Help Me Make This Frivolous Kitchen Purchase
January 30, 2022 10:06 AM   Subscribe

I am super curious about induction burners, and am thinking of buying one of the little standalone cooktops to supplement my gas range. Help me decide if this is a good idea.

I'm always very reluctant to bring any redundant gadgets into my kitchen because I don't have a ton of space and all storage is already occupied. But I cook A LOT. I can imagine using this cooktop for boiling water extra fast, possibly taking it outside to cook spicy/smelly foods (my range hood is the dumb kind that does not vent to the outdoors), and just as an extra burner when my range gets too crowded. I've never cooked on induction before, so I'm also imagining this could be a useful experiment to see if I like it enough to eventually replace the gas range with induction.

I'm not concerned about cookware compatibility, I mostly cook with cast iron these days. I'm not interested in using it for sous vide. I am somewhat concerned about noise, as I've heard some have noisy fans?

So what's my question? I guess, what am I not thinking of? What else do you use your standalone cooktop for? Like, has anyone tried taking theirs to a potluck like people do with slowcookers? Or I dunno, maybe you could use it in some other room of the house to free up kitchen space?

I'm considering the Duxtop 9610LS/BT-200DZ, or possibly the P961LS/BT-C35-D. Does anyone have experience with either of these, or have a different model to recommend? I'm willing to spend up to a couple hundred on this purchase, but I'm not shelling out for the Breville Control Freak, geeze.

TLDR: People seem to love induction, and I will probably love it too, convince me this is not a dumb unnecessary purchase.
posted by gueneverey to Food & Drink (19 answers total) 8 users marked this as a favorite
 
I got one when I had a gas range and found it to be very useful for the use cases you’re talking about. It would sometimes shut off from the surface getting too hot for crazy-high-temp searing.
posted by supercres at 10:10 AM on January 30, 2022 [1 favorite]


We picked up one to do tabletop hotpot/fondue without having to fuss with burners and specialty pots. It's been good. You can hear the fan, but it's easy enough to have a conversation over.
posted by platypus of the universe at 10:25 AM on January 30, 2022 [1 favorite]


I use a cheap one outside for cooking steak. I cook it on a dry cast iron griddle and it produces clouds of smoke that would never be allowed in the kitchen. Also use outside for frying mackerel.
posted by night_train at 10:31 AM on January 30, 2022 [2 favorites]


I can't offer advice on a standalone induction cooktop, as we have a built-in. That said, it completely replaced our gas cooktop and we don't miss it and won't go back, and I like it well enough that I'd like to get a stand-alone induction plate for the sort of situation you describe--they do seem to really shine as a replacement for portable/outdoor gas burners, which require bottled fuel, which I don't love (especially when there's a disposable bottle involved) and seem like a fire/burn hazard. For instance, we have a friend who uses one for a large dye pot outdoors or in a (cooktopless) studio because it can boil a large volume of water as well as a high-BTU propane burner, but is much smaller and more portable.

A few caveats based on our built-in induction cooktop:

You want to size the plate's "burner" to the pan, as the heating effect only works at a short distance from the element. Using a large cast iron or carbon steel pan on a smaller induction element will warp the pan considerably as the hot center expands. This effect is dramatic enough that the pan will begin to spin on the expanded, hot center, even if there's a raised rim. Better induction plates will have one or two concentric rings around the central element that will turn on when the presence of a correspondingly sized pan is detected.

Similarly, only pans that are in contact with the surface work, so carbon steel and cast iron woks are out, despite being a theoretically compatible material (I mention this mostly because this is the sort of cooking I prefer to do outside, because of the mess and oil vapor that makes for a lot of cleanup in the kitchen). We even had a crepe pan with a raised surface (and less than a centimeter of air space beneath it) that doesn't work.

Usefully powerful induction plates draw a lot of electricity, and you'll need a circuit sized to accomodate it, or, at least, a dedicated 15 amp circuit. Our cooktop (which does have five elements) has its own 50 amp circuit, the highest capacity in our house.
posted by pullayup at 10:33 AM on January 30, 2022 [2 favorites]


FWIW, an 1800 watt induction burner is not going to boil water in any hurry. Small quantities might be okay but heating up a pot for stock is going to be an ordeal.
posted by ftm at 10:51 AM on January 30, 2022


I have the 8100MC, which i'm having a hard time finding what is different from the models you've listed in everything except for the case/finish of the burner. I would highly suspect the guts are identical.

We have an electric stove, so I can't compare it to gas readily (but have cooked on gas plenty in the past). It use it everyday to heat up water for coffee (very fast!). We also don't have a good range hood so we huck it outside to do anything super high heat (searing, stir frys, etc) or in the summer when it's too hot to cook inside. I have lots of sterilization-required hobbies, and i use the pressure cooker on it regularly for brewing beer, canning and mycology stuff. In the summer it basically lives next to the grill. They're helpful during the high cooking holidays too when you're out of burners, or need to keep something on standby.

It makes noise, but it's not bad. Every once in a while, the exact pot and the mass inside it will not let the induction burner find the right frequency or something, and you'll hear a high pitched wail. This is not enough for us not to use it, but is a thing.

I use it frequently, and will be replacing my stove with all-induction when it tanks for carbon-use issues. They're great tools; I like them alot, and really do use it daily.
posted by furnace.heart at 10:51 AM on January 30, 2022


I'm a professionally trained, but not a professional chef, and I cook on gas whenever possible. We used Duxtop induction burners for extra capacity in class, and I really enjoyed working with them, and ended up purchasing one off Amazon. They're fairly inexpensive - less than $60 - and virtually silent. It doesn't get a ton of use in our house, mainly for things like shabu shabu, where the family needs to gather around the cooktop, but it's small enough that I'm okay having it around even when it's not being used. Highly recommend it if you're considering one.
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 11:01 AM on January 30, 2022 [1 favorite]


It's also useful during holidays for keeping things warm during a feast. Similarly handy for parties (keeping dips from congealing etc.)
posted by aramaic at 11:08 AM on January 30, 2022


We have two homes, with gas in one and induction in the other. We have a stand-alone old fashioned electric burner in the induction kitchen, because there are some things I prefer to cook in a ceramic pot, and also for when I am using all the burners on the stovetop. Otherwise I love the induction!
So I am also thinking of buying a stand-alone burner for the gas kitchen. Not so much for boiling water quickly or for schlepping around the house, but specifically for simmering or keeping stuff warm. I am not a fan of slow cookers, and normally use the oven if I need to slow cook something, but the induction plates are genius for this. You can sear something at high heat and then put in the liquid stuff and turn it down to a simmer and forget about it for four hours with absolutely no worries. Unlike in the slow cooker, there will be a bit of evaporation which makes your stew cook down just so. On the gas stovetop, leaving the kitchen is really not something you should do, even with a heat diffuser, but with the induction burner, I feel safe. Not to go to town, but to do a bit of gardening or cleaning.
Or if you make a huge batch of gravy, you can pour up some in a gravy bowl and keep the rest warm till the next serving, no need for hot plates or whatever.
When I was younger, I sometimes cooked for people, and I usually brought my own cookware, because you won't believe what people have in their kitchens, even professional kitchens. An induction burner would have been a godsend. I think it will be much more useful than a slow cooker for potlucks etc., and take up less space.
posted by mumimor at 11:09 AM on January 30, 2022 [1 favorite]


The other upside of induction that fewer people mention is that the top is plain glass, so extra easy to clean, especially compared to a gas range. Between that and how low the heat can go, it's a perfect use case for slow-cooked jams, marmalades and preserves.

I also know someone who uses one for making cosmetics, exactly because it's so easy to control heat when your soap, cream or extract has to be at a certain temperature for a certain amount of time.
posted by I claim sanctuary at 11:30 AM on January 30, 2022 [2 favorites]


has anyone tried taking theirs to a potluck like people do with slowcookers?

Yes, this has been one of my primary uses for mine since I moved to a house with a nice flattop stove. I used it a fair amount when I lived in places with crummy rental grade ranges, but once I had something nice, I've found that I just go for convenience. I did like it enough that whenever my stove goes bad I'll almost certainly replace it with an induction one.


It's also handy for taking out by the grill so I can cook everything in the same place. Or as others have noted, setting up in the living room for fondue etc.
posted by Candleman at 11:31 AM on January 30, 2022


I have one for the portability - the Amazon basics one(from a couple of years back, I'm at least).

It is faster than gas to get up to temp (for frying for instance) but doesn't pump out as much energy (so boiling water is basically the same speed as an electric kettle - damn you, 110V electricity).

I also use it for slow cooking on occasion, it's very good at outputting just a little heat and you don't have to worry about the gas flame going out. If what you're cooking is steamy or smelly you can move it somewhere out of the way where that will not be an annoyance.

One advantage is that if you remove the pan it generates no heat - without the pan on top it has nowhere to send the power so it beeps plaintively for a minute or two then turns itself off.

The Amazon one has a stupid safety timer where it turns off after a couple of hours (even if you didn't set its timer function), which is also a big count against it. Yours says it has a ten hour settable timer so I doubt it has that problem.

The low end Duxtop one us probably $50 more than I spent; since isn't quite as limiting then I would probably spend the extra. Note that they all have the same power output so spending another $80 for the higher end one is not going to get you a faster burner - not sure what the additional features are, to be honest.

Also note that this is one of those things where there are 100 tiny companies reselling the same product from the same manufacturer, so if the product image looks the same the reviews are probably applicable, though customer service might vary.
posted by How much is that froggie in the window at 11:49 AM on January 30, 2022 [1 favorite]


We rent, and I bought two Duxtop Induction Portable Cooktops to put on top of our gas stovetop on two metal covers. I love induction - besides the health benefits of not using gas in the kitchen (which produces toxic air pollution), I just find the induction easier and safer to use. I would recommend any induction cooktop as leagues better than a gas stove. And it's easy to find appropriate cookware - we use cast iron and stainless steel, and it's fine.
posted by randomquestion at 12:20 PM on January 30, 2022 [1 favorite]


our samsung induction cooktop consistently overheated itself with cast iron cookware, which was annoying. It also really wanted to use big pots and pans, the small ones worked considerably less well.

Other than those two drawbacks, I liked the induction. Having one burner of it would be great (we also have gas now) but I wouldn't buy the range again.
posted by euphoria066 at 1:04 PM on January 30, 2022


I have a portable Duxtop 9600LS (the 1800-watt burner) and I've used it for almost all my cooking for 2 years (even though I have an electric stove). I think it's great.

It boils water super fast and I love that it has a timer function which can automatically turn off the burner.
posted by oranger at 4:26 PM on January 30, 2022


If you're induction-curious but want to try one before buying, cooktops might be available in your local tool library/library of things. (For example, Southern California Edison customers can borrow them from SCE's tool library.)
posted by ContinuousWave at 6:03 PM on January 30, 2022 [1 favorite]


We were using the single IKEA induction hob for about 9 months while completed a new house and kitchen. The majority of our cookware is cast iron and it has been totally fine, but we knew we were shifting to induction so ensured everything would work (otherwise stainless steel,stainless steel moka pot, induction ready stovetop water kettle).

My only issue was that particular single hob model didn't have have a particularly subtle temperature range, very low,hardly simmered and then violent cooking. We are now using a full induction range, also IKEA and it allows for much more flexibility. So maybe check reviews to see whether simmering is possible. We handed on the single burner to a professional chef friend and she loves it for making stock and other long boiling situations vs running out of gas.

I am a fan of induction generally and think the single stoves are great either as a standaone microkitchen (we also had an electric pressure cooker) or as a supplement for standard electric stoves or gas.
posted by pipstar at 6:44 PM on January 30, 2022 [1 favorite]


Here's Wirecutter's advice for portable induction burners: Duxtop 9100MC at $75. For cheap portable I think the main difference is the controls; I've had friends complain about the interface on other ones. The other complaint is noise. Fan noise, as you note. Also the pan itself can make noise, some sort of harmonic resonance. Cast iron is supposed to be better than clad pans.

The book Electrify Everything (instant download with fake email) has a whole chapter on induction cooking. Not much more to know about a portable. For a full installation you need a significant electric feed at the stove. I agree with the concern expressed above that 1800W may feel underpowered: installed cooktops have twice the power per burner.

One reason to prefer induction is environmental. Definitely global warming; gas cooktops account for about 5% of a home's carbon output. Some people are also concerned about pollution but that may be overblown. If it's working well gas burns very clean. The combustion does create a small amount of NOx compounds which are not great, but a vent hood will take care of that. The big type of pollution is PM2.5 soot, but that comes from the burning food; any form of cooktop will do that.
posted by Nelson at 8:00 AM on January 31, 2022 [1 favorite]


Some people are also concerned about pollution but that may be overblown.

Not a criticism, but a recent study has shown that gas cooking appliances leak methane continuously even when not being used, and the nitrogen oxides problem appears to be quite real -- a large range, being used without an external-exhaust hood, can exceed EPA 1-hr outdoor exposure guidelines within a few minutes.
posted by aramaic at 9:09 AM on January 31, 2022 [1 favorite]


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