INDUCTION COOKING vs GAS… pros and cons.
My last kitchen post was titled induction cooking is magic… because I have been living under a rock.
Apparently.
Rock-dwelling-embarrassment aside, once I SAW induction? I was like– ok, well CLEARLY we can THROW EVERYTHING ELSE IN THE TRASH… right?
But first I asked YOU… because after all, I live under a rock, so possibly am not a good judge of non-rock technology.
If you are trying to decide for yourself whether induction is your jam, go read over 100 comments… (some about making jam!) They will tell you EVERYTHING YOU DIDN’T KNOW YOU NEEDED TO KNOW ABOUT INDUCTION COOKING.
But first we must address this:
WHERE IS THE FANCY?
There are standards to which I will be held to by the community.
And.
Um.
The community was NOT IMPRESSED.
Many people felt that induction was visually too “modern”… and were SURPRISED I’d even consider it.
IN MY DEFENSE:
To me, an induction cooktop has the potential to be more like NOTHING, than like modern… and for me, I would like to have NO kitchen items in my kitchen… “traditional” or not.
In my mind, having less “kitchen” will leave more room for “what in the name of all that is holy is that massive thing that does not fit in this house?”
I want people to come into my kitchen and be CONFUSED about what room they are in.
The stove just gives it away.
I’ll start with the induction CONS; to avoid irritating those of you who sit on the gas-range-endorsement-council.
If you live in a place where power failures are part of life, GAS IS YOUR FRIEND (although possibly, not your eyelashes’ friend.)
We put in both induction and gas when we renovated our kitchen. Mostly because where we live, power failures are a thing… I had visions of using both but the induction is so much better to cook on that we only use the gas when the power is out. If I could only have one I would take induction every day just for the ease of use, regardless of aesthetics.
Next, we have the Drama Queens… and as someone with a collection of tiaras, I afford them the respect owed their elevated status.
These people enjoy the experience of an iron rangetop– whacking the pots around while singing Rigoletto and dousing grease fires!
You LIKE smashing down saucepans and captaining your ship without concern for wussy glass surfaces… essentially, you LIKE THE FIRE.
I can get down with that.
Brava!
Then there are the romantics:
Ease of cleaning and the sleek look can’t overcome the joy of slowly stirring risotto over an open flame.
I am someone who once walked away from the stove, forgot about the stove, and did not remember it until Paul came running into the house shouting something about fire… and to be TOTALLY FAIR TO ME NOTHING WAS ON FIRE IT JUST SEEMED THAT WAY BECAUSE OF THE SMOKE.
But also to be fair to Paul, this has happened more than once.
Romantic!
My problem is that the stove is so boring… I hate cooking… I mean, I do it endlessly; but only because more than hating cooking, I hate eating food that other people have touched.
And also because I need Paul to live until he is 118.
Basically, I cook so that Paul is forced to accompany me to my grave… I have no idea what horrible thing he did in a previous life, but it must have been really bad.
You are not WRONG that I would enjoy a kitchen full of a giant enameled old stove and fancy brass hardware… so long as it came with a maid to clean it; because now that I know I have an option, I will never scrub a cooktop nook again.
Also, let us not forget that I wrote an entire manifesto about my pure HATRED of range hoods.
For me to have a BIG GAS RANGE… I’d need a BIGGER HOOD; capturing and remove those toxins is a system that comes with a HEFTY price tag… AND AS DISCLOSED: WE ARE POORS.
And as a poor, I struggle to spend huge wads of cash on SOMETHING I HATE.
I also struggle to write anything helpful about CFM’s, BTU’s, AIR RECOVERY, EXTRACTOR POWER, or how your hood is supposed to be larger than your range… BECAUSE NONE OF THAT IS HAPPENING AT MY HOUSE.
The other factor I was hopped up about, was having a WHITE induction, and having it INSET… and you talked me out of both.
So many of you sounded the discoloration alarm that I was forced to heed it… UNLESS someone shows up later and says— the new ones resist degradation and will stay white.
So I am back to DIY-slate counter tops and a black cooktop.
Theoretically.
In other insane and exciting news, we’ve chosen a fridge.
Other FYI, I am compelled to pass on: my bff told me that she has been reading that ESSENTIAL OILS ARE BAD FOR PETS… I haven’t researched, but Lara is super brain person, so if she says she is concerned, I am too!
March 7, 2018 @ 1:15 pm
I’m with team gas still, although my dream stove is a big 4-oven AGA cooker with the warming plate at the side (speaking of giant fancy things!!!). Cooked on one for several years and loved it, but will never be able to afford one. So I make do with a dual fuel range (gas top, electric oven).
March 7, 2018 @ 1:18 pm
I’m a gas stove girl simply because that’s what I know. Well, that and the fact that we are a family that is hard on everything and it would take roughly two days for one of us to accidentally kill an induction top.
That said, bravo on the black with slate! We have black with looks-like-slate-quartz* and people ooooh and ahhh every time they see it. It’s so much more soothing than white, white, blinding white.
* I did not have access to recycled slate at the time and I had already *destroyed* the budget while looking at tile.
March 7, 2018 @ 1:57 pm
“Many people felt that induction was visually too “modern”… and were SURPRISED I’d even consider it.”
*inserts pic of wood stove in desolate hovel*
LOL! You just crack me up.
You had me laughing too (and reading this part aloud to my hubby) about only cooking to keep Paul alive into his hundreds as punishment for what he did in a past life. Oh my goodness.
I say if Induction is what you prefer, go for it!
I’m also hanging off a cliff until you reveal what fridge you got! So curious!
p.s. – you pull out the most inspiring, beautiful kitchen pictures!
March 7, 2018 @ 2:19 pm
We have a house built in 1858, nothing fancy, just a brick cape cod German farmhouse. We put in induction, and I will never go back. Easy to clean is the biggest perk, but also that all my favorite cookware is compatible. I have all All-Clad copper core cookware, and LeCreuset, and they all work. The only thing that will not work is copper, and you can buy an induction plate to make that happen too. Anyone who hasn’t used induction cannot possibly comment on how it’s not as good as gas. Try them both, but induction is so much nicer and fine tuned.
March 7, 2018 @ 2:28 pm
E.O.s are definitely no-nos for pets. A friend of mine had a sick little boy, and when running a diffuser for his congestion (it had tea tree oil in it), her dog had multiple seizures. Never had any episodes before, and has never had them since.
You do you on the cooktop. Every choice you’ve made thus far has been *beautiful* and I don’t see you lowering your standards anytime soon!
March 7, 2018 @ 2:39 pm
I am definitely a gas range person. I like the idea of the induction range for the ease of cleaning and cool surface, but I think it would be too fragile. I know if it was scratched it would bother me endlessly. FOREVER…until I replaced it.
I agree with you 100% about range hoods, HATE them. I have a 48 inch blue star range, and a hood for that would be massive, and hideous. I have been looking into a downdraft range by the company Best. It isn’t the least expensive, but it gives me the option of having it vent underneath the floor. I am considering the recirculating option (I can’t vent to the outside of the house) but, rather than having it vent at the kickplate (of a neighboring cabinet ) I’m considering setting it underneath the floor to vent into the basement. I checked with the company and they couldn’t see why not, it’s my business if the basement smells like dinner.
March 8, 2018 @ 12:49 am
Jennifer…I used to have a down venting stove top. It was great and no smells. The first one I had drew too much air over a grill insert so things did not cook well when grilled but second one was whisper quiet, no smells and did just fine (push button to raise the vent)….I never had a hood in 30 years till my last remodel where I moved cooktop off the island and to a wall, got gas range and hood…the hood works fine but does take space and is, well, a hood. But I love the extra lighting in it direct over range for my old eyes.
March 7, 2018 @ 3:14 pm
Everything about this & your view points crack me up! I’ve already have a list of friends to share this with & I can’t wait to hear them snort/laugh about all that you have to say! Good read! You’re a very funny lady! Also, looking further in to induction now!
March 7, 2018 @ 3:29 pm
Thank you for doing all the research so I don’t have to! We currently have an electric stove with the coils – yes, the visible coils, the bottom-of-the-barrel stove. When our stove from the 1970’s (coils AND it was avocado green!) finally gave up the ghost, I got the cheapest replacement I could find until we could remodel the kitchen. And here’s a shocker – it cooks food just fine! (At least the stuff we cook.)
Even though I’d done a ton of research (be still my heart when I see all the colors available for a Blue Star) and thought I had settled on gas, I do NOT want a range hood. But I hadn’t considered that you need a hood to vent scary gas. Soooo, induction may be the way to go for us! If the electricity craps out, we will eat at a restaurant, using the money our power company has to refund to us if an outage lasts more than 4 hours. 🙂
March 7, 2018 @ 5:04 pm
A properly chosen range hood keeps a LOT of smoke and grease from accumulating on your beautiful white cupboards (and should also allow you direct stovetop lighting). Cleaning said smoke and grease shortens the life of the finish of the cupboards, too. Maybe go to a kitchen show or two and ask about the most unobtrusive models of range hood, suitable for a retro-style kitchen, and see what an expert can come up with.
March 7, 2018 @ 5:26 pm
Victoria,
Something that makes me steer away from induction hobs or anything that is not Real to cook on – as in FIRE – is the fact that I wonder what it is doing to our food ?
Don’t get me started on Microwave Ovens . . . !
There are gas hobs that are flat glass surfaces with the trivets standing on top. Easy clean-up & satisfies my aesthetic sensibilities.
And, like you say, who wants a kitchen to look like a Kitchen, for Heaven’s Sake ?
March 7, 2018 @ 5:40 pm
SEARCH : Glass gas hobs . . . (yes, Ikea) http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/products/kitchen-products/appliances/hobs/livsgnista-gas-hob-glass-black-art-80273609/ … or Bosch https://www.sonicdirect.co.uk/prod/Gas-Hobs/Bosch-PPS9A6B90-90cm-5-Burner-Gas-on-Glass-Hob-in-Black … or Elba, etc.. GOOD LUCK !
March 7, 2018 @ 5:40 pm
Fellow lovers of all GFTs… Behold!
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/11/04/t-magazine/04well-loeb.html
That is all. You are welcome.
March 7, 2018 @ 8:49 pm
OH MY! Thanks for the stunning photos and story….
March 8, 2018 @ 10:21 am
I love this…and I had to ask myself why? Because it is so the opposite of everything fashionable in decor today. No walls,everything grey grey grey or/and white. Totally looking uncomfortable furniture,you haven’t actually fully relaxed till you have owned a recliner. Firstly it reclines and this is a good thing. AnyHoo I think what I like best about your find is the moodly dimness of the rooms. It’s cozy and comfy looking as opposed to miles of glass and no curtains or blinds in today’s abodes. IMHO and I’m older that rocks. Comment in no way applies to the elegant tasteful followers of VEB.
March 7, 2018 @ 6:25 pm
How did Hawaii go?
March 7, 2018 @ 7:27 pm
You just brightened my cloudy day. Thank you. Kitchen floors-tile or wood?
March 7, 2018 @ 8:01 pm
I love to read everything you write because I find you to be sincere and humorous. I love also that you are the only person I have ever heard of – besides me-who does not want their kitchen to look like a kitchen. I selected a dark glass induction cooktop because it blended in with the dark granite. The dishwasher and frig are clad in wood the same color as all of the cabinetry. There is a large crystal chandelier over the island which makes the room look not like a kitchen. The induction cooking is great. No more spills on those coil burners! And it can be heated VERY QUICKLY.
March 7, 2018 @ 8:21 pm
I have cooked on everything from open fire pit to induction. My last 2 kitchens we put in gas cooktops. I live in South Florida, so… hurricanes and weeks with no power. Our new home came with an electric cook top with pop up downdraft. It was ok but very slow compared to gas. My husband was all about induction and did the research and shopping then came home with one and cut our counter to fit and dropped it in. I was like, WHAT?!?! Then I used it, SO good, SO fast, SO easy to keep clean. If we lose power we have a gas grill cause I’m never going back. The bonus is that we have grandkids and when you turn it off or move the pan there’s no heat to burn curious little fingers.
March 7, 2018 @ 9:41 pm
Fisher and paykel retractable gas trivets
https://goo.gl/images/c5VxHR
March 7, 2018 @ 10:00 pm
I so miss the induction cooktop that we had in Australia! Ours had a timer and it TURNED ITSELF OFF! Put on eggs, get distracted, no problem. Put on porridge, go have a shower (hubs was in kitchen), no problem. The timer was probably my favorite feature. My husband liked that food didn’t seem to stick to the bottom of the pans. That was pretty good, too.
March 7, 2018 @ 10:12 pm
I will now pray that my less than two year old gas range will die an early death after reading the praises of induction cooking. As a child, we had gas ranges in our house. As a young adult, I always seemed stuck with electric ranges (for various abodes and reasons.) Now I FINALLY, at the social security age, we have a gas range that I THOUGHT I wanted, because way too many boil-overs on electric had me about to check into an insane asylum. Well….I hate it too, because it is a pain to keep clean. ( But no more boil overs, so there’s that.) But now I fear induction too, because hubs shares cooking duties, and he is klutzy and messy, and refuses to part with a teflon skillet that I will not eat food from. It screams biohazard to me, but maybe he’s trying to bump me off early??? As for countertops, I’ve had about every variety out there, and love my quartz the best! There’s a “honed” granite look-alike that is beauty personified, without the upkeep!
March 9, 2018 @ 9:15 am
Okay, you will need to elaborate about the pet hazards of essential oils, girlfriend — like, it’s bad to put them DIRECTLY ON YOUR PET or in their bedding, or am I now a bad mommy to my furbabies because I prefer the aroma of my lavender essential oil diffuser in the master bedroom over the smell of the giant dogs who sleep in there with us?
I have a gas range, along with “a hood that could suck a small child out of the house,” according to my husband. Love the gas for cooking but I refuse to clean the grates. I have tricked my husband into cleaning the stove for me in order to “save money”… I told him I can’t clean the stove because it would ruin my manicure. He doesn’t know about gloves — SHHHHH!!!! I am sure that my Bernie and your Paul were both wicked pirates in their past lives, and that’s why they are stuck with us!