Induction v. gas range/cooktop

[munkii]

When we were making this decision, it was a tough one, but we decided to go with gas. I'll tell you about that later.

Induction is attractive for many reasons: it does cook things faster; because heat is directly sourced to the cooking pan/pot, less energy is used; clean up can be easy if you're cooking something messy because you can lay newspaper down between the cooktop and your pan/pot; it can keep food at an even warming temp without further cooking; and the surface is cool to the touch (for the most part).

What it can't do: cook tortillas on an open flame, char peppers, and work when the electricity is out (obviously, unless you have a generator). Well, these are all things that were issues for us. There were some other reasons that I really can't think of at the moment.

We did consider doing a combination of induction and gas since Miele and Wolf or Viking (maybe both) offer individual and double burners to create combo options, but opted for gas only. We do have two countertop induction cooktops (single hob) that we've used throughout our reno, though, that we like well enough.

ETA: The other thing I forgot to mention is that if your cookware is not ferrous, you'll have to start a new collection. So, cast iron (enameled or not) and stainless steel works. I've learned not to trust cookware manufacturers, though, because I did buy a Calphalon saute pan that was labeled "induction ready" with the symbol also embossed on the bottom. Is it? No. 

[kaylie]

I have a hybrid induction range: two burners are regular electric burners and two are induction (this one: www.frigidaire.com/products/Kitchen/gas-electric-ranges/FPCS3085LF.aspx). I do really like how fast things cook but it takes some getting used to since the temperature settings have a greater ranges (i.e. - a "5" on my electric burner is not the same as on my induction burner). We went with it because we don't have the option of gas cooking. I don't know that I love it so much that I would opt for it in your situation. When I weigh the costs involved (induction is typically more expensive than gas or electric and ours wasn't cheaper just because it was only two induction burners), I probably would have just gone with gas if it was one of the choices.

[dragonfly08]

We have an induction cooktop and LOVE it. I will say that there was never a choice between that or gas as we don't have gas service to our house (we could have the line run but with everything else going on during our renovation didn't want to mess with it).

Water boils so fast. My kids aren't going to get burned, assuming they don't pull the pot down on themselves. Heating is even and easily adjustible. We don't cook tortillas or char peppers, and if the power is out we've got no stove whether it's induction or not, so none of that mattered to us. The only downside was that we had to get rid of 99% of our cookware and start a new collection. But other than losing my ebelskiever pan, we were due for new stuff anyway so NBD. Plus, I believe there is a product available you can buy to put on the cooktop that transfers the heat from the induction top to a non-induction pan. I don't know I'd want to do that all the time, but to save a pan or two I really can't/don't want to replace it might be worth looking into.

[sunny]

We have hybrid induction electric and the induction is awesome!!!

[mrs.jacinthe]

I have an induction burner (just an individual stand-alone burner that I use to make big pots of soup that won't fit properly onto the stove). I love it.

The only downside is that I can *hear* the induction cycling on and off (it's super-high-pitch, like a dog whistle) and it is SERIOUSLY annoying. So I can't cook anything that requires babysitting because it would make me crazy to stand there for any length of time. LOL