On a recent visit to MFI I came across induction hobs. They cook your food using a magnetic field and in doing so consume half as much electricity as electric cookers. They are also more efficient in heat transfer – because they react with your pan, they only cook inside the pan and not around it. This gives efficiency of 84% compared to a typical 40% for a gas cooker. Induction cookers also cook your food faster, plus the risk of accidental burning is low since the hob itself only gets marginally hot (due to heat conduction down from cookware).
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With current technology, induction cookers require that all your countertop cooking vessels be of a "ferrous" metal. Materials like aluminum, copper, and pyrex are not usable on an induction cooker. But all that means is that you need iron or steel pots and pans, and that’s no drawback since most cookware is suitable for use on induction cookers (and virtually all of the lines will boast of it, because induction is so popular with discerning cooks). Apparently, newer technology is coming which will work with any metal cooking vessel, including copper and aluminum, but that technology, although already being used in a few Japanese units, is probably several years away for us. We found this Whirlpool 77cm Touch control induction hob for £636 on Kelkoo. They are expensive, but what new exciting technology isn’t? We chose the Whirlpool since the company have an excellent ethical rating.
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