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Comment by ptomato | Hacker News Reader

Let me know when you can buy one of decent quality in the US with actual physical controls instead of some insane touch system designed by somebody who has apparently never actually been in a kitchen and marketed to people who won't use it but just want a thing that looks cool.

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Ugh, my parents have an oven like that. Press the "bake" button and it'll happily tell you you have to press the "on" button first. Infuriating design, and you have to mash your thumb for a good 1-2 seconds before it reads the press, too.

Or our old Samsung washing machine, that wouldn't let you turn it off and on again without listening to the startup and shutdown songs first. (Our newer LG is much better in this regard.)

Sounds like a child safety feature since most slide-in ovens have controls on the front.

Even in Germany there are very few left with knobs... I think a price comparison listed like 10 models... Miele had/has some... Then there is neff with a "puck" thingy, somewhere in the middle and then some high priced stuff...

[1] actually lists a few more, was looking for something bigger than 60cm (23inch??) wide.

[1] https://geizhals.de/?cat=hkochf&xf=4220_11~4220_4~4220_5~422...

If you select "EU" from the flag drop-down on the top left, you get an English version of the page (seems to be properly translated).

Should be more useful for sharing with a primarily-non-German audience. (The site itself is awesome, though; a very effective parametric price comparison site made by people that actually understand technology and know how important details are. It's owned by the publisher behind "c't", the big European/German non-tabloid computer magazine.)

Those are standalone induction cooktops. It's common to install a cooktop on top of an oven by the same manufacturer. In that category, there are still many devices (from many manufactures, low and high end) with rotating knobs, integrated into the oven component.

https://geizhals.de/?cat=hherdset&xf=1959_Induktion~8421_60~...

well, maybe was common, with a bit of money and a new kitchen I would guess it is more common to separate the two entities and not have the oven on the floor... also very neat for the dishwasher if you have the space :-)

No, I think they are common and will be common for the foreseeable future even for most new construction, but I can't be bothered to find any references, which are unlikely to be publicly available anyway.

That is the sad truth. It is absolutely maddening the control schemes on every induction cooktop I've used. It's like an 80's car dashboard and radio. Nothing is obvious or makes sense--the most simple action like turn up the power is a complex process of multiple presses, different modes, etc.

I consider the induction touch controls one of the few places where the touch controls actually make sense. It makes cleaning the entire range trivial. Which given how messy I tend to cook, I have to do a lot.

I think the problem is that nobody buys hobs with dials anymore. When they have the choice, most people prefer the sleek look and easy cleaning.

And the controls aren't all terrible. We have a cheap electric Ikea hob (non-induction), and the controls are decent. It has digits from 0-9 for each heater, so you can set every heater to the right power with a single touch.

If you spill something it starts beeping, and you have about 10 seconds to wipe the controls with a rag, or it turns off. It's annoying the first time it happens, but it's not a big deal in practice.

I use this hob everyday to cook for 5 people, so it's not like sensor controls are useless.

It also has some advantages, like individual timers for each heater. And the little one can't reach the controls and mess with them.

Are there any like that anywhere? I would think part of the problem is that induction settings are usually in discrete steps so a knob, which is what I assume you mean by physical control, may not be any better than a simple +\- control and would stick up from a seamless cooktop. Also, the highest end ones like Thermadors seem to focus on making the entire cooktop usable which kind of breaks the discrete burner area paradigm that knobs would suggest. Closest I’ve seems is a little puck on Samsung cooktops that you can use to adjust the controls but I would hate worrying about losing it.

I want 200 discrete settings then, so a knob is better. Or at least I think I want that considering how many micro adjustments I make on all stoves I've used before

I don't know what it is about induction that makes a rheostatic-like control unfeasible but the most I've seen is about 20 levels so you might be waiting a while.

Many more are a problem without a knob to speed through the steps.

There's no reason an induction hob can't be run with delta-sigma over it's normal low-resolution PWM to get accurate, high-resolution average power control. 1% power accuracy is easy, 0.1% is a few bucks more per "burner".

The problem I've seen with some induction hobs is that the low power settings are basically 1 second on / 5 seconds off, which is kinda annoying when the liquid goes between boiling violently / not boiling at all. Maybe thicker pots would help smoothing that out, though.

Frigidaire has one: https://www.appliancesconnection.com/frigidaire-professional...

I almost bought this after much research but ended up doing a range instead.

It's much easier to find a range with knobs for the cooktop so I won't bother linking to one.

Indeed, I will never buy a stove without physical knobs. Add to that a stove top that can handle some real usage without breaking up. My circles have had too many reports on cracked induction or ceramic tops. Kettles can get heavy and hands get weak, and especially when you're busy in the kitchen the cooking ware do inevitably bang onto the stove top occasionally.

Mine doesn't have physical knobs, either. And worse, it has a flashing red indicator light, that blinks when it is plugged in and turned OFF. So maddening, had to wire up an external switch just to keep from getting angry every time I walked past it. Still, it is great for cooking, and worth putting up with these minor annoyances.

At least Gaggenau has different options with physical knobs [1].

[1] https://www.gaggenau.com/global/products-list/cooktops/400-s...?

NuWave Pro or PolyScience Control Freak. The second is 5-10x as expensive as the first. Both discrete appliances.

I suspect we will finally see a return to buttons in a couple years. I'm picturing an iPhone with a side ridge of multiple buttons. Like, little mini haptic-feedback touchpads (like the main pads on macbooks....but smaller)

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