Induction stove — Blog

Induction is best

Let me get in this great debate in the culture war regarding gas versus induction stoves. I absolutely love my induction stove. This $50 piece of kit from IKEA - at least it was that price back when I bought it about two years ago - continues to serve me splendidly. Induction is perfect for my tiny studio because it only heats the cookware, and not the surrounding air like a gas stove would. It eliminates the risk of gas leak as well; I’m glad my room isn’t even plumbed for it.

Not to mention that on a per unit cost, electricity is far cheaper than natural gas. The latter seems to be even costlier than usual this winter. This is why heating a home cost a ton of money during the wintry months - central heat boilers use natural gas. A friend of mine stopped heating up her entire two bedroom apartment because the bill from December was shockingly high. My studio is tiny enough that a portable electric heater suffices for the truly cold mornings.

I do conceded that a proper gas range can provide far more energy. For certain types of cooking, a high flame is really desirable. Such as getting an iron pan searing hot for a piece of steak, or a blazing stir-fry using a wok. If cooking is your thing, I can see why you would opt for a gas stove instead of induction (my landlord did). And that any legislation towards eliminating gas would seem like an existential threat.

But I think there’s innovation to be had in the induction space, especially in terms of energy release to match a gas stove. There’s a manufacturer adding batteries to an induction stove to act as a rapid-release energy store, vastly improving heating time. Imagine heating up a few cups of water for instant ramen in no time - that would be the dream!

Induction life

One of the most useful tool for living alone in a small studio apartment is an induction stovetop. A simple single-top unit from IKEA and be had for less than fifty dollars. That is what I bought, and it works magnificently. The best attribute of induction stove compared to a gas stove is that the lack of an open flame. Not only it is safer, it heats up the room less, too.

And it would be super easy to add another, to have two cooking surfaces. However, I haven’t gotten that fancy just yet. For now I am quite okay with cooking one thing at a time.

The pain-point of induction stoves is of course the need to have induction-ready pots and pans. Lucky for me, I had to buy a whole new set for the move anyways, so it was only a matter of bringing a magnet when I went shopping for kitchen stuff. If the magnet sticks to the bottom of a pot, then it is able to be used on an induction top. Best of all, should I ever move to a place with a gas stove, the induction-ready stuff works just as well.

Another quirk is that without a visible flame to look at, it takes a bit of trial and error to get accustomed to what a certain wattage setting means in terms of heating power. What is the correct wattage to perfectly cook an egg to sunny side up? How big is 800 watt, really? The answers will take some time to figure out.

But once you do, I don’t think you’d go back to open-flame gas stoves. The safety and convenience factor is huge in induction’s favor. Cleaning up is ridiculously easy: a few spray of your favorite all-purpose cleaner, then wipe with a towel. That’s it! One flat surface with zero crooks and crannies for food stuff to get stuck in. It’s brilliant.