In today's modern kitchens, induction cooking has attracted considerable attention due to its efficiency and precise temperature management.
If you’ve been slaving away over a ceramic stove that takes forever to heat up, or a gas cooktop that's a pain to keep clean, it's time to consider the swift efficiency and easy maintenance of an induction cooktop.
Let's delve into the mechanics of induction cooking, understand its key differences from traditional ceramic electric cooktops, explore its benefits, and discuss the importance of proper installation by a licensed electrician.
What is Induction Cooking?
Unlike traditional gas or electric cooktops, an induction cooktop does not generate heat underneath the pot. Instead it generates heat in a completely different way.
An induction cooktop actually heats the pot itself using electromagnetic coils. This means that induction cooking is remarkably efficient and responsive, because it is not wasting heat in other areas or waiting for an external element to heat up and transfer that heat to the pan.
The induction cooktop won’t heat up until it detects a compatible pan or saucepan on the surface, so it requires your cookware to be made of a ferromagnetic material. In other words, stainless steel or cast iron. Luckily, a lot of people’s cookware is already induction-compatible without them realising!
How Do Induction Cooktops Work? (The Technical Side)
Induction cooking relies on a simple yet innovative principle: magnetic induction. Beneath the smooth surface of an induction cooktop are electromagnetic coils. When electricity flows through these coils, a magnetic field is generated. This magnetic field interacts with induction-compatible cookware, inducing an electric current within the cookware itself. This current generates heat directly within the base of the cookware, allowing for efficient and controlled cooking.
How are Electric Induction Cooktops Different from Electric Ceramic Cooktops?
When you say ‘electric cooking’, many people’s minds jump immediately to ceramic cooktops. They imagine struggling with uneven cooking and frustrated with slow heating. But while both cooking methods draw electricity from the grid, induction cooktops and ceramic electric cooktops couldn’t be more different in their heating mechanisms and performance.
Induction cooktops heat cookware directly through magnetic induction. In contrast, ceramic cooktops rely on a resistive heating element beneath a ceramic surface to transfer heat to the cookware. This means that ceramic cooktops take longer to adjust temperature (ever tried to turn down an overboiling saucepan on a ceramic cooktop? It’s better just to take it off completely), and waste more energy in unused heat.
Electric Induction Cooktops and Gas Cooktops Compared
Victoria has more gas-users than any other state in Australia. People are very attached to their gas cooking!
But gas prices are rising year by year, and the Victorian Government has announced that all new homes requiring planning permits must be all-electric from 1st January 2024. The switch to all-electric homes is well underway!
One of the reasons people are so strident in their love of gas cooking is because of the perception that gas cooktops provide superior power and control. But the reality is quite the opposite. Induction cooktops offer more power and speed by directly heating the entire pan with minimal energy wastage. Unlike gas cooktops, which lose a substantial amount of heat to the atmosphere, induction cooking utilizes 85-95% of the generated heat, resulting in faster cooking times and precise temperature adjustments.
Furthermore, induction cooking keeps the kitchen cooler and promotes a healthier home environment by reducing airborne particulate matter associated with gas.
Benefits of Induction Cooktops
Induction cooking is definitely the superior option for electric cooking. There are also many benefits over gas cooktops as you'll see below.
Speed and Responsiveness
Induction cooktops heat up quickly, meaning they reduce your cooking time and the amount of power used waiting for things to boil. And because they are heating the pan directly, you can change the temperature of an induction cooktop instantaneously.
Precision Cooking
Induction cooktops come with precise temperature controls. Once you get used to your cooktop, knowing which temperature level to choose is a breeze, rather than guess-timating what temperature the knob is pointing at.
Safety Features
There are many safety features available on induction cooktops, such as child-locks and timers. Automatic shut-off means that the cooktop will turn off if it doesn’t detect a pan on the surface. There is usually also a heat indicator that lights up to remind you when the surface is still hot after cooking.
Energy Efficiency
Due to the fact that induction cooktops heat the pot directly, there is minimal heat loss. This means that they are highly energy efficient and cost you less in electricity bills.
Ease of Cleaning
Just thinking about cleaning the caked-on muck off a gas cooktop makes me want to get take-away every night...
Good news is that an induction cooktop is just one smooth pane of glass! Just a wipe with a damp cloth and it comes up looking good as new. And because the pan heats up (rather than the surface) it’s less likely to bake on stains or spills than ceramic electric cooktops.
Healthier Cooking
Induction cooking is healthier than cooking on a gas cooktop!
No, it doesn't change the nutrition of whatever you're cooking, but it does produces fewer contaminants and particulates during the actual cooking process. Gas stoves have been found to emit airborne particulate matter into your kitchen, which has been linked to childhood asthma and respiratory illnesses. Making the switch to induction results in healthier indoor air quality.
Installation by a Licensed Electrician
To ensure the safe and proper installation of an induction cooktop, hiring a licensed electrician is essential. A qualified electrician will fit and wire in your new cooktop. This way you can be sure that the installation is carried out correctly and that your warranty is valid.
If your kitchen is already wired for an electric ceramic cooktop, chances are you won’t need any additional circuits run. But an experienced electrician will ensure that your electrical wiring meets regulations and your circuits have enough capacity. If you’re making the switch from gas, we can also arrange to have a plumber cap off your gas line safely.
If you’re looking for the faster cooking times and precise temperature control that only induction can offer, get in touch with Kenner Electrics today.
But before you go ahead and buy an induction cooktop - read this! (and make an informed decision about features, size and electrical supply requirements).
