Before I found a single-burner induction to install into my island I was looking at the Max Burton and Cooktek 220 volt models.

They are both 3500 watts I think as is my built in burner. It will bring two gallons of 70 degree water to a boil in the same 20-22 minutes as the 2600 watt canning elements I put in the regular stove. I assume that the other two would have about the same performance.

I did try the 120V 1800 watt Max Burton portable induction also. It seemed fine for normal sized pots, but 12 inch skillets or big chicken fryers had a hotspot in the middle as the actual induction disk in these things is 7 inches.

It also took an hour to boil that same 2 gallons of water.

Jim

I've also got a Max Burton and pretty much agree with jim's assessment of it as useful with some limitations. Workable for mid range cooking and not bad for high-heat with suitable sized pans but not good for low heat applications. Pricing ranges from $80 to $120 depending on whom you buy it from and whether they include shipping or not.

Cooktek has two lines of 240v single-hob induction burners: Heritage and Appogee. Both come in 2500 watt and 3500 watt powers ratings (well, actually, 2.5 kWh and 3.5 kWh, to be accurate.) The Heritage units have 20 stepped settings from low to max power. I got to use a 2500 watt heritage model (gosh, about a decade ago) but only for for a little while. I found the knob control easy to use. The thing would do everything from melting chocolate to cooking omlettes to searing steaks in a cast iron pan heated as hot as I cared to make it. The Apogee line has a digital control/touchpad and 100 steps between low and high. Supposedly, both lines have the temperature settings that go from 80F to 500F but I never got around to figuring out how accurate or inaccurate those settings were. IIRC, the 2500 watt Heritage units run about $700 and the Appogee runs about $1k. If you needed to cook very large quantiies of stuff (say in 20 quart stockpots), you could consider the the 3500 watt. Cooktek also has an 1800 watt 120v model which also runs about $700.

Vollrath also makes some portable 240v units which I believe are priced in the same neighborhood. Except for knowing that webstaraunt.com carries them, I know nothing about the Vollrath models.

Good post! I am interested in this topic as well. Currently I am considering the True Induction. But, I would like one that has more wattage. However, I would like to stay in the $200-300 range.

DH brought me a Vollrath from work (restaurant supply co) to use for about 8-9 days right after we moved back in the house during the tail end of the whole house reno because my rangetop wasn't completely hooked up yet. I didn't do extensive cooking on it because most of my cookware was lost in a box during the move, but thought it handled fine. It was my first induction experience so I can't compare it to anything. It seemed to heat evenly.

I survived with my Cosi for my kitchen remodel - I used all size vessels on it without a problem. It is only 120 but was a life saver during the reno.