> She's right. Induction has the speed and response of a gas cooktop with the precision a resistance electric cooktop.

This, and also easier cleanability than either of them (basically it doesn't need more cleaning than the rest of your kitchen counter) and much safer (won't heat anything non-metallic that you leave on top, won't heat the surface of the stovetop itself except indirectly via heat transmission from the pots/pans, and will automatically turn off if it doesn't detect a metallic item).

I have one and there's no way in hell I'd go back to an ordinary electric range as long as I can afford not to.

I've been looking at them, but almost all have unusable touch controls. (My background is human machine interaction - I've never seen an acceptable stove, but induction stoves are all really bad). Since I've have to replace all my cookware as well I'm not in any hurry.

Functionally, the touch controls make the whole thing much easier to clean, but I agree they are harder to use.

As with the touchscreens in cars, I'm sure it's also about marketing a sleeker product and lowering the bill of materials and labor - hence cost of manufacturing.

Just wait a little longer and a manufacturer will start offering physical dials on an induction stove as a high-end feature, but also realize that it will still be control by wire like a computer input device, not a mechanically coupled control like a (dumb) dimmer switch - since it would be ultimately controlling the inductor in the stovetop via software.

I've got an electric radiant cooktop. It has a number of those features such as easy to clean (just a flat glass panel) and won't heat without detecting a pan and will turn off the element if the pan is removed for more than a couple of seconds. It does get hot itself instead of just heating the pan, but when cooking I don't know that would make much of a difference. You've still got a very hot pan sitting on the cooktop imparting a lot of heat for probably a while.

Don't get me wrong there's other pros/cons to induction but you don't need to get induction to have those benefits.

The fact that induction cooktops don't get hot themselves make them even easier to clean. I had a flat glass electric cooktop as well in the past, it was of course much easier to clean than older ones with protruding stoves, but still, some liquids and sauces got stuck to it due to being hot and I had to scrub with a scouring pad or, in the worst case, use a scraper blade. This doesn't happen with induction so 99% of the time, cleaning the induction cooktop just boils down to wiping with a wet microfiber cloth. The scouring pad is seldom needed and I think I've used the scraper once or twice in eight years of having induction. On the other hand, the fact that the surface is less hot also means that you have to wait less to clean it.

I had no idea that some non-induction cooktops could also detect pans, though. In my mind that feature has always been linked to induction. Good to know it's not necessarily like that.

Precision makes no sense for a pan and is something a person who doesn't actually cook would care about. Your pans change temperature when cold food is put into them. Anyone who cooks knows that you are changing the temperature on your cooking surface constantly in many applications and it's based on the visual and audio queues your food give you. At no point have I thought "OK, I need to be at 400 degrees and in 1 minute I will adjust down to 300 degrees.". I don't care about precision like I would when doing sous-vide cooking or baking, for example - both of which are great uses for electric fuel sources.

The problem with induction is the thing it's good at (heating water quickly) isn't a useful feature. A gas flame is a 3D cooking surface and this is important as I want heat applied to the sides of pans in many instances. Also, copper and aluminium cookware don't work on them and they are superior materials for cooking with in many instances.

> Precision makes no sense for a pan and is something a person who doesn't actually cook would care about. Your pans change temperature when cold food is put into them. Anyone who cooks knows that you are changing the temperature on your cooking surface constantly in many applications and it's based on the visual and audio queues your food give you.

I know exactly what to expect when I set my induction stove to 8 (out of 10) and let my daily-use pan heat for 1 minute. That's the setting at which I can temper oil with dry spices without burning them.

This isn't a function of the induction element, but rather the digital controls. Naturally I adjust the setting once the cold food goes in the pan, but having a calibrated starting point for my cooking flow is pretty useful, and I cook for my family daily.

> The problem with induction is the thing it's good at (heating water quickly) isn't a useful feature.

An induction stove can heat anything quickly, not just water. And importantly it can rapidly change temperature, unlike a resistance electric stove.

> Also, copper and aluminium cookware don't work on them and they are superior materials for cooking with in many instances.

You can just use one of these:

https://www.inductioncooked.com/how-to-use-non-induction-coo...

However, I've never seen a recipe that called for a copper or aluminum pan specifically. The benefit of copper is supposed to be precision temperature control, but as you said, precise temperatures don't matter for day to day cooking.

> I know exactly what to expect when I set my induction stove to 8 (out of 10) and let my daily-use pan heat for 1 minute. That's the setting at which I can temper oil with dry spices without burning them.

Same, I just turn a knob and it outputs the same BTUs every time - it isn't random.

>An induction stove can heat anything quickly, not just water. And importantly it can rapidly change temperature, unlike a resistance electric stove.

Again, I'm generally not too concerned about speed here. But yes, I'm very much concerned with changing temperatures quickly which involve not only the heat source but just as importantly, the cookware which leads me to....

> You can just use one of these:...The benefit of copper is supposed to be precision temperature control, but as you said, precise temperatures don't matter for day to day cooking.

Copper is a superior material because it changes temperature extremely quickly because it is such a great conductor - it's not about precision (except with candy making where induction could be great) rather than reactivity. When I turn the gas up the pan reacts to that change immediately and when I turn the gas down it reacts immediately to that. Unlike a material like cast iron which can store a lot of energy, it doesn't react to changes in input quickly so is not suitable for many things - you can't finesse a cast iron pan very easily. Seriously, get a nice gas range and a high end copper pan and cook with it - you'll be amazed. It's why so many chefs insist on the combination of gas and copper.

And no, I'm not buying one of those useless disks to make a copper pan work in induction. It kills the entire point of a copper pan and just gives you a cool, high-end look without the actual functionality. I'd feel like a complete fool because I would be.

I'm happy induction exists for people that want it or believe gas will harm them. But it's not for everyone and there's extremely good reasons many people want to cook over open flame. When I'm not using gas to cook you'll find me outside burning wood fires to cook with.

> Seriously, get a nice gas range and a high end copper pan and cook with it - you'll be amazed.

I cooked on gas for 25 years, including with all sorts of pots/pans. It was great and I preferred it greatly to resistance electric stoves. And then I switched to induction and couldn't be happier with both the cooking performance and the indoor air quality improvement. You (and many others) aren't concerned with or don't believe in the air quality problems of burning gas in a house. To each their own!

For my part, I tell everyone I know to maximize ventilation if they are cooking indoors with gas, and to try an induction stove to see if it works for them.

> When I'm not using gas to cook you'll find me outside burning wood fires to cook with.

That has nothing to do with the discussion about induction, but great, because I also love cooking over burning wood! We're more alike than you think!

> To each their own!

I think that’s the problem. There’s unelected officials suggesting they’re going to just ban them based on a biased (and very faulty - it isn’t quality science) study funded by activists groups. I’ve used induction and it’s ok but it doesn’t feel right to be, I can’t use materials I prefer, and I can’t do things like hold a pan a bit higher for a second, flambé, etc. I love induction for deep frying though. It’s much safer!

I have a 1300 cfm exhaust with a makeup air system so I’m not concerned.

Resistance does suck, but Halogen is pretty good IMHO.