Induction Cooking - Better than Gas?

Is induction cooking better than gas?  Most people would choose gas.  Why? Mostly because they may believe it is more responsive that electric cooktops, or they are used to cooking with gas, or they once had an old syle electric cooktop.  But what about induction cooktops!  Here are some facts to help you decide as you plan for your new home or kitchen remodel.

1. While induction cooktops use electricity, they use a completely different technology to cook food. In fact, your pan cooks the food instead of the old fassioned electric coils we think of.  An electromagnetic induction generator below the surface of the glass top causes the ferromagnetic metal such as cast iron or stainless steel in the bottom of your pan to heat up and cook your food.
2. Induction cooking is faster that gas especially if the model you choose has a "booster" function.  Be prepared to have your ingredients, like pasta, ready to go.  Boiling is fast!
3. Change of temperature is also fast.  Once you reset your controls to "simmer" for example. It will happen almost immediately.  Why? Because there are no cumbersom electric coils involved, just electronics.
4. Simmer:  Need a true simmer to melt butter or chocolate, or to let your sauce  cook nice and slow without the fear of burning or overcooking.  Well the induction controls are very refined to give you very low heat or very high heat...did I say "on the fly".
5. Energy Efficiency: Compared to gas, induction cooking is 84% efficient while gas is only 40% efficient.  With induction cooking, almost all of the source energy gets transferred to the vessel that cooks your food.
6. Carbon Footprint:  No gas, so no carbon...but there could be a carbon footprint with your electric provider!
7. Safety:  The cooktop stays cool.  Only the pan gets hot, so you can wipe up around your burners as you go.  Once a pan is removed from the glass, the cooktop cools quickly...and with most models, the burner is automatically deactivated when your pan is removed.
8. Ease of cleaning:  My gosh.  No knobs, no grills, just one simple smooth surface that can be cleaned with simple cleaners like Windex or spray water with a clean cloth.
9. Aesthetics:  Gee, one clean simple surface.  Perhaps not for everyone, but certainly fitting for a contemporary look.
10. Cookware:  You may have to go shopping for new pots and pans that are made with ferromagnetic material in the bottom.  Some percieve this as a negative, but you can decide.  By the way, some of the new cookware comes cermaic non-stick linings are dramaicly improved from the "Telfon" days.  The newest cook ware for induction is engineered to produce very even cooking throughout the bottom of the pan.

Cooking has come a long way!