity vs. airflow velocity created by the hood at the baffles. Too low a velocity induced by the ventilation blower will result in effluent reflecting off of the hood components and escaping the hood. (Conservation of momentum applies here.)

The upward velocity of the grease and water vapors (and smoke when applicable) is determined by the cooking surface temperature. The upward velocity of the gas flame exhaust passing around the pan is likely higher than cooking temperature. This higher gas flame temperature (or its effect -- entrained hot air) can be a justification for arguing that induction is less demanding of hood air velocity than gas, and hence CFM required by induction is less.

Velocities observed with various commercial cooking equipment can be found in: Thermal plumes of kitchen appliances: Cooking mode, Risto kosonen, Hannu Koskela, Pekka Saarinen. This paper may still be available on the Internet. The gas range peak value reported was 1.08 m/s while the induction range was 0.72 m/s (both at 0.8m above the cooking surface). [I'm not sure what was being "cooked" in these cases.]

For editorial convenience on this forum, I approximate their results with a simple 3 ft/s, or equivalently, 180 ft/min. Then I adjust downward by a factor of two for observed baffle hood behavior. This yields a specific flow rate of 90 CFM / sq. ft. as a nominal full power requirement. This value is similar to one of Greenheck's rules in KVSApplDesign_catalog.pdf where 85 ft/min is listed. I can attest that the estimated 90 ft/min achieved by my home hood ventilation system can cope with the rising effluent of a mass of stir fry heated at full power on my 3500W induction wok hob.

Even with modest induction cooking, the rapid heating available can cause smoke results if the cook walks away for "just a minute" while the pan is being heated at a setting higher than intended for cooking. A higher CFM will be welcomed in this case. The negative is the increased MUA demand.

kas

Kaseki, I appreciate your extended discourse on all this but could you simplify for us lay folks. If I'm getting a Bosch 36" induction cooktop, what would I need in the way of a hood in terms of cfm and?

One thing I have always wondered is whether warped pans work on induction. I have a set of triply pans that I have used for years and after countless amounts if deglazing they don't sit as flat as they used to. Does this affect anything if they aren't making perfect contact with the surface?

brianvarick:

The toroidal field extends above the coils through the glass/ceram and into the air above the glass. Potentially, without any inductive material, the field would extend up to almost half the diameter of the hob. The field lines will be attracted by an inductive material. If this material has the correct properties for good power transfer without overheating the control electronics or coil, (this is tested by the cooktop), the cooktop supplies power to the field. If you recall your eighth-grade science experiments with magnets and iron filings, the lines will preferentially converge on the inductive material. I imagine that there is some power loss as the gap above the glass is increased, but minor warping, and indeed use of silicone pads to support the pan, seems to have little effect on power transfer from field to the inductive pan base material.

cpartist:

My commentaries are intended to be instructional with the hope that ventilation seekers-of-truth will be able to extrapolate to their particular situation. I don't know your particular situation, so I will have to guess at one to give an example.

I assume that you are going to mount the hood in the range of 30 to 36 inches above the cooktop. I assume that you will provide a sufficiency of make-up air to meet my assumption below about effective CFM vs. rated (zero static pressure) CFM.

So, we start by making the hood over-sized for the cooktop area to capture the expanding effluent. A nominal size would be 42 inches by 27 inches. (24 inches might be sufficient against a wall depending on cooktop placement relative to the counter.) We will pretend here that this is also the aperture size, which is just under 8 square feet. I recommend a specific flow rate of 90 cfm/sq. foot making the total demand a bit over 700 cfm. I anticipate, therefore, that all of the pressure losses in the system from cooktop through baffles through ducting and transitions, roof cap or roof blower to the outside and back through some nominally sufficient MUA path, say 0.2 in. w.c., will cause the operating point on the fan curve to be 700 cfm. I guess (without having the particular fan curve of the candidate blower) that this condition will be consistent with a blower rated for around 1.5X this value or a bit over 1000 cfm. Depending on what you cook and how hot you cook it, and given induction tends to have lower effluent velocities than gas, and given that most hoods have aperture sizes somewhat less than their overall sizes, you might be satisfied with a blower rated as low as 800 cfm. A common rating for blowers in this range is 900 cfm (see, e.g., page 128 of the Wolf Design Guide).

kas

kas:

Thanks very much for the example with illustrative assumptions for a 36" induction cooktop, as I am planning the same setup -- very helpful. 42" hood bumped out from the wall by an inch or two for better capture, 30-33" above cooktop for short cook… still need to work out MUA given very tight new home construction.

Fantech has a packaged, variable speed, active MUA system that reduces the amount of engineering/component spec'ing needed for your project. The only other packaged solutions I'm aware of are passive which isn't the best solution for a powerful hood in a tight house with backdrafting concerns.

I assume, hvtech42, you are referring to the systems described in:
http://fantech.net/Documents/Leaflets/413779%20Ventilation%20Solutions%20Makeup%20Air%20EN.pdf

This brochure notes: 'The system can be tailored to your requirements and interlocked with your range hood to supply the same volume of air as that exhausted from the range hood, to achieve "balanced ventilation".'

It is unclear how Fantech has chosen to do that. No control unit is shown in the parts diagram. Do you have further clarifying information?

kas

Although the brochure doesn't mention it, it comes with an electronic controller and current transducer. After everything is installed, you program it by first having it "learn" the amp draw of the exhaust motor at minimum and maximum speeds. Then you tell it how much air to provide at both those speeds and it automatically fills in the gaps if used with a variable or 3+ speed exhaust motor

Thank you kas. That made it clearer for me. It too is a new build and against a wall so it helps. As for how I cook? Mostly sautéing or stir frying. med-med high heat. I also boil water.

Thanks, hv. I'll have to talk with Fantech soon. The obviously compatible central parts of their 12-inch collection should be adaptable to my remaining needs. The fewer special transitions I need to have made the better.

kas

hvtech42: Thanks very much for mentioning this MUA system. We're building an ICF home (insulated concrete form) in the Midwest, so opening a window in winter for MUA seems like a really poor idea! I've not wanted to rely solely on our builder or HVAC contractor's opinions without researching this ourselves.

I know this is an old thread but just wanted to put in my 2 cents worth. We replaced a Thermador 45" ceramic electric cooktop (total junk as is our Thermador double oven) with a Frididaire Model #FFIC3626TB purchased for a budget friendly $999 at Home Depot in October 2020. Regular price is $1,529 and they have had this for $999 once that we have seen since purchasing ours. Anyway, so far we are loving it. Pretty much what MrMister says are the same pros and cons for us.