when you are cooking something messy - line the top with newspaper. If you are cooking with a heavy cast iron skillet, use a silicon circle between the cooktop and the skillet. Enjoy

Great tips gemini! Thank you!

Induction can get very hot very fast, if you aren't used to it you could burn a lot of stuff. I recommend heating your pans on whatever your middle setting is for a minute or two, then turn it up for searing or down for simmering. People used to those awful glass top electric have a habit of cranking everything to max with scorching results!

The main thing I had to learn is that water will boil FAST. I was used to setting water to cook pasta to boil and then prepping everything g else for the meal while I waited. Not with induction. Now I get everything else ready first and then put the water on.

As christina says - things can get hot fast. This is one reason that I use the IR laser device.

crl - been there, done that!. Now, I will get the water on the stove and either wait or sometimes put it on a lower setting until ready for a full boil.

I am sure I will learn some new tips from this post as well.

I still crank mine up - I find it works best if I turn it on high and then turn it down. So using the fish example, I heat the pan/oil on 9 (which is the top of the 19 steps on my Bosch), sear on 9 for 2 minutes, flip the fish and then cook it on 6 until it's done. (Sometimes I sear the other side, sometimes not). For a large pot of water, I almost always use "boost", but sometimes just use 9 if I'm using the adjacent burner (boost "steals" from the adjacent burner). I have learned the setting and time to cook some regulars like oatmeal and rice, so I just set those (3 for 24 minutes for steelcut oatmeal, for example) and forget about them. I'm one who once had singed edges of paper towels so I won't do that again, but I do use a silicon baking mat under anything messy.

Not all induction cookware is created equal. I have a number of different brands of induction cookware, and some don't work well on induction. For some pans, the induction hob will start working, then start flashing intermittently as though it's having trouble sensing the pot. This tends to happen mostly with cheaper pans. I have the older Wolf induction cooktop and find that it is quite forgiving in terms of pot width, except with certain pieces of cookware.

You can also use parchment paper underneath the pans. Parchment paper has a reasonably high burn temperature, though I've managed to "brown" parchment paper with extended cooking.

To keep splatters off the neighboring countertop (e.g. when searing, or crisping fish skin at high temp for 1 - 2 minute), I put a piece of plastic wrap on the countertop.

On my cooktop, I can easily melt chocolate at the low setting on a low power burner. Also, my cooktop will boil milk without scorching at the bottom.

My old method of making hard boiled eggs didn't work well with induction (boil, then turn off burner) because the induction top didn't stay hot enough. Now I cover 4 - 6 eggs with water, bring to a boil, cover, turn the hob down to 2 bars (just above the melt setting) and set the timer for 14 minutes. Perfect eggs every time! More eggs may take some time adjustment.

Play around with your new cooktop! Induction is amazingly responsive and will allow you to do things that were difficult or impossible on non-induction electric cooktops. Let us know what new uses you find for your cooktop.

Play around with it with some water in a pan to get a feel for the heat it produces and how quickly at the different levels. I burned a lot of oil trying to get sauté garlic before I caught on to how quickly it heats up and at what temp I should set it for such a task.

Don't use newspaper under the pans if you are frying (just to reduce mess) because it will scorch. As Repac says, parchment might be better. You can place newspaper around to reduce splatter, but use parchment or silicone under the pan. Your larger-than-hob size pans should work, although my induction does not like smaller pans than the hob size - - it does not heat them as well. I keep sugar away from the stove and if you do spill any while making caramel or similar, clean it up as soon as it is cooled enough to do so.

I don't know why people suggest using newspaper or parchment paper to cover the stove when cooking - the stove itself won't get hot enough to burn paper, but the pots as they are cooking can get hot enough to burn. And there is no need, it's so easy to clean up any messes. As mentioned above if anything boils over you can quickly wipe it clean and dry with a paper towel and a little care (burner can be hot enough to burn you but not hot enough to burn food on or ignite paper). Then put the pan back on to finish. Otherwise just wipe clean when finished cooking. The only time I would put something under a pot/pan was if it was something that could scratch the glass such as some cast iron.

I had a regular ceramic top electric stove prior to the induction and I definitely had to work to keep that stove looking pristine as the heated element under the glass would burn on any food that dripped etc. while cooking - this is not a problem with induction.

I've never had the problem you did - I do choose the burner that best matches my pot, but my burners accept a wide range of sizes. I do have to center the pots/pans over the burner - not perfectly center, but reasonably. I can test this by starting the pot on the burner and then slide it to the side and when it's nearly off, the burner turns off and a light flashes to warn me that the pan is not in the right position for cooking. When I slide the pan back on it goes back immediately to cooking.

You might want to test the settings - something on one stove that was a high setting may be a medium high on another - that's enough of a difference to over or under cook something. I found that mine had a greater range of temperature choices for cooking than my gas and electric stoves - the low is really low and good for things like melting chocolate and the high is really high - I never used a thermometer but through experiments I've figured out what to do at what settings. You can boil water in a pot to test how quickly your stove responds to changes in the settings - you can see how quickly boiling water will settle down to a simmer.

Don't shake your pans to stir your food as it cooks - use a
spatula or other cooking implement to move the food around in the pan.
Or lift the pan to shake the food then put down on burner to continue
cooking. You don't want to scratch the glass with daily rubbing of pans.

And yes - get most of your prep work done first because those pots and pans will preheat more quickly and that water for pasta will boil more quickly.

I bought a Samsung induction range last September 2015. Any tips to get the perfect soft boiled egg or cooking rice. Both egg and rice end up under cooked using method from electric range (heat to boil, let sit on low, covered).