You can use silicone mats, but the cast iron won't hurt the range. I use cast iron on my induction every day, and it has not been damaged. You could also use a paper towel.

I also used cast iron without damaging the top.

No matter what pan you use on a glass cooktop - make sure the bottom is smooth and clean. If not the case, at least with induction you can use a paper towel or a silicone mat. If in doubt I use a paper towel.

The tops are not that delicate! I use both cast iron and all clad, have had glasstop for years, never any issue with scratching.

about the only thing that will scratch the glass top is salt. be careful when seasoning a pot on the cooktop

We've had numbers of threads on this topic over the last decade and somewhere in some of them Kaseki and others have discussed higher temperature silicone matting. The only recent thread that turned up in a search was [this one[(https://www.houzz.com/discussions/where-can-i-find-a-silicone-mat-for-cooking-on-an-induction-cooktop-dsvw-vd~5211088) from last spring. About halfway down, Kaseki gives a link to a possible source for higher temp silicone products for use on induction cooktops.

Otherwise, if using baking mats like Silpats, you need to keep your pans below 475°F to avoid a risk of mat meltdown.

Unless you have some good lab equipment to hand, you'll have to resort to a rough calibration to find the burner settings that keep pans below 475°F. One method is trial and error using newspaper or paper towels in place of matting. When you find a setting that heats the pan enough to scorch the paper or make it smolder, you're up around 450°. Stay below that setting and you'll be fine with baking mats. Oh, FWIW, IR thermometer guns will work for dark surface pans (say, non-stick and cast iron) but the guns are thrown off by the reflectivity of pans with shinny surfaces like stainless steel.

" regarding putting down %100 silicon matts on the burners to protect burners from heavy cast iron. "

You don't need silicone mats to protect the "burners" from heavy cast iron - it won't damage the cooktop unless you drop it (and then silicone won't protect it anyway). I use cast iron frying pans frequently, without issue. You can use silicone mats, but I suspect you won't need them; I got some ready, but after experimenting I discovered I very rarely use them. I will use them for a simmering sauce (to help keep things clean from bits of tomato sauce), and I use paper towel under a pot for making popcorn (that's to help with the shaking).

Another effect I have observed is that the reduced conductivity from the pan being heated to the cooktop keeps the cooktop cooler, thereby making spills easier to manage.

Just to be clear, that's heat conduction from the pan that Kaseki mentioned, not electrical conductivity.

Ah yes.

A pan heated via electric discharge to its base would present quite a display, I imagine. You can have dibs on the patent, jw. :)

LOL. I was just thinking about how much misinformation is out on the web about induction. Remember the person who was worried about getting electric shocks if she used metal spoons to stir pans cooking on induction? Wasn't there a poster here a couple months or so ago who said something about induction magnets holding flat pans in place so there would no need for silicone pads to keep pans from spinning on the glasstop surface? Can't patent that. ;>)

^^ that was funny. Hopefully she's not advising clients about appliances when designing their kitchens.

FYI: it gets it's name from the electric currents that are induced in the steel/iron. One can induce these same currents in aluminum and copper, but they have much lower resistance. Hence they don't heat up like iron.

How about a solution for the pan sticking to the silicone mat on an induction stove? Can't remove

The mat is stuck to the pan or the stove? going forward, you might try working without the mats at all. i habe never used one and have no scratches on my stove

Pan is stuck to mat, stuck to stovetop. Mat is totally free everywhere else.

The stove has been off for over 12 hours, so everything has cooled down.

Is this red silicone mat, or one of those transparent Silpat mats?

Induction cooktop silicone pads should be cut from higher temperature rated silicone sheet available from such as MSCDirect.com.

@ HU --- You are going to have to scrape the silicon off the stove top and pan. A thin metal spatula may get you started if you have a strong one. Did your stove maybe come with a ceramic stovetop razor scraper or maybe you have have one of the smoothtop/ceramic stove-stop/glass-top cleaning kits? (Here's an example you can find at the likes of Home Depot) A painter's razor-scraper for window glass would likely work as well. (Like this Stanley model or this one). In a quick search for these kinds of tools, examples like these turned up as available at the likes of Walmart for example.

It is a black mat. This is the second occurance. I have had no explanation as to a cause and that includes people at Wolf. Actually, we did not have to scrape anything. Start the dull side of a table knife under the pan above the mat. One can hear a bubbling sound as pressure is released. The pan lifts up with no suction whatsoever. The pan is fine, the mat is like new, and nothing touched the stove top. Any attempts at an explanation?

It is a black Supmat Extra Large thick silicone by EPHome. About 9 months old. It really keeps the top clean but would like to avoid the suction problem. Once time with a pan, the other with a glass lid both about 12" in diameter.

I've heard about "lid suctions" before but mat suction? That's a new one and a puzzle. Some years ago we had a spate of posts about lid suction when a hot lid would develop a vacuum as it cooled, sucking it down onto a smoothtop cooking surface on which it was placed. Does that Supmat maybe have heavily textured surfaces?

Induction tops are very easy to clean without using any type of mat. i have never needed more than a squirt of windex wiped off with a towel. never have to scrub or scrape, never scratches on my stovetop. easiest thing would be to forgo the mat altogether

I like using three or four small circular silcone pads, because of the soft landing those pads provide when setting and lifting heavy cookware off the hob. So far, I have not had any issues. I know silicone pads are not needed and there are times when I forgo the pads.

I read somewhere on this forum, that by using silicone pads you may be increasing the longevity of induction hobs over time, because that minimal seperation of the cookware from the induction top makes for a cooler hob. I'm not sure if that is true science or not.

True electrical engineering says: The hotter the electronics runs, the shorter the lifetime. Of course, depending on myriad factors, that might mean differences in lifetimes of centuries, decades, years, or dozens of hours.

With respect to suction, this is due to using a full sized mat instead of a set of three support points that need not be very large in diameter -- one inch to three inches would cover any likely cooking utensil weight. Three points define a plane, so any pan irregularity,not exceeding the pad thickness, can be compensated with three "legs."

By "full size" I assume you mean the size of the pan or whatever is stuck. It may very well prevent suction although it does nothing to keep the surface clean. Still haven't figured out why the mat sticks to the stove top, and the pan or lid (concave so air underneath)sticks to the mat, and it doesn't release over (12 hours) time. Wolf reps had no answer. they actually claimed it was their superior quality. Thanks, everyone.

@HU-539847386 yes, full size means to completely cover the bottom of the pan and possibly coverage beyond the perimeter of the pan to prevent grease, liquid or surup splatters from contaminating the surface of the stovetop. I have never use silcone discs for that purpose as my goal was to provide a soft landing and prevent scratches from heavy pots and pans, with the bonus of possibly extending the life of an inductiion hob's performance. I hope you are able to find a solution to your problem.

I think that I will try the reverse of the small pads hoping for the same result. My pad covers half of the cooking surface. I will try one with a 6" hole in the center. All spills from a pan will still end up on the mat, but the incomplete coverage may prevent the suction. Ok, I admit it is now curiosity on solving a problem that so far begs an explanation.