induction vs gas hob

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</p><p>They increase the boiling point of water?</p><p>Witchcraft!

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Well I can now add my thoughts to the subject having installed my induction hob a few days ago.

Compared to the ceramic hob it replaced it’s brilliant!

Really fast, and very controllable – I can certainly get a lower simmer on the induction hob than I can on our gas range at home.  Love the timers for each hob as well.

Joining this club next week with a Bora induction. Hope it solves the extractor fan problem.

Ooh interested in how you get on with that, I prefer to buy stuff from companies involved in cycling sponsorship and they look a neat solution. I’m assuming they’re pricey though, also is the extractor just a recirculating one or can you duct it externally (if so doesn’t it screw up cupboard space)?

It’s going in front of a window, so a regular stove & island range hood would have been just as much.

Getting vented straight out the back wall, so no loss of cupboard space.

How can you get more controllable than an infinitely variable knob?

How can you get more controllable than an infinitely variable knob?

The ability to control the temperature in a pan is much better in an induction hob as controlling the flow of an electrical current is much easier than controlling the flow of gas of varying composition through a valve.

Can certainly get a very low “simmer” on the AEG induction hob I use (has a decent number – 14 – of heat increments available); trying to get the same very low heat with a barely-on-and-all-too-easily-blown-out gas hob would be tricky.

The ability to control the temperature in a pan is much better in an induction hob as controlling the flow of an electrical current is much easier than controlling the flow of gas of varying composition through a valve.

Sounds impressive, but what is simpler and more controllable than twisting a knob?

14 < infinity.

Sounds impressive, but what is simpler and more controllable than twisting a knob?

14 < infinity.

Sighs.  Try it out and see for yourself but don’t kid yourself into thinking that you can consistently achieve the same temperature on a gas hob every time you use it.  The temperature control in an induction hob is easier and more reliable than a gas hob, the temperature range is better on an induction hob too.  I’ve used both and I’ll be changing my gas hob for an induction one soon.

Sighs. Try it out and see for yourself but don’t kid yourself into thinking that you can consistently achieve the same temperature on a gas hob every time you use it.

I have no doubt that you can select “heat number 6” or “heat number 7” every time you want with complete repeatability.

But with a gas knob you can select six and a third. Or if that’s not quite enough, six and four sevenths. You cannot have a greater range of temps with greater control of temp with fewer increments of setting. That’s simply not possible.

Enjoy your new cooker. 🙂

But with a gas knob you can select six and a third. Or if that’s not quite enough, six and four sevenths. You cannot have a greater range of temps with greater control of temp with fewer increments of setting. That’s simply not possible.

How many do you need?

I would suggest 18 settings is more than enough, 14 probably about right. With the repeat-ability of that number trumping the “benefit” of it being infinitely adjustable.

But with a gas knob you can select six and a third. Or if that’s not quite enough, six and four sevenths

just not the case with any gas hob i’ve ever owned.  The adjustability wasn’t really that granular and, in our house at least, the gas pressure was affected enough by the boiler firing up that a simmer would become boiling over (or going out).

Our Siemens has 1-9 with half increments (eg4.5) plus turbo mode.  that’s sufficient that you can have a pan of rice or pasta simmering perfectly.

The only issue I have (and this is not with induction) but all the pans say to use a medium heat.

I don’t get that – what is the point of the boost function if I can’t use my pans on full blast?

Interest piqued here. Was looking today but review sites are a nightmare tbh. So any recommendations for around £500? Keep reading about lots of annoying beeping and almost disconcerting levels of humming from some.. is this a feature I’ll have to live with? Also read about fussy and faffy controls on some where it’s hard to adjust heat quickly trying to navigate through controls. Just want something powerful yet simple and hopefully long lasting… Bosch or AEG seem to be in the running.

<p>People moan about everything. Our fridge freezer gets loads of moans because it’s “noisy”. Granted it had some bloomin’ odd gurgles at times but is hardly drowning out conversation, you can’t hear it over the gas hob.</p><p></p><p>So yeah, take reviews with a pinch of salt, “does it work?” is usually a good enough metric.</p>

just want something powerful yet simple and hopefully long lasting… Bosch or AEG seem to be in the running.

I was told a few years ago that De Dietrich invented induction tech and were still basically the only company manufacturing them. All others were made by their factories.  Not sure how true that was/still is or whether that was just the ‘burner’ and the rest assembled by others.

On our range cooker I can very often not get the gas to go low enough for a gentle simmer.

I also like that the pan size doesn’t really matter with induction (small pan on a big induction plate seems absolutely fine) whereas a small pan on a medium gas burner is pretty pointless as the heat goes up the sides.

 So any recommendations for around £500?

Bosch PWP631BF1B (£399-£487) scored 82% in March2018 Which test and looks pretty smart, in fact Bosch & Neff induction hobs seem to consistently score high in Which tests at or around your budget and below. (if you’re interested, I’ll happily send you the full Which test report for the Bosch)

Clicking and humming is pretty much par for the course. Don’t forget on a gas hob, you get clicking from a gas lighter to get a flame and gas isn’t silent, it’s not that much different.

Re fussy/faffy controls, all the AEG hobs appear to have individual controls for each zone, where as the Bosch and Neff are one control you switch between zones. So if it’s a big deal then buy AEG, personally,  like most stuff of this nature you fairly quickly get used to the different controls, all IMO tho.

I just turned off the Aga (thank God) as we were melting having bought a multifunction microwave thingy and a plug in induction hob.  The former has been pretty good, the induction hob has been an absolute revelation!  Much better than the Aga, it boils water faster than a fast thing to make cups of tea!  The only downside has been it is so good that it has welded onion to the bottom of my cast iron pans (I wasn’t concentrating as the Aga doesn’t do this!)

When I redo the kitchen, or if/when we move, then an induction hob is going to be on the list of things to have!