I have the same doubts but my wife insists on induction for the ease of cleaning and the speed at which it boils water! We have the choice for a new house build - however, I will be ordering the appliances in 2 days!

I was also debating which one I wanted - have always had electric. We put in a Wolf gas in an apartment we added to the house where our son lives. I've been cooking on it while my kitchen is torn up and I HATE cleaning it.

I got a Wolf 15 inch induction and a 15 inch multipurpose gas. The gas is a closed unit so I think it will be easier to clean. Granite goes in next week so I'll know more in two weeks.

I sort of did. My electric stove was biting the dust. All along I thought I'd get a duel fuel because I refuse to give up an electric oven. I had a electric smoothtop and hated the slowness, responsiveness, etc...

Well the first consideration was running the gas line -- my stove sits about two feet into our kitchen addition so it is on a crawl space. I did have plumber type in the family that offered to do it. I was replacing a slide-in -- I have heard to many horror stories about the stove hitting the gas pipe and not sliding in all the way, etc...

Second, I sometimes help my sister-in-law clean houses when she has too many jobs -- the gas stoves are absolutely more work to clean. They are usually full of crumbs, rice etc... from a week's worth of cooking! I can tell you that my induction cooktop ALWAYS looks clean.

Third - What I remember from the gas cooktop in the house I grew up in -- it was always hard to get a simmer without the flame going out (this was probably an issue with this old cooktop though).

Lastly, my hood over my range is really low (only 24" from cooktop) and on the new gas stoves the grates stick up so high!! I was concerned about losing that space.

Lastly, I have a secret fear of gas leaks!

Anyhow, I can tell you in a nutshell that the induction burners perform beautifully. They are so responsive. My only complaint to date is that pans tend to slide around on the burners when you are stirring -- that is annoying.

As far as - "So I'll be explaining to anyone who enters the house that it's not plain old electric..." Wow! Your friends need to get a life!! I guess I live in a different neck of the woods -- most friends, family and neighbors that come in my house could care less what I cook on -- as long as they don't have to cook it!

I gave it serious thought but decided being able to cook in a power outage is worth having gas. I do think if someone is doing a cooktop and wall oven the ideal would be a gas module and an induction module.

I had an Italian (Elan) gas cooktop before I bought a Diva De Provence DPP-5 induction unit. Besides the induction cooktop being much easier to clean, I find that it is much better at low simmering heating and also at extreme high heating for fast boiling and searing of meat. The only thing I miss from the gas unit was the one 18,300 BTU burner that was great for wok cooking. I endeed up buying an extra tabletop Cooktek wok cooker at 5,000 KW's. It is so powerful it can boil a cup of water in about 10 seconds. It also does a great job with stir frying.

If one uses a silicone pad on the induction cooking circles it allows one to vigorously stir without having any pan movement. My favorite silicone pads are the Silpat brand items made by DeMarle. In particular I love the octagonal pads they make. They are slightly over 10" in diameter and pefectly for the induction cooking circles and don't have negative effects on the heating of the pan.

I have a Kalamazoo gas grill outside with a gas side burner in case of loss of electrical power.

Greg

"As far as - 'So I'll be explaining to anyone who enters the house that it's not plain old electric...' Wow! Your friends need to get a life!! "

I know how it sounds. They wouldn't ask, necessarily, but I would probably feel the need to explain. We live in what is considered an affluent suburb, although not everyone here is affluent. But anyone remodeling or building a new house with upscale finishes... stainless steel apps., granite counters, etc., would put in a gas cook top, without question. It's just what is done here. I realize that resale is years down the road but it's always in the back of my mind.

I do a lot of stir fry. It's my children's favorite. I guess that's a problem on induction, huh? I do appreciate that you can cook on gas in a power outage, but that occurs infrequently here, so I'm hesitant to make my decision just based on that. I do enjoy being able to use the open flame to heat tortillas. But again, that's a little thing.

What I didn't like about gas was the inability to use it for slow cooking, the heat generated standing in front of it, taking 15 minutes to boil water, and keeping it clean. I found that especially the high BTU burner area got discolored very quickly and the cook top looked 'old' within a year.

The present choice in induction ranges is quite limited. Diva at the high end and Kenmore/Electrolux, GE, Samsung 30" units in the $2500-$3500 area. If you want something bigger/higher up look at a cooktop/wall oven counter combo. Next would be separate cooktop and wall oven.

Many people like to try a lower powered Sunpentown or Cooktech type portable counter plug in unit first to get a feel for induction before they go for the higher power cooktops or ranges.

Hopefully, more new ranges and other products will be introduced before you must make your choice.

joannaca,
you can do stir fry on induction with a flat-bottom wok. We had stir fry for supper tonight.

I've always cooked on gas but chose an induction cooktop for our newly remodeled kitchen. I was a bit wary and my husband was truly skeptical, but I absolutely love it and so does my husband. It's more responsive than gas. Water boils extremely fast. You can also get a low simmer that is just not possible on gas. There is no cycling. I certainly don't miss cleaning up around those gas burners! Just a quick wipe and it looks like new. The kitchen stays cooler because all of the heat is going into the pot and not the air. I like that the burner turns off if I lift the pan off of it, and then automatically turns back on once I set it back down.

One thing I knew I was going to miss is the look of a nice gas range. I ended up putting our cooktop in a black cabinet with a stainless countertop, set out from the rest of the (white) cabinetry by a couple of inches. The result is a nice focal point.

The kitchen was part of a whole house remodel. We installed a geothermal heat pump and so we thought we'd go with an all-electric house. As it turns out, induction is the most energy efficient type of cooking as well!

Can someone explain if my cashew chicken will taste better stir-fried in a wok or made in a skillet like I do it? I just ask because a lot of people bring up wok cooking -- I bought a carbon steel wok years ago -- it rusted and the food stuck terribly in it. I just don't notice any difference in the end product.

joannica -- I can almost guarantee water will never take 15 minutes to boil on an induction burner!

I used to have a gas range years ago when we were first married and I never got used to the open flame--the whole idea of gas scared me. For years thereafter I cooked on electric cooktops with which I had serious issues--the way they cycle on and off, simmer was actually boiling, etc. Cooking was a real challenge. Then 3 years ago we made the best decision ever when we remodeled our kitchen--we chose a Viking Combination Induction/Radiant Cooktop--two radiant burners and two induction burners. I was afraid to go all induction because what if I didn't like it? Well, the verdict is in--I LOVE induction cooking and the Viking cooktop is absolutely a dream to cook on. Frankly, even the radiant burners are amazingly fast and responsive. But nothing can beat those induction burners, for speed. responsiveness and power--they are much hotter than the radiant burners on high--great for stir-frying. Cleaning is a breeze because even spill overs on the induction burner just wipe up with a damp paper towel. My next cooktop will be ALL induction!

We just got our induction cooktop installed yesterday, the Diva DDP-4. I only boiled water to show my husband its responsiveness, but I am in love! We went from an electric slide in range to the cooktop and an electric wall oven below. Gas for us isn't an option, and with this, little kids, and no central air, the induction cooktop was a no brainer.

Greg and others--How do you clean your cooktop? just soap and water?

I have the same problem as Rhome410 with my bread when I use convection in my JennAir range. Overdone top, underdone crusts--so I use normal bake. It's interesting, because when we bought it 15 years ago, we were told that convection was terrific for bread, and that has not been my experience. I don't usually use it for pies, either--the top gets too brown before the filling is done.

Cj

"Gas ranges/cooktops are prominently featured in real estate listings. So I'll be explaining to anyone who enters the house that it's not plain old electric."

There are couple different ways of looking at houses and neighborhoods. Some neighborhoods are for zip code envy. People want a house "in" the right zip code. In these neighborhoods, it probably will not make that much of difference regarding your cooktop.

In other neighborhoods, even though it is affluent, the houses are so cookie cutter, you will have to stand out slightly when it comes time to sell. In these neighborhoods, you will have to pay attention to trends because that is what people know. But you can be the trend setter...

When I put in my Viking gas range years ago, only the very expensive houses had these. It was overdone for my house at the time. In the past few years, just about any upper end new spec home has one in my neck of wood. Viking is NOT overdone now in my house. I think trends change and induction will take over gas cooking. It always has in Europe. Americans are much more conservative than Europeans when it comes to their taste. I think in 5 to 10 years, it will be a very common thing. The fact that it is sold at Sears tells me that it will be.

Our European cousin has switched from gas to induction and she loves it. They did a very high end remodel of their entire house in Germany. Her brother is doing significant DIY type remodel (again in Germany) and is keeping gas. He can't afford induction gas appliance.

I guess it is hard for me to fathom that a stove is going to make or break a real estate sale... or increase property value.

Of course, I live in Southeast Michigan -- it doesn't matter how fancy your stove is here -- you house is still worth considerably less than what you paid for it if you bought it in the last 10-12 years! Any kind of home improvement, including upgrading appliances, is pretty much money out the window here. This include lower priced an higher end neighborhoods.

Luckily, a stove can be changed -- unlike the view out your backyard or your school district, or your zip code, etc...

chowgirl;

I'm a new induction user -- my GE Profile/Induction range has been installed one whole week. I am very happy thus far.

Cleaning is a breeze. Soap and water, and then I have a dry microfiber cloth I dry it off with to avoid streaking. The one thing about the GE is the fingerprints on the control panel. I have promised myself not to get to obsessed about them! but they do come off with just a quick wipe. Such an improvement over the smoothtop electric in controlling heat and cleaning. LOVE IT.

joannaca, Our DCS range has a separate ring for simmer on all burners. I can simmer rice for 2 for 1/2 hr, same with mashed potatoes. I don't think DCS is the only range with a separate simmer ring on the burners.

Okay, I'm convinced now. Induction it is. I'll just be cutting edge in our neighborhood.

Speaking of convection, I am starting to think it's overrated. For the limited benefit, that fan in the back sure takes up a lot of interior space. And the fan running for up to an hour after I turn the oven off is annoying. But it seems that convection has become the new standard. I'm planning to get the Kenmore slide-in induction range, and it only comes with convection, as far as I can tell. If I had a bigger budget I'd just get the cook top and a regular old oven.

I have the Kenmore slide-in -- the convection is nice to have. I use it whenever I bake cookies (2-3 sheets at a time). I used it today when I made nachos. Anytime you want your food browned on top (such as a casserole).

I don't really notice it taken up space in the oven but my last range had it too so I guess I don't know the difference.

Joannaca, I switched from gas (which I liked just fine) to induction because I felt that an open flame wasn't safe for me anymore.

The Kenmore slide-in, which I have, does have regular bake as well as convection bake and convection roast. I made a lemon meringue pie yesterday and the convection bake did the most gentle and perfectly even decorative browning of the meringue that I've ever seen.

I have a good friend who is a master of Chinese cooking and he told me that in a normal home, one might as well use a good fry pan for stir fry and forget the pyrotechnics. The violently hot flame needed for that unique "wok hei" taste requires more than a good wok -- it necessitates about $100,000 worth of exhaust machinery.

Although I stir-fry a couple of times a week, I have to go to his restaurant if I want that superb "wok hei" taste. There's no way I can produce it at home even though I have many of his recipes.

There are a million fabulous Chinese dishes that do not require a a volcanic flame and can be enjoyed by baking, steaming, braising, BBQ-ing, poaching, plain frying, boiling, and so on, using gas or induction or electric or a wood fire.

Hope this helps!

rc

Joanna: the fan you hear running on is for the electronics, not convection. At least I hope so.

It is the generation rate of cooking effluent that determines the required scope of the ventilation system. A decent sized, code-compliant, Chinese restaurant with multiple very high BTU gas burners could easily require an exhaust and make-up air system that ran to $100k. As just one example of a cost driver, restaurant ventilation requires the ducting to be welded at each joint. And the ducting also requires inspection ports. And there is a lot more of it.

A single 30k BTU equivalent Cooktek induction wok hob will produce a lot less effluent than a Chinese restaurant. A cost upper limit of $10k for exhaust and MUA seems more reasonable to me, and that only if one funded a turnkey design tailored for the particular circumstances of one's house design. If I counted all my exhaust and MUA system costs, the total would be well under $10k unless I counted the value of my time for research, analysis, design, and (future) tuning. The pro-rata share of this cost to accommodate the wok cooktop is significantly less because I still need exhaust and MUA even without the Cooktek to ventilate the main induction cooktop.

I can't comment on how hei the Cooktek will reach because I haven't yet finished my kitchen, but I am looking forward to finding out.

kas