I just got Kitchen Aid induction 2 years ago in our new house. I also just wanted to cook better. Food heats up faster, seems to stay hot just like my gas range, but SO much easier to keep clean! Also, you can change temperature almost instantly. Fewer boil-overs, and easier to avoid burning food. I love the induction, and really have not found any negatives. Also love my Wolf steam oven. That's even better for making everything cooked or baked in it turn out great. A noticeable improvement over convection oven, in my opinion. Finally, I'd highly recommend the Sharp microwave drawer, if not too late for that. It also is so much better than any regular microwave. I love how it's behind the island. I don't like the look of microwaves. Hope this helps, enjoy your new kitchen!

Thanks so much for your comments, roxy. Your kitchen is beautiful! The ease of cleaning is what first caught my interest in induction cooking. I loved the gas cooktop that I had. It was a vast improvement over the electric cooktop that was in my house when I bought it. However, cleaning the gas cooktop is such a task. I feel like it has to be thoroughly cleaned at the first sign of a spill, which is every time that I cook. It's worth the extra expense for an induction cooktop in order to be able to clean it with a swipe of a sponge as long as it's on par or better than gas in performance. Unfortunately, I did not realize that steamer ovens were available until after my cabinets were ordered. I don't know why appliance salesman didn't bring my attention to that option.

I renovated my kitchen 8 years ago and I love my induction cooktop! I only regret not buying all induction instead of the hybrid. I thought I would use the regular electric burners with non magnetic pots but I don't. I bought a Thermador cooktop with the downdraft fan that pops up. It is fabulous and I don't have a huge exhaust hood in my kitchen.

Thanks, Betsy. Thermador is the brand that I'm considering. I wish that I had known about the downdraft fan. Someone I know was unhappy with his downdraft fan, but he had a gas cooktop. Downdraft wouldn't be a problem with induction cooking because there is no flame that would be affected. Your kitchen is lovely. I would love to have a wall of windows in mine, but that would require extensive remodeling that is impractical at the moment.

We installed a Bosch about 4 weeks ago. After more than 20 years of gas cooking, I must say this is wonderful. Quick and easy clean up. No hot grates. Very responsive to temp changes. Love it! I would suggest that you be sure that whatever you select will fit your cabinets. My kitchen designer had me select appliances before he ordered the cabinets to be sure everything fit perfectly.

Thank you, beseaside. Everyone who has switched to induction swears that she would never go back to gas or electric. That's truly amazing. The one negative that someone mentioned is that induction can't be used for blackening peppers, but I'm considering buying a portable propane burner for tasks such as that if I find that I need one.

The difference with the two technologies is this - Microwave heats with sound while induction is doing the same thing your gas cooktop does - heating the pan. In a MW, the sound causes the food particles to vibrate at a high speed, or "exciting the molecules" so the food gets hot. But it can only affect the outside of the food, which is why you often will need to let things sit for a bit as the heat works its way in. Induction is heating the pan. It is a high frequency electromagnet that physically causes the pan to flex at the molecular level - thereby generating heat. Same theory as a volcano - the flexing of the earth causes the interior to heat. So with Induction, the pan is the heat source, so the food reacts the way it does with a pan heated by any other means.

The difference between induction versus gas or radiant - Induction heats faster than either, cools faster than radiant and just as fast as gas. When you simmer on 1, with induction, you do not need to check to see if the flame went out (although with some of the newer Thermador ranges, the gas comes off and on automatically to create the lowest simmer heat of all ranges). And since the glass on Induction never gets hotter than the pan (as in radiant), it is much easier to clean than either other option.

If you are unsure, purchase a portable induction to test drive before jumping in the water. Get one with 1800 watts or more - mot the little 1000 watt unit. Hope that helps? Robert

You could use your grill to blacken peppers. But is that something you do often?

Ditto what everyone else has said and don't be afraid of induction. It's great! Nothing like a microwave, not even close and different technology. Your food will be evenly heated and if anything, it will improve your cooking. Induction is very fast and responsive and it can maintain a constant temperature, you set it at 5, it remains at 5. Cleanup is definitely easier.
Induction seems so new age here in the U.S. that a lot of people seem afraid or unsure of it when it's commonly used in Europe, and to my understanding, by the chefs on cruise ships too. I think there are a lot of misconceptions out there about cooking on induction and not being able to cook certain things. Not sure why because I have yet to find something I couldn't cook on my induction cooktop. Some of it seems to be coming from people who have gas and have never even used induction. I keep seeing mention of not being able to char peppers on a lot of posts, which must be very important to some, but as the other poster noted, how often do you do that, if ever? Others say they use their grill for that if need be.
See if you can find a local appliance store that has some induction cooktops hooked up or cooking demos where you can watch induction in action. Not the big box stores, it'll be places that usually carry the higher end brands. Promise you'll be wowed by how fast the water boils and the responsiveness of the temperature controls. Yes, it costs more, but it's totally worth it and you'll earn that back in time not spent cleaning or waiting for your food to take forever to heat up!

Robert, thank you so much for your explanation of how microwave heats vs. induction. I didn't realize that microwave cooking only heats the surface of the food. I thought that it heated the food from the inside out, so couldn't figure out why microwaved food seems different from food heated in a pan on a cooktop. Your explanation perfectly explains why. I realize that induction cooking is heating the pan rather than the food, so figured it was similar to cooking with gas or radiant heat but still wasn't sure that a difference would not be noticed among those three methods. At least I now know that I'm not crazy when I detect a difference between microwaving and other methods. Have a good day and thanks again.

Hi, beseaside. I've never used my gas cooktop to blacken peppers which is why I didn't one that one negative regarding induction cooking make me stay with gas. You are right that I can use a grill to blacken peppers if I ever find the need to do so. That is a great idea. I don't have a gas grill, but charcoal would work just as well. Thank you for your suggestion.

I'm intrigued that everybody says they're so easy to clean. Modern gas ranges have almost no place for things to slip down, while my mother says that things stick like glue to her solid surface cooktop. Are they really easy to clean??

@acm, I've been informed that induction is easy to clean, unlike smooth top electric where things get burnt on. I used to have smooth top electric and found the best way to clean up those spills was to use cleanser made for Corningware, spread it on and cover with damp paper towel for at least 30 minutes, then you can wipe clean with some elbow grease. I agree gas, which I have now, us easy to ckean.

Thank you for your comments, swrite. While searching for information on gas vs. radiant vs. induction, I was surprised to learn that gas cooking is only 43% efficient. Radiant and induction are both around 78% efficient. Most of the gas burned in an attempt to heat a pot of food is lost to heating the surrounding air between the flame and the bottom of the pot. There is also the issue of carbon monoxide with gas cooking. You are right...I've never blackened a pepper but didn't want to sacrifice that feature, which is so silly since I've never done it. Anyway, as beseaside suggested, that can be done on a gas grill or if it is really that important, I can buy a portable gas burner.

Hi, susanalanandwrigley and acm. My mother has an electric range with smooth glass cooktop. Every time I visit her I end up spending time cleaning off the burned food because it bothers me to see it. The salesman at the appliance store said that it is indeed possible to burn food onto an induction cooking surface, but he also said that isn't likely to happen unless one works very hard at making it happen. My gas cooktop isn't that difficult to clean. It's just that OCD tendencies make me want to take off the iron racks and disassemble the area around the gas jets after every time that the tiniest bit of food that no one would see spatters or spills onto the surface. Thank you for taking the time to send your comments. You have been very helpful.

The first morning with my induction, I decided to start with simple scrambled eggs. Then I threw on grated cheddar. Of course cheese missed the pan. It landed about an inch behind the pan and didn't melt at all. I simply picked it up with my fingers. With my Dacor gas cooktop, I would have needed tongs.

when my electric smoothtop at the vacation house dies i'll be replacing it with induction. but i'm not willing to give up my gas cooktop at home. we don't have a fireplace so being able to cook when the power is out really is important to me.

as far as cleaning goes, even tho i've rarely burned anything onto my smoothtop, cleaning it is never a simple wipe, there are always smeary streaks that take 3 goes to clean and then a fluff and dust with a microfiber cloth. honestly i'm faster at getting a 'perfect clean' on my gas cooktop.

Does the glass surface on induction stoves scratch easily? That would be my main concern.

It is the same glass as the radiant cooktops - so it is pretty durable. Where I do see scratches are when someone gets the induction that has the stainless edge band. That stainless scratches too easy I think.

Bathologi brings up a good point; avoid the stainless steel edge if you can. I got one without it and am glad I did. Figured crumbs and such would get caught in the grooves and be hard to clean.
And let me clear up another misnomer: having cooked on both a radiant electric smooth surface and an induction electric smooth surface, I can tell you with confidence the induction is without a doubt easier to clean. Does that mean it never needs cleaning or cleans itself? No. Do spills and oils still need to be wiped up after each use if you want to keep your cooktop looking nice? Yes. But as the other poster noted, if you spill something onto the cooktop, it doesn't get baked on right away like on a radiant electric surface. It's much easier to pick up the whole piece of food, like grated cheese, rather than melted cheese or other melted food like would happen on a radiant surface because the whole area is getting hot versus induction where just the pan and directly under it is hot. Things only get baked onto the surface if they're caught between the pot and cooktop. So as long as you don't leave food stuck to the bottom of your pots or sitting on the surface and cook on top of it, you're good.
My radiant electric smooth top range required soaking with rounds of vinegar and baking soda plus lots and lots of elbow grease to try get food and burns off the surface. It was so hard to keep clean and I would end up hurting from having to scrub so hard (doesn't help though when the other cook in the house just heats right on top of prior messes-- no surface is compatible with that). The induction cooktop has never required that, even when I heated up some soup too fast and it overflowed. So can't even compare the ease of cleaning on the induction versus radiant cooktops in my opinion.

I have had my induction cooktop for almost 2 years and I love it . It is very easy to clean . I usually just wipe it off with my dish cloth with a little dish detergent and dry it with a drying cloth . Occasionally I use a cleaner made for glass cooktops. It still looks brand new and no scratches. I have heard that using an iron skillet can cause scratches so I am careful when I occasionally use one.

I have induction in one home and a huge Viking gas in another.
I like them both but the induction is a sophisticated way to cook..I did it for 2 reasons... It's cool technology ( pardon the pun) and its green...
The result it heats higher than gas and much lower..only induction can give you that high and the most perfect simmer.
Because the surface doesn't heat up your house stays cool

Yes true gourmets will embrace induction..it's the wanna be's that will give us trouble..they see "electric" and think it's like that but if you are informed you will see the benefits
Go induction!!!

The Viking is also one of the few inductions that can power all elements on high for the duration of your cooking. Some brands will reduce the power going to some elements after a period of time. They maintain the temp rather than keeping it on high.

I'd like to thank all of you once again for responding to my question regarding induction cooking. Every point that each of you have made is a valuable piece of information to me. You have all given me the confidence to choose induction. I've been leaning that way for several weeks, but you have helped me come to a decision. Thank you all so much for taking the time out of your busy days to respond based on your priceless experience and expertise. Have fun cooking.

Is wattage in itself important, if it is 'high enough'? Would you get a Miele with lower wattage or a Whirlpool with higher wattage, all other things being the same?

I wish that I were able to give you a good answer, but I really don't know. My contractor has been incredibly slow in finishing my kitchen. My appliances have been at the retailer's warehouse since before Christmas and still have not been installed in my house. I ordered a 36" Thermador induction cooktop because I didn't like the pot arrangement on the 30" cooktop. They are too close together. I specifically asked for a cooktop with a high wattage burner to use for stir frying. The salesman assured me that my model would be sufficient for wok cooking, although I know that there are no home appliances that are equivalent to industrial wok burners. Also, he said that induction is great for simmering for hours at a really low temperature because there is no worry about the flame extinguishing itself at low settings. Like gas cooking, induction cooktops are supposed to respond immediately to a change in temperature settings. The biggest selling point for me is the ease of cleaning. Being a bit OCD, I never felt like I could clean my gas cooktop well enough without taking it apart and cleaning every detachable item. Going to induction from gas is a BIG jump for me. Everyone who has made the leap tells me that they would not go back to gas, and I loved gas after years of radiant electric burners. However, I still wonder if I would be better off with buying another gas cooktop. I have a few expensive pots that I bought at Williams-Sonoma that are aluminum, so they are not going to work on an induction surface. However, I've decided to buy a movable, single burner propane stove like the ones that are used at a local cooking school for demonstrations. They are available for as little as $10. That will solve the issue of non-magnetic pots that I rarely use in the first place. Please let me know your thoughts on the topic. Good luck.

I love the fact that everybody loves their induction cooktops, but could you please share the brands/models that you love?? I'm shopping for an induction cooktop at the moment, and it's so hard to decide! Thank you!

trobertz, actually what you are talking about is kind of what i am going to do. i now can not negotiate my stove very well. We are knocking out a lot of cabinets that i really can use anymore, putting in my stainless steel worktable with wheels and a stool. there will be multiplug extension attached. I will get one or two inductions, a regular burner - heard eggs do not do well on induction. and a couple other appliances, electric fry pan, my slow cooker will boil in 20 min if on high so that will work for soups. there is a smoker thingee, and maybe one other like a tea kettle, though i hear induction is so fast. I will then do like a french chef on pbs and cook all my meals there, park it all next to the sink. have foods in a pantry at my height, though our diet is so often fresh.

i figured everyone would say you are crazy, but ikea just came out with stackable induction units and promoting the same idea. imagine cooking outside in the spring a portable kitchen.

The only thing that worries me is the flame inside are those little burners meant for that?

Much thanks to all of you who have commented on induction cooktops. Thank you, Robert, for the info on some brands cutting back on power after a few minutes. I was not informed of that when I ordered mine. Also, thank you, Have Fun, for the comment on eggs...another bit of info that did not pass my way before now. I ordered a Thermador at the advice of the appliance store salesperson. He is the person to whom my contractor sends his clients, so I hope that he is giving good advice without worrying too much about his commission. The Thermador induction cooktop is $1000 more than the Thermador gas cooktop that I was intending to buy before induction caught my attention, and the price of the gas cooktop was already high for me. It is encouraging that so many people state that they would never return to gas. I still have cold feet about making the leap, but the thought of wiping down a nice, flat section of glass versus all the little nooks and crannies that can catch food and grease with gas cooking is very enticing. A gas outlet was installed for the gas cooktop before I decided to switch to induction, so if I can't adjust to induction, switching back to gas should not be a major issue.

Good luck with your new cooking arrangements, Have Fun! I hope that it all works well for and that you will be happy with the change.

Hi, Trobertz. I would love to know what you ended up with in your kitchen!

I am going through the same dilemma...After using a portable induction burner through our kitchen remodel, I don't know if I can ever go back. I don't really want to! It's my last year of graduate school so I may be moving and selling the house if I don't find a job here. I worry that possible buyers may not be as excited as I am about induction cooking. Reading these comments is making feel a little less scared about choosing an induction.

Thank you so much for your comment, angelinaeve7! Believe it or not, but my kitchen still is not finished. My contractor has been dragging his feet. Unfortunately, my little project does not merit the attention that his wealthy clients who are building million dollar plus homes merit. My appliances were ordered before Christmas and are still sitting in the warehouse at the appliance store. I ordered an induction cooktop. I'm still hesitant about switching to induction from gas because gas was such a vast improvement over the electric cooktops that I have used for years. However, comments like yours and the others above it give me confidence that induction is the right choice. I love gas, but I think that I'll love the ease and simplicity of cleaning the glass surface of the induction cooktop. Just one easy swipe of a sponge or paper towel across the glass instead of disassembling gas burners for a thorough cleaning. In addition, I asked an instructor at a local cooking school which he prefers...gas or induction. He chose induction. He was well trained in his profession at a school in Rhode Island and plans to open his own restaurant in the future. I've decided to stick with my choice of induction and force myself to get used to using it. If I'm miserable with that choice, then I can always switch back to gas in the future. It will be an expensive lesson to learn, but my intuition tells me that I'll be just as pleased with induction after the initial learning period as the people who have commented above have been with it. Good luck.

I have used induction cooktops for the last 23 years - have had everything from gas, electric, to induction. Recently, we sold our home and bought another smaller home which had a gas cooktop while waiting for another house to be built. After using induction for so many years then having to use gas again - I'm miserable and cannot wait until I can have my induction cooktop again! Induction for one is so easy to clean and such a cleaner look. Secondly, you have much more precise control with induction from a low-low simmer to an ultimate high that will heat up oil or boil water in a flash - don't have that with gas! Never will have anything but INDUCTION cooktop again!

i bought all my individual units and looks like my kitchen will be done soon. i am so excited!

Nolamaz, I have had my LG LSE4616 Induction Range for 2 months. I love the way it is easy to clean. Like everyone says I just wipe it off, occasionally spray some cleaner for Induction tops and rinse and wipe dry. Easy Peasy. There are a couple of things that I wish were different on this Range. There is one Large, one medium, and 2 small burners. I wish it had the kind of top that Bosch has where you can put your pot anywhere and it works. Sometimes I want to use 2 big pots. Also, I don't think the controls have as many levels of heat as I would like. But I was replacing a range and my choices were limited. IT has knobs that I prefer to touch screens. I really like the oven...it's blue inside...and easier to see inside than black or grey. I'm 73 so I don't cook as much as I used to and it seems adequate. Overall, I'm glad I switched to Induction...I think it's safer than the others for when I become more forgetful.