tell me about induction cooking

[muffyn]

I have a really old stove combo ( built in the 50's) & I really love it & do not want to part with it. but it has its problems, the burner w/the brain doesn't work, & I can barely fit 3 pans on the stove, mostly can only use 2 since they are in a straight row. (still love it though)
kept seeing mentions about induction cooling but never paid any attention to it, since i was not giving up my stove.

then,,,,,, today I saw in a catalog an induction cook top that you just set on your counter... cool! (where have I been??)

does anyone have anything like this? do you like it ( am worried about splashing of food all over the wall behind & the counter, not being contained as it usually is on the stove)

do you use special cookware? (was told that as long as a magnet attaches to it , it should work..right?)

also saw you can get an interface disk, does this help?

do the timers really matter? saw some that have 180 min, one that had a 12 hour timer.

when you choose a temperature, does the contents of the pan go to that? like if you put grease in a pot to deepfry.

any comments appreciated

 

[Califgirl]

I have an induction cooktop as well as an induction portable single 'burner'. I love it.
You can use any cookware that a magnet attaches to.

The surface never really gets that hot, but it heats up the cookware beautifully. When you turn off the power, it turns off the 'heat' just like cooking with gas. If you spill spaghetti sauce on the cooktop, it doesn't bake on since the cooktop doesn't get that hot.

If you want to deep fry, you will still need to use a thermometer to tell the temp of the oil.

I love my induction cook top!

 

[chris31997]

That is the thing you will potentially need new cookware. We like it does boil water really fast and cook nicely.

Our only gripe is that 6mos before we moved we had gotten new pots and they don't work.

 

[teCh0010]

The appliance forum at gardenweb.com will have a ton of info on induction.

 

[lisapeteres]

I used to have induction cooking equipment in my apartment. It's a great thing for sure, cooking is fast, it takes like 1/4th of the time to boil water, compared to traditional stuff. However I still prefer cooking with open flame. It's just more natural to me.