Or… commercial/restaurant style ranges versus induction cook tops.
Cooking with gas is conventionally considered the chef’s way of cooking. For the last two decades commercial-looking gas ranges have been the rage. Restaurant-style ranges have been cleverly marketed to imply “give your cooking restaurant quality”. The industry has done a great job in making expensive commercial gas stoves the visual anchor of fancy kitchen remodeling.
Hefty looking iron burners, beefy knobs evoke a feeling of substance. But are you giving yourself state-of-the art cooking technology? Or, are you being seduced by a look promoted by clever marketing? Are there downsides to residential restaurant-style ranges? What are your other options for top-quality, chef-level cooking? Then there is this new cooking technology called induction.
What is induction? Induction cook tops are on either gas or electric. Burners in induction cooking contain with high frequency electromagnets. Cooking happens from magnetic adhesion between the cook top and the cookware. This direct heat transfer is faster and allows more even cooking than any other technology.
Only the space under the pot or skillet heats up because that’s where magnetic contact is established; the space around it is cold to the touch. The moment you turn off a burner it is instantly cold again, as if you never used it. This is an important safety feature for families with young children.
Induction cooking has been in Europe for decades. However, the breakthrough in induction cooking came only a few years ago with the achievement of full temperature control so that even the most delicate sauces can now easily be created on induction cook tops.
Induction units have a sleek, understated look. Your aesthetic instincts will either like this minimal dimension or deem it to be insubstantial given all the money you are spending on your kitchen renovation. However, a true cooking insider will appreciate your know-how of cooking technology.
There is another important consideration pretty magazine photos do not tell you about: Induction tops are surfaced by simple sheets of glass. Some don’t even a metal frame around it. This means clean up is simple and super fast. In other words, your induction cook top will always be and look clean. By contrast, daily life with restaurant style burners means you accept a somewhat messy condition at all times since it takes hours to really clean restaurant-style ranges. Trust me: it is a constant /daily challenge!
To allow the magnetic adhesion in induction cooking means that only cookware made of iron or steel (incl. stainless steel) can be used. The common perception only high-end cookware work is flawed. Many medium priced pots and pans are made of ferrous materials. Most enamel finishes work as well since they tend to be backed with iron and/or steel materials. However, glass, copper and aluminum do not work. Run a simple test: Hold a magnet to your pots and pans. If the magnet attaches it’s good to go with induction.
Bosch, Thermador (owned by Bosch), Wolf, GeMonogram, GeProfile, Gaggenau, Electrolux and Miele, to mention only a few, all make induction stove tops. Fred Albano, of Albano Appliances & Service in NY tells us that the pricing is practically the same across all brands. 30″ cook tops cost around $2,500 and 36″ stove tops run around $3,000.
Which one should you buy? Choose by personal preferences around the following considerations:
• Burner lay-out (large and small burner configuration)
• Metal frame (this prevents chipping from large pots) or frameless
• Brand consistence among appliances
• Control location and configuration
Watch for another exciting innovation to enter the marketplace shortly: “zoneless” induction tops so that the entire cook top can be activated anywhere AND for any pot size. How great is that?!
Bottom line: Do you want your range to look impressive and professional or have state-of-the-art cooking technology. The induction cook top industry recognizes this dilemma since now cook tops can be purchased by modules, say one section induction and one section commercial-looking burners. The perfect solution for homeowners who cannot make up their minds.
My prediction they will use the commercial style burners less and less… and not at all. Daily cooking on induction stove tops simply will win the day.
Check out Best Cooktops 2016
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