For many, the kitchen is the cornerstone of their home. Cooking unites families at the end of long days and allows us to bring loved ones’ memories into the present through food. Yet the impact of cooking over a gas stove can lead to more harm to your household than good. To blend tradition with modernity, induction cooking provides a safer, healthier, and more efficient way to prepare your favorite recipes.
An induction cooktop generates heat through the process of magnetic induction. Unlike traditional electric stoves that use coils to transfer heat, induction creates a magnetic field that directly heats the compatible cookware. This results in a powerful and precise cooking experience with no wasted heat escaping to the sides of the pot or pan.
Since induction only heats the cookware, induction is safer—towels, papers, hands, won’t conduct heat and burn on the surface. To ensure compatibility, use a magnet; if it sticks, the cookware is suitable for induction. With this efficient heating process, induction cooktops allow for precise temperature control and minimize fire hazards since they don’t produce heat themselves. Click here to see a live induction demonstration!
From do-it-yourself to done-for-you, Silicon Valley Clean Energy (SVCE) offers rebates and services to upgrade your home with high-efficiency electric appliances. You can receive up to $750 in SVCE rebates for an induction cooktop or range, plus a $250 rebate for induction cookware.
If a rebate on an induction cooktop wasn’t enough incentive, induction cooktops outperform traditional gas stoves in terms of safety, health, performance, and efficiency. By going electric, you eliminate combusting gas directly in your home thus reducing a source of indoor air pollution comparable to second-hand smoke. Click here to learn about your neighbors’ experiences with induction cooktops!
Induction cooktops provide significant environmental benefits by eliminating the need to burn gas, which reduces reliance on fossil fuels that contribute to pollution. This transition aligns with statewide goals to decrease dependence on gas and promote clean electricity generated from renewable and carbon-free sources. By choosing induction cooking, we can actively help reduce local greenhouse gas emissions and combat climate change.
Investing in an induction cooktop is not just a kitchen upgrade; it’s an investment in your health. Trading in your gas appliances for electric appliances eliminates harmful toxins in your home. In fact, a Stanford University study found that using a single gas burner on high or baking in an oven set at 350ºF can raise indoor benzene concentrations to levels higher than those found in second-hand smoke.
The airborne particulate matter released when cooking on a gas stove is associated with various respiratory illnesses, including asthma. By reducing these toxins, you and your loved ones will breathe cleaner air, resulting in significant health benefits, enhanced daily well-being, and reduced healthcare costs. One study estimated that improved air quality would be “equivalent to approximately $3.5 billion in monetized health benefits for just one year.”
Due to the induction cooktop’s efficient heating and cooling technology, you spend less time using it. For instance, boiling water is 2 to 3 times faster than a gas stove and maintains a precise temperature. You can still cook those recipes passed down from generation to generation. Gas won’t stop your families’ tamaladas, tomato canning, traditional stews, or other yearly cooking customs. Afterwards, you can enjoy your newfound time with the induction cooktop’s simple cleanup. So, you never have to say goodbye to your best chef practices. This way, you can concentrate on what really matters, the food and the people you share it with!
Discover the benefits of going electric, explore available incentives, and get personalized advice for your home or your future EV. Our team is here to help, free of charge, Monday-Friday, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. PT (excluding holidays). Chat Now or call (833) 243-.
There is lots of jargon out there in the world of induction cooktops... free induction, flex induction,extended flex induction and then there’s regular induction! So let’s break it down.
It might help to start at the beginning. Induction works using copper coils set into a motherboard. These coils can be different shapes and this is where the differences lie.
When induction was first introduced to the domestic market, the coils were in circles of various diameters - in much the same fashion as the ceramic cooktops. Various companies developed these and the shapes morphed into wider ovals that could be “stacked” horizontally to give a broader operating zone. This is Flex Induction. Some companies have extended the positions and amounts of coils to offer Extended Flex Induction cooking and now we have Free Induction when an entire surface is covered with coils and there are barely any gaps at all. Flex, Extended Flex and Free induction all provide a great deal of freedom in pan size, shape and where the pan can be placed on the cooktop. One is no longer governed by the positions and size (diameter) of the original induction tops.
When choosing a brand, it is important to ask for specifics around what size and shape the coils are positioned in underneath the glass. Some companies may tout the name Flex induction, but are still using circular coils with small diameters underneath the glass. This will affect the coverage of heat you will achieve in different shaped or larger pans.
Quality induction cooktops are expensive. Cheaper units won’t be as efficient or as amazing as everyone says they are. It boils down to the simple fact that copper coils are wound more closely together in better brands, creating a superior magnetic field. All brands are not made equal, so it’s worth doing some investigating and asking questions of the retailer.
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When an electrical current is introduced to the coils - ie, turning the cooktop on, the electrical current creates a magnetic field and therefore friction in anything it detects that is FERROmagnetic - meaning when you place a pan on the cooktop that is ferrous (cast iron, wrought iron, and zero/low nickel stainless steels), the magnetic field causes friction and the pan heats up.
The beauty of this is that your pan becomes the element. There is no hot element under the glass that is glowing red, saving electricity because you lose less heat to ambient, and creating an even heat distribution throughout the entire surface of your pan. This is brilliant for low temp cooking, saving from “hot spots” in a large pan on a low temperature like you find with gas.
Cool Touch Cooking - MYTH - of course it gets hot! Essentially, the pan becomes the element, heating up the glass in direct contact with the pan by transference. If you touch the glass around the pan,it will not be hot as it is not in direct contact with the pan. However, the surface beneath the pan will of course become home over time and cooking. Most brands offer a “residual heat indicator” - some sort of symbol to let people know the surface of the glass may still be hot after the pan has been removed.
Paper Towel - MYTH - You can NOT cook using paper, baking paper, paper towels or tea towels underneath your pans - just don’t do this EVER! No matter what any sales person says or does (even if they are a chef). This is just a zero-common-sense-fire-hazard! And at my next point, you’ll see why you don’t need to bother…
Easier to Clean - FACT - Induction cooktops are a flat surface that can be cleaned with a hot, damp microfibre cloth, and then immediately dried with a dry glass microfibre cloth to prevent streaking. If you’ve seared steak or duck breast and there is a lot of fatty splatter, just wash all the grease away with a soapy hot cloth, then rinse and dry as usual.
More Efficient - FACT - They are more energy efficient in two ways; they heat up faster, using less energy, and as the pan is in direct contact with the stove top, there is minimal energy escaping into ambient, compared with gas where energy escapes from the space between the pan and trivet.
Induction is more responsive, faster to get to temp and approximately 30% hotter than gas. Its ability to cook on low temperatures is mind blowing. Induction can be at such a low temp, evenly, that you can melt chocolate, or make a hollandaise sauce right in the pan, without the need for a double boiler. Although some people are deterred by the power supply they require, this is a “potential” power supply. Rarely is an induction cooktop using this amount of energy.
Moving away from fossil fuels is a good thing also, especially if you have solar power as well.
You need something ferrous. Cast iron, wrought iron or stainless steel - particularly pure stainless with a low or zero nickel content as nickel and aluminum don’t conduct electricity. Copper will also not perform well on induction, as whilst being a good heat conductor, it is not magnetic.
Rule of thumb - if a magnet sticks to your pan, it will work on induction. But do look for any wedges of copper or aluminum as there are “good” brands out there with only the thinnest web of stainless steel underneath an aluminum base, and whilst the stainless will heat up, it will take a long time to heat the aluminum by transference, significantly reducing the efficiency of your pan.
Some pans will say “induction” underneath but if there is any significant branding indentations, or aluminum or copper within the base, it will compromise the efficiency of the pan.
Both ranges of Solidteknics' wrought iron and nickel-free stainless steel pans are ideal for induction. Cast iron, wrought iron and pure stainless steel are ferromagnetic and will give you brilliant results for lifetimes! Plus, the way these types of materials hold and conduct heat is second to none. Wrought iron can be seasoned to be perfectly non-stick, which means they’re also non-toxic and perfect for your healthy lifestyle. Or if you don't want to season, their noni, nickel free, stainless steel range is perfect.
Written by EJ Daniel
Chef/Founder Bride of the Flames
Culinary Specialist Bosch Siemens Home Appliances and Bora Australia
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