By Barbara Adler
Almost three years ago, after a lengthy bout with Covid, my partner and I very unexpectedly found ourselves buying a modest place in the country to escape from the crowds of the city. The house came equipped with an electric stove, as there’s no gas line there, and it was old and frankly, awful. As an avid cook, I needed to replace it, but gas was not an option. A chef friend touted his induction stovetop, which uses electric rather than gas, and our online research began. But, just three years ago, there actually wasn’t much information to find. Now, of course, the health impacts of cooking with gas dominate environmental news reports, and New York State will ban new buildings from using gas for cooking as early as 2025.
There are many induction stoves on the market, sold by every major dealer. In 2020, with major supply-chain issues (still existing to some extent), there was a year’s wait or longer for many appliances, and we wound up settling for the first induction stove we could get, (a GE Profile). Here’s why I fell in love with it almost immediately:
Induction cooking works using an electromagnetic reaction to what’s inside your pot or pan. It ‘excites’ the molecules in the pan or pot, which in itself I found thrilling, and keeps the stovetop cool. You can put ice-cubes right beside your pot, and they won’t melt while your pot is simmering away! Water boils so fast that if you’re not on top of things, it will bubble so profusely, it leaps out of the pot and steams up everything near it. There are no fire hazards, and cleanup after use is a breeze. If you fear spatters, you can put a paper towel under your pot while cooking to catch them. Lowering the controls has an immediate response, as there’s no pot or rack to cool. These stoves are energy efficient, as you’re cooking in half the time, and they cannot be turned on by accident without a pot on the burner, as there’s nothing to react to generate heat. For those who really care about cooking, induction offers outstanding control.
Like everything, there are downsides. You have to use cookware containing iron. A lightweight aluminum pan or pot won’t do the trick, unless it has an induction-ready bottom with an iron layer hidden under stainless or ceramic. I found that most of my existing cookware worked great, though I did invest in a few new sauté pans. Heavy stainless steel or cast iron are naturals, and the market is now full of reasonably priced induction cookware.
Lastly, the stovetop or range itself costs more than gas. Prices start at under $2,000. As mentioned above, we wound up not having much of a choice, and did without some of the bells and whistles we originally wanted. Nevertheless, we both love it, and are considering replacing our gas stove in the city as well.
Did you try using a diffuser? Diffusers supposedly eliminate the need to replace all your non-ferrous cookware.
totally agree – we just installed induction in our NYC apartment and it is fantastic. never going back to gas
Induction is like magic! I’ll be honest, I’d rather poison myself than live with a horrible old electric stove, but induction is a whole other story.
Useful info, thanks!
Paper is not induction friendly – sure, you can “get away with it” but you can be right thousands of times and paper just needs to be wrong once.
Induction cooktops require between 20 and 40 amps (the better ones require more dedicated power). A gas cooktop has a minimal load demand. My experience in the city in multiple pre-war buildings is that the power just isn’t there. Our current apartment / building can’t pull any additional power without an upgrade from the street, which I understand would cost the building more than $1 million. The infrastructure upgrades required across the city are not going to happen overnight. Not every building can absorb this kind of expense without a lot of planning.
It seems like there’s a need for induction ovens that have a built-in breaker or whose installation includes an accessible breaker.
Was running a portable induction cooktop the other night and either have 15 or 20 amp breakers. The cooktop has settings from 1 to 10. At 10, the water boiled in half the time using gas and I had to keep it at 1 to maintain a boil. I can’t control the gas that well. The pot also kept its heat better. Don’t know why. Maybe because its not elevated? Never use all 4 gas burners at once. I imagine there could be a peak drain with the oven on too. Batteries could likely smooth that out. Have heard that some induction stoves do come with batteries.
You can buy a portable induction stove if you can’t get a full induction stove right away. I use one for the indoor air and environmental benefits. Honestly it is like magic, as another commented said. I never want to use the gas stove because it’s annoying to wait for the pan to get hot (it’s super fast with induction, boiling water for tea and pasta is less than half the time than with gas), I have to spend more time cleaning (induction is just wiping a glass surface, easy peasy). The indoor air and enviro benefits aren’t foremost in my mind when I cook, but rather how conveniently I can cook.
Very interesting info – not unlike old issues with A/c and other appliances in the past.
Which is (one of the reasons) why most proposed changes focus on new builds…
Yeah I don’t think my landlord is going to replace my truly ancient gas stove with an induction range anytime soon, but have fun!
“Convection cooking works using an electromagnetic reaction to what’s inside your pot or pan.” You mean induction. (You probably have a convection oven. The stovetop cooks by induction.)
Thank you, fixed
Wait till you see your electric bill, just sayin.
I have. I’m surprised there is only a single comment regarding this. It is triple of what it was!!!
And no, even the best induction stove can’t replace gas for many dishes. Everyone knows that.
The new bill is not even comparable to the old one, it is very true.
As far as the efficiency is concerned, you have to sauté or slow cook exactly same amount of time as on a gas stove.
Just an FYI that induction stoves are dangerous for insulin pumps and pacemakers due to the magnets.
The so called health hazards associated with gas stoves are BS. Do the research.
Yes, this. The study that started this was sponsored by Rocky Mountain Institute, an entity that profits from converting residences from gas to electric.
Thought so. Thanks for the info.
This fixation on gas is no more than the government forcing its environmental agenda. Shameful behavior.
When I first got an electric stove oven I hated it. I burned everything. It runs much hotter, burners go over 900 Oven to 600. Eventually I learned to use use it. It makes much better pizza then my old gas stove because it’s so much hotter. well the downside of a glass stovetop is that it can break. I smashed mine. So I got a little induction burner while I could replace the stove. The induction burner is even better. You can fine tune the temp to such a degree that you can’t on gass. I’ll eventually go all induction. Induction is to cooking what film is to photography. Some people will always insist film is better but 99% of people move to digital.
When our UWS landlord failed to address a gas line problem, the City padlocked the building’s cooking gas for 8 months. We bought an induction burner online and I have been sold on induction ever since. It is so controllable and very quick to heat food items and cools relatively quickly when the cooking vessel is removed. If I had my druthers I would go induction for sure
How EMF affects health is poorly researched. But early findings are not great.
https://www.shieldyourbody.com/induction-cooktop-emf/
If we are touching on the Gas Electric Oven topic. Most buildings can not convert as you would need 150 amp service when most buildings only have 80-100 in each unit .
I had the gas turned off because I was paying $35 a month just to make coffee and cook a few meals a week. I bought a good induction portable unit and I love it . It’s way safer to use and it’s way cheaper for me. I don’t need a huge stove and you can use any pan that a small magnet will stick to on the bottom. Most of my old pans work fine. I love how easy it is to clean unlike my old coil thing that I used years ago.
In this scenario a hot plate would work too. It wouldn’t also be a concern of unreseached health hazards.
Induction stove does NOT replace a gas one in terms of electricity consumption and quality of many dishes.
We bought one of those “one pot” induction units when our gas was off for over a year. We kept it and never turned the gas back on (We were paying close to $40 a month JUST for gas and we barely used the stove at all. And never the old oven.)
The unit we got was under $100 and there was no increase in our electricity. True, due to limited amps, we never use it on 1,000 watts but we do use 600 or 800 all the time (This unit has both wattage options as well as temperature settings from 100 to 500 degrees.)
Everything gets done faster, but, more important: We have better control over what we are cooking and never is anything overcooked. We love the unit and bought a second one to alternate with (We could use two at a time but in our pre-war building with old circuit box, we’re not risking it.
If you think $40/month is a lot, think how much induction stove electricity consumption will cost for people who cook for the family with children. You are describing the situation where you barely cook since one plate and no oven works for you. For us, who cook for the family and use multiple burners and oven, the induction stove is a huge expense in terms of the electricity bill. It is enormous!
Honestly, once you try induction, you realize how outdated gas stoves are. Induction is just a better technology on all fronts.
I have tried and consistently use both. I cook a lot.
Induction doesn’t replace gas. The electricity consumption is doubled if not tripled. Yet some dishes won’t come up as good as with gas.
As well the health hazards of induction stoves are not well researched yet and don’t look good.