I know this was started more than 3 years ago, but I am looking at the same situation now, and would appreciate anyone's feedback here! Also, malba2366, did you decide on the Miele 36" induction cooktop and if so, how do you like it? Thanks!

Some links:

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/wok-cooking-on-induction-vs-gas-dsvw-vd~4992365?n=15

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/wok-style-cooking-on-induction-cooktop-dsvw-vd~2287297?n=17

These have a comment from me in them, but searching on "induction" and "wok" may yield other threads.

Thank you, kaseki! This is very useful information indeed! Really appreciate it.

I am debating between the Miele 36" induction cooktop vs the Wolf Contemporary gas cooktop, which has a 20,000 BTU rating. I think that I will be happy with the Wolf cooktop but am very curious about what induction cooking can do for me, and to have less hassle with the clean up.... but I do use wok cooking half of the time, so I am happy to see all of this information that you have provided. Thank you!

Hi kaseki,

Thank you! What a very useful summary it is! I am taking these points into my decision making process now, esp since wok cooking is a big part of the way that our family lives.

Now I am down to 2 choices:

- Wolf 36" Contemporary Cooktop (CG365C/S) - I love the fact that this has a 20,000 BTU burner! Not many gas cooktop has that power. Also, the look is great. I am considering this as opposed to a gas range top right now, primarily due to the ventilation requirements and I am not sure that I can put int anything in my home that will meet the requirements. Otherwise, would have gone with the Wolf 6 burner 36" gas rangetop...

- Miele 36" induction cooktop - I am totally intrigued by this! However, the failure rate is still potentially higher than a gas cooktop, and it will not work as well for our wok cooking. However, the clean up is so much better!!! Miele is currently offering a 10 year warranty (or 10% off) with any purchase in Canada, so that is an amazing offer! That said, regardless of the warranty, if it fails, it will still be a terrible pain.... oh and I checked over the weekend and most of my current cookware will NOT work with induction... LOL. Lastly, for my elderly relatives who will be using this cooktop, the learning curve may be too much.

Oh well, decisions, decisions, decisions! What a difficult one...... :-)

Thanks again!

Ventilation requirements are mainly driven by cooktop size and pan temperature, so wok cooking on induction will require about the same hood performance as cooking on gas -- 90 CFM actual per square foot of hood aperture. Else, you will get wet cooking oil condensing throughout the house, or at least throughout the kitchen if it is closed off from the rest of the house.

Thanks, kaseki! I am planning on getting a vent hood with about 600 CFM for the 36" cooktops, so I think that it should work well. Thank you again!

Keep in mind what the 600 value actually means: The blower operating in free air can move 600 CFM at full power. In a hood with baffle or mesh filters, some duct air resistance, and some make-up air resistance, you are unlikely to achieve more air flow than 400 CFM. This flow rate can support a hood aperture of roughly 4.4 square feet. A 36-inch wide by 18-inch deep (actual aperture) is about this area, but 18 inches may be a tad short of what is needed for full capture of rising and expanding effluent from all potential pans on any burner. Wok cooking on a back burner is advised in that case.

Note that "some make-up air resistance" does not mean the resistance resulting from trying to pull 400 CFM through house exterior surfaces, or via reversing the air flow in combustion appliances for that carbon monoxide ambiance. A free-flowing path or blower boosted restrictive (e.g., filtered) path will be required in many cases.

"Miele is currently offering a 10 year warranty (or 10% off) with any purchase in Canada, so that is an amazing offer!"

Yes, I agree on "amazing." While Miele is towards the high end of induction cooktop pricing, they must now feel confident that they have figured out the necessary component performance specifications to assure such a long period of protection/risk (even with whatever fine print may make this offer only available to the original buyer, who statistically might be expected to have moved by then).

Back in the day when military procurement dominated electronics procurement, extended lifetime performance was easier to achieve because durable components were widely available along with their extensive parametrizations that one could design to. Between USA off-shoring and Sloan-like deliberate planned obsolescence creeping from automotive to durable goods to toys, consumer electronics and appliances have evolved away from lasting decades. Examples of this are reported here nearly every week.

About 40 years ago I replaced the failed power supply electrolytic capacitors of a Heathkit power amp with mil-spec caps (probably from Sprague) that had the ripple current capacity needed for the application. They still work happily in their snug chassis.

kas

kaseki, thank you again! From what I have read so far (of course there is reporting bias online!) many, many people seem to be happy with the Miele induction cooktop, but then there seem to be a few that have some electronic gremlins and those owner seem to hate it. I wonder if that is a fair observation?

In the end, I think that I have decided on the Wolf 36" Contemporary gas cooktop. Margo really sold me on that! LOL!

Now, back to ventilation - if I am going with a baffle style vent hood with 600CFM, and if quietness and smoke removal are my priorities, should I consider Vent-A-Hood vs Best by Broan? Both seem to be quite comparable with their pricing and look nice. I love those "T" shaped low profile ones but then they all have aluminum mesh so I am giving that a pass.... can't have too much form over function LOL! OK, sometimes I give in too.... ha ha ha....

There are a lot of factors to consider in choosing a hood one has to live with, and there are myriad threads here agonizing over aspects of this topic. Let me try to raise again, historically writing, a point needing consideration when comparing VaH to Broan. In this comment, I give VaH the benefit of the doubt that their specified hood plus blower achieves 600 CFM in free air, and that the comparable Broan blower has to be 900 CFM (rated in free air, 600 CFM when installed in the hood with the combination in free air). At this point there appears to be equivalence, but we haven't considered duct pressure loss (likely modest) and make-up air pressure loss (potentially nearly anything depending on design, but where combustion appliances are present, must not exceed fractional inches of water (hundredths of Pascals).

With added pressure loss, one has to look at the respective fan curves to see what the actual air flow will be. As it happens, for the only data I have seen from VaH, their squirrel cage fans have a drop in flow rate with pressure loss that is greater than typical Broan (or most other) blower fans. This means that with additional loss, the Broan hood/blower will flow more air than the VaH. This may or may not be different enough to matter. But you still need around 90 CFM per square foot of hood aperture to be sure that the effluent that gets into the aperture leaves via the duct and not by spilling out into the kitchen.