Kitchen Hob types

[LyNx]

I've been looking at new hobs for the kitchen. I use gas at the moment and i really like using this for cooking. I do like the look of the flush fitting induction hobs but i'm not sure if these will suit my black iron curry pans. Does anyone have any experience with induction (or ceramic), are they any good or am i best to stick with the gas flame.

We cook alot of curry's and stir fry dishes so the pans are getting moved about lot. Will this start to scratch the induction/ceramic surfaces?

Andy

 

[wizer]

stick with Gas mate. I have used them all and if it's quick, hot, controllable heat that you want then Gas is really the only option imho.

 

[Paul Chapman]

We have a black ceramic hob with touch controls. I deliberately chose this type because it is so easy to clean. Normal control knobs (unless you have a separate panel for the knobs which can be located away from the hob) get so full of all the gunge from cooking and are very difficult to clean - yuk.

I am very happy with the ceramic hob - but if you are in to cooking in a big way and like maximum controllability of the heat source, then gas is probably best - but I prefer salad anyway :wink:

Paul

 

[George_N]

I agree with Paul. I used gas for many years and like the instant controlability but I've been using cooker with ceramic hob for the last 2 years and it works fine. We will fit a flush ceramic hob with touch controls when the kitchen gets re-fitted sometime soon, mainly for ease of cleaning. Not every type of saucepan works with induction hobs, so it could prove even more expensive if you have to replace all your pans as well.

cheers

George

 

[Paul Chapman]

A bit more on cleaning ceramic hobs. If any food gets burnt on, you can safely scrape if off with a Stanley-type window scraper and then for general cleaning there are plenty of products like Hob Brite which bring it up nicely. Ours looks good after three years use.

I'm very impressed with the touch controls on ours. I suppose what it comes down to is whether you like the instant controllability of gas or the cleanliness of electricity. I just wish more manufacturers would make control panels separate from the hob if they want to use conventional knobs.

Paul

 

[engineer one]

i guess the real question is also how old those cooking are.

as you get somewhat older, your memory can go, and if you
get like my dear old late dad, you forget that you have turned
anything on. gas obviously can build up, whilst electric can
be somewhat safer, and eventually may well just blow a fuse,
not the house, and in a week when a kid blew up the roof of his
folks house when he left a washing basket on a hob he had
forgotten about.

i agree about the scraper, the old fashioned karstens type is quite
good too, although a scalpel works well, if you use it at an angle
so as not to scrape the surface.

also i think for curry and stir fry pans, gas is much better at heat
distribution.
paul :wink:

 

[Anonymous]

I've been looking at new hobs for the kitchen. I use gas at the moment and i really like using this for cooking. I do like the look of the flush fitting induction hobs but i'm not sure if these will suit my black iron curry pans. Does anyone have any experience with induction (or ceramic), are they any good or am i best to stick with the gas flame.

We cook alot of curry's and stir fry dishes so the pans are getting moved about lot. Will this start to scratch the induction/ceramic surfaces?

Andy

Got gas now (2.5 years in new home) after 17 years of standard electric followed by ceramic. After 10 years of use the ceramic hob looked almost as good as the day I bought it and I much prefer it to the gas one we now have.
I too cook a lot of curries and stir fries

 

[Scott]

Personally I'd stick with gas from a purely cooking point of view. The ceramic hobs are deffo easier to clean but I don't like them at all. I like the instant controllability of gas. I've cooked on my mate's ceramic hob a few times and it's pants! So was his last one! (maybe the French just can't make them right! :wink: )

My own preference would be for the "professional" type 5 or 6 burner hob with a wok burner and pan support thingys (don't know what you call them) over the whole thing rather than just little round ones that every pan with a heavy handle topples off of.

What about a gas hob with a ceramic/glass surface? Gets in a mess but cleans up dead easy with a scourer or a cloth followed by some Windolene to make it look like new! That's what we've got.

Scott (who has a cleaning lady ... )

 

[wizer]

I have found the budget 5 and 6 burner hobs to be inferior and not really worth getting. The higher range ones are very effective.

 

[matt]

Induction (as opposed to plain old "ceramic") hobs are excellent. I'm currently using a Neff induction having previously used several different types of gas burner. It is faster and more controllable than gas. You can turn things down really low just to keep warm, and ours has a super-powered mode if you really want to speed things up (although we rarely need to use it) Everyone else who has used it (without exception) has commented the same. In fact some of whom have regretted dismissing electric without truly understanding induction.

As for your pans... If a magnet sticks to them, then they'll be fine for induction. We use Le Crueset pans on ours, along with s/steel. Do bear in mind that pans cooked on gas (particularly stainless steel) can lose the magnetic qualities over time so do check. Woks (subject to the magnet check) are fine on the induction too.

Absolutely the best I've ever used, although I only have experience of Neff induction hobs.

 

[Scrit]

Ceramic and induction hobs require a pan with a ground base. Not all cast iron pans have a flat gound base, which can be a problem.

Scrit

 

[matt]

Ceramic and induction hobs require a pan with a ground base. Not all cast iron pans have a flat gound base, which can be a problem.

Scrit

Induction doesn't need a ground base. Technically it is probably more efficient, however, in practice they work just fine with absolutely no noticable loss of speed/control/heat etc. My wok is a plain old wok and the Le Creuset casserole that I use on the hob has a typically uneven coated base.

I think it is halogen that is the real fussy one when it comes to flat bases.

 

[Scrit]

I think it is halogen that is the real fussy one when it comes to flat bases.

I've had ceramic in the past and they didn't work too well with non-ground bases. Recently fitted a new induction hob on a kitcheb refurb and the manual stated that a ground base was "recommended". Possibly something to do with pans rocking?

Sctit

 

[LyNx]

does ceramic or induction hobs scratch easy?

I think i like these as they are flush fitting but smeg do a nice 700mm & 900mm flush gas hob thats high on my list at the moment.


Andy

 

[Paul Chapman]

We've not had any scratching problems with our black ceramic hob. I agree with Scrit regarding flat-bottomed pans - in fact any electric hob performs better if the base of the pan is as flat as possible.

Paul

 

[Anonymous]

does ceramic or induction hobs scratch easy?

I think i like these as they are flush fitting but smeg do a nice 700mm & 900mm flush gas hob thats high on my list at the moment.


Andy

No, not in about 10 years of use almost every day it hadn't