Post Punk Kitchen Forum

Next year I'm going to be moving into a house that's got an glass (induction) stove top. Pretty much my whole life, I've cooked on gas, and the few times I've had to use electric burners, I've hated them. (My biggest peeve with electric is not being able to quickly adjust the heat level.) But I hear that using induction cooking is completely different than the old fashioned coil electric burners.

Does anyone have experience using a glass stove top? Tips? Comparisons to gas/traditional electric? Am I going to be able to use the pots and pans I have now? (I have stainless steel saucepans, Tefal non-stick frying/saute pans, and an enamel-coated, cast-iron Dutch oven.) I'd love to hear other people's experiences.

I cannot offer much advice but I am in a similar situation: I'll have an induction oven next year and I'm looking forward to that a lot. Yes, from what I've heard, you can adjust heat very quickly and it is also supposed to be very energy-efficient.

Since the heat is induced with a magnetic field, you need pots and pans that are ferromagnetic i.e. not made from aluminium, glass, clay etc.

From what you've listed, the only pan that may not be suitable is the nonstick-one since they are often made from aluminium for less weight. If you're lucky then the bottom is iron, though. Tefal's website should provide some information on the materials used for your specific pan.

Thanks, Lily. I'll have to check the Tefal website. I'm actually most worried about the Dutch oven because I've read that enamel coated cookware can fuse to the stove top. But then some people online say this isn't true.

Yeah, I don't know about enamel, but induction is totally different from normal electric heating elements. It's all physicsy and stuff.

I'm startin' to get that!




Now I'm doubting whether the stove in the house where I'll be moving is induction or just a glass-topped electric stove. My boyfriend thought it was induction when he saw it, but we didn't look that closely. I'm hoping it is, if only so I can try out geeky stuff like in the video. (Plus, I really hate cooking on traditional electric stoves.)[/first world problem]

If ther house/the kitchen isn't brand new I think that chances are pretty high that it is a normal electric stove.

But that wouldn't be all that bad. I have one and cooking is different with it but has some advantages of its own.

The kitchen was fully renovated in 2007, and they put a lot of work into this house, so it wouldn't completely surprise me.
Bf now says it could also have been halogen. Hopefully I'll have a chance to check again soon. (Not moving in for at least 8 months, but I would like to know if I need to switch out any of my cookware.)

I have one. I like gas a lot more, but this isn't so bad once you get used to it. I still find that you can't adjust the heat as quickly as you can with gas, and it takes a little bit longer for things to heat up. I'm pretty used to it now though (after a couple of months) and it doesn't really bother me anymore. I still use all of my old cookware- normal stainless steel, a Scanpan non-stick pan, and an enamel-coated cast iron grill pan. Haven't noticed problems with any of them. I am a big fan of how much easier it is to clean that my old gas stove. I was worried about scratching it at first, but I don't seem to have damaged it yet.

The oven is awesome though, even if it does run about fifty degrees too hot.

We have one and I don't have any special pans for it. I never heard of that! I never liked gas (I am scared of exploding). To me the only negative is not being able to heat up tortillas the way you can on an electric - because that is the best tastiest way to heat up tortillas.

I don't know if there are different kinds of induction stoves or not. I had one in one of my Paris apartments, and it took a lot of getting used to--it was a huge adjustment. I couldn't use half my pans on it. Some just plain wouldn't work. I had to get special pans with particular induction symbols on them and particular surfaces on their undersides. Once I got those, they did work. It was stunning how quickly the surfaces heated up--I really had to adjust my cooking style since the plaques got so hot so quickly.