Posted on: December 12, 2007

Magnetic Personalities

Induction cooktops strive to attract a new generation of U.S. consumers – and they appear to be pushing all the right buttons

By Paul Rogers
CTW Features

A pot of water boils on a stove. There’s no flame, just a pot sitting in a prescribed area outlined in white on what looks like a glass cooktop. The cook leaves the stove on, lifts the pot slightly and places a hand where the water was vigorously boiling only seconds earlier.

You might expect screams at this point, certainly a badly burned palm. But he leaves it there for a minute, then places the pot back down with the water still boiling strong.

The hand? Unmarred.

Magic? No, just induction cooking, and it’s coming soon to a kitchen near you – as soon as people better understand what exactly induction is.

“Induction is the cleanest, safest, fastest, most controllable and most energy-efficient method of residential cooking,” says Stephen Crossman, president and CEO of The Appliance Experience, a Chicago-based luxury appliance dealer.

And it’s proven. It’s been used for decades in Europe, even though it previously failed to catch on in the United States. The original induction units rolled out in the U.S. market in the 1980s were bulky, costly and loud – and the concept was maybe just too foreign for homeowners accustomed to gas and electric.

These days, in addition to technological leaps that have shrunk the size and price and reduced noise levels, induction strikes at one of today’s hottest homeowner trends: green living.

Induction cooking essentially makes the pot itself the cooking element. A coil below the smooth-surface cooktop produces an electromagnetic field that reacts with the ferrous metal in the cookware. The heat energy is transferred directly to the cooking vessel.

On a gas or electric range, the heat energy resides below the pan or pot. That difference means everything when it comes to energy efficiency. Around half the heat of a gas burner and more than one-third the heat generated by an electric burner dissipates into the air and is wasted. So, for example, every time you heat a can of soup on a gas range, about half the energy you use goes toward really inefficiently heating your kitchen.

On induction burners, 90 percent of the energy goes directly toward heating the pot. That’s a huge difference, and the energy advantage doesn’t even take into account the air conditioning costs spent in the summer to cool the kitchen after making a big meal.

“It’s the greenest technology available,” says Montserrat Delgado, project manager of appliances for Fagor America Inc., the Lyndhurst, N.J.-based cookware and appliance manufacturer. And it’s probably the fastest cooking technology available as well – up to 50 percent faster than gas or electric.

“Induction heats immediately,” says Lori Dennis, founder of Dennis Design Group, a Beverly Hills design firm that specializes in green/sustainable projects. “It takes much less time to boil that pot of water.”

Of course speed isn’t always the desired goal. Heat control is crucial to any sauce or sauté. The lack of control – the long lag-time between changing the dial and changing the actual heat of the pot – is a major drawback of electric cooktops. Gas is quick, but induction is even quicker.

Plus, induction offers a myriad of temperature gradients. Rather than just low, medium and high, the precise nature of the electromagnetic technology allows upward of 20 automatic settings.

Louisville, Ky.-based GE Consumer & Industrial’s new GE Monogram Electronic induction cooktops feature 19 settings, including a “warm” level to keep a pot just warm enough to maintain an ideal serving temperature, something that’s nearly impossible with gas or electric. Siemens new avantGarde induction cooktops from BSH Home Appliances Corp., Huntington Beach, Calif., have 17 levels, including preciseSimmer and powerSurge, features that focus the energy of two burners into one for short term power bursts and even faster-than-fast heating.

“And with induction, you get even distribution of heat,” says Delgado. “With gas, you have certain areas that are called hotspots – where the flame is. With induction, you have an evenly heated surface and that surface is exactly the bottom of the pot.”

And if that weren’t enough, induction cooktops are easier to clean than gas or electric. Spills don’t cook onto the units because the surface itself isn’t hot. It’s flat glass ceramic, with no cracks or crevices.

Of course, no technology is perfect, and induction has a few caveats.

First of all, because the technology functions by electromagnetic interaction, the cookware must be steel- or iron-based. Aluminum, copper and Pyrex cookware will not work on induction cooktops.

“I don’t think that’s the biggest deterrent,” says Dennis. A number of people are already using such cookware, she says, and “you can go to any Costco and get a whole set of All-Clad quality pots that will work with the technology for $200.”

Secondly, although the cooktop itself does not heat, the coils beneath it require sufficient airflow to cool them and properly function. If the plan is to install a range top over an oven, “some ovens will not provide enough space for airflow between the bottom of the induction cooktop and the top of the oven,” says Crossman.

In addition, although most are shallow enough to be installed over a functional cabinet drawer, “you probably wouldn’t want to put anything in that drawer that could be heat sensitive or melt,” Crossman suggests.

Third, although prices are falling as technology improves, induction is not cheap. A 30-inch version of the GE Monogram Electronic induction cooktop costs $1,849-$2,149. A mid-range 30-inch GE Profile gas cooktop runs anywhere from $750-$950; a GE Profile electric cooktop from $1,049-$1,399. Price differences are similar for other manufacturers.

But price is relative. Gas and electric cooktops with extra burners, fancy controls and high-end finishes can quickly send you into and above induction price territory. And the price difference, when you consider energy savings, time savings and the feel-good aspect of social responsibility, can be well worth it to some.

Manufacturers are now looking for more ways to make it worth it to all. Viking Range Corp., Greenwood, Miss., rolled out combination induction/radiant cooktops for people who might not be ready to switch completely to induction, as well as a portable induction cooker that can be plugged into any socket (you need a 220-volt outlet for a regular induction cooktops). Some appliance makers are starting to offer free-standing ranges with induction cook surfaces for kitchens where cooktops just don’t make sense.

Practically all the major manufacturers have launched new models in the United States or announced plans to expand their induction lines in the past year, including GE, Viking, Fagor, Gaggenau, Wolf and Electrolux.

But better technology isn’t always enough. The biggest concern Dennis has heard from her clients is that “they just like the look of the flame. It’s hard for people to break away from that kind of attachment and go to a glass cooking stove. But with the way energy costs are going and with all the attention paid to green design [and] sustainable design, it makes sense.”

Dennis sees the move to induction as almost inevitable. “Eventually, using a gas flame instead of induction will be thought of like cooking over an open fire with a kettle. People won’t believe they cooked that way … so inefficient, so primitive.”

Adds Crossman: “Induction is no longer the wave of the future – it is here today and here to stay.”

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