Induction hobs and insetting them

[Tim Streater]

As our old-style electric hob is packing up (1.5 rings now dead out of

4) we're looking at replacing with an induction.

1) Any indications as to which brand are good/bad would be welcome.

2) Size of cutout in counter appears to be suitable for at least some models, but the available depth looks like it's only about 4cm (drawers underneath, not an oven). Many induction hobs seem to need 5.5 or more. I thought of making a 2cm high rectangular shape to sit around the cutout for the hob to rest on, until such time as we redo the kitchen. Anything to watch out for there? SWMBO suggested wood, but I felt that might not be the best material. Suggestions here would be helpful too. I can always glue it to the counter.

[Dave Liquorice]

I'll be paying attention to answers to that as well. SWMBO'd heard from a friend the other day that induction is as near as damn it as good as gas to cook on, she took more notice of that than what I've been saying or the cheapo lidaldi portable single induction hob I got to "play" with...

Don't like that idea, it's just asking for a pot full of something hot to take a nose dive off the edge. OK "temporary" but of your "temporary" is like my "temporary" the time sacle is years rather than a month or two. B-)

[polygonum]

Last week I was using a gas hob in a holiday let. Perfectly decent quality, but I was reminded of all the advantages of induction. No hot handles. No stream of (very) hot air coming round the pans. No click click click each time I want to turn a burner on. Slow at heating pans except the large burner which was too large for smaller pans.

Give me induction every time.

[R D S]

Dunno if expensive ones are even better but I got one of these about 2.5 yrs ago,

It ranks as one of my best spends, as good as gas IMO and without the drawbacks.

I'd go so far as to say that going from an electric hob to induction was life changing, it makes cooking a comparative joy.

[Tim Streater]

Yerrs well quite. But it will be years, doing the conservatory next year.

[Tricky Dicky]

I would be surprised even with the extra depth of the induction hob that you could not fit it into your work top. Most kitchen drawers are shallower than their fronts.

Richard

[Tim Streater]

Mmm, it's not that. Looks like there are walls of units poking up that high, far as I can see by lifting the existing hob.

[Michael Chare]

I have had a Bosch one for almost 10 years. The controls have 17 steps. It is above the cutlery draw. It has a cooling fan at the front. I had to cut the top of the cabinet to make a slot for the hot air to get out under the work top and above the draw. It is kept in place by its own weight.

A thin cut out should be OK. Stainless steel would look nice but is hard to work. Aluminium is cheaper. Formica might also be ok.

[Brian Gaff]

I'd say they ought to be called eddy current rather than induction, but are they not dependent very much on the sort of material the pan is made from and how thick it is? Brian

[Jon Connell]

Something to consider is how well designed the controls are as I've used some that involve way too much prodding of controls. When a pot is bubbling over, you want to be able to tap a power setting and have it change immediately. You don't want to have tap "turn on the controls", "select pan no. 2", "set power to level 3" which is what I encountered in a holiday let once.

Miele is the obvious choice for something on the good quality side, but they can be bonkers expensive. They do have very simple controls though, which are every bit as easy to use as gas.

According to the fitting instructions of mine at least, you're meant to leave them unglued.

[Windmill]

It is probably a good idea to ensure that an induction hob slopes slightly towards the wall or other barrier.

The single LIDL induction hob I bought to convince myself about these gadgets is excellent, except that if the hob surface is clean and shiny and you put a wet pan on it to boil, the layer of water under the pan is the first thing to turn to steam, and the pan then slides sideways. It might not go far beyond the heating zone. Or it might. Better to be safe.

Most of us will have 'legacy' pans without the built-in magnetic layer needed if an induction hob is to work, so my thinking is to fit two half width 'domino' hobs, one induction and one solid plate hob, both easy to clean.

For most purposes the induction hob will be clearly superior, and once you've brought something quickly to the boil on the induction, you can always transfer it to a solid ring on a low setting to free up space for other things.

Those still under SWMBO management will need to be aware that an induction hob may cause insistence on a complete new set of induction-compatible pans, however.

IKEA have an inexpensive domino induction unit, and CDA a solid plate unit, but I haven't tried them out yet. They're within my budget, but there are some very high-end hobs which I didn't even consider.

[Tim Streater]

I don't mean gluing the hob to the counter. I mean gluing any rectangular rim I make that the hob will sit in.

[Tim Watts]

I've just bought a Miele. Let you know in a few months how it is - but I suspect that will be too late.

I read the "Reevoos" on

I would blank the top drawer.

The Miele instructions I downloaded said a drawer was OK if you could be sure nothing small and fiddly was left in there that could get sucked in to the cooling fan.

Another option might be to cut the back edge of the drawer down to half height and fit a metal mesh under the hob to prevent "bad things" happening. Then use the drawer as a cutlery drawer.

You could skip the mesh bit if you are confident the household users are sensible :)

The Miele KM6115 I'm getting is about 50mm thick and requires another

15mm of air gap underneath. That will not underhang a worktop that much.

If I wanted to raise it up, I would use aluminium box tube (B&Q).

Another option would be glass frame or even tiles, stuck onto the worktop to form a raised bezel.

But I don't see why a good quality bit of wood would not work - as long as it is well sealed.

[Tim Watts]

Should be better as many hobs can give a short term power boost to one or two rings - I've seen power levels upto 3.7kW quoted which is a lot more than most gas cookers can manage (with the possible except of a wok burner).

[Tim Watts]

I agree - with the proviso that a simple gas cooker can last forever - I doubt an induction hob will make it past 10 years due to all the high power electronics running in suboptimal (hot) conditions.

Talking of which - WHY are gas hobs not mandated to all be flame-failure safe?

[Tim Streater]

It already is a cutlery drawer :-)

The problem here is that the existing hob is over a 500-wide unit, and so overlaps the edges of the unit and the adjacent units. To create extra height, I'd have to remove the horizontal stiffeners at the top of this unit, as well as cut a chunk out of the sides. And lose the drawer. As it is, the drawer is immediately under the stiffeners.

I suppose it could be bodged. The drawer below is one of those stupid ones where the plastic sides to the drawer are much shallower than the wooden front. So I could cut down the front of that drawer, which would then match its content much better, and lower the existing cutlery drawer, and the stiffeners. But I'd still have to cut the sides of adjacent units as mentioned above.

Unclear that it's worth it. SWMBO prefers your ally tube concept although I should mention the tiles to her.

[Dave Liquorice]

Apart from the damn touch controls. Maybe it's my fingers but at least 1/3 of time any touch control doesn't "see" my touch. If it can't keep up with repeated taps to increment/decrement it's not good enough. Yes you can touch and hold but that is so slow.

Pro wok burners are around double that 3.7 kW... serious heat but what is needed. Back in the early 90's traveling round rural China a common form of heat for wok cooking was a compressed coal dust cylinder about 4" dia and 4" long with 1/2" holes through it, couple of those in a pottery holder and a fairly powerful "hair dryer" fan to give a forced air supply. Mini blacksmiths forge, bottoms of pans would glow dull red...

[Dave Liquorice]

Tiles or something else suitably heat tolerant and broad to reduce the partially placed or knocked pan takinga nose dive off the lip.

[Tim Watts]

I see...

Given what others have said re: pans falling off, I might be inclined to suggest 100mm tiles around the whole thing (trimmed front and back obviously).

Or another idea: some corian or stone worktop offcuts made into a fram, again with 100mm either side and full front and back.

Is you used notionally black stone (or corian) it would compliment the black hob surface and look more like a feature - with a nice wipeable surface around the hob.

[S Viemeister]

Good idea.