You'll be fine using the induction top as a work surface, as long as you're not trying to hammer open a coconut on it or something.

Because its a smooth surface, you could also get a large silicone baking mat, and roll that out over the induction top for making things as well, if counter top space is limited.

Do you think heat transfer is a problem? I'm sure you've noticed how long the fan stays on after the range top is turned off, to keep the electronics cool. So do we worry if the top is heated by a hot pan and the fan isn't on? I don't know what the answer is. On my old ceramic top, I took pans out of the oven and set them on the range top all the time, but I'm afraid to do it with this one.

Warmfridge, you worry too much -- or maybe I don't worry enough, now that you mention it...

Seems like setting something hot (or cold) on surface glass will have less effect on electronics beneath the surface than would having a hob on power-boost and high for an extended period, since that heat would be generated both below the glass top as well as from the pan above.

Now that you mention it, I have no idea, actually. But I think the electronics need more protection from their own activities (heating the hobs or oven) than from having something hot or cold placed on the surface -- especially briefly, which was implied in the original question.

I use my induction all the time for extra work space. I often use a cutting board to contain messes, I usually throw down a hot pad when placing a pan hot from the oven on the cooktop. It is great to have the extra counter top space.

The fan runs to cool the electronics as I understand it. I have been using mine quite heavily for 2 years without incident. It does have a slight graze to the glass, 1cm, where I dropped a cast iron lid on it. I think I'm the only person that notices it. THe stainless steel edge is quite scratched - a patina of sorts has developed.

Here is a clipping from an email sent by the manufacturer of DIVA regarding the hot pan issue - note that he is referring to the DIVA cooktop, so I don't know if the info applies directly to your model, but it does give some perspective.

CLIPPING from DIVA Aug 2009

- By the information from vitroceramic glass specifications published by EuroKera, the supplier of glass used on our DDP-5 cooktops, the material is capable of withstanding a thermal shock of 700�C (or 1290�F). Thus, placing a hot pot on the glass should not lead to the glass breakage. Still, I would only do such a thing - placing a hot utensil on a cold cooktop, as an ultimate measure, and not something to be done often. Moreover, since we started distributing our cooktops in 2002, we have not had any incident of glass breakage due to a thermal shock. We have had a few claims, but those were rather related to an impact causing physical damage. END OF CLIPPING

I really think you will love your cooktop.

It isn't affected by heat.

Heat from anything placed onto it doesn't penetrate deep down and raise temperatures much. (a.f.a.i.k.). In any case, warm innards is a normal state.

Scratching it is hard to do. It can be done. Grit and sand under a cast iron frying pan, at PowerBoost maximum... and leave it on MAx until it shuts down automatically, and scrunch the pan down and twist it a lot: this will succeed at scratching it. If it's black you will want to avoid scratching it. Don't stand on it while wearing construction boots when you are installing overhead cabinets.

In general, you do try to avoid scratching your quartz or granite countertops too.

The surface of an induction cooktop is a kind of "vitroceramic" which (a.f.a.i.k.) is harder than glass or porcelain.
..... One day, I suppose they'll make wall tiles out of this and then my kitchen's cooktop backsplash will look dated. I found 12" by 24" white glass tile. Not tempered glass.

Vitroceramic is so shiny it's almost obscene. Well, it attracts attention. It's so shiny you may want to pad it. Any silicone mat 1/32" thick will do. Or baking paper. They should make baking paper that has one side not as slippery as the other. Then it would hold in place. I've used garage mechanic's heavy duty paper towel too, and it's also a bit too slippery. Needs more finetuning. I find silicone a bit too grippy for my liking. Needs more finetuning to get it just right, not too slippy and not too grippy.

hth

With my induction cooktop, I have noticed one time where I'd been using it and it was hot with the fan running. Then I stopped using it and it cooled down enough the fan shut off.

I took something hot out of the oven and put it on the cooled down cooktop, and in a little bit, the fan turned back on.

I doubt if the hot pan would have heated things up enough for the fan to kick on if I had not just been using it. But the fan does run independently of the burners. With mine, if I put something on the top that did cause the underside to get hot enough that it might cause problems, I know the fan will kick on.

Macybaby,

Do you have the E'lux or GE? I forget. It's good to know the fan will start.

I have accumulated a LOT of scratches on that surface. I'm pretty sure all of them are from salt. I'd sprinkle some salt into the pan, a little would spill around the edges, and when I moved the pan, voila! Scratches!

warmfridge - I have the Elux. It's intersting to hear about how different cooktops work. My fan will keep running for a bit even after all the burners are off. The HE light stays on until the cooktop is cool.

I've had glass top cooktops for about 20 yeas, and the only time I got a scratch in one was from moving a full 16 qt canner, and that was one small scratch. I'm a slob of a cook, and spill sugar and salt all the time, and never got a scratch. I love the induction - the days of spending a half hour scrubbing my cook top to get all the cooked on junk off it are over!

The metal band around my Elux cooktop is full of scratches. Mostly courtesy of my husband - he's not real good about picking things up and slides pans around all the time.

warmfridge - I have the Elux. It's intersting to hear about how different cooktops work. My fan will keep running for a bit even after all the burners are off. The HE light stays on until the cooktop is cool.

I've had glass top cooktops for about 20 yeas, and the only time I got a scratch in one was from moving a full 16 qt canner, and that was one small scratch. I'm a slob of a cook, and spill sugar and salt all the time, and never got a scratch. I love the induction - the days of spending a half hour scrubbing my cook top to get all the cooked on junk off it are over!

The metal band around my Elux cooktop is full of scratches. Mostly courtesy of my husband - he's not real good about picking things up and slides pans around all the time.

I believe I once detected my 2007 Kenmore clone of the Electrolux turn a fan on when a very hot pan was set on it.

Note that the purpose of the fan is not only to cool electronics from down-flowing heat from the pan bottom, but also to cool the electronics and induction coils from their own self heating when operating.

I've been using my cooktop since sometime in 2008 with silicone pads under the pans and there are no scratches that I've noticed. I think parchment paper would also work for all but the highest temperature frying, but I haven't tested it.

If a pan is left boil dry and the pan temperature rises to the point where the induction cooktop shuts down, the silicone pad will only degrade. Parchment paper might potentially ignite depending on the pan temp when shut-down occurs and the flash point of the paper.

kas

So, there is no out of warranty risk of the surface cracking from the sudden temperature change from taking a 450 degree pan from the oven and placing directly on the room temperature cold induction surface?
And a few grains of salt stuck under a pot shouldn't scratch the surface either? Seems excessive to have to watch for every speck of salt or add spices over the sink or something.

Salt is hugely abrasive, as well as hard enough to scratch glass. I would take a bit of care not to set pans on top of grains of salt and them move them around. If you had a stainless surround on gas or other type of electric, it would scratch that as well. I would think it's fine to set a hot pan on your induction cooktop, but NOT over the controls. Damage is likely if you put something really hot on the control pad. I usually toss a hotpad on the cooktop before putting something hot on the burner area. I'm probably just being overly careful, but it just seemed like a good idea and I started doing it early on. Sliding a hot glass pan on a glass cooktop might cause scratches. The metal ones, perhaps not. I'm not a fussy person, but honestly, I do like my induction cooktop well enough to fuss a little bit if I need to, and sometimes I fuss a little even if it's not necessary, just to be sure. :-)

Cj

jaxo, I'm sure you have a few grains of salt handy. Are you willing to learn by using your skills, without asking internet people which way things work? Do your own scratch test, any way you want to design it, and report your findings here. Instead of writing idle thoughts like ".... stuck under a pot shouldn't scratch the surface either...." please find out for yourself and tell us what you find. Salt grains, sugar grains, whatever. Whether they scratch your bathroom tile, your marble sill, your window panes, your stone you have in your house, your old TV screen, and whatever else you choose to put under the scratch plate you use.

Having just now me-too-ed CJ47 in another topic, I feel like a dittohead, but again I agree with cj47's post. We have had two induction cooktops, that had (the earlier one) and have (as all induction cooktops do) Schott Ceran "glass" surfaces. In over eleven, almost twelve, years of daily use, we never have incurred a single scratch on either of the cooktops.

Of course, we observed very, very basic precautions, such as one takes with anything in the home. We never drag pots across the cooktop surface; we lift and set: elementary. When we use the cooktop as a temporary resting spot for an item removed from a hot oven, we spread a potholder or a folded-over towel on the cooktop and place the hot item atop that instead of directly on the surface. Basically, those are the only precautions that we have taken, and never have we suffered a scratch on our cooktop.

What about shaking a pan to shuffle food on an induction cooktop? I have seen more than one video showing people doing this and I wonder if they are scratching the surface?

Check this video.

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EM3OpwrbpPk

What about the surface of any radiant heat cooktop? Is it the same vitroceramic? Is it just as durable? These have been out for decades.

I don't know, but people really love to shake and shuffle their pans!

Here is a link that might be useful: Pan-Shaking Habit!

I'm a sometimes shaker, depending on what's cooking--but I find that with the induction cooktop, I rarely shuffle anymore. On the old flat top electric, you had to match the pan size to the burner size more. Since the pan essentially IS the burner on induction, any of the burners can work well with it, and you can adjust the heat accordingly. (The exception being if the pan is too small to activate a large burner, or if the pan is larger than the burner, of course.)

Cj

Wow, that's some gaping exceptions! Any burners can work well except if the pan is too large or small.
People have been saying you really have to match the pan sizes to the induction hobs. The pan has to fit exactly within the minimum and maximum size markers (of only a couple inch range) on the cooktop.
On the old style flat top, you can put any pan on any size burner. Putting a giant pot on a small burner on an old stove may not work very well, but it still works.

With induction also, "Putting a giant pot on a small burner on an old stove may not work very well, but it still works." You get a lot more heat in the center just like on an old stove.

Vice versa also works: a small pan in a wide burner.

BUT, for best results, and when you can, use the X size burner when you have a X size pan. Usually you can.