My first induction hot plate was a Berghoff Tronic purchased from Overstock.com It was perfect for what I needed it for and I used it all the time for several years. Fortunately, my Salad Master stainless steel cookware (purchased in 1976) worked perfectly on the unit.

I gave the Berghoff to our son and got a Burton Max (Amazon.com) with the Induction Interface Disk. The disk will allow you to use some non-induction cookware on the induction surface, and I'd suggest you find a unit that has a disk with it.

Other energy savers that work well with the induction hotplate:

-Thermal Cookers - (http://www.amazon.com/Get-Prepared-Stuff-Thermal-Cooker/lm/R2JDIMG62OQFDL). You can quickly heat a thermal cooker on the induction hotplate.

-Omnia Stove Top Baking Oven - (http://theboatgalley.com/omnia-stove-top-baking-oven/)

-Wonder Ovens - http://thermalcooker.wordpress.com/category/wonder-box/ You heat the pot you are cooking in for a short period of time (depending on what you are cooking) on the induction hotplate, and then place the pot into the Wonder Oven to finish cooking with passive heat.

-Grainlady

Two things to look for: wattage and power levels.

The maximum wattage that a standard 15amp/120v socket can handle is about 1800 watts, so you won't see any regular induction hot plates higher than that. But I'd recommend going ahead and getting an 1800w model.

Now, how the manufacturer chops that wattage up will make a difference. Some cheaper units only have 5 levels; a pro unit like the Cooktek has 100 (that's overkill). I would want at least seven levels, and 10 is better IMHO.

I have a cheapo Tatung induction plate (1500w) and I got it cheaply for around $70. If I were to buy another today I might get a Max Burton 6200; it's 1800w and has a stainless steel frame, 10 power levels and a shutoff timer. Why is that good? Once you figure out what level you need for your pressure cooker you can set the timer and then ignore it.

A step up from that is the Avantco IC1800. It's about $130 from Amazon (WebRestaurant Store via Amazon) and has really good reviews: 1800w, fifteen levels and a shutoff timer.

I would NOT buy the NuWave, simply because for the same cost you can get a more powerful unit. Plus, read the Amazon reviews of NuWave; not very positive.

If you want to get a little fancier, Sunpentown makes some commercial units. They have an 1800w countertop unit (sr-183c) with 20 levels, but it's around $400. And if you had a 220v outlet available, they have a 3400w countertop unit (SR-343C) for $500. Another commercial manufacturer is Cooktek, but you're talking items costing into the four figures. Theinductionsite.com has a discussion of lots of induction cookers, built in and countertop, and it's a good place to start. Some of the later units, though, like the Avantco, aren't listed there.

In sum: for around $87 I'd get the Max Burton 6200. But if you were ready to spend $120 for that NuWave, cough up another $10 and get the Avantco.

Here is a link that might be useful: induction site listing of 1800w hot plates

This post was edited by arley on Tue, Apr 22, 14 at 16:04

Arley's advice is spot on.

Before there was a lot of market penetration of the return of induction to the U.S., I got a cheap, resitdential Mr. Induction (Suppentown?). It was woefully underpowered and with only 9 levels, I was constantly changing from #2 to #3 just to make pasta. It worked well enough for a test, but I wouldn't recommend it as an alternative to the stove. And a decently powered commercial unit might not be a substantial money savings, even excluding the price difference. You might want to put all of your power draw at steady (no more turning things on and off, or opening the fridge, HVAC on hold), note the level of your electric meter, cook a pot of pasta or rice or something, measuring the weight of the water and ingredient, in the same pot you'd use on the induction, then see how much power it used. Either compare it to a "try it at home" returnable unit, or a borrowed one, or even have someone use similar items on their own countertop unit, and see what the draw difference is. Even with the efficiency difference, it might not pay to go with a countertop unit instead of your stove. Or it might. As tightly controlled an experiment as you can manage would tell you for sure.

I see that I can get an Aroma burner at Amazon.ca for $70.
What do you think of this one?

Here is a link that might be useful: Aroma AID-509

Would it really save that much money? Or a better question - how long will it take you to recoup the cost? I will be interested in hearing which one you get and how you like it.

Teresa

The Aroma's top wattage is 1500, and it only has 7 levels. For $17 more you can get the Max Burton. For $30 CDN more, you can get the Duxtop at the link which looks pretty good.

As far as saving money, it probably would take a while to recoup the cost; however, you also wouldn't be heating up the kitchen as much as a traditional electric or gas hob would. So if you have to use A/C in the summer, you conceivably might use less of it by not heating up the kitchen as much. Also, you have the convenience of taking an induction unit on the back porch when you don't want to smell up the kitchen (frying fish, for example).

Here is a link that might be useful: duxtop induction

I have a DuxTop 8100MC, and I like it well enough. It does have a shut-off timer, and I always use that. Although the web site says that the timer it has 5 minute increments, I can set it at one minute increments, and it is easy to set and change settings. I only use it with my Fagor pressure cooker, and so I do not stand over it and stir anything - I want to make use of its timer. I suppose I could cook pasta in it, but I prefer to do that over gas, as I am generally not in a hurry for the water to boil. Normally, I only cook potatoes, rice, and beans in it, but it does those very quickly and efficiently. I start the pressure cooker on the highest temp for 4-6 minutes, and when the pressure cooker has indicated that it is at full pressure, I turn the heat down to 250 degrees for the remainder of cooking - about 5 minutes for rice or potatoes, and 8-11 minutes for beans, depending on the type. The beans do require soaking before cooking, however. Still, I can get soaked garbanzo beans cooked in 15-16 minutes, not counting the time that I let the pressure cooker cool down and depressurize, which I think is about 10 minutes.

I have no desire to use this cooktop with any pans other than my pressure cooker (only my cast iron would work with it!), but I would not use my pressure cooker any other way. I consider them to be one unit, and a very useful one. I don't like cooking with electric stove tops - they scare me for some reason - and I feel the same way about induction - I don't have a feel for what is going on. However, when used with a pressure cooker, it is somewhat like microwaving, but with much better results - all the convenience and quickness without the disasters.

Lars

"---I see that I can get an Aroma burner at Amazon.ca for $70. ---"

On eBay $57, free shipping.

dcarch

I think having a shutoff timer and not heating up the kitchen are two big deals. I love induction. Think water and rice in a covered pot which will then shut itself off.

The disc to enable non induction cookware gets not so good reviews. You can get $15 pots at tj Marshall and at ikea but it is, for most, a difficult aspect of induction.

I switched to induction 3 years ago and will never go back. I still have a gas range at a vacation house. Max Burtons make lots of ppl happy.

Dcarch, I checked ebay.ca and only available from U.S with $58 shipping. Blech.
When I searched Max Burton on Amazon.ca, Duxtop is all that showed. Are they the same?

My fear is that levels 1 and 2 are still too high, according to the reviews. It cycles on and off, so the water boils, then stops, instead of maintaining a simmer. Right now I boil my rice pudding over on the stove, I don't want to have the same problem with a unit like this. I want true low and high heat.

I'm thinking 1300 watt would be all we'd need. I'm not in a blazing hurry to boil my pasta, I still have to make the sauce to go with it :) It would still be faster than my (coil) stove, wouldn't it? That's the idea.

Well, if you're buying a car, a Yugo may be really all you need :)

Seriously, while a 1300w unit might do, my recommendation, FWIW, is don't go underpowered. My 1500w plate isn't faster than my stove. I'm probably gonna get an 1800w unit in the near future. There's nothing 'magic' about induction except that it's an efficient and focused way to convert electrical energy to heat, and if you have an underpowered unit you won't be approaching induction's potential. And all the claims of how quickly induction boils water and so forth, are all on higher powered hobs. (I'd love to have a built in 3500w unit, but that will have to wait.)

This post was edited by arley on Wed, Apr 23, 14 at 13:02

Here is a link for the Max Burton at Amazon. We got one partly because my son and DIL wanted to try induction out before deciding between induction and gas for their new kitchen. And partly so we could use it when we want to keep something like fondue hot on the table without fussing with alcohol burners.

It works quite well, not as powerful as the 229 volt units of course but still fast.

Cooking is a rather small consumer of energy. When the subject came up on the appliances forum about the relative cost of stove top cooking for gas and electric, the conclusion was that it's pennies a day either way so payback may take a very long time (if at all - I don't know how long these units last with daily use).

Here is a link that might be useful: Max Burton 6000 at Amazon.

If you save 3 cents per meal (which I think is high) on 2 meals per day, it takes 3 years to save as much as the Max Burton costs.

I have a max burton 6000 1800-watt plate that I used during a kitchen remodel. My impressions were:

1. this cooker is loud. I hear the fan, and a magnetic/electronic buzzing sound whenever it's on but especially when it's on high.

2. The heat is only provided on the center disc, about four inches across. With high quality cookware that doesn't really matter but I was expecting it to be across the larger disk.

3. Speed of boiling and temperature response is excellent, as expected.

4. I rarely needed to use anything higher than 7 on the 1-10 scale.

5. The cycle on/cycle off on low could be a problem but I didn't use it for any really delicate dishes so I'm not sure if it's a big deal or not.

This post was edited by goldenguy on Thu, Apr 24, 14 at 16:54

Goldenguy, that's exactly the kind of review I'm looking for.
I read where the Max Burton is noisy.....the fan is loud and there's a high-pitched whine. I'm not sure if it's that one or the Aroma that beeps very loudly when the pot is lifted off the burner, as in flipping foods or shaking the skillet.

Why would they have a large disk if the heat is only centered in the middle? That's weird. So it would seem the sensible thing to do is to heat the pan moderately so that the heat spreads across the whole bottom before cooking.

Cloud, I'm sure I read that the frig, electric oven, and freezer were the top energy-hog appliances, and the electric stove-top was up there as well. Maybe I'm over-thinking the whole thing, but I can't help but think if I can find something that speeds the cooking process, e.g. boiling pasta it would save in the long run. I do get what you're saying about recouping the cost of the burner.

An induction cooktop can last almost forever.

Except the cooling fan for the electronic, there are no moving parts to wear out and there is no heating element to burn out either. The fan can last 50,000 hours.

Remember, the induction cooker does not cook anything. Your pots and pans do all the heating and cooking.

dcarch

Dcarch, I expect that an induction cooktop should have a long useful life. I'm less confident about a $64 induction burner. The fan may not be very heavy duty and it can wear out, parts can overheat (due to the power they are handling - that's why they need the fan even though the top of the burner doesn't get without a pot on it. The induction burner produces power and that's work involving significant current.

Jasdip, I don't find the Max Burton to be that load most of the time. On high the fan is noisy when its going hard but it doesn't all the time. The whine isn't very loud but may annoy some. Sometimes it kind of vibrates but that is usually brief. I haven't heard it beep loudly and I don't recall anything in the instructions about a beep.

Fridge, freezer, HVAC and water heater are big energy users because they run all the time (except water heater if you have the on demand type). Also depending on your household, washer, dryer and dishwasher.

I'm pretty sure that oven and stove top would come behind those - mainly because they usually aren't run for hours a day (or if you are slow cooking something they are puttering along at lower power).

Having a cooler kitchen while cooking is worth the purchase price alone, plus the time cut from your cooking experience for most things you prepare.

There is a learning curve to using an induction hotplate. Until you get the hang of it, you'll start things sooner than you should, they heat and cook faster than you are accustomed to, and you will have to be careful not to turn it up too high.

When it comes to heating water to a boil, my electric kettle is faster and uses less electricity than either of my induction hotplates, or my microwave for that matter (when checked with a Watt-A-Meter). So I'll boil water in the electric kettle and transfer it to the pan, for something like pasta.

For a new perspective on cooking pasta (cold water start and less water used), check out cooking science guru, Harold McGee, on the topic at the link below.

-Grainlady

Here is a link that might be useful: New York Times - How Much Water Does Pasta Really Need?

Thanks again for your continuing comments. Grainlady, I'm definitely expecting a learning curve, for the exact reasons you mentioned.....starting food too early, cooking too high until we get used to it.

I always, always use an electric kettle to boil water. We had this discussion over at the Kitchen Table, and I don't know if it's a Canadian thing or not, but few people use electric kettles in the U.S.?

I didn't think of the fan not lasting long in a cheaper unit, Cloud. You gave me more food for thought in purchasing a more expensive unit like the Max Burton.

Now when I was looking for Max Burton, the only name that came up on Amazon was Duxtop. IS that the same?

"---I didn't think of the fan not lasting long in a cheaper unit, Cloud. You gave me more food for thought in purchasing a more expensive unit like the Max Burton.---"

In general, there are only two type of motors used for ventilation in devices similar to an induction cook top. They are shaped pole motors (line voltage AC) and brush-less low voltage (DC) motors, sometimes known as muffin fans.

They are very standard mass produced very inexpensive motors. For a counter top induction cook top, most likely they will be using a muffin fan, which are very quiet and take very little room. Muffin fans are made for cooling desk top computers, they last generally 50,000 hours. It will not be easy for a manufacturer to find cheaper and less reliable fans because they are so standard.

dcarch

Jasdip, are you not in the US? When I put in Max Burton induction in Amazon search, I get multiple hits that are Max Burton portables. I also put the link to the one we bought from Amazon in my message above. Does the link work for you?

Is there such a thing as a portable induction hob with the lowest low setting? Are you able to melt chocolate and keep it melted, for instance, on the portable ones that you have used? Or is it a matter of finding the best cookware for that specific task? As for the original question, I have an 1800 W Waring. I still need to stir tapioca when I make it on the induction hob. I had been using it with a Staub teapot for making tea, but now that we have an electric kettle, we use that. I have used the Waring for about five years, but lately less and less. It does have some purely cosmetic scratches on the surface. They do not affect the performance at all.

Cloud, I'm in Canada.

Your linked work, and I tried ordering it just to see what happens, and when I filled out my address, it said that they couldn't ship to that destination.

I've seen a couple of burners on e-bay for under $70 (don't remember the name, maybe a Max Burton) but shipping was another $60.

kitchendetective-

My Max Burton has a low temperature of 140-degrees F. On #1 (of 10) the temperature is around 160-degrees F.

I have a warming center on my stovetop that works well for melting. And something else I use is an electric mug/candle warmer, if I don't need to melt a large amount. My 2-cup Pyrex measuring cup fits perfectly on my mug/candle warmer.

-Grainlady