Home Appliances Reviewed

Induction cooking is great, but not this model, October 5, 2008

By 

Mark Wilden (San Francisco) – See all my reviews

  

This was my first experience with induction cooking, and, like everyone else says, it’s fantastic. Keeps the kitchen cool, heats things faster, offers precise control, environmental, simple to clean – all good stuff.

But I am going to try a different brand next time I buy an induction cooktop. Here is why:

1) There are only six heat settings. I have found that to simmer many items, I need a setting in between 2 and 3. So I have to stand over it and manually switch between the two.

2) It appears to cycle on and off (at least on setting 3). A pot of stuff will bubble for a while, then stop, then bubble for a while, etc. I do not know if this is normal for an induction cooktop, but obviously it is not very smooth.

3) The controls are indeed difficult to get used to, though it can be done. You need to give them a rather sharp tap, instead of just pressing them. There’s also a delay, so if you want to turn the heat down from 6 to 1, you have to tap at certain intervals.

4) It seems to produce a hot spot in the center of the pan. That part will bubble when the edges stay cooler. I do not know if this is normal with induction cooking. I use All-Clad pans.

All told, these negatives do not outweigh the positive experience of using an induction cooktop. But I will try another brand next time. And there will be a next time, because compared to my lousy electric stove, induction cooking is wonderful!

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 Comments (10)

I’m a convert, December 11, 2008

By 

Fuji – See all my reviews

  

I’ve had this cooktop for 3 months now and I am really pleased with it. I bought it to see if I liked induction enough to spring for a whole cooktop when I replace my stove. All but one of my pans worked on it (if you have aluminum cookware you will need to go shopping). I mainly use All-Clad stainless, Lodge cast iron and Chantal enamel on steel cookware. I have an iron, flat bottomed wok that works great with it. It is FAR superior to a hot plate or extra burner. This little unit has become our main stove. I could see using just one or two of these in a cabin, kitchenette, dorm, etc. I have been pleased with my Fagor pressure cooker, so that’s why I chose this brand.

What makes me happy:

-incredibly quick response, I think as good as gas

-less heat in the air makes the kitchen more comfortable and cooking is safer

-no charred mess from spillovers etc. Really simple to clean

-fabulous low temperature setting that is barely more than warm. It will melt chocolate beautifully on the lowest setting. No more fiddling with a double boiler.

-I like the timer feature. When the timer ends, it turns off the unit. That’s a boon for a distracted cook.

-It’s harder to burn things with this cooktop than with gas or electric. Partly because it’s so responsive, but I really think it does a superior job of maintaining a consistent temperature.

Things you should know:

-as another reviewer noted, there is a hot spot in the middle where all the action is. If you use a really big pan, you’ll see where the heat is concentrated. However, I have not had any actual problems with this. It heats even massive pans quite well even though it says somewhere in the manual to use smaller pans.

-if you lean on the front edge it will tip. Sounds dumb, but I have done it.

-there’s a brief learning curve to the touchpad controls. Maybe 3-4 days of having to think about it and now it’s second nature.

I really hope that induction cooking gains a wider audience in the U.S. It’s a fabulous technology that’s ready for mainstream consumers.

****UPDATE**** Now I have owned this unit for a year and a half or so. I still love it and I am using it full time as my main burner. I am considering buying a second one and never using my old radiant electric cooktop again. As it is, I removed the knobs from my cooktop and this little guy sits on top of it all the time. I am also not sure I want to replace my old cooktop – a new 4-5 burner induction unit is close to a couple thousand dollars. I can buy a second one of these and probably never know the difference.

The glass surface has become a little scratched because I use heavy cast iron pans on it. (You can put some parchment paper under the cast iron pans to protect the surface, but I forget.)

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Portable and Green!, July 3, 2008

This portable induction cooktop does what it says. Portable and eco-friendly! The countdown timer is a really nice feature. The touch buttons may need a little time to get used to for some new users and The fan is bit noisy . Otherwise I will rate 5 stars. I have to retire some of my old cookware which are not induction compatible and spend more money for new induction compatible ones. By the way, fagor customer service is not as nice as their product…

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