Its not about power or speed for me. Whenever i visit my parents i hate cooking anything because the electric stoves release heat in bursts then turn off for a bit then a huge burst. It’s impossible to cook anything the way you want . Normally i just go for overcooking everything. But in general i find cooking relaxing and that stove turns it into something that makes me mad every morning.

Maybe this is specific to the stove they have though. I have and will continue to use gas because of this.

That's not an inherent quality of electric stoves, just crappy ones.

I use a 50s-era GM Frigidaire electric stove+oven and it doesn't modulate current to control temperature. It's quite a gas-like pleasure to cook with, prior to this I'd only ever experienced electrics like you're describing and they're awful.

I hate to break it you but an old 50s era stove works exactly as the GP describes - there certainly wasn’t low cost high power solid state power conversion circuitry in those days - the mechanism is extremely simple, an adjustable bimetal thermostat that can turn the element full on and off with adjustable duty cycle - and that modulation frequency is over seconds. Any smoothing of this mechanism is inherent in the thermal capacity of the heating element.

And this is modulation of current - think of it as a very slow PWM.

If it's modulating as you describe, it's completely imperceptible, unlike any of the other ones I've had to live with in SF bay area apartments.

But I must admit I have not disassembled the thing to understand its workings.

I don't even bother with heavy copper-clad pots and pans anymore, which were necessary before. This thing behaves like a gas stove.

So it's the heating element thermal inertia that differs, to smooth out the temperature?

Edit:

Looking at [0], what you're describing seems to be known as an "infinite switch".

That's not what the old stoves like mine has, this is just a rotary switch with 5 selectable presets. I assume it's changing the resistance.

Worth noting is also the even older Kalgoorlie [1] style stove, which changed the number of heating elements connected to regulate temperature.

This repair guide [2] describes both infinite and rotary switch controls on a high-level:

  When the heating element is on, the heater inside the switch is on. The bimetal heats
  (along with the element) until the contacts open. Then the bimetal cools (along with
  the elements) until the contacts close again.

  There are also fixed-temperature switches that vary the voltage going to the heating
  elements to maintain fixed, pre-set temperatures. These are usually push-button or
  rotary switches with fixed settings such as warm, low, medium and high.

  In fixed-temperature switch controls, heat levels are varied by applying different 
  voltages (110V or 220V) to different coils of different resistances.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinite_switch

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_stove#Kalgoorlie_Stov...

[2] https://www.appliancerepair.net/oven-repair-4.html

As you will see in the schematic of chapter 4 the fixed temp switches vary two voltage combinations (that you get “for free” with split phase power) and two coils to get the limited power levels. But this requires multiple coils per burner as noted. If it’s a single nichrome element per burner then even with fixed detents it may likely use a bimetal switch.

> I assume it's changing the resistance.

This isn’t feasible since you would need a resistor that was as big as the burner and essentially dropped as much heat as a stove element - for instance you would need a dummy load to dump as much waste heat as the burner itself to get a medium setting. In theory one could use a variac or multitap transformer - but again those would be relatively huge and heavy for the currents involved.

I don’t know why but when I visited Japan, every stove has this sensor which cuts off the gas almost completely when the pan gets to hot, I guess it’s to prevent oil fires. If you want to hate cooking, go to Japan and use one of those things.

My AEG induction stove has short enough pulse cycles it's not noticeable - a low setting just means low heat. In fact, it's the best stove I've ever used by far - it can go from gently melting chocolate to way too much heat in about 2s. Apart from boiling water I never use the most powerful settings because they'll burn stuff. The only thing it can't do better than gas is wok cooking - the curved sides don't get hot.

My parents have a different brand induction which does seem to have longer pulse cycles - maybe one every 5s or so. That is probably the effect you're describing - it'll go from essentially off to too hot and back. It's obviously a manufacture specific thing.

For the wok, you can get a ring for heating the sides of it.

You are comparing a cheap electric radiant hob to a gas one.

The GP was praising an induction hob, which is the third type.

Radiant electric replace the age old coil with elements below a ceramic or glass surface. They are uniformly abysmal to cook with.

Induction are very different from radiant electric and require cookware of particular materials. They are amazing in some respects and limited in others.

From a glance though both have smooth glassy surfaces that look modern.

I haven't seen a coil hob for years, I think my grandma had one.

The cheapest option apparently called a solid plate hob in Britain. Those coils are inside a ceramic (I think) plate. The cheapest ones cost about £80. They're difficult to damage, so you find them in the cheapest rented apartments (students etc): https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/household-appliances/cooking/h...

"Ceramic" hobs refers to the one with heating elements below glass/ceramic. Starts from £110, but it's a bit easier to damage. Many rented homes would have this, since it looks fancy and clean.: https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/household-appliances/cooking/h...

Induction hobs start at £180: https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/household-appliances/cooking/h...

Most ordinary (cheap or expensive) cookware sold in Europe is compatible with an induction hob, but not necessarily everything.