Gas or induction hob?

Need a new hob. Currently it’s gas but my other half has decided she wants an induction hob instead?

never used one, is this a good idea?

I love gas, and if you use a wok, there is no alternative.

Tricky question, I have a fairly bog standard, and old gas oven/hob… which works fine but could maybe do with replacing at some point.

I’m mostly concerned with efficiency, but also you might need new pans if going induction depending on what you already have… that said if your current collection of pans are a bit old/crappy then not such a big deal.

I do like gas hobs though, so much control and heat up really quick.

Induction – cleaner, and just as fast to heat. If not faster.

I feel suitably qualified to answer this.

Old house we had a 5 ring Bosch gas hob, with a massive middle ring for the wok.

New house we have a 4 ring Electrolux induction hob.

Overall for everything apart from stir frys I’m an induction convert. I was sceptical but the benefits are,….

* quicker boiling times, we no longer have an electric kettle as a traditional kettle on the induction is quicker

* Better fine control of temperature and no hot spots. Whack the temperature down to 3 and let the Bolognese slow cook for hours no worries.

* Quicker and easier to clean

One thing I would say, ours has a control for each hob or zone. My mum and dad’s you have to select the zone then set the temperature, which I find really annoying.

As I say the only downside is the use of a wok or if you want to flambé. I dare say buying a newer and less wonky wok would solve the former problem.

Edit: When we re-do the kitchen I’m looking at getting a stand alone gas hob specifically for woks.

Induction – cleaner, and just as fast to heat. If not faster.

That’s a point.. my extractor isnt the best, but with induction you’re only really worried about humidity and food smells rather than whatever fumes left over from burning gas.

I’ve just done this swap.  I wouldn’t go back to gas.

That said, I found that 50% of my pans just don’t work properly so they’ve gone to school for the mud kitchen. Cheap frying pans being the worst offenders – it’ll detect them and power them up, but nowhere near as well as a good pan.

I use a carbon steel wok and it works just fine. You can get induction wok holders if necessary.

Research the induction system carefully: cheap units just cycle the inductor on and off to keep the pan vaguely the right temp. More expensive ones actually vary the power delivered.  I spent an absolute fortune on mine and it’s mint (the rest of the kitchen being “free” thanks to a generous flood). I found out after delivery that it would actually take three phase which was annoying having just run a 32A single phase across from our three phase board. It’d be even more wickedly powerful on that. Get an induction kettle. Boiling a mug full of water takes less than 30s. It’s astonishing.

Edit: strangely Snowinn sell really good pans from tefal and others very cheaply.

One thing I would say, ours has a control for each hob or zone. My mum and dad’s you have to select the zone then set the temperature, which I find really annoying.

Mine has that, and I really can’t say I’ve ever found it even vaguely annoying. One touch to select the area, then select the heat. No fuss.

One thing I would warn about: we redid the kitchen last year, and got a fancy white induction hob. I had my doubts, but it does look fantastic… at the moment.  But it’s now got a couple of (admittedly small) scratches, and I do wonder about what it’s going to look like in 5-10 years time. Heart (and wife) won out over head, but I probably should have got a normal black hob.

Induction is great. Buy a 32A one

Love our induction hob, under 10 seconds to clean and can put stuff on timer and also has a child lock.

One thing I would say, ours has a control for each hob or zone. My mum and dad’s you have to select the zone then set the temperature, which I find really annoying

My in-laws have it. If they were all like that I’d be using gas it’s infuriating. When we did the kitchen we made sure we had 4 separate controllers

I absolutely love cooking on gas, loved the feel of it.

Then we went induction and I would never go back. Induction all the way.

My only caveat is get one with proper turny knobs. None of that touch panel nonsense, although mine has both I never used the panel

Something to think about, the move to heat pumps and the phasing out of gas heating. I have no idea of your overall situation how long you intend to keep the kitchen etc. but you might find you’re paying for gas jstanding charges etc ust for cooking

Thanks everyone, the gas pipe actually runs down the outside wall so that would be one benefit if we could remove it.

just don’t want to make a costly mistake!

can you use le creuset style pans on them?

I can’t confirm le creuset but we have a tesco copy that works fine We didn’t have to buy any new pans for induction

Another induction vote, but get a good powerful model that needs the 32A feed.

For stirfrys, just about everything else I cook, a flat bottomed saute pan is the go to.

Also something else I mention on induction threads, is frying pans etc that have the perforated stainless steel plate forged on to the aluminium do not absorb as much energy as pans with continuous SS bases. Probably about 60-70% of the energy. The input power to the hob reflects this with perf base pans.

All my cast iron pans and the Dutch oven all work on mine.

I’m all for the touch though they just have to be individual touchs. Makes for easy cleaning.

Few thing that I will look for in the next induction hob

All Flexizones not rings, so you can just dump a pan/pot anywhere

Takes any size pan/pot (my samsung is a bit fussy where you place a little moka pot). You def need to check min pan size, a milk pan might be too small for some hobs.

Individual controls for individual zones (I thought I’d get used to one control to switch between zones but still haven’t)

Decent fine control, mine has 15 settings + P, so 16, which is adequate. Not essential but would be nice to have the removable magnetic knob option but TBH I don’t have a problem with digital touch controls.

can you use le creuset style pans on them?

Yes. Just don’t slide them across the surface

Stove top coffee maker ie espresso can be problematic. We have a stainless one, it works but has to be positioned correctly as it is quite small in diameter

Induction: fast, responsive, easy clean, safe and doesn’t fill your kitchen with toxic fumes.

We have both –  the gas is more powerful but it is still less used than induction side.

I love gas, and if you use a wok, there is no alternative.

induction wok plates exist – slightly curved inwards to match the shape of the wok

Stove top coffee maker ie espresso can be problematic. We have a stainless one, it works but has to be positioned correctly as it is quite small in diameter

They vary quite a lot – we had one that was a complete pain to use, now we have another that’s fine. Of course both were sold as “induction ready”, you won’t know if yours is good or not until you buy it…

We moved into a new house with an induction hob – I’d 100% go back to gas.

damn induction thing turns off if you get anything near the controls.

Do they do induction hobs with physical knobs!!?

And cost in new pans if your current ones aren’t compatible. Our really nice copper bottom ones are now struck in the attic.

My only concern with our induction hob is the tendency of SWMBO to leave the knobs switched on. Which has resulted in the burning of various items subsequently left on the cooker top by the same person. The cooking of an iPad was a highlight.

That’s maybe one benefit to the no-knob variants then. With ours if you remove the pan, then 30s or so later, that ‘ring’ turns itself off automatically.

Ideally I’d like knobs, but ours is on an islandy bit (actually a peninsular but that sounds even more daft for a kitchen) with a breakfast bar, so the flat surface is nice. I find the touch controls fine once used to them, and it really very easy to clean.

Good ones really aren’t cheap, but I’d definitely rather not go back to gas.

Gas.  My current flat has electric stove but I missed gas cooking.

Gas stove is easy to use and not have to think about the pot or pan compliance.

I have a round bottom wok (proper wok) that I never got to use it, so invested in several flat bottom woks which is not as efficient.

Every time I clean our 6 burner gas hob (not that often TBF) I wish we had induction

The ignition on half the rings doesn’t work either

Induction next time for sure

Depends how clumsy your household is. Our induction hob shattered when a glass spice jar fell out of the cupboard above the hob.

Every time I clean our 6 burner gas hob (not that often TBF) I wish we had induction

The ignition on half the rings doesn’t work either

Induction next time for sure

Cleaning?  Shouldn’t you be wiping off whatever after cooking?  We clean the stove every few days or as often as needed.

Yes, the UK gas stove ignition is rather troublesome if you don’t clean them often. We never had that problem in the far east because use a separate igniter.   Our gas stove is simple or basic and nothing fancy, hence nothing will go wrong and will last for a very long time.

Depends how clumsy your household is. Our induction hob shattered when a glass spice jar fell out of the cupboard above the hob.

Where is your extractor ? Bora  Downdraft -those are silly money.

Grew up with gas, have an induction now as no mains gas here

I prefer gas, just much nicer to use.

Only advantages of an induction for me are easy to clean, and I have a very small kitchen so an extra bit of flat surface is nice, but for actually cooking I prefer the gas

Also, if you do go for induction avoid those stupid touch controls, I absolutely hate mine, get proper knobs. They adjust themselves if you just brush against them with anything, and the worst one I had was a pan boiled over, the water got onto and turned everything up maximum! A solution to a problem which didn’t exist, get knobs!

100% induction. Worth it just for the ease of cleanup. Boils water faster. Touch controls suck but at the same time I’d take them over physical ones for the ease of cleaning. It needs to be the proper 32A like others have said so you get the turbo boil.

Could people name and shame the induction hobs that manage to fry phones, turn everything up to max when wet, have unreliable touch controls or whatever other failing.

I’ve got a cheap FAR. It’s never done anything it’s not programmed to do. The touch controls have been faultless. I couldn’t fry my phone without placing it on the hob then going through a sequence of three touch commands  – on, select zone, select power level. I’ve got a few old pans that aren’t induction specific but if they’re iron or steel they work fine.

How does it work with an combined oven/hob unit though… gas oven is nice as it preheats really quick.. electric ovens take days to warm up?

I had a built in Miele which was slow to warm up, consumed lots of leccy and did a better job of heating the kitchen than the food. It clearly lacked insulation. Replaced with a Rowenta which does a pizza in 17min from switch on for me and 24min for Madame who insists on a longer 14min preheat whereas I use 8/9min preheat.

Knobs suck if your hobs doing anything other than defaulting to off (which our aeg does) when you boil over….it’s wrong.

doesn’t fill your kitchen with toxic fumes.

We got rid of gas for this reason.

If the pans are magnetic on the bottom they will work on an induction hob. Mine turns itself off when you remove the pans after a few seconds and is only hot for a minute or two after.