Looking for induction range recommendations
MartinHolladay
| Posted in General Questions on
My wife and I hope to purchase an induction range — that is, a 30-inch-wide appliance that sits on the kitchen floor and includes an oven under the cooktop. I’d like to hear from GBA readers who have purchased such an appliance.
What manufacturer and model did you choose? What are the pluses and minuses of the model you bought? Thanks.
[Later edit: This question includes a correction. When I first posted, I mistakenly wrote 36 inches wide — I meant to write 30 inches wide.]
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I haven’t used our induction range yet but we chose a Bosch benchmark slide in model. They have a really nice 36” freestanding model but we decided to save $ and got this one: https://www.bosch-home.com/us/productslist/cooking-baking/slide-in-ranges/induction-slide-in-ranges/HIIP057U#/
Others probably have more comprehensive information for you, I can’t say we put together a comparison spreadsheet or anything. The pro for us was mainly that Bosch is very good but not as expensive as Miele, the con is that it is not Miele. Price jumps so much between 30-36” size so we stayed at 30”. I like the Flex Induction feature on the left side. It’s basically a big rectangular element with 4 little zones so you could put a griddle on it or a series of tiny pots at different temps. Great if you want to heat smaller portions of food and sauces etc. Must have oven features are a telescoping oven rack and true European convection. Freestanding ranges look more premium, but I actually like the slide-in one we chose because the glass top extends a bit over the sides to eliminate the crumb gap.
One thing I’d look for which you might not have thought of is the distance from the cooking elements to your body while standing there. There is usually one most-used high powered element and I like the models that have this in the middle rather than on the right side close to the front. The radiation from induction cooktops is generally thought to be safe at this time but you will notice that the safety compliance testing has lab settings which differ from many use cases in a home. Read the fine print. In short, it is best to maximize the distance between yourself and the cooking element while in use. Don’t have young kids with their heads right up against the cooktop height, stand as far back as reasonably possible. Anyway the middle burner is good because it’s quite far away from the front so it is safer if you are concerned about totally exceeding international radiation exposure safety limits for body parts and organs that tend to be in close proximity to the cooktop… life is short so I wouldn’t worry about it too much but do exercise some caution, I was surprised to learn that induction is not harmless. Probably still better than gas which is why I chose it for our new build, but I don’t think we will really know how safe induction is for another 20 years and anyone who says otherwise should just look at the rollout of gas stoves, cell phones or social media.
Oh, another benefit of the big middle burner is that you will more often be cooking closer to the back which is always better for the exhaust since effluent at the front is pretty hard to capture without a commercial restaurant hood above.
One potential downside of the model we chose, depending on the user, could be the digital controls. I’m young and very familiar with all things digital but I can see how some users might prefer traditional knobs which can be found on the Bosch freestanding ranges,
Thanks, Izzza. I have corrected a typo in my question. I'm looking for a 30-inch-wide range, not a 36-inch-wide range.
> One thing I’d look for which you might not have thought of is the distance from the cooking elements to your body while standing there. There is usually one most-used high powered element and I like the models that have this in the middle rather than on the right side close to the front. The radiation from induction cooktops is generally thought to be safe at this time but you will notice that the safety compliance testing has lab settings which differ from many use cases in a home. Read the fine print. In short, it is best to maximize the distance between yourself and the cooking element while in use.
I was quite taken aback to read this. What is the documented risk of EMF radiation emitted by induction cooktops? As someone who enjoys their 22,000 BTU/h burner gas range, but who would highly advocate the average consumer to switch to induction, I find raising FUD around EMF pseudoscience to be disconcerting and counterproductive.
These skepticisms are not harmless. I watch entire communities oppose power line upgrades not on the basis of aesthetics (which has some merit) but on pseudoscience claims of EMF dangers.
GBA should be better than this. If you are going to bring a warning, bring some science with it.
My GE cook top is 7 years old now but it looks and works like new with no repairs.
The GE brand had 3 totally different lines We got the Profile that was the midrange model.
I like the profile controls. I talked a friend into induction. They bought on price only and bought Whirlpool I found the controls frustrating at best boarding on useless.
My mom bought a combo 10 years ago and almost never uses the hot coils side.
Walta
We're using a model from IKEA, which is made by Whirlpool:
https://www.ikea.com/ca/en/p/saerklassig-induction-cooktop-black-20462066/
Super simple controls. No noticeable fan noise, or any noise for that matter. At full power with multiple hobs active, you can hear a slight buzzing noise if you get close enough.
It's a cooktop, but can be installed with one of their wall ovens as well. See the attached pic. The upside of this config is that the units are separate which may play out well with respect to future updates/repairs. The downside is that you'd have to plan for a bit more capacity using 2 x 240V (30A for the cooktop, 20A for the oven) circuits vs 1 for a range.
Zero complaints after two years of use. It does the usual super fast water boil tricks but also works suprisingly well for temperature control. My litmus test is doing Finn pancakes (super thin) in a cast iron pan. These require very even heat that is controlled and distributed well. Induction has been better than gas (which we use at camp) or resistance electric for this by a mile.
The cooktop also works quite well with my automation setup driving an EC inline kitchen exhaust fan proportional to the power use by the cooktop.
To clarify you may not need separate circuits (ie, separate circuit breakers) for the Cooktop and Oven as there is a code exemption which allows them to share, assuming the manufacturer doesn't say anything about it being disallowed.
See
https://www.diychatroom.com/threads/cooktop-and-wall-oven-on-same-circuit.712299/
https://diy.stackexchange.com/questions/138961/if-im-replacing-a-range-with-an-oven-and-cooktop-do-i-have-to-change-the-break/139070#139070
NEC Table 220.55 Note 4 Says:
Branch-Circuit Load. It shall be permissible to calculate the branch-circuit load for one range in accordance with Table 220.55. The branch- circuit load for one wall-mounted oven or one counter-mounted cooking unit shall be the nameplate rating of the appliance. The branch-circuit load for a counter-mounted cooking unit and not more than two wall-mounted ovens. all supplied from a single branch circuit and located in the same room, shall be calculated by adding the nameplate rating of the individual appliances and treating this total as equivalent to one range.
We bought a Samsung NE63B8611SS 30" slide-in 16 months ago. It's a fairly affordable model, and it's a big upgrade from anything I've used before. I do have a few complaints, but I still like it overall.
The burner heat settings are a bit too coarse. 1 is below a simmer, but 2 is boiling. I can work around it by moving to a smaller or bigger burner to get the right amount of heat, but it's annoying.
The electronics cooling fan is a little bit noisy with a slight rattle, and it runs for a while after using the oven. It's a bit like a range hood on low.
The oven controls are capacitive touch buttons, and we accidentally turn the oven on when wiping down the cooktop. We've even turned it on just brushing against it while walking by.
Besides these nitpicks, induction is wonderful. The glass is super easy to clean because it doesn't get hot enough to burn spills, even if you don't clean it up right away. My 2 year old can cook eggs, and the only hot surface is the bottom of the pan. It has lots of power with instant response.
I bought the Frigidaire Gallery about 4 years ago, at the time I think it was the cheapest induction range you could buy. No real problems except the oven door glass spontaneously combusted a year ago, which I fixed myself. Features to consider if I did it over again -- I would like the heat to be adjusted continuously via knob instead of the buttons on my range. Also, I wish the burners lit up to help me see if the pan is centered.
I recently did quite a bit of research on these with a couple of kitchen projects and my own house. Here’s my takeaways:
-The Bosch had a ton of reviews about the cooling fan noise. I dont know if that has been addressed as this was about a year ago.
-the cafe line feels very well made and solid. I also think it looks very nice, I have never been a fan of the curved oven handles. I have heard it does not excel at boiling. I think I would still consider it if I was shopping in the $4k range.
- the Frigidaire seems reliable and very functional.
- Samsung has some of the better technology, ie burner lights, connected, double oven. I think it may have the highest reliability risk of the ones I looked at. That being said this is the one I bought. I want to be able to connect it into my home for automation purposes ( mua, boost erv, graphing against other sensor data to see how use effect house (aqi, hvac consumption, humidity ( I have a few sensors in wall assemblies)).
-LG: lastly the lg is consistently at the top on consumer reports list. I don’t like it because of the design. The top is not a single piece of glass, it has raised bezels on the sides. I think this helps the crumbs in crack problem but creates its own, perhaps worse problem of crumbs in the edge. Also not a fan of look overall.
I would also highly recommends a couple of other features:
-Knobs
-Offset knobs in the formation of the burners. This is an easy feature that helps alleviate the uncertainty of knob-burner connection.
-Double oven only if it is removable to create single oven. I think most of the time you will use only smaller but I would not want that as only.
I am looking into switching to induction as well. In my research on induction ranges one fundamental problem showed up that makes it worse than gas cooking: unevenness. This is caused by the induction coil being smaller than the pan. A gas burner of any size heats up the air that spreads out around the pan but an induction coil only produces a vertical oriented magnetic field that heats the metal right above it. Worst case scenario is actually warping or cracking a cast iron/carbon steel pan.
One can reduce this effect with pre-heating (allow more time for heat to spread though the pan) and tri-clad cookware (spreads heat better). For the range the main solution is a larger coil. So pay close attention to the coil size of the largest coil.
There is one range which completely solves this by having a massive amount of coils. It is the Thermador Freedom. There aren't a lot of reviews out there for it, but they all seem to be glowing. It does cost more.
If you want to try out induction cooking, the Duxtop Portable induction cooker can be hooked up to a normal outlet and only costs a little over $100. It is well reviewed as the best low cost option. The coil size is quite small, but you can still put a big pot on if you are boiling water. I have this and have no complaints. It has been great to start learning how to cook with induction.
I have a Miele KM6375 cooktop and I have experienced absolutely zero problems with uneven heating. In fact the heating is superlative, I love that the same setting with the same pan is always exactly the same heat, so once I learned that, say, 6 is the right setting for sauteing onions they come out perfect every time. Now when I use a gas stove I'm struck by how archaic it is that you turn a knob and peek under the pan and tweak the knob and try to get the flame the right size.
The only thing I don't like is the controls, which are touch-screen style. They're not at all intuitive to me and I find them impossible to use with wet hands, which I seem to always have when cooking.
I realize this isn't what Martin is looking for, it's a cooktop not a stove, but I thought I'd throw it out there.
What kind of cookware do you have? Conductive cladding on the bottom of the cookware can fix the fact that only the middle of the pan is getting heated.
But it looks like some big cooking areas on that cooktop. The frustrating thing is its hard to verify the actual size of the induction coils underneath.
Lucky you, Miele is great!
I wouldn’t be too worried about pans warping… get some quality All-Clad pans and call it a day. I just have the D5 collection and it’s good but there are higher end ones that will be even better in terms of heat distribution. But this is also one reason I like the Bosch range we chose because the middle element is quite large so perfect for a big pan or Dutch oven.
Graygreen, I would never get Thermador. I know it’s Bosch but they are expensive and seem to have so many problems which are very expensive to fix. I’ve heard nothing but anecdotal horror stories from people with Thermador appliances.
I just checked back on the reddit thread where someone gave a glowing review and now someone else is giving one of those horror stories about it quickly breaking down and having very expensive repairs on the thread as well :)
Duxtop is fun to have, but it is not at all like the experience of using the full sized induction cooktops. It is loud and the thermal control on it is primitive, especially at lower heat levels. I think it all comes down to the speed at which the magnets turn on and off? So I would not get one of these and then decide induction ain't no good.
James,
It's more a function of it being low-end than that it is a portable single burner though. Breville's Control Freak is what they use at The French Laundry.
I needed to purchase my induction range in the summer of 2021, when COVID was impacting availability.
I wanted to focus on GE or Whirlpool for repairability.
None of the Whirlpool induction models were available.
None of the GE models available had knobs to control the burners, and I was advised that was unacceptable.
The Frigidaire (made by Electrolux) also has no knobs, so I was advised it was not an option.
That left Samsung & LG. The LG had the knobs required by my household, and Costco had the LG with the Costco extended warranty so I went with that. I went with the LG version with "ProBake Convection" (higher of the two options available at the time) because the bottom drawer is a warming drawer rather than storage drawer, and that seemed useful. The temperature probe that is comes with also seemed useful.
This range has been in use for over 2 1/2 years. The induction is sooo much better than cooking with gas and the convection oven cooks things much more evenly. It has been noted that I have cooked more in the last 2 1/2 years with this induction range than I did in over 25 years with a gas range. It is entirely predictable from one day to the next, it responds quickly, and it easy to clean up.
However I am not sure whether these things would be true of any induction cooktop with convection oven.
The things I am not crazy about are:
- After I turn off either the cooktop or the oven, the fan in the unit goes on and runs for at least 10 minutes. It is not excessively loud but any out of the ordinary noise is annoying.
- The dials are on the slanted front panel, as is the digital readout. The readout is at a particular angle that causes a glare and it is VERY difficult to read. I've messed around with different adjacent lighting to help resolve this, and gotten it better, but this is the most annoying part of this appliance.
- The temperature probe that was part of the upgrade is useless. I thought it would give me a digital readout of the temperature of the item into which the probe is inserted. But the only thing you can do with the probe is set a certain temperature which causes the oven to shut off when the item into which the probe is inserted reached that temperature. This is not really that useful.
ETA: The cooktop has 5 hobs. One of the hobs in the back is apparently a standard electric, rather than an induction, hob. I've never used it. The other 2 hobs in the back are smaller ones. Allison Bailes book states to use the back hobs most of the time as that area exhausts better, but since those are the smallest ones on this cooktop, I use the medium and large hob on the front the most. Just FYI in case that matters.
Another thing that is probably similar on all induction is that you cannot use the large hob with a small pan, as it does not sense the pan is there and won't go on. If you remove the pan, you have about 30 seconds to put it back before it shuts itself off. When any burner is on, there is red bar lights up on the surface to let you know which one is on.
As far as which pans to use, cast iron works fine. Costco gave a free set of non stick pots and pans, sort of medium quality, but a good replacement for the previous aluminum ones my household had and could no longer use. I've also bought a few GreenPan with the PFAS free Thermalon non-stick surface. They are ok; definitely not totally non stick.
GE Cafe https://www.cafeappliances.com/appliance/Cafe-30-Smart-Slide-In-Front-Control-Induction-and-Convection-Range-with-Warming-Drawer-CHS900P2MS1
We shopped extensively for my parents and this one was the winner. Good build and most importantly dial controls. The rings also light up to let you know which burner is on. The ones with two step touch screen are much more cumbersome to use, IMO. My brother bought the same one after playing with it. The purchase price is much lower than the web price.
We also looked at the LG mentioned above and agree with the comments. Build quality on the LG is lower than the Cafe, but it is more affordable. Another brother has a Bosch induction cooktop and doesn't love the digital controls.
Thanks to everyone for all the useful information. Below is a summary, for what it's worth. Prices are approximate. The summary includes one comment from another GBA thread.
Bosch - $3,800 - Digital controls. Bosch is very good but not as expensive as Miele.
Bosch - $3,800 - Middle element is quite large so perfect for a big pan or Dutch oven.
Bosch - $3,800 - My brother has a Bosch cooktop and doesn't love the digital controls.
Café - $4,000 - The Cafe line feels very well made and solid.
Café - $4,000 - The winner. Good build and most importantly dial controls. The rings also light up to let you know which burner is on.
Frigidaire - $1,100 - Cheapest induction range you could buy. No real problems except the oven door glass spontaneously combusted a year ago, which I fixed myself. Features to consider if I did it over again -- I would like the heat to be adjusted continuously via knob instead of the buttons on my range.
Frigidaire - $1,100 - Frigidaire seems reliable and very functional.
Frigidaire - $1,100 - The Frigidaire (made by Electrolux) has no knobs, so I was advised it was not an option.
GE - $3,500 - Looks and works like new with no repairs.
GE - $3,500 - None of the GE models available had knobs to control the burners, and I was advised that was unacceptable.
LG - $2,500 - The LG is consistently at the top on Consumer Reports list.
LG - $2,500 - The LG had the knobs required by my household, and Costco had the LG with the Costco extended warranty so I went with that.
LG - $2,500 - Build quality on the LG is lower than the Cafe, but it is more affordable.
Miele - $9,000 - Absolutely zero problems with uneven heating. I don't like the controls, which are touch-screen style. They're not at all intuitive to me and I find them impossible to use with wet hands.
Samsung - $1,200 - Samsung's basic induction range with physical dials for each burner has been great.
Samsung - $1,200 - The burner heat settings are a bit too coarse. The electronics cooling fan is a little bit noisy. It has lots of power with instant response.
Samsung - $1,200 - Samsung has some of the better technology, ie burner lights, connected, double oven; it may have the highest reliability risk of the ones I looked at. This the one I bought.
Whirlpool - $2,000 - A friend bought on price only and bought Whirlpool; the controls are frustrating at best boarding on useless.
Whirlpool - $4,099 - Super simple controls. No noticeable fan noise.
I see the Miele listed for $4099 here: https://www.ajmadison.com/cgi-bin/ajmadison/KM6375.html
Gray Green,
That's a cooktop. My prices (only approximate) are for a range that sits on the floor.
I paid around $3900 a couple of years ago. I'm not sure that the combination stove is the same as the cooktop.
Seems like a pretty good sum up of the most common ones. A note on Samsung, you will actually be more in the 2500-3000 range to get many of the nice design options like convection bake, virtual flame, knobs, etc
We switched from gas and have been very happy with our base model Frigidaire 30" single induction range for the last two years. A slight buzz when a burner is on and the storage drawer is quite small--but maybe they've solved these things since we bought. Convection oven works well and is reasonably accurate. We are fine with the front digital controls, certainly easy to keep clean. We would buy this again and would also consider the IKEA line-but we might be more budget oriented than some.
Definitely consider a range that has a bridge function in case you want to use a griddle or such.
I have a pretty hefty Bosch discount through my employer, but I really like the 30 inch Bosch induction slide-in that we bought with the discount a few years ago.
It's the Bosch 800 Series, HII8056U (the HII8057U is the current model) . It was made at the New Bern NC factory, so it's a more-or-less a local product for me.
Convection oven, warming drawer, speed boost feature to get water up to boiling faster, it's been quite good so far. The large diameter burner is 2600W, or 3700W with speed boost.
We also had the 30-inch dual fuel Bosch range before that, but got rid of it when we decided we were going to ditch the existing natural gas service. Same electric oven and controls as the induction range.
Make sure your pans are flat. I have a number of tri-ply Vollrath commercial fry pans (Tribute line) that I've had for years, and a few of them are frustrating to use because they aren't completely flat and they rock on the glass cooktop, causing some uneven heating problems (because of uneven inductive coupling, presumably). They do work great for the price, but they aren't kitchen jewelry like many of the brands/lines out there.
My other fry pans from De Buyer (mild steel) are slightly concave on the bottom (apparently by design) and don't have that issue at all. They work fantastic with induction too, like a thinner version of cast iron.
I went with the most basic Samsung induction range for ~$1200 2 years ago since it was in stock locally and had physical knobs. With Samsung in particular I wanted to minimize extra features that might break. I figured it was worth trying as the others I was considering would be in the $4k range like Bosch and Cafe. I've been happy with it and haven't had any issues.
We've had a Fisher & Paykel 24" wide model for about 6 or 7 years. It's been a love/hate relationship. It's only got 4 zones, but they are auto-sizing, and each half can be bridged to be a single, larger zone. The great thing about this is that it actually has the same cooking surface area as a typical 30" model, due to the way they lay out the different sized circles on a typical model. A couple of years ago, the control for one of the zones started getting hard to activate, and has gotten worse to the point it's basically unuseable. And being a capacitive touch control, it's unserviceable. Pretty annoying. For that reason, I'd try to find one with more conventional knob controls, if that's even a thing these days.
Edit: My particular model is a cooktop, but the observations would apply equally to a range.
Buy a used one. They all more or do the some thing, preferably one that uses a 40-amp, 240-volt circuit. Even better think about how often you use more then two burners and then look at a two burner option and a separate microwave / convection oven countertop unit.
frankcrawford,
Martin wants a range with oven, but I agree - If I was planning my kitchen from scratch I'd be temped to get a two burner stove-top, and have another two portable ones I could bring out and plug in as needed.
Frank,
I spend a lot of time cooking. Many dinners require 3 or 4 burners. We like to eat, and we cook from scratch.
Slight tangent but the new Miele's are the first models I've seen the US that allow the burners to be set to turn off with the timer function. Why this isn't more widespread I have no idea, seems incredibly useful.
If it’s helpful, Consumer Reports tested 15 electric induction ranges from 10 different manufacturers. The highest ranked are LG ranges LSE4617ST ($3800) and Studio LSIS6338F ($3298). Then the Frigidaire Gallery GCFI3060BF ($1398), the GE Profile PHS93XYPFS ($3993), LG LSIL6336FE ($2495), Frigidaire Gallery GCRI3058AF ($1200), Frigidaire Gallery FGIH3047VF ($1890), Samsung NE63T8951SG ($4023), IKEA Tvarsaker ($1400) were all in the highest ranking of the induction ranges. Style varies on these in case that matters. They are all 30” models.
These ratings were based on product reliability, owner satisfaction, high cooktop element (the efficiency of boiling water), low cooktop (ability to melt and hold chocolate without scorching it), baking (evenness of cookies and cakes baked on different racks), broiling (searing ability and evenness), capacity and self cleaning.
Many higher priced than most other basic electric ranges, but prices have come down and
the Inflation Reduction Act’s incentives for the purchase of electric ranges, including induction, could help further drive down the cost.
Rkujan,
That's very helpful. Thanks.