Induction Cook Tops . . . - Woodworking Talk

**TexasTimbers** · 09-05-2009, 08:03 PM

The missus decided we need to replace all our white stuff in the kitchen with stainless steel stuff. Suits me ~ I can't claim not to care, I love to cook and do about half the cooking. She claims I'm the better of us. No attempt at humility here, I am a darn good cook. So I do care what appliances we get cause I will be using them a lot.

I did a lot of reading over the past week and we have nailed all the ones down we want. In fact, she's at Lowes paying for the fridge right now. She's a smart bird. When we woke up this morn she said "Hey. I bet Lowes has a Labor Day sale this weekend!" Sure enough, she saved us 20% by being smart. We weren't gonna buy them for another couple weeks til I put the finishing touches on the kitchen.

My question is to those who have SS appliances, are they really "Fingerprint Free"?

My main question .... we decided to go with an induction cook top. We read one rave review after another about this technology. Supposed to be an order of magnitude better than radiant, and worlds above electric. I have always been a flame guy, but the reviews we read had ex-flame cooks singing the praises of induction even over flame. Anyone have one and would like to review it please do. I think we have decided on which one to get but I'd like to hear as much feedback as I can get.

Allthumbs27 · 09-06-2009, 12:24 AM

Make sure your pots and pans are SS or cast iron. They have to be magnetic.But I am sure you knew that already.I personally would choose Viking brand. Some SS appliances have a clear coat on them which would make for easy cleanup. But your real deal stuff needs to be cleaned with SS cleaner to remove oily spots.

rrbrown · 09-06-2009, 12:52 AM

I have all Stainless and it is not fingerprint proof at all. The stuff that is just looks like stainless and I find it scratches easy. If it has a clear coat then it may be fingerprint proof but not sure on that one.

Induction is the way I'm going next.

rrich · 09-06-2009, 01:32 AM

I am not domesticated, just ask LOML.

LOML hates stainless due to the finger prints.

BTW - The stainless used in appliances is on the soft side and will scratch. But then paint will scratch also. HOWEVER the paint can be repaired.

Twenty two cents worth.

GeorgeC · 09-06-2009, 07:22 AM

The only advantage that the induction cook tops have over any other is that there is no hot surface cause burns.

I have never heard anybody that is familiar with gas and induction that would ever use induction. The gourmet cooks of the world overwhelmingly prefer gas. I would love to have gas in our house, but my wife does not like it.

I also like the looks of the Stainless Steel appliances, but my wife is for white. Everything, cabinets and all, in our kitchen is white.

G

firefighteremt153 · 09-06-2009, 07:38 AM

TT, the Wife and I just bough a new fridge this past Monday from Brandsmart. All of our other appliances are SS and we wanted a fridge to match. When we talked to the sales lady we told her that we wanted SS but prefere something that doesn't show finger prints b/c we have 3 kids. We literally narrowed our search down by just walking up to the different fridge's and wiping our fingers on them. We finally found one that wouldn't leave a mark no matter how hard we tried. It was a Maytag fridge that I thought was SS but later found out that it actually called MONOCHROMATIC SS. It's actually SS with a painted surface that looks just like SS. So far we are very pleased with it and we still haven't had a single finger print show up. As far as gas or induction. I think alot of that is preference but I do prefere gas b/c I feel I can control the heat a little better and plus the cooktop on most conduction stoves seem like they scratch pretty easy.

johnep · 09-06-2009, 11:55 AM

We have a Neff ceramic top with touch controls ie no knobs to collect grease. Takes some getting used too, but cleans up so easy that would never change now.
johnep

TomC · 09-06-2009, 12:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Allthumbs27

Make sure your pots and pans are SS or cast iron. They have to be magnetic.But I am sure you knew that already.I personally would choose Viking brand. Some SS appliances have a clear coat on them which would make for easy cleanup. But your real deal stuff needs to be cleaned with SS cleaner to remove oily spots.

Good quality SS is non magnetic. BTW will refrigerator magnet stick to SS refrigerator?
Tom

Allthumbs27 · 09-07-2009, 07:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TomC

Good quality SS is non magnetic. BTW will refrigerator magnet stick to SS refrigerator?
Tom

negative

Allthumbs27 · 09-07-2009, 07:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GeorgeC

The only advantage that the induction cook tops have over any other is that there is no hot surface cause burns.

I have never heard anybody that is familiar with gas and induction that would ever use induction. The gourmet cooks of the world overwhelmingly prefer gas. I would love to have gas in our house, but my wife does not like it.

I also like the looks of the Stainless Steel appliances, but my wife is for white. Everything, cabinets and all, in our kitchen is white.

G

They are more efficient. They heat faster than any other. Those are 2 huge advantages.

firehawkmph · 09-07-2009, 11:55 AM

TT,
I remember my first house customer looking at magnetic induction cooktops back in 1991. She didn't end up buying it. I haven't seen anyone in our area pushing them since then. Gas or electric in my book. We had gas for many years and switched to electric in '03 when I redid my kitchen. She picked out a glass cooktop. Pretty easy to get used to and much easier to clean than a gas top. My wife bakes a lot and really prefers the electric oven over gas. It is guaranteed to be within 2 degrees of the temp you punch in. The gas ovens are often off by 20 or 30 degrees. Plus no fumes. Just my .02. BTW, the ref. magnets won out over stainless steel. Went with biscuit colored appliances, all GE profile. So far so good.
Mike Hawkins

**TexasTimbers** · 09-07-2009, 12:14 PM

Lots of great points made!

I didn't know high quality SS is non-magnetic. But we're a non-fridge-magnet family for the most part so, if we ever feel we need to acquire a bunch of them, I can always take a scrap 50s era Kelvinator door, hang it on the wall, and cover it with magnet as sort of a bizarre art piece.

.

Re; the induction, I might be buying a bill of goods but I doubt it. I have to say I've never read so many overwhelmingly positive reviews on any single product, ever, than on induction cooking.

It seems that we Americans as a group, when we "discover" induction cooking we believe it's a relatively new technology, but this is one of those areas where we've lagged Europe again ~ they've had it for 20+ years.

Quote:

Originally Posted by GeorgeC

I have never heard anybody that is familiar with gas and induction that would ever use induction.

Now that's not entirely accurate is it? Because you already read my claim in this thread that I have read numerous reviews of former gas users who now sing the praises of induction, so you have heard someone make the claim!

Seriously, I know where you're coming from George because that's the exact place I was at up until a couple weeks ago. I am not claiming you are wrong and I am right I'm just telling what my research turned up on the matter. Your research might not reveal the same conclusion to you.

Check out this one thread alone. It's got hundreds of user opinions and experiences on the matter. It's titled Challenge: anyone w/ induction exp who'd go back to gas? and it was started January of 2007 and the most recent reply was in July of this year.

Of course you do find some died-in-the-wool gassers, most of whom admit they haven't tried induction or you suspect by their answers they really haven't or were highly biased fom the get-go, but the overwhelming majority who used gas for years, make it abundantly clear that they now prefer induction and would never go back to gas.

But this is only one thread; I found the same consensus on every forum, and in every type of review section I visited. Will I ever sneer at gas? I can't imagine that I will - I love cooking with open flame. But I do suspect I'm going to like induction better because I have read so much about it, I feel like I've used it already. But of course that remains to be seen. I may end up, updating this thread to say all those people are nuts and that induction ain't all it's cracked up to be. I do tend to swim against the tide not as a matter of choice, but just 'cause I'm a black sheep.

The big thing that grabbed my attention first was how much faster it boils water than all other technologies. That was a biggie to me. It's also just a flat surface with no knobs to try and clean beneath. I hate a nasty cook top!

**TexasTimbers** · 09-07-2009, 12:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by firehawkmph

The gas ovens are often off by 20 or 30 degrees.

We definitely went with an electric oven. We'd have to use propane if we went with gas since we don't NG piped way out here in the sticks. Propane is my gas of choice instead of acetylene for my cutting torch, but I don't like propane appliances just because of the safety issues, no matter how remote.

We were torn between a double wall oven and a single wall with microve built in, and we went with the latter. We have a huge kitchen by any standards and a considerable amount of horizontal surface, but we figured we'd only use both ovens at once maybe twice a year. Didn't seem worth it so we elimintaed the counter microwave. Now I'll have two microwaves to cook with in my shop.

TomC · 09-07-2009, 02:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Allthumbs27

negative

A good quality SS is non magnetic. I am setting here right now with a bag of SS bolts,cotter pins and cotter rings and a magnet will not stick to any of them . I worked around SS piping most of my adult life.
Tom

Allthumbs27 · 09-10-2009, 12:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TomC

A good quality SS is non magnetic. I am setting here right now with a bag of SS bolts,cotter pins and cotter rings and a magnet will not stick to any of them . I worked around SS piping most of my adult life.
Tom

Congrats on your almost lifetime knowledge of piping.check this site out.
http://induction-cooktop.com/iccookwarematerial.html
Maybe I didnt type what I meant in my head. But high quality SS pots and pans are not 100% SS. When I typed negative, I was actually agreeing with you. Sorry Tom for trying to help out but as an expert you have got this subject handled.

**TexasTimbers** · 09-10-2009, 12:47 PM

Well I guarantee you I learned something in this thread (more than something) and that is I never knew high quality SS was non-magnetic. I guess I should have realized it is mostly non-ferrous though since it doesn't rust, corrode or any of the other things ferrous metals do.

GeorgeC · 09-10-2009, 02:12 PM

Texas, Stainless Steel is still mostly ferrous metal, it just has a combination of ingredients that make it "stainless." These properties also happen to make it non=magnetic.

G

**TexasTimbers** · 09-10-2009, 02:18 PM

Wow. I have been totally in the dark re: the properties of SS. I wonder if I actually knew most this at one time, and can blame it on a bad memory.

TomC · 09-10-2009, 05:59 PM

Sorry for the way I stated it. I don't know the first thing about induction cook tops. However, I know that all SS is not magnetic. Just wanted to make sure that Texastimber knew this and might want to check his cookware if he had stainless. This is a copy out of Wicapedia.

Types of stainless steel

There are different types of stainless steels: when nickel is added, for instance, the austenite structure of iron is stabilized. This crystal structure makes such steels non-magnetic and less brittle at low temperatures. For greater hardness and strength, more carbon is added. When subjected to adequate heat treatment, these steels are used as razor blades, cutlery, tools, etc.

Significant quantities of manganese have been used in many stainless steel compositions. Manganese preserves an austenitic structure in the steel as does nickel, but at a lower cost.

phinds · 09-10-2009, 06:42 PM

Best I recall from study some time back is that there are two salient facts about induction stove tops.

First, folks love 'm for exactly the same reason that most of us prefer gas over electric --- it's faster and it's more even. Induction is even faster and more even than gas. And more efficient, but I think that's a very secondary consideration for most cooks.

Second, they're great on shallow flat bottom pans but they really suck when it comes to cooking in tall curved side containers like a wok. My love for wok cooking was one reason I decided against them.

Paul