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Do want it? Yes I do! Do I need it? Induction cooktop

9 years ago

Not really. But I want it. I want an induction stove top. I Know I'll Love it. But it'd hurt my already screaming in pain budget.

How did you decide when to stop the hurt? And, Or rather, which hurt did you decide to stop. It hurts to know that I'd have to take a 3rd job to pay for the rest of what I want. But it hurts when I think that the picture in my head won't be completed IRL.

Yeona with the Never ending DIY kitchen reno... Four years and counting.

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Comments (3)

Skypathway1
9 years ago
I love my induction stove and I hope I never have to live without one. I've had gas, old fashioned electric and ceramic glass top - nothing compares. I also love my convention oven.

I cook from scratch daily using my stove. If you are like me, this is a critical piece of equipment in the kitchen. If I had to cut back somewhere I would look to items in the kitchen that are not heavily used, not used daily or those whose functions are nice to have but won't impact use of the kitchen, or items that can be added later.

To save money you can buy a range or slide in instead of separate built in wall oven and hob. I have a warming drawer on the bottom - frankly I never use it and regret that it's not just a regular drawer where I can store some cooking pans - buy the features that are important to you and omit the ones that aren't.

If you eat a lot of take out, don't cook complicated meals that require a lot of control of cooking temperature etc. Then maybe it's not worth it.
Texas_Gem
9 years ago
For me, I knew going in that I couldn't afford everything on my wish list so what I did was plan the space to accommodate those future wishes.

Wanted a bigger fridge so we had the cabinets built to take a larger one but we are currently using our old one.

Wanted a built in buffet/China hutch but it isn't a necessity so that wall is currently empty but we have the electrical run.

Wanted a kitchen island but again, not a necessity so we built our own temporary island for less than 100 bucks.

Wanted granite on my wet bar but project creep happened (as it does to EVERYONE right?!?!) so we bought a preformed laminate top for 68 dollars and we are saving for the granite.

Our goal, going into it was to PLAN our dream kitchen, put in the must-haves for a useful kitchen and then every year, we will save up to pay for one of the "extras" that will get us to our dream. Essentially we put in "good bones."

Maybe you can do something like that? I know what a let down it can be to "finish" a remodel and it not be your dream kitchen. For me, walking into my kitchen every day and sitting at my homemade island, I dream of the island that will replace it and that drives me to save for it so I can have it in a few years.
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No problem, Chaylabird! Just lucky it's raining and I happened to pop in at the right time. Electric ignition is no problem in a power outage. Use a pistol grip lighter or igniter. The gas will still come out, and the knob will let you adjust the flame. That new F&P with the motorized burners would be hopeless, but most are fine. In a real pinch, you can make a tight twist of paper and light the end from a paper match, but you have to be very careful with how you hold it and all, and careful that it doesn't flash. "SautÃ©" means "jump". A lot of the standard technique involves lifting from the full heat of the gas to the partial heat above it, flipping things around in the pan by thrusting and shaking, etc. It's also a way to cool the pan and let it heat up again without fiddling with the knob. This is also a common wok technique, when a light weight, traditional, carbon steel wok is used over a roaring fire. My examples above were of things that one just couldn't do with induction. I wanted the flames. It sounds like you don't really need them. The Miele unit is excellent!! Check for the "program" where you can set it to 17 power levels instead of the nine (it puts in half stops between the numbers).
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I can't help with induction, since I've never used it, but I can comment on woks because I do quite a bit of stir-frying. I used to swear by my Farberware non-stick wok, but after getting a BlueStar gas rangetop in my new kitchen, I decided I'd try a "real" Chinese wok, and got a carbon steel one on eBay. To my delight, after seasoning it, I discovered that it really is non-stick (well, occasionally, a bit does stick here and there, but it's rare). I can heat to a far higher temperature than I'd want to heat the non-stick version, and it cleans up easily with hot water and just a dab of detergent. Carbon steel is magnetic, and a flat-bottomed wok would sit on the cooktop surface, so that would work with induction, but would more than just the bottom of the wok get hot? With my BlueStar, I remove the burner grate and the wok sits down in the flames so both the bottom and the sides get heated. The induction units designed for stir-frying that I've seen are bowl-shaped to accomodate a wok, so I've just assumed that's what one needed, but I don't know. ---Margaret
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OK, youall have succeeded in drawing me into another argument. Let's start with the purpose of the overhead vent. The vent is intended to capture and contain effluent contained in the rising and expanding cooking plumes. It has an overlap capture requirement that depends on height, and a flow rate containment requirement that derives from plume velocities and secondary factors. It is not for capture or blockage of grease splatter, as that could require enormous air velocities to achieve. Down-draft "venting" and pop-up side-draft "venting" cannot achieve the needed capture and containment provided by an overhead hood of proper specification for these reasons: Air flow velocity drops rapidly as a function of the smallest dimension of a slot air intake (see the 2003 ASHRAE HANDBOOK, HVAC Applications, Fig. 6). The air velocity in all cases is too low to significantly change hot cooking plume momenta except those plume portions close to the pop-up, so the overhead hood depends on the natural rise of the plumes. Deviation of the upward momentum to the side, or by 180 degrees to head downward, can only work if the plume has low momentum, as in steam from boiling water. Hot oil/grease/moisture plumes from wok cooking and searing will be poorly deviated sideways or in reverse. Fume hoods can have horizontal hood configurations, but the top and sides are blocked from allowing fumes to leak out. The turbulence issue is complicated. Up-rising plumes can be disturbed by side drafts, poor insertion of make-up air into the kitchen, and cook motion. Side-drafts will be pulling air across pan and pot clutter, so some added turbulence is possible, but I don't think it will be a significant addition except close to the pop-up due to the velocity fall-off introduced above. On the other hand, a pop-up can block splatter trajectories from the burner up the the angle between pan and the top of the pop-up and as far as the pop-up sides shadow the area beyond. For this function, no air flow is needed and much of the pop-up system hardware can be dispensed with. If a blank face is used (no vent holes/slots), cleaning may be greatly simplified. Underfloor ducting, blower, external cap can all be deleted. Some cabinet space for the elevation mechanism has to be sacrificed. While a pop-up splatter blocker is a good idea if the degree of blockage is deemed sufficient for the expense, the subject raises the question of why children are sitting in range of hot grease splatter. At a minimum they would need eye protection. There are requirements (that I don't have at hand) for desirable rises and/or runs of seating countertops connected to cooking surfaces. I recommend proper desks in quiet areas for studying. The student should be fully absorbed into the material to be studied without distraction (or at least as little distraction as a post pubertal youth can manage).
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*sigh* A hood is not determined by the fuel used to cook with - it's determined by the food being cooked! Does the blog's author actually think boiling water won't give off steam if it's boiled on an induction cooktop instead of a gas or traditional electric???? Or that browning meat won't splatter grease if it's browned using induction? As was stated previously, island cooktops/ranges really need an overhead hood that is at least 6" wider than the cooktop and 27" deep. In addition, the fan needs to be more powerful. Why? First, understand that cooking produces steam, odors, grease, fumes, etc., and that these things naturally rise. As they rise, they quickly expand. To exhaust them to the outside, hoods need to be able to capture them and hold them until the fan can remove them. On an island, you not only do not have a wall and surrounding cabinets to assist in the corralling process, but there are more and stronger air currents over an island than against the wall - so the hood needs to work harder! In addition, the hood must be installed per the manufacturer's specifications - even if it means it blocks your line of sight (which is another reason not to have a cooktop on an island or peninsula!) A downdraft is ineffective unless (1) it's telescoping -and- (2) all your cooking is done only on the burners right next to the fan -and- (3) your pots & pans are all shorter by a few inches than the top of the fan. I'm speaking from experience - we rented a place for two weeks with a downdraft - one of the ones that are supposed to be the "best" - Dacor - it was noisy and useless for most of the cooking we did! +++++++++++++ The blog's author is clueless - but that's not unusual when a blog is written by a salesman instead of someone who understands cooking, basic atmospheric physics, and the environmental effects of grease/steam/odors.etc.
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yeonasky
Original Author
9 years ago
Thanks for the encouraging and sage words. :)

Skypathway1 I love to cook but am not a fancy cook. My husband is and makes tasty meals for us often. Our grown son cooks and bakes frequently as well. You re-sold me on the induction with your words, which are echoed by many here. Unfortunately I can't really pay for one. :) I wish wishing worked. :)

Texas Gem I believe you will get what you planned for. You sound very level headed and practical in your approach.

I did get a few things I wanted. For that I'm very happy :) I had to be practical too. Which is why I appreciate this forum so much. Many including you have waited and bided your time just as I've had to do. Much of what we have now in our kitchen is due to our concerted effort in purchasing everything gently used, including the stove, dishwashers and cupboards and counters. It took years but we finally have a truly useable if smallish, kitchen for the first time ever.

I had never had a good stove or lots of space to prep and cook on. We did get the long expanses of counter and the good used fridge so this was a dream come true for our kitchen but the induction just wasn't meant to be. I liked the idea because when my adult son cooks his illness makes it hard for him to stay standing and tend the stove. He times everything and gets up and down frequently. I wished to take that burden away from him after all these years.

What makes it harder is that I've been saving and planning our kitchen for years. Life and illness take their price, so reality is that there's little chance of more. We're in our late 50s and must think about when we are older, as our son continues to need extra care. Thank goodness we have made this little house accessible already because of our circumstances. so we can grow old in it comfortably and inexpensively. The kitchen is what it is going to be. :( So now I've had to accept it. Begrudgingly. Okay maybe not accept it but live with it until I do. I'm practicing faking it. How am I doing so far?

My big consolation is that I'm able bodied and can still work so we can stay in our home and not be driven out by the illnesses etc. Count my blessings.

10 years GWer mostly lurker and TKOer Yeona

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