I get it sometimes (but not annoyingly so), but it seems to vary in intensity depending on the type of pan used.

Thanks for posting, fori. What brand cooktop do you have?

My cooktop clicks just as loudly with a heavy expensive pan as it does with a $10 light weight one...

Hi there. I have a 36" Thermador induction unit and it definitely clicks. I have had it installed for about 3 months now and I still find the clicking annoying. HTH

JR

I have a De Dietrich 309X and the clicking is usually temporary and seems to happen with thinner cookware. With some pots I can barely hear it. When I do hear it, the sound reminds me of the clicking one hears from a gas igniter before it lights. There's so many other sounds in the kitchen, I just don't notice it.

I've been considering an induction cooktop for our new kitchen but I'm very close to being scared off by stories of the noises they make! I haven't been able to experience one firsthand to see if I think it would bother me but I'm definitely worried.

Especially after I went to the Miele website to check out their unit (www.miele.ca - induction not currently on US site) and found an ENTIRE PAGE devoted to an explanation of the various sounds the cooktop can make! They label the sounds 'Buzzing', 'Crackling', 'Whistling', 'Clicking' and 'Whizzing' and explain the circumstances under which you might hear each one. I'm thinkin' these sounds must be pretty common and noticeable for them to address them in the manual. I guess I'll just have to decide if the benefits of induction outweigh the annoyance of the noises. And I need to decide soon!

I'm attaching the link - hope it works . . .

Here is a link that might be useful: Miele Induction Cooktop

My old Kenmore (made by Sanyo) hardly made any noise at all, except for the cooling fan and some cycling hum. I use stainless cookware by Saladmaster and cast iron skillets.

My Cooktek will click with any inexpensive stainless pot or pan (yes I have a few). But, when I'm cooking I have the exhaust fan going, so the clicks and hums don't bother me at all. It all becomes just the noise of cooking. If noise bothers you, then another cooking method may be what you want to choose.

First let me say that I would NEVER give up my De Dietrich 308 just because of the clicking -- and I am very irritated by noises. Using this cooktop is such a pleasure! ruddycat, try to hear one in action before you give up on them.

However, my son would like one that doesn't click. He is extremely distractable by noise. He is also a fine cook.

kimba, I wonder if the 309 clicking is less noticeable than the 308....

Isn't there any induction cooktop that doesn't click??

I have a 309, and it clicks sometimes, but not always. I'll try to pay more attention to what triggers the clicking. Today I had a burner set on 1 for 8 hours and it clicked the whole time, though not loudly.

I tend to use boost a lot, when a simple high would work just as well, but a minute or two slower. It clicks then as well, and I think it's a faster click.

I have the new Kenmore. I knew it clicked, but seriously could not remember how loud, so just went and tested all hobs on #1 to listen to noise. The clicking is very faint, it would have to be dead silent in the room, IMO, to hear it at all. The "humming" sound when it's on power boost is much more noticeable, but does not last throughout the cooking time. I have my vent fan going if I'm cooking that high, which is louder, so I don't think about it. HTH

I have the 30" Kenmore (since Feb.) and it doesn't make any noise, no clicking or fan noise. It replaces my old GE induction cooktop; which had a very noisy fan. If it clicked you couldn't hear it over the fan. I never heard any noise from my old Kenmore that I had in CA. I use a varity of pans, none of which are expensive. I am remodleing another apartment in which I will have an induction cooktop, not sure I want a Kenmore, and have been looking at other brands, but if they make noise I will go with the Kenmore. I really want one that I can mount flush with the counter top. I had put up with the noisy GE as I would not have anything but an induction cooktop. Turn on the radio or TV to cover the noise. Noise is better than cleaning anything else. Nice to have a cooktop that looks brand new after 10 years of use. I replaced the GE as two of the elements were out.

okay, tonight while cooking dinner, I tried to pay close attention to sound. No clicking whats so ever. The normal fan which is barely audible, and the slight hum on the higher set zones. I had 3 pots going simultaneously. One was a Le Creuset enameled steel stock pot for pasta set on boost, in the center zone was my Le Creuset enameled cast iron saute pan which started on 15 and was kicked down to 10, and in the back left zone was a 9 qt. Tivoli stainless steel pot filled with asparagus to steam. Again, no clicking whatsoever.

Thank you all!

Kimba, I think we will try for the 309 if we can get it from Blue Ridge. I'm recommending the fantastic F&P oven to go under it.

Our 36" Thermador makes what might be described as a clicking sound, more like a barely audible tap, when the smallest hob is used at the lowest setting on a small cooking vessel. It is very quiet and you have to listen for it. We do not find it annoying at all.

Since we and a lot of other induction owners do not have these issues, it seems that hums, clicks and every other complaint out there with regard to induction cooktops will vary even between the same model/manufaturer.

Klaa2 has summed it up perfectly. The noise levels seem to vary widely, even with the same model/manufacturer. Our 36" Thermador hybrid makes very loud clicks at low temps and hums loudly at high temps, so much so that they can be heard in other rooms. We finally received the free Demeyere cookware from Thermador last week, but unfortunately the noise levels are the same. Thermador's customer service has asked us to write to them fully explaining the many efforts we have made to correct the problem. We have done so and asked for a replacement unit. We have also had a problem with the large center hob. Our unit requires cookware that almost fills out the entire space to activate the outer ring, which is not practical for normal use. (In effect, the current situation means we have 2 small induction hobs and 1 medium one.) Thermador agreed to replace the hob, but sent the wrong part to the local repair folks to fix this problem, but hopefully that can be resolved with a new cooktop. So far we love the way induction cooking works and are optimistic that the noise and hob-sensitivity issues can be resolved. If they can't be resolved, then the U.S. consumer may once again turn away from this technology, which would be a shame.

I did a bit more testing on my 309.

Using an undersized stainless pan, it clicked on anything lower than 7.

A fullsized stainless stockpot didn't click on any of the settings I used - med-high to boost.

The cast iron skillet didn't click at all. Le Creuset and similar cookware is enameled cast iron.

My cooktek may may click, but the dang fan is so loud how would I know?

Snow: if your son can't stand noise in the kitchen, he had better learn to eat out. ;)

weedmeister, Great advice! However my son has been following this thread and has decided that he will not be dissuaded by the clicking. He is getting the 309.

BTW, I have the 30" 308, and I only hear the fan when I open the cabinet below the cooktop, which is where I keep my pans. This exposes the underside of the cooktop itself. If those cabinet doors are shut, I have to listen very closely to hear the fan. Maybe there is something you can do to dampen that sound.

In addition to the 309, my son is getting the Fisher & Paykel dish drawers, oven, and refrigerator. Sounds pretty sweet to me!

@ ruddycat

I waited with my reply to this thread because I wanted to use my Miele induction cooktop for a while first. I've had it in use for 2 weeks now. My impression from the manual is that Miele puts this detailed list of possible noises in not because they are so noticable but because they are so different from what people are used to.

The first few days I did notice the buzzing/clicking sound when the burner started out to heat up on high. After a minute or so that sounds stops. And nothing else is to hear. Now after 2 weeks of daily use I do not notice this sound anymore. I did notice it in the beginning because it was a very new sound to me, one I had never heard before. But it is so low in volume that now that I'm used to it it doesn't register for me anymore.

I've seen/heard 2 induction cooktops in action in appliance showrooms so far as I am also deciding based (partly) on noise level. The Miele has a buzzing sound (not too loud), but it didn't work long enough to check if it stopped after one minute (the water was already boiling...) On the other hand, with the Diva, there WAS NO NOISE whatsoever. I'm not sure why, but there was definitely no sound coming from it. Also, the salesman put a tea towel under the pan to show that it did not affect the performance of the cooktop. This seems like a cool option, you can put a Scott towel or a tea towel to protect the cooktop from splatering oil or scratches. That must make clean-up a snap. Does anyone do that?

Induction cooktops create four common types of noise: electronic "clicking", pan popping, electrical hum, and fan noise. Like a microwave, an induction cooktop cannot deliver lower power unless the power is pulsed at specific intervals to create the illusion of lower power. This is what causes the electronic "clicking" noise you sometimes hear when you cook at certain power levels, and it has nothing to do with the pan and will never go away. Pan popping is the noise you hear when the pan metal flexes and vibrates as it heats up -- this is quite common in lightweight pans, and is less common with heavy cast iron cookware. This type of popping is intermittent -- you may hear it upon initial heat-up, or when switching from low power to high power, but it is not consistent and the timing of it varies. Electrical hum is common due to the amount of power that courses through the cooktop's veins. You can hear an electrical hum when you put your cooktop on high or boost power, and some of that hum can actually come from the pan itself because the molecules are vibrating extremely fast in the magnetic field. The last type of noise is the fan noise, which in most cases is almost imperceptible.

My cooktek is a countertop unit meant for commercial kitchens, so 'loud' is a relative term. It's louder than the microwave, but that's not a surprise.