The World's Sexiest Stove
forbes.com
forbes.com
And please, please, please stop saying "culinary enthusiast." In my humble opinion, if "[o]ne of the key consumer cues for induction is cleanability," that's less an enthusiast and more a lazy person with 5 grand to throw at a stovetop. I know a few people who actually work as chefs - the most enthusiastic of culinary practitioners, I presume - and I haven't heard any of them ever complain about the "cleanability" of, well, anything.
[Edit] Not to mention, the UI on that touch panel is totally uggs. Look at those pseudo-3D buttons!
As my baking/roasting requires more exacting temperatures than my stovetop cooking, I go electric, every time.
Now, they don't go around announcing to all their friends about what kind of knife they use (like many home cooks), but they do care about their tools.
Personally I just want knives that are sharp. I view them a lot like wine. There is a big jump from the $2 bottle to the $8-$20 bottle and then not so much from there. Buying the middle ground makes sense.
What part of fine dining did you work in? Any kitchens I'd have heard of?
When I worked fine dining it was at the Mills House [1] over 10 years ago. Sometimes I miss the days where my job ended as soon as I left work with a wad of cash :)
Please, people. Find other adjectives for inanimate objects and abstractions.
Talk to any chef that works for hire in people's homes, they'll tell you about $10,000 Viking ranges that still have the manuals stapled to the rack.
On thing I noticed about the video was the horrific parallax; it looked like the demonstrator was hitting the touch screen a good 1/2" away from what was being selected.
They're also pretty cheap; a single burner cooktop from a good brand costs under $70.
My understanding is, gas is the gold standard in the US mostly because gas (cooking fuel) is so incredibly cheap here; induction is more common in Europe.
I did have trouble a few years ago finding a good quality pan suitable for use on induction hobs with a non-stick coating for my US sister.
I do a lot of stir-fry cooking with a wok and the only way those things work well is if there is a blazing inferno below them. I also like to use cast-iron pans for grilling, because they hold heat well and don't cool off as quickly as aluminium cookware, which helps a lot with big pieces of meat and fish.
I must admit that the cleanliness and beauty of induction stoves does appeal to me. A combination stove where half of it is induction (for boiling water, cooking pasta etc.) and half is gas for more heavy-duty work would be perfect.
Gas cooktops are great! For me, based on my limited experience and knowledge, it's (Tied for 1st) [Gas, Induction], then the 2-slice toaster, then the microwave oven, then electric.
Also, not sure how energy efficient. It may depend on the specific cook top. At max power, the things drain a lot of power. It's possible that they consume less "energy" than gas but are still more expensive, right? Gas is very cheap.
It's very trippy to sear meat or boil water on a burner, lift the pan off, and have the cooktop surface be cool to the touch.
We may pull a lot of our electricity from the ground at the moment too, but there are options for renewable sources of electricity.
GE rates their induction cooktops are being able to boil water about 25% faster than their gas cooktops with similar gas output. But I have seen other scores that show that induction is only slightly faster at boiling water.
But I've done my own tests and so has Cooks Illustrated and it doesn't look like the typical induction unit boils water faster than gas. On the other hand: who cares?
I disagree: the problem with the interface shown is the disconnect between the screen and the stove.
I'd like to see the stove itself as the touch screen.
"I detected you moved a pot, would you like me to set up a new cooking area? Confirm|Cancel|File Not Found"
Ferromagnetic pots are not expensive. Even Ikea sells them on half of their range.
I think this downside of induction is wildly overstated; I have very few pieces of cookware that aren't "induction compatible", and I certainly didn't shop for them with that as a criteria. Any All-Clad pan works; my cheap-o omelette pan works; my enameled dutch oven works; obviously, my cast iron skillet works.
So much normal, good cookware works on an induction cooktop that it might make more sense to think about "induction incompatibility" as a liability of exotic (or particularly cheap) cookware, instead of a liability of induction.
I find this sexier: http://www.agaliving.com/our-products/classic-aga-cookers/4-...
Though, I'll be honest and say that I have trouble finding something cast-iron 'sexy'.
http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&safe=off...
does 90% of the stuff that cast iron behemoth does and won't make your house require a A/C in the winter.
Harsh temperature changes can break it, but slamming cookware against it won't break tempered glass. All the edges and corners should be hidden, so it's not like you're going to be able to whack the corner where it's weak. A tempered piece of glass is under stress, which concentrates along the edges and at the corners. That makes them into weak points. The flat side? You can hit that all day with a shovel.
That said, things like scratches can weaken it. So I wouldn't be surprised if some combination of scuffing up the surface & big temperature changes were enough to blow one up. And yes, tempered glass blows up, it doesn't just crumble. Like I said, it's under stress, so it goes flying, just like the pieces of a balloon do when it's popped.