What's YOUR Experience With Induction Cookers


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micah4

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Sep 14, 2005
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Come, share your experience with induction cookers...

Mine have been lousy having used 2 over the last decade and both broke within the warranty period of 1 year.

Both are under 100SGD - one's a China made brand (forgotten the name) bought through a friend who brought it in, and the other, Morris (most recent).

My own view is that they are useful, but a little inconvenient, as you have to get utensils that are induction-capable i.e. magnetic .

I've also wondered if the high breaking down rate could be due to the equipment quality as indicated by its price. Hence would those priced above 100SGD be BETTER and those above 200SGD be BEST??

:)
 

my kitchenware back in Australia are induction based cook tops.

oh my they are awesome. on par with gas fired stove in terms of time taken to warm up and fire control. it will never be as good as cooking on a gas fired stove though, but since it's what the apartment came with, I've got to live with it.

as for brands and cost... I would think that a more expensive one has a better build/warranty against it? check it out to see if you can purchase an extended warranty for such appliances from Courts or Best Denkei, assuming you are buying it from such places.
 

...that's exactly what all of us, I guess, do not want to do or hope won't happen - that is, having to make use of the warranty service.

Ugh, don't even want to have to consider extended warranties...

Some products I've purchased just last and last and last and last and last................and last!

That's what I had hope to see with these induction cookers. But they seemed so fragile...:dunno::thumbsd:

Well, if price is a gauge of quality and build for induction cookers (at least for the standalone kind), then I guess the next one (if I ever have the confidence to get one again) will be...no, must be in the 200SGD range, or none.

Hmmm, but then, I still have a nagging concern that even these 200SGD-range might just fail within a....no...2 year period.

:bigeyes:
 

I have 2 induction cookers in my home. Both are TAIYO. One is one with ceramic flat top (top from Germany), another with a white surface top (top from Japan). Cost: about $450 (former) and $120 (latter)

Both have served me well for the past 2 years.
 

Oh, so looks like Taiyo is quite a reliable brand...anyone used Philips' ??
 

For one, it is safer. No more wind blowing away the flame and left the gas on. It is faster too.
 

Anyone can share the adv/disadv of induction vs gas cookers?
 

Anyone can share the adv/disadv of induction vs gas cookers?

adv
- no danger of gas leak
- u can touch the induction cooker and it won't burn ur hand
- no need to pay PUB to connect the gas to cook your first meal after you moved to a brand new apartment.

disadv
- cannot cook when there is blackout
- and cannot light a candle when there is a blackout
 

adv
- no danger of gas leak
- u can touch the induction cooker and it won't burn ur hand
- no need to pay PUB to connect the gas to cook your first meal after you moved to a brand new apartment.

disadv
- cannot cook when there is blackout
- and cannot light a candle when there is a blackout
u can UPS it to work in black out loh... hahaha

also... no blackout also cannot light candle wat.
 

the danger of gas leak is a very VERY real thing. a friend's grandparents in family died that way when they lit a match at the kitchen, not knowing that there was a gas leak. I don't need to tell you what happened next.


induction cooktops offer the same control over the heat as gas tops as well, so in essence it's a safer, non-combustible version of a gas cooktop.


only trouble is, you can't use non-ferrous cookware on an induction cooktop (since they wouldn't get magnetized and thus wouldn't heat up. I think it's non-ferrous. correct me if I'm wrong).
 

u can UPS it to work in black out loh... hahaha

also... no blackout also cannot light candle wat.

oh yeah hor. canot have candle light dinner if no match / gas stove only has induction cooker :bsmilie:
 

i use halogen cooktop cuz i like glass pot better

last time buy $300+

induction cooker good, can have little family steamboat using metal pot
 

have a philips at home... used only once for steamboat and it worked well.. havent used it long enough to knows its reliability or comparison with other brands..

but one thing i dont like about that philips stove was that it requires flat cookware with a minimum size (yar I know that induction cookers need flat metal cookware).. but that philips stove decides that my pot ( which i wanted to use to cook maggi mee and is flat) was not suitable and starts beeping and refuse to operate.. .. :bsmilie:

but as I said, it worked well for the steamboat though.. :bsmilie::bsmilie:
 

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have a philips at home... used only once for steamboat and it worked well.. havent used it long enough to knows its reliability or comparison with other brands..

but one thing i dont like about that philips stove was that it requires flat cookware with a minimum size (yar I know that induction cookers need flat metal cookware).. but that philips stove decides that my pot ( which i wanted to use to cook maggi mee and is flat) was not suitable and starts beeping and refuse to operate.. .. :bsmilie:

but as I said, it worked well for the steamboat though.. :bsmilie::bsmilie:

induction cookers works by magnetic fields - hence your utensils MUST be magnetic-capable...at least for the flat bottom area.

When purchasing, bring along a magnet (those magnetic notice board kind will do) and test and you'll know for sure if it can be use for induction cookers.

It's not the size, but I think there is a minimum size for optimum use too (not sure about this).

What I like about induction cooker is that there IS NO WASTED HEAT. This site explains it well: "With induction cooking, energy is supplied directly to the cooking vessel by the magnetic field; thus, almost all of the source energy gets transferred to that vessel. With gas or conventional electric cookers (including halogen), the energy is first converted to heat and only then directed to the cooking vessel--with a lot of that heat going to waste heating up your kitchen (and you) instead of heating up your food." [Source]

Another useful "no waste heat" cooker is the hotplate kind. The hotplate when heated up retains the temperature for a while (with the thermostat control turning off the electricity) allowing the pot to keep cooking. I see these 2 advantages here: NO WASTED HEAT and ELECTRICITY ECONOMICAL. They are very good for boiling soup, steam-boats or cooking that requires a few hours. Plus there's no need for magnetic-capable cookware only flat-bottomed will do.

Compared to gas cookers or even induction cooker, the flames are kept burning (even at lowest) for the former and for the latter, it has to be kept running for the duration of the cooking process, using up electricity.
 

For induction vs gas, other than no energy wastage, what has to be considered is also the amount of energy required to produce the same amount of heat. Say to heat 100ml of water to 80degrees.

For hot plate, doesn't the hotplate also lose heat to the surroundings? You dont cover 100% of the hotplate with your cooking pot?
 

For induction vs gas, other than no energy wastage, what has to be considered is also the amount of energy required to produce the same amount of heat. Say to heat 100ml of water to 80degrees.

For hot plate, doesn't the hotplate also lose heat to the surroundings? You dont cover 100% of the hotplate with your cooking pot?

Yes, granted it may be slightly more costly with induction than gas even after calculating for the energy efficiency. But then, it cooks faster than gas - so ultimately it boils down to the user's preference and priority. Then again, I believe most homes would have a mixture of cookers and wouldn't be using induction for all cooking...so eventually all pros and cons for one and the others irons out somewhat.

As for hotplate losing heat - not if u choose a cookware that is wider than the hotplate diameter. Hotplates do have different diameter sizes too - so unless u're using a stand-alone with a single hotplate...than of course the smaller cookware should preferably not be used.
 

My Taiyo Induction Cooker broke down last night and my home was in pitch darkness. The scary thing is not the darkness but that all my home circuit breakers of that electrical path tripped as a result. :sweat: This should serve as a caution!! It is scary because none of the fuse was blown. Imagine what will happen if this happen in a home which do not have the same up to date circuit breaking protection as mine? Whew !!
 

My Taiyo Induction Cooker broke down last night and my home was in pitch darkness. The scary thing is not the darkness but that all my home circuit breakers of that electrical path tripped as a result. :sweat: This should serve as a caution!! It is scary because none of the fuse was blown. Imagine what will happen if this happen in a home which do not have the same up to date circuit breaking protection as mine? Whew !!

the induction cooker tripped all circuit breakers? that's really rare but if it happens, really bad.
 

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