I’m looking at buying an induction burner but it’s hard to find which brands may be reliable. Most of the youtube reviews are done by review bot channels and relying on amazon reviews in this day and age… yeah. So does anyone have any experience with these and know of a brand that I can go toward?
I have this one.
Six months in with daily use and no issues, it was recommended by a couple sites in my research. So was the Ikea one. I bought it to validate my decision to switch to an induction hob in the next 3-4 years, and I’m completely sold in spite of a few hiccups.
Pros:
Cons: The heating area is smaller than it appears, not as large as the largest circle that they printed on the top but bigger than the smaller one. With cast iron or thick-bottomed pots this isn’t an issue as the heat spreads, but with thinner pans there’s a noticeable cold ring around the outside. Not important for boiling, which is about 60% of my use-case lol
Obviously can’t be used with non-magnetic pans, so all my cheap aluminum stuff stays dusty over on on the gas stove
(US-specific) max power and boil functions can only be used for short periods of time unless your kitchen has 20-amp circuits (mine does but some don’t)
The temp control function is iffy. I find it mostly not useful compared to “regular” 1-10 stove control.
Personally my biggest pet peeve is that the cord is very thick and difficult to deal with. I know it needs to be this way to handle the current, but it’s still annoying. Currently using about 5 rubber bands keeping it tidy. On the balance, when I take it somewhere I appreciate it being longer so that it can reach floor outlets or be out on a counter.
Thanks for the well thought out response! I was looking at that one. How granular is the temperature at low temps? Will it keep something nicely at below the boiling point?