Are they any good compared to gas? Any real world experiences would be much appreciated.

Well unlike gas it won’t start a fire. Quick, responsive, and safe. The best idea since I don’t know when. HTH

^ +1 what the disappointed arsonist says

Just remember to have the right kind of pans.

Had ours for a couple of years now and is brilliant although we went from one of those ceramic field thingys so can’t comment on advantages over gas, though it seems they reveal themselves 😀

And get a proper ceramic hob cleaner – comes up a treat 🙂

Dad has one – it’s brilliant.

Makes gas feel dangerous and neolithic.

Heat up is quicker than gas, heat is more even, more controllable and quicker to respond when turning it down. You also get timers so you can set a pot to simmer for X minutes.

The hobs will also turn off so many seconds after having no pan for safety and will only turn on if they detect a pan. you can also use things like roasting trays to make the gravy after roasting the meat in it.

Sometimes you do miss gas – but only if you had very good gas hobs not crappy ones.

Had a house that wasn’t on mains gas so installed one when I renovated the kitchen. Didn’t like it and nowhere as good as gas. It was much better than normal electric, but nowhere near as responsive, useful or powerful as gas. nice enough to have a uniform flat surface to clean etc but not a substitute for gas if you like to cook.

We have one, it’s great. very controlable, heats up quickly, cools down quickly, easy to clean. Would never use gas again now by choice.

Check your wiring before installing – induction hobs use a LOT of power when on full boost mode. We had to both re-wire and install fatter breakers.

And not all pots and pans work on induction…..

Great to use, though.

We’ve got one and love it. Works really well and very easy to keep clean. Only downside I’ve found is not being able to use a coffee pot on it. I got a steel one but it’s footprint was too small and the hob switched off thinking there was nothing on it. That’s with a Baumatic hob, others may be different though.

+1 for what everyone else has said, when I renovated our kitchen I was going to go for gas(ex professional chef etc etc) but loved the clean lines of an induction surface then saw this: Induction Wok and that was it!

As has already been mentioned we had to put in seperate power supply for the hob and wok. Great piece of kit, the timer particularly useful.

Ours has 4x induction rings and 2x halogen rings so I can use my stovetop coffee pot on it. Savouring a mug of it now.

Ours has 4x induction rings and 2x halogen rings so I can use my stovetop coffee pot on it. Savouring a mug of it now.

Well I just had a cup from the cafitierre (sorry, I’m sure that’s spelt wrong) and it wasn’t so bad 🙂

I used one in my ski season and thought it was excellent. Just as good as gas if not better and easier to clean.

andrewy:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cafetiere-Bialetti-MokaEasy-Electric-Stove/dp/B0001IXA30

If you need a new power supply and a new set of pans, it’s going to get very expensive.

Does anyone make them with dials to control the power as opposed to the touch buttons which always seem a bit fiddly (having previously used a halogen hob) – guess that would remove the point of ease of cleaning etc…

I’ve recently got one, works great, as has been said, very controllable and much easier to clean than the old gas one.

’tis a bit poor at heating screwdrivers for plastic welding or for shrink wrapping insulation tho’!

If you need a new power supply and a new set of pans, it’s going to get very expensive.

That’s a very good point. When we got ours a few years ago we had to have the mother of all cables put in due to the max rating. We’ve never had all the rings and the plates on full but it saves on burning the house down.
Check the rating.
Otherwise they are brilliant.

Rather than the one above, this is the induction hob one. Not used it though.

http://www.gallacoffee.co.uk/acatalog/Venus_Stove-top.html

Why can’t you use a Bialetti on one? We do all the time. Is there something I’m missing?

my bialetti is non-ferrrous (Aluminium) so heat cannot be induced magnetically. So I use it on the halogen ring

Crispy, the one I posted is a Bialetti one. Induction hobs need steel pans (bases). The Bialetti Venus is the only one they do that will work on an induction hob. If you have a traditional halogen / ceramic ring as well then the Moca stoner posted will be fine – it just won’t work on the induction rings (though that one has a plug 🙂 )

Ahhh, looking in a little more detail think we have the halogen hob rather than induction.

Cheers chaps! Good to know!

crell – the one I posted has its own electric heater element. Its not a stove top. Thats why I posted it 🙂

A particularly stupid question I know, yet I haven’t been able to bring myself to do it yet:

Is it OK to put stuff from the oven e.g. roasting tray straight onto the glass top?

yep. The ceramic glass top is very tough and of course highly heat resistant, but you can break it by dropping stuff on to it, or, apparently melting aluminium foil on it! (WTF?)

given the choice i would never go back to gas/halogen etc,
so easy to clean if you have a clumsy missus like mine

cool – thanks all.