Early in my professional cooking career, I was happy to switch from the electric stove of my youth to a full-powered gas stove. And now, some 30 years in, I’ve been introduced to induction cooking and I’ve made another switch. It’s making me even happier. I’ll explain why.

Sleek and smooth ceramic-glass induction cooktops look almost indistinguishable from flat-topped electric stoves, but aside from using electricity, that’s where similarities end. Induction stoves are more powerful, more energy-efficient and safer.

How it works

Induction cooking technology uses electromagnetism to transfer energy directly from a copper element beneath the glass straight to the cookware — one simple advance that makes them more efficient and significantly more powerful than gas or electric stoves.

Induction cooking is super responsive and precise, giving you a lot of control. A pot of water (or soup!) will boil quickly and drop to a simmer almost instantly. — Susie Middleton

Bypassing the heating of the cooktop surface makes induction stoves about 84 percent efficient, compared to approximately 74 percent efficiency for electric cooktops and about 40 percent for gas-powered stoves. (In other words, when cooking with gas, about 60 percent of the energy consumed is wasted.) When used, a gas stove heats the air around the pots and an electric stove heats the burner first, which in turn then heats the pot.

For cooks, induction technology translates into faster cooking times. Nearly everyone who has made the switch to induction, including myself, mentions how quickly water comes to a boil and how quickly food starts cooking. Consumer Reports® has found induction cooktops can boil water 20 to 40 percent faster than tested gas and traditional electric cooktops.

Updating your pots and pans – or not

One downside of this technology is that not all pots and pans work with induction, and you may need to purchase a few new pans, depending on your current batterie de cuisine. With an electromagnetic field inducing an electrical current directly to the cooking vessel, only pots to which a magnet sticks will work.

To find out if your pot or pan will work on an induction stove, see if a magnet will cling to it. — Susie Middleton

Many newly manufactured pots (including ceramic and nonstick) are induction-ready, as well as all cast iron pans or enameled cast iron cookware like Le Creuset or Staub. Steel carbon pans are generally induction friendly, as is most, but not all stainless steel (depending on the nickel content). Aluminum is not ferromagnetic; much of the older All-Clad cookware (like I have) is not suitable for induction. Nor are those restaurant-style aluminum frying pans!

But again, the best way to find out is to stick a magnet to the bottom of your pan.

What about cleanup?

Many people find their next favorite thing about induction is the easy cleanup. Julia Wells of West Tisbury, who has had her Bosch induction stove for five years and loves it, said she just uses warm soapy water and a soft cloth — nothing abrasive. Cleanup is easy! No more removing grates or cleaning around all the elements. If you like, you can also purchase cleaning products specifically designed to maintain the shine without any streaks on induction cooktops. But they aren’t necessary.

The best part: precision cooking

However, the feature that I personally find most helpful is that you can adjust the cooking heat instantly and precisely. My cooktop features numbers 1 through 10, with 10 being high and 1 low. If I’ve got a burner on high and water boiling, and I want to reduce to a simmer, the bubbling decreases instantly when I turn to a lower number. We all know how long that takes on an electric stove, and even a gas stove isn’t that fast. While I used to think I was getting an “instant” response with gas, I didn’t realize how much time I wasted adjusting the flame to get the exact temperature I wanted. To get the lowest setting on my gas stove, for example, I’d often experience the flame going out altogether. I’d have to turn the burner on again and again.

With induction, if I want a simmer, I turn to 1 or 2, and it is instantly where I want it to be. And it stays at that temperature until I make another adjustment! Julia mentioned how much she loves this feature, too. “The controls are so precise that you can put a burner on super-low, which is just brilliant. I can keep a pan of milk warm for my tea without it boiling over.”

Cooktop configurations vary on induction ranges. You'll also see brands with traditional knobs as controls (like this LG model) instead of a digital panel.

A wee learning curve

Cooking on induction does have a learning curve and takes some adjustment. My first experience using induction came five years ago when I was cooking dinner at a new job for my clients and their guests. The first day was beyond frustrating. At one point, all six burners turned off simultaneously, and each one had to be turned on and adjusted again. But I soon came to appreciate the benefits, and continued my six-day-a-week cooking job the same as I would with a gas stove.

Marilyn Miller of Oak Bluffs said she thought her adjustment to using their new induction stove, a 30-inch GE Profile, was about the same adjustment period as with any new appliance. “You learn with your stove; that’s what I did with the gas stove.” Now using induction is second nature. And she loves cleaning the flat surface. “Honestly for me, it’s an amazing feature — not having to clean those heavy grates on top.” Even better – energy efficiency and safety

Marilyn serves on the Oak Bluffs Climate and Energy Advisory Committee. She said it was the environmental plusses that led her and her husband Ron to get an induction stove in the first place. “We wanted to make the full switch from fossil fuels to electric.” They had installed solar, switched to mini-splits, and all that was left was changing their propane-fueled stove and clothes dryer to electric. That final push for them came soon after reports began emerging about a variety of pollutants emitted by gas stoves.

The cooktop on this GE Profile model has a digital control panel right on the surface of the cooktop. It also features two burners (left) that can be used as one long burner for a griddle.

Gas stoves were first introduced in the early twentieth century and heavily advertised during the 1960s as the cool and sophisticated way of cooking. Looking back, there were early reports of pollutants, but beginning in 2021 and over the next two years, reports flooded the media about the whole range of indoor pollutants emitted. It came as a surprise to many. “We knew there were the bigger environmental issues about the use of propane,” said Marilyn. “But we didn’t realize the effect on the environment right inside our own house.”

Some of those pollutants include methane, hexane, formaldehyde, benzene, and nitrogen dioxide. One study, released by Stanford University, revealed that this mix of pollutants, especially the nitrogen dioxide, could be responsible for as many as 200,000 current asthma cases in U.S. homes.

To offer more information about the environmental hazards of gas stoves, as well as general articles on induction cooking versus other stoves, Marilyn has put together an online list called Resources for Induction Cooking. It is located on the Oak Bluffs town website (oakbluffsma.gov) under the Climate and Energy Advisory Committee (full web address at right), along with information about other home energy topics such as going solar, using heat pumps, and buying electric cars.

Another safety feature of induction stoves is that burners cool down almost immediately when a pan is taken off so there is less chance of accidental burns. Models with digital controls often feature a child safety lock, too. Some have an “automatic” shut-off feature that will kick in if a pan is taken off. And some also allow you to set a timer to have your burner shut off after a certain amount of time. This might be handy when cooking rice.

Try out induction cooking by renting a portable induction burner (made by Duxtop), from any of our Island libraries.

Doing your research – and taking a test-spin

Once you make a decision to buy an induction stove or cooktop, the next step is researching the many brands and models, similar to buying any major appliance or stove. Since induction cooking is newish, I highly recommend asking friends who have purchased an induction stove or cooktop if you can visit and see how it works. Different brands have different burner arrangements (see below); most have digital controls but some have knobs. Ask your friend what they like or don’t like about their model.

Each of the town libraries on the Island now lends lightweight, portable single induction burners made by Duxtop. You can find them on the library websites under “things that can be rented.” Check one out for a week or two and cook on it.

Consumer Reports® offers a guide to induction cooking and buying. (See sources below.) The prices vary widely too, and on the lower end, they start at just over $1000, more than basic electric or gas stoves which can be purchased starting in the $600-$800 range.

Once you have purchased (phew!), enjoy your time in the kitchen cooking faster and more efficiently.

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Catherine Walthers is a private chef, author of four cookbooks and a new cookbook coming this summer called The Sea Table, produced by the Martha’s Vineyard Fishermen’s Preservation Trust. She lives in West Tisbury.

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