We are building a new kitchen in our house. Should we pick a gas or induction cooktop? Why?
Gas or Induction Cooktop? Poll Included
Comments
Just as a point of interest on gas costs - I moved from natural to LPG for hot water and cooking.
LPG costs, using bog standard Bunnings swap and go, is cheaper than the connection fee for NG.
Note though for anyone interested - this is in my case, and may not be true for everyone! ;-)
Yes, definitely this. Gas was good value before we built all those export terminals. Now I'd stick to bottles and avoid metered gas. And personally will be looking at my next place to ditch gas entirely so I can be more self-reliant using solar etc.
You'll find most decent cookware is already induction compatible, and the dirt cheap cast iron stuff is as well (and it will outlive us all). It's only the aluminium stuff that isn't.
I find gas is quicker / easier to manage the temperature and therefore is my preference. Depends on what type of food you like, but we went with a cooktop with a wok burner in the centre which is a great feature.
Re Archi's above comment re natural versus LPG, go with natural if it is available for you. We are on bottled LPG and only use it for cooking, and don't find it expensive, but maybe once or twice a year need to change the gas bottles (takes only a few minutes, but will always be raining for sure).
There is a temperature difference between natural and LPG, so make sure you get it installed professionally and then it is not a problem.As someone with natural gas piped in, I have the contrary point of view. Next place I'm going to ditch the gas cooktop and go for induction, all my pans are induction compatible (including my wok). The connection fees are horrendous if you have NG piped in, I pay about $260/qtr for gas (includes hot water), for a 1 person household. Most of that is connection fee.
I wasn't aware that the connection fees were so high.
I'm happy to stick with the bottled gas solution; we have 2 x 45kg bottles on site, and exchange when one is empty at a cost of about $110-120/bottle (plus annual service charge $70). We only use for cooking so the exchange is not frequent.
We do have a gas supply in our street, but I won't consider that as an option now.
Depends on existing connections. If your house isn't already plumbed for gas I would go induction.
If it is plumbed for gas but it isn't plumbed to the kitchen, I still wouldn't bother.
Gas cooks better and some dishes and cuisine requires a solid flame but for all those dishes, I just eat out.
I cook simple when I'm at home and I am very particular with my kitchen. Induction is much easier to keep clean. Also, you tend to cook less oily foods because it doesn't heat up as well as gas does.
From cooking on gas, in the future I'd cook the sort of things that work better with gas outside on the BBQ and have induction only inside. Induction gets just as hot / hotter it just doesn't feel like it because it's heating the pan directly. Very few things require a naked flame to cook, and they're often best cooked outside.
Induction's heat distribution is directly to the ferromagnetic mass of the pan/pot base. The heat disperses quickly into the food.
Gas heat hits the bottom of the pan and deflects to the side making its way up. The air around the stove also gets heated up.
It's a very different heat profile and disregard the marketing about flame like induction.
Gas/flame is fantastic if you love cooking and have to eat gourmet on a daily basis but I just cannot overlook how much lower maintainable an induction top is and much more flattering lines in the kitchen.
Yeah, given how hard my gas cook-top is to clean comparatively, I use it less often than I would otherwise.
Honestly the only thing I've had with Gas that I'd not have with induction is a the minor kitchen fire which resulted in some minor burns.
Why not both? Renovated our kitchen 8 years ago, and got a Highland cooktop with 1x gas + 2x induction. We end up using induction ones most of the time, and the gas cooktop when we need that extra "fire power".
Induction would be my choice, much easier to keep clean. I'm a huge fan of induction and I only have one of those portable cooktop models. Next house I own, definitely getting a proper induction cooktop installed.
Option 3 - normal electric.
Worth considering because induction and electric are about the same efficiency, despite what a lot of people say.
https://www.centurylife.org/is-induction-more-efficient-than…Also electric equipment is less complex, breakdown prone and costly and works with more cookware.
Though induction has more control over heat.
Induction.
Can’t believe it’s getting less votes….
Unless you are using a wok or something similar and have the gas connection
i would pick induction all day and get a gas burner for the bbq outside
We currently have mains gas to the house and a gas stove, but we are moving the location of the kitchen so will also need to extend gas line to new kitchen - old stove to new new stove around 3-4m?
Do you have gas hot water? If so there's less incentive to ditch the gas connection.
I'd still prefer induction but YMMV.
Agree. Work to gradually reduce your dependence on gas. Makes it easier to disconnect from gas and power everything with solar and battery in 10 years.
The thrill of the pan/wok catching on fire when you give it a good shake is enough for me to always choose gas.
Our gas usage costs are pretty small, but the service charge is huge in comparison. We have gas cooking and a gas heater. Usage for the summer quarter is under $5, but the service charge is over $50. We use a lot more gas in winter with the heater so usage goes up to around $50.
I'd change to electric (induction probably) straight away if we didn't enjoy the gas heater in winter. Yuo can power the stove cheaper using solar panels (in summer anyway)
Had my first experience with an induction cooktop. Mixed feelings.
Pro - easy to clean, heats up fast.
Cons -Very inconsistent on/off cooking. Might be a rubbish brand (Highland I think)?We are looking at getting a couple of gas bottles and have a small electric cooker, plus gas cook top. Would never pay for a gas connection.
I would get gas if you do a lot of cooking that varies in technique like steam, pan frying, stir frying, braising, poaching. gas is relatively cheaper to run
if you don't have natural gas, bottle gas is expensive and you may want to weigh up the cost between that and induction especially if you have solar.
induction cook tops look nice and easy to keep clean for that not so often used kitchen, my parents have a nice kitchen they rarely use and do all their cooking in a secondary kitchen outside.
induction cooktops require heavy based pans with lead. so things like glass, ceramic and stone pots don't work.
good luck I choose gas