Always a gas cooking fan, had a new gas line plumbed in anticipation of new gas hob, but new kitchen has now been wired up with enough capacity for Frankenstein’s lair, so bought a sparkly new Samsung induction hob instead.
The old pans (TKMaxx) were thick grey aluminium and very nice to cook with, in so much as they seemed none stick, always looked good, easy to clean. Just nice looking, big and heavy, glass lids, big handles, looked expensive etc. casserole pot, Saute pan + 2 pans and milk pan was about £100.
I can’t get my head around what’s best generally for cooking and what’s best for induction (well, I can’t be bothered). I’m happy to spend a fair bit, but not All-Clad prices. I want none stick, but not a coating. I’d like glass lids, but not absolute. I’ve looked at a few popular possibilities but always find some negative feedback somewhere. My latest consideration is Nertherton Foundry pans .
Has anyone done all the comparisons, pros and cons, with induction in mind and come up with the best compromise?.

As long as it is ferrous, you don’t need anything special, in my experience. I got an induction hob and just carried on using my existing bog standard stainless steel pots and cheapo, heavy cast iron frying pan. They all work fine.

We have a Portmerrion pan that will only work on one “ring”. No idea why it doesn’t like the other 3.

Get over to http://www.nisbets.co.uk/
lot less £££££ plenty of choice
We brought at crepe iron pan from them for the induction hob, best thing ever as the induction seemed to be a bit too harsh for the normal non stick coating of other pans.

I generally despair of folk who come on the internet and slag off other peoples choices, but there is nothing positive about induction hobs. Get rid of it. Back to gas. Life is too short to tolerate 5th best. Come on man, this hob has INDUCED you to post the most crap thread on Singletrack, ever.

Yes, I’m slagging your choice, and I’m not apologizing. You’ve made a terrible mistake. Cold food for the rest of your families life is better than an induction hob.

Ours are Tefal, everyday not swish but work very well. Mrs B is a very good cook. Our Le Creuset work too, many pans are multi use and you can buy pads to allow you to use (favourite) normal pans if you want.

there is nothing positive about induction hobs.

Couldn’t agree less, far superior for low heat cooking for exampls. I probably wouldn’t have gas again, the starter has gone on a gas hob and we will put induction in. Over the years I have become a convert, first started seeing them on cooking courses.

Mrs Squad bought the Tefal Ingenio pans and loves them. They’re the ones with the click on handles so they stack perfectly inside each other when not in use. The glass lids have kind of fold flat handles so they stack flat too.

^^ thats what we have (Ingenio) we also have some Lagouile

I generally despair of folk who come on the internet and slag off other peoples choices, but there is nothing positive about induction hobs. Get rid of it. Back to gas.

Do you have mains gas? Just wondering…

I’ve always used gas and thought it was best for cooking. Our new kitchen a couple of years ago came with a 5 ring induction hob. Had to get all new pans, but so worth it. IMO far superior to gas – it can heat stuff quicker in terms of say boiling water, but it also does low simmering better as no heat concentration on one point on a pan. Also as it’s glass it’s much easier to clean.

Pan wise we went with Circulon – but the non stick coating isn’t lasting that well considering the price of the pans.

^^ what joe says re benefits

You have not said what sort of cooking you like to do, which may influence pan choice. Similarly do you want to be able to put them in a dishwasher? – this is not recommended for some pans/by some manufacturers. Presumably, you want a similar range of pans to what you have currently (“casserole pot, Saute pan + 2 pans and milk pan”), although I note that does not include a frying pan.

A few comments/suggestions:

1. “I want non-stick” – you probably only need/want non-stick for certain pans, e.g. any frying pan used to cook omelettes.

2. Netherton Foundry products are plain spun or cast iron, and for similar money you should be able to buy enamelled cast iron, which will not need (re-)seasoning, and even if you do not want enamelled cast iron, I suspect that the USA brand Lodge would be better value (and no wooden handles so you can also place the pan in the oven).

3. Casserole – the obvious answer is an enamelled cast iron Le Creuset, or similar like Staub. You can probably buy an equivalent own brand copy in Sainsbury’s etc. for less or pick up Le Creuset reduced in TK Maxx or elsewhere if you wait/hunt.

4. Saute pan – responsiveness to raising and lowering the heat is usually something you want in a saute pan, so probably not something like a heavy iron pan which has a lot of thermal mass and is relatively slow to heat up/cool down. Aluminium is a good heat conductor, so to match the performance of your current saute pan, maybe an induction compatible stainless/aluminium pan. No need to buy a premium product like All Clad, since similar cheaper products are available, e.g. from a commercial supplier like Nisbets (and you can probably find cheaper sellers than Nisbets online):

http://www.nisbets.co.uk/Vogue-Tri-Wall-Saute-Pan-240mm/GG031/ProductDetail.raction

Love trips to Nisbets. Got some funny photos posing with giant utensils 😀

Always regret not buying one of the industrial kitchen aid mixers they had on clearnance for £300 as I found out after how much they should be.

Having induction in our new place. No questions asked.

Pan wise Le Creuset – the non-stick wok is amazing, ours has been used pretty much every day (sometimes 2 or 3 times a day) for almost 2 years on a gas hob. For pans we will probably go with the Le Creuset stainless and we have a set of frying pans still in the box as we are saving them for the induction as we currently have gas which makes a mess of the bottom of pans.

Yes, I’m slagging your choice, and I’m not apologizing. You’ve made a terrible mistake. Cold food for the rest of your families life is better than an induction hob.

Ah, this one has very sparkly LEDs on it tho to make it look like you’re cooking on gas. Wouldn’t have bought it, but for the sparkly li..ghttsss……… 😯

tbh, casserole pot usually for very low simmer hob stew type things. big Saute pan usually used for chilli, curry. pans for veg / rice. milk pan for boiling eggs. tend to live on simple veg stews. don’t want to be ‘managing’ burnt solids from the bottom of pans that are rubbish at spreading the heat (I’m presuming that’s why cheap pans burn even when just simmering). just want decent kit.

Pan wise we went with Circulon – but the non stick coating isn’t lasting that well considering the price of the pans.

These were one of the serious considerations based on reviews, but then read similar actual real life feedback like yours.
If I’m honest, I’m probably not a big enough user to really test decent enough kit, I just want to buy once, buy right.

Wok stir fry => Turbo gas burner while anything else apart from Turbo gas is weak so weak so so very weak. The wok must be carbon steel type not non-stick.

Slow lazy cooking like slow fry, slow shallow fry, stew or boil or steam etc => induction is fine.

A note on non-stick, yes certainly for one or two pans but it will never last ime beyond 10 years offen less. I have stainless 30 years old and le crueset can and does last a loooong time

Waitrose own brand 3 ply stainless steel pans, stainless wok and other pans are good.

We also have the Tefal Ingenio pans. 2 years and still going strong.

I generally despair of folk who come on the internet and slag off other peoples choices, but there is nothing positive about induction hobs. Get rid of it. Back to gas.

We moved from gas to induction when we moved house and never looked back. I would replace with induction again, even though we have gas in the kitchen.

Keep an eye on Lidl and Aldi. They have stainless induction friendly pans, with glass lids, occasionally and they are good quality, solid thick bases and work like stainless steel induction pans

Another vote for induction here- safer, controllable, more power, less wasted heat blasted around the kitchen, neater looking.

And generally awesome.

I use Le Creuset cast iron pans – mostly bought 20 years ago and still all looking like new – buy good,buy once. The frying pan would be a good match for the OP, the saucepans not if you *need* a glass lid.

Apologies to Waderider if an induction hob ran off with your girlfriend and you still haven’t got over it.

Induction FTW

>> Wipe clean cooking surface
>> Pans don’t get burnt food stuck to the bottom, all our pans are still pristine.
>> The boost on the hobs boil water so fast

We use a mixture of John Lewis pans and Tefal ‘red dot’ frying pans

I got some cast iron pans from TK Maxx and normal pans from House of Fraser, about 80% off in the Christmas sale. Really good. Linea branded.

Have a non stick sauce pan and fry pan, everythign else is just normal metal

I like induction. Cools down quicker than gas too and is easy to clean the top

Loving the normal recommend what I have and hate everythingelseness of this thread.

If you like gas, it’s good (for you) and if you like inductio it’s good for you (and me).

Any non Aluminium pan will work, ferrous but most just say on the packets. Have found that depending on what you’re doing sometimes cheap pans work best (pancake pans for example) but other things like stews / casseroles you get what you pay for. Have mix of ages old stainless pans, cheapo frying pans and more expensive casserolle type things.

Wicked fried eggs from an induction hob in my experience …

Feels a bit like a bit wheel size, frame material thread doesn’t it?

James

We have an induction hob in our kitchen for when the Aga is off and I like it very much; it’s easy to keep clean, fast and controllable.

Victor Prolite cast iron are the dogs whatsits – way way cheaper than Le Creuset, etc – pre-seasoned, clean very easily, bomb proof, oven proof, blah, blah, blah. I’ve Victor standard cast iron skillets that are inherited from my parents, that will never die – but take looking after – bought some of their Pro-Lite ones 6 or 7 years ago and they are incredible – even more so given the price:

http://www.thecooksshopexeter.co.uk/index.php?Page=product&ID=851

Circulon pans have a lifetime warranty and they do actually honour it. I’ve had the Circulon Infinite for about 8 years now and I’ve made a claim twice. You just ring them up and they ask you to email a photo of the pans damage. 2/3 days later a brand new pan arrives. Easy
Mine are used most days and are always washed in the dishwasher.
We have gas now in our new house and its rubbish compared to induction with is so much quicker, controllable and efficient.

After destroying a few cheap Tefal non-stick pans we bought a mid-range set of stick saucepans and non-stick frying pans from John Lewis. http://www.johnlewis.com/john-lewis-classic-pan-set-5-pieces/p1647377 I think, but on sale as I definitely didn’t pay £150. Can’t fault them at all: the non-stick has lasted a couple of years without any problems for once, and the pans can be scrubbed with a scourer if required.

Ikea 365?

For some reason I’m not that keen on shiny pans, altho the Le Creuset 3 ply stainless steal looks like it might be brushed steal. Might have to be anodised aluminium/steal inner or something.
My relatively cheapish pans have pouring lips both sides on every pan and strainers in the lids (big hole strainer one side, spag? Little hole strainer the other, rice?). Don’t understand why the expensive pans don’t have this, it’s really useful.

Have I strayed onto Mumsnet?

I’ve run out of time to erase it.