INDUCTION COOKING IS MAGIC… I cannot believe I nearly chose a traditional range!
We have a gas range… it cooks stuff!
So I assumed that we would do another for the kitchen remodel… but as with all kitchen decisions, the further you wade in, the further you realize that you have been living in a prehistoric cave: dirt floor, poor lighting, no espresso station.
What was the source of my cave/dirt epiphany?
The sorcery that is INDUCTION COOKING.
Incase you too are a cave-dweller, this is an induction cooktop.
A THIN PIECE OF GLASS WITH ZERO NOOKS TO SCRUB.
And yes, it comes as a freestanding range… BUT YOU CAN DO IT LIKE THIS TOO.
Not only is it an easy-to-clean surface, it’s energy efficient, there is no outgassing, AND all the bulkiness of a range top is totally unnecessary!
The clunky knobs? Unnecessary!
The unsightly grates? Unnecessary!
The nooks for collecting gunk? Unnecessary!
The OUTGASSING OF TOXINS? UNNECESSARY!
If those are unnecessary… WHY DID I NEARLY BUY THEM!
Terrifying.
Before we continue, allow me to SHOW YOU THE MAGIC!
Here is induction cooking in a short video (I took it at the Wolf showroom, which I’ll get to in a second) and YES– the cover photo of this video IS water boiling WHILE sitting on a paper towel AT THE SAME TIME. Madness!
I began my induction introduction at the Wolf and SubZero showroom… Paul and I were sightseeing; attempting stealth and composure, while waiting to be identified as poors and evicted to the parking lot where we belong.
For the record: they were very kind to us.
Even after I started licking all of their shiny things.
But then, the Wolf guy was like— have you considered induction?
And then all our kitchen plans were ruined.
Now that I’ve seen induction, I’m GENUINELY confused why they even SELL anything else… nothing else even makes any SENSE.
So I was all– I do not understand! What am I missing? What is WRONG with it? Why is EVERYONE NOT USING THIS?
The Wolf guy sort of struggled to find words to explain; he said something like– well, you have to get USED to it… and you cannot SEE the heat, which weirds people out.
And I was like— eh? That seems like preferring a corded-home-wall-phone to a smartphone… not to mention how this wall phone has giant grates and burners and squats on your countertop screaming: LOOK AT MY KNOBS.
Whatever.
I’m going to skip that.
Also FYI: your cookware must be compatible… check using a magnet. If it sticks, you’re good… Mine happens to be fine, (I use All Clad copper core) but I would have (HAPPILY) bought all new pans… I cook every. single. day… and I can see how this technology is WAY BETTER than what I was using, FOR ME.
Now, this post should be over.
But it’s not.
Because ease and simplicity are things to be complicated.
I went home and started googling… it took me three seconds to find the roadblock I was looking for!
What is it?
I’m glad you asked!
Before I spell it out, allow me to conduct research:
Visually, do YOU see any way that the kitchen below COULD BE BETTER?
Do you see it?
Let’s try again… do you see something below that is NOT LIKE THE OTHER THINGS? And would be BETTER if it WERE like the other things?
Because this thing is NOT fancy or gilded or a giant antique grand piano that is now our kitchen island… so it does not need to be going around demanding that people take notice of it; because the cooktop is NOT THE ARBITER OF WHAT PEOPLE SHOULD NOTICE IN MY KITCHEN… I AM.
To me, the answer is obvious:
the above photo would be 874,239,054 TIMES BETTER if the induction top was white, instead of THE MOST NOTICEABLE AND CONTRASTING THING THEY COULD HAVE POSSIBLY PUT IN THAT SPACE.
Apparently that’s just me though; because American induction cooktop manufacturers ONLY MAKE THEM IN BLACK… because this is 1908, and Henry Ford is in charge of all cooktop colors!
So, for fun, I have decided I do not wish to have black!
I wish to have white!
Huzzah!
This is unfortunate considering that I HAD been planning slate countertops, (which are currently in our garage) and which might be fine-okay-ish with a black induction… BUT. For some reason? Now that is prohibited.
I do not know why.
IT JUST IS.
White carrara.
With white induction.
This is the way.
Does white EXIST?
Sure! In France, Belgium, Australia… basically any place not located at Home Depot.
Preferring options NOT available to me is incredibly inconvenient; so this is where YOU come in: in an ideal world, one of you has purchased an induction cooktop not marketed in the U.S.
And hopefully, you did it without actually traveling to Paris and bringing it back in your luggage; because while that would be an amazing blog post, it goes against my first rule of existence: do not leave the house unnecessarily.
EVEN FOR PARIS.
Actually, ESPECIALLY for Paris… because last time I was there, my dad got separated from us at the train station, and COMPLETELY DISAPPEARED.
Gone. Vanished. No trace.
My brother and I searched the train station… and then the surrounding blocks, and then back to the train station, and then back out into the neighborhood… we looked for our father in a country where we do not speak the language… eventually finding our way back to the hotel we’d checked out of, who let us use their phone to call my mom to tell her that we had bad news about Dad, and also we had no passports or money or anything because Dad had them; and then we sat in the hotel lobby for some eternity while my mother at whatever three-am time in America is trying to find someone who speaks French… until my father called the hotel, and said– WHERE ARE YOU KIDS?
For your edification: not only was my father completely fine, he claims none of this ever actually happened… which is pretty weird since Chris and I remember it exactly the same way: with vivid, frightening detail.
Anyway.
Cooktops.
PLEASE TELL ME all about how easy it was to swap out out European voltage, hertz, nominal frequency of the oscillations of alternating current. Simple!
I emailed Bosch… in The Netherlands… and also Electrolux in Australia… to ask WHY DO THEY WANT AMERICANS TO ONLY HAVE UGLY?
Being so obvious about it is really rude.
And also to tell them: they are ruining kitchens around the world by leaving us imprisoned at the whim of American induction manufacturers.
No more!
THE TYRANNY MUST END!
Two last bits of information to have my full perspective:
1. IT MUST BE FLUSH.
NO surface mount… I want it IN my counter; as opposed to just sitting on top.
I think the appeal of the inset version is obvious, BUT FYI: it does mean that your counters must be fabricated to the specs, and any cutting of stone is where the expense really piles up… plus, if you had to replace it, potentially a nightmare.
2. Options in the American market that are sort of off-white… if, you define off-white as: tanish beige, 1982.
Here is option #1 tanish-beige-circa-1982 (price is twice what you can pay for black.)
Option #2, Monogram induction cooktop:
Reading other people’s descriptions online, it seems like the color of this one (pictured below) depends on lighting and angle; so maybe I could get on board with the color, if I saw it in person.
I cannot claim to be disinterested in the shiny silver circles, but the price is twice the other tanish beige… and that just is… no. I will not pay that much for 1982.
I’m done now.
Plz hlp me.
‘k thx.
February 8, 2018 @ 1:48 pm
I have induction. It’s great. All of the benefits of gas (immediately responsive to heat adjustments) with the simplicity of electric, plus the magic of instant heating and boiling water in one minute. It’s also (a little) safer with kids around, if that matters.
That said: just get the black. That tan looks awful (er, is not to my taste).
February 9, 2018 @ 9:37 pm
Not a fan, myself. I long for the comfort of the blue flame under the kettle when I get home from work.
But I’m sure what you come up with will look fabulous.
Persevere!
February 28, 2018 @ 2:01 am
sorry to jump in front but it’s’ almost two o’clock in the morning and I have read from the beginning of your blog and I can’t find the name of your interior paint color. We had a pipe burst in the attic ruining my tempur pedic king size mattress-became a huge sponge? the hardwood floors and a lot of the ceilings and walls. I have weird hardwood floors hardest wood next to teak from a very odd looking stunted tree,the ark of the covenant was supposed to have been fashioned from this wood. Anyhoo because it has a really ugly yellowish brown color they stain it a sort of reddish color with hints of brown and yellow. It’s called acacia and its not as ugly as it sounds. My walls are blue hyacinth which is OK but after ten years I am really tired of it. My furniture is old,mixed mahogany and some cherry dressers. I would like a pretty ivory or cream but they seem to be distinctly yellow while the whites seem more suited for a bathroom or a hospital. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Flood occured 1/7 and the work will start next week. Thank the saints……………..please heeeeeelp!
May 15, 2018 @ 8:57 pm
Reason why I wouldn’t get an induction stovetop: I always having pots that boil over and with an induction, I’d have to clean up the mess on the stove and pot to prevent any burning smell from occuring. I don’t want to deal with the clean up and cleaning a pot while its boiling hot, possibly burning myself. I’d rather deal with cleanup when things have cooled down.
May 25, 2019 @ 2:19 pm
The induction cooktop never actually gets hot, so you could wipe up spills right after you take the pan off the burner.
Also hot tip, a wooden spoon rested over the diameter of the pot will prevent overboiling.
February 8, 2018 @ 1:54 pm
well I have an induction hob. I got it in a flash sale at 3am one night and thought I was ordering halogen. But I LOVE it and as my cats seem to walk all over the kitchen work tops I don’t have to worry about burned feet because it only heats up when a pan is on it. But I’m in the UK, and my hob is black glass, and my friend can’t read the instructions on it. I can though … And it has a timer thingy which is very helpful for sidetracked type people who get bored with boiling stuff and wander off. I sit a vintage looking cream enamel kettle on mine to break up the blackness ( I don’t actually use that kettle but I could if the electric one broke) Must dash our sewer has blocked itself up and it needs me to supervise him unblocking it in the dark. xx
February 8, 2018 @ 1:55 pm
this is Australia’s revenge for the fact that you have all the pretty taps! (and i learnt the hard way that you have different sized pipes… sigh) seriously though, not sure if it helps or not but my friend has a white one and it gets badly discoloured and scratched very quickly. the kitchen above with one black bench and one white looks great. maybe have a black bench for the cooktop and lovely carrara marble on your gorgeous piano island?
February 8, 2018 @ 3:07 pm
That was my though too — slate countertops, white marble on the piano island!
February 8, 2018 @ 3:29 pm
I third that motion – slate on the periphery with the cooktop, gorgeous carrera marble on piano island. However – if that is totally forbidden… I do like the silver one a lot. And the silver would play nicely with the carrera (yes, price, I know… but the beige one is terrible!) But I understand the frustration…. I also got to use a white one in Paris and it was divine. Good luck!
February 9, 2018 @ 7:41 am
She said slate was prohibited with induction. She kind of glossed over it so I’m not sure if it’s a building code thing or prohibited in her mind.
February 8, 2018 @ 1:55 pm
Decades ago, when I remodeled my 1870s Victorian cottage, I fell for the white on white kitchen look. I fell hard. Afterwards my life became about cleaning and keeping up the whiteness of the white cooktop… which little by little turned amber. Eventually I learned that the black cast iron grill of the stoves of yore are traditionally black for a very good reason. And now I have a black cooktop I can be as rough as I like with, and it looks just fine with my white cararra marble. I am not trying to dissuade you from your white cooktop but I am just saying, the white ones are for people who don’t cook every single day. YES you can have the electrician run 220 to your kitchen and then have a converter for a European hookup— this will be a significant expense and then the building inspector will not know what to make of it.
February 8, 2018 @ 1:56 pm
Boiling water is super fast with induction and my husband loved it because nothing is actually HOT. He could accidentally drape a kitchen towel on top of a burner and…nothing happened.
I feel like it’s some kind of weird techno-wizardry to cook food WITHOUT HEAT and am solidly in the rotary phone category. We replaced our induction with a gas cooktop because I do 99% of the cooking. My uncle has a condo & can’t have gas; he also loves his induction cooktop.
February 9, 2018 @ 2:16 pm
My husband deliberate tucks the kitchen towel around the base of the pot on our induction stove to stop water that spills over from running onto the touch button section of the top (which makes it get unhappy and beepy and turn off) and it’s totally fine.
February 8, 2018 @ 1:57 pm
I’m kind of drooling over the black on slate option 🙂 I think all that would look sweet next to your piano island. Thank you for sharing your kitchen saga!
February 8, 2018 @ 2:01 pm
I actually used a professional, portable induction cooktop when I set up a temporary kitchen in my basement during the kitchen renovation. I had to buy a special saucepan for it. But even with that experience, I am much happier with my French range (which was shipped from France, but the nice company that imports them took care of all the awkward necessities before shipping it on to me). I prefer the look of a range rather than a cooktop and separate wall ovens, and I like gas. If the electricity kicks out, I can light candles and the burners and still cook a meal. We actually had a weather event some years ago that knocked out our power for five days, and in my then electric kitchen I had to cook on the barbecue and a propane camp stove. It wasn’t so bad in September, but in this part of the world anything can happen during the winter, and I do not care to try to cook outside when the temperature is in the teens or below.
February 8, 2018 @ 2:03 pm
Where are the KITTENS??
February 8, 2018 @ 6:23 pm
THIS is the important question on this post.
February 9, 2018 @ 9:31 am
Victoria, you need a like button on the replies! Giving the two posts above mega likes!
March 7, 2018 @ 6:00 pm
Yes Victoria, please include a “Like” button, there are lots(!) I would LIKE!
February 8, 2018 @ 2:03 pm
Find a large, fancy cutting board in the color you want and place over said cooktop when not in use.
February 8, 2018 @ 9:09 pm
That’s a stinking smart idea…maybe a gorgeous black walnut, reclaimed chestnut?
February 9, 2018 @ 11:16 pm
I came down here to write the same thing! Since you have banished the idea of a range hood, it will just look like you have enviable amounts of counter space.
Just say no to the off-white one. Imagine tomato sauce/ paprika/turmeric staining it. It’s one thing to be careful about your white countertops, but imagine making all of your sauce in a crock pot because you’re terrified of staining your cooktop.
February 8, 2018 @ 2:04 pm
Sorry, I did not cook on the barbecue and camp stove in my kitchen. “With” would have been a less confusing choice of words.
February 8, 2018 @ 2:04 pm
I prefer the black. So much easier to care for and always looks cleaner. I know from experience the white is awful to keep white.
February 8, 2018 @ 2:04 pm
Love Love Love my induction and will never go back. I love the black, the same way I love black window frames and doors
February 8, 2018 @ 2:05 pm
I love my Wolf induction cooktop! Get the black induction and enjoy cooking. And remember, it’s a kitchen, not a showroom. Induction cookware is everywhere now, I bought my set at Costco for about $150. And my cast iron pans still work great!
February 8, 2018 @ 2:12 pm
Well, you just might want to try out the Portable Induction Cooktop from Ikea for $45.00 and see if you actually like cooking with it.
March 5, 2018 @ 4:55 pm
fabulous idea!! I will get one. We are currently in an electric only house and i HATE. LOATHE. DETEST. DESPISE cooking on electric. thinking about going propane. very very seriously. but with lightning issues, wildlife and fear of general stupidity and poor workmanship I fear the large tank. but cooking every day means I want something I want to cook on. I am even to the point of installing an outdoor kitchen so I can cook on grill with my pots and pans – with a small propane tank. My poor poor husband. I do not want 1 new kitchen. I want 2. [and one more for the tenant space, but they can use our old glass stove.
I am also thinking natural gas, because where we live electricity is generated at a coal plant, and we cant afford solar panels right now. They were close to 20k at the old house, and that is more than I have to spend on all the kitchens.
January 11, 2019 @ 8:12 am
Did you go with propane? If you’re still thinking about it, know this – it does NOT cook like gas. It burns MUCH hotter. It is impossible to simmer.
February 8, 2018 @ 2:20 pm
Any chance you could set the black induction cooktop into the piano island? It would solve the problem of color matching.
February 8, 2018 @ 2:21 pm
I have one. I live in Germany, where you can’t get anything else. And I cook at least twice a day, so I can tell you that after about a year to 18 months the black (I have black) clouds up where it’s most often heated. You see it when standing at the stove. I therefore suspect that white would look like hell pretty quickly.
Plus I adore slate and would have it if we could afford it,but my advice would be the same even if I loved marble.
April 4, 2018 @ 1:31 pm
I live in Canada and am on my second induction cooktop. I have had one since 1992 and will never go back to traditional. Having said that I can tell you that neither of my black cooktops, the last one is a Whirlpool from Ikea (cost about $650 Cdn), have ever gone cloudy so it is likely that will not be an issue.
February 8, 2018 @ 2:22 pm
Identified as poors had me laughing out loud.
Why does pretty have to be expensive. Wouldn’t it be just as easy to make something pretty versus not?
February 8, 2018 @ 2:25 pm
Victoria, This is really not a decision to make hastily. It really is a lifestyle decision. Think of the power you’d be giving up not having those chunky knobs to crank up to thermal nuclear level when your husband glares at yet another Craigslist purchase. Think of the time you’ll spend rifling for cooling racks when baking now that the filthy grates are gone. I could go on, but these old cook tops provide more than a showroom would ever display. I suppose you’ll have it delivered in a driverless van. Progress indeed. Love your blog. Katie
February 8, 2018 @ 2:36 pm
Every room needs a touch of black.
February 8, 2018 @ 2:42 pm
Why, yes, I did just crawl out from under a rock (took me a while to figure out that induction IS electric!), but I still think black on slate would be divine! 🙂