Installing induction cooktop as replacement

[Donald]

Looking to pick up an induction cooktop during Black Friday sales. Two questions:
1) does it fit the existing cutout or might I need to get someone to modify the opening of the quartz countertop?
2) some have a bridge element where two adjacent elements work as one for a griddle or similar type of pan. Is it worth the extra couple of hundred dollars?

 

[Pablo]

Looking to pick up an induction cooktop during Black Friday sales. Two questions:
1) does it fit the existing cutout or might I need to get someone to modify the opening of the quartz countertop?
2) some have a bridge element where two adjacent elements work as one for a griddle or similar type of pan. Is it worth the extra couple of hundred dollars?

1 unknown

2 how often do you use a two burner griddle now? Future? How good is your hood?

Honestly we never much used one in any house of any cooktop type

 

[Donald]

1 unknown

2 how often do you use a two burner griddle now? Future? How good is your hood?

Honestly we never much used one in any house of any cooktop type

Not sure we have a griddle for the stove that covers two burners. But it's an option you can get for some induction cooktop.

 

[Pablo]

Not sure we have a griddle for the stove that covers two burners. But it's an option you can get for some induction cooktop.

Yes I know it’s an option

How often would you use it?

 

[AZjeff]

You can find installation instructions online for anything, have you looked? If you current cooktop isn't too old you may be able to find install instructions and compare.

 

[bruckus]

Personally I would never buy a stove without the griddle option for the cooktop. I thought at first it was a bit gimmicky but it is used very often.

 

[irad]

Look at the true size of the coil under the glass, not the pretty etching the manufacturer draws on the top of the glass. Lower quality units use a smaller diameter coil.

 

[TazzySpazzy]

One thing about those induction cook tops is that your pans better have absolutely perfectly flat bottoms or heat distribution will be off. I'll give the flip side of the griddle answer in that it sounds nice, kind of like a sunroof, but then it rarely gets used and can be extraordinarily messy depending what you cook. Maybe the induction variety will be easier to clean due to a flat and even surface across the whole cooktop? Growing up we had a griddle but it was only used for pancakes because anything else seemed to equal grease splatters all over the stove. And you can't just put a lid over the griddle if something starts to spit grease everywhere.

 

[Pablo]

Personally I would never buy a shove without the griddle option for the cooktop. I thought at first it was a bit gimmicky but it is used very often.

Do you have a family at home?

As one side note we’ve had a drop in Jennaire and over the top griddle - yes we used them but rarely - however I am time biased more to the last 10 years I have cooking for just wife and I.

We have I have an outdoor LP griddle hard plumbed in that I use very often. Tons of space so I am spoiled. I mean it's a real griddle. Sure you have to clean the griddle, but not everything around it, nor is smoke/fumes a worry.

And we have an electric griddle we bought when we were remodeling the previous house. It works nicely actually. I think it was under $30!

 

[Pelican]

Induction is great, but requires better quality pans as the whole bottom MUST be in contact with the element not to have hot-cold spots

 

[repairman54]

Inductions are great until they break. In my previous life I had to try to repair them onsite.
Multiple modules and impossible to diagnose disassembled on a countertop. Glass touch controls issues also.
Cash customers we would just condemn them, service contracts it was order every module on the affected burners and hope you got a good one.
Even reman. boards were as much or more than a new cooktop.
Flat bottom pans on any glass top stove. Straight edge test for belly down or up for even heat transfer to prevent thermal cracking.
Metal composition of pots is important also for proper sensing.

 

[bruckus]

Do you have a family at home?

As one side note we’ve had a drop in Jennaire and over the top griddle - yes we used them but rarely - however I am time biased more to the last 10 years I have cooking for just wife and I.

We have I have an outdoor LP griddle hard plumbed in that I use very often. Tons of space so I am spoiled. I mean it's a real griddle. Sure you have to clean the griddle, but not everything around it, nor is smoke/fumes a worry.

And we have an electric griddle we bought when we were remodeling the previous house. It works nicely actually. I think it was under $3

 

[bruckus]

No family at home but a busy couple with different eating schedules.

Instead of pulling out the electric skillet the griddle is much easier and quicker. super handy for grilled cheese, toasting buns, eggs bacon etc. Anything you normally cook in a pan or skillet, depending on your eating habits.

 

[JohnnyG]

I have an Induction cooktop and have been using it for several years without issue. Mine is just a Frigidaire Gallery from HD, so nothing special. I do sometimes wish it had different burner sizes though. Right now it has 4 different sizes, but I would have preferred two large and two medium ones. The smallest one requires me to use my smallest pan for even heating.
I do not agree that the pan bottoms need to be "perfectly flat". I use a very old cast iron skillet on mine, probably made around 1910 or so. It was designed for a pot belly stove, so it is the "smoke ring" type. So, even though it has a raised lip around the edge, it works perfectly on the stovetop.
If your pans and skillets are magnetic, they will work fine on the surface. Even some aluminum non stick Chinese pans now come with a thin sheet of steel embedded in the bottom of the pan. They work OK, but not as good as magnetic stainless steel, or cast iron.

 

[Donald]

We currently have a flat glass cooktop with coils under the glass. Works pretty well but wife says sometimes a coil does not work properly, So unsure. Also the knobs have been cleaned a thousand times and are hard to read. Have searched many places for new knobs, even generic and cannot find any.

Getting older, burners sometimes left on by mistake or wrong burner turned on. I think induction would be safer in that respect. In my old house with a gas stove the wrong burner was turned on by mistake more than once and melted parts of the overhead microwave. Finally had to replace microwave as tired of pushing on a pencil stuck through a hole to open the door.

 

[TazzySpazzy]

We currently have a flat glass cooktop with coils under the glass. Works pretty well but wife says sometimes a coil does not work properly, So unsure. Also the knobs have been cleaned a thousand times and are hard to read. Have searched many places for new knobs, even generic and cannot find any.

Getting older, burners sometimes left on by mistake or wrong burner turned on. I think induction would be safer in that respect. In my old house with a gas stove the wrong burner was turned on by mistake more than once and melted parts of the overhead microwave. Finally had to replace microwave as tired of pushing on a pencil stuck through a hole to open the door

I once had an incident with an over the stove microwave. Sure the "incident" was my fault but at the same time what a stupid design. Why have anything flammable above a gas burner?

 

[OVERKILL]

We currently have a flat glass cooktop with coils under the glass. Works pretty well but wife says sometimes a coil does not work properly, So unsure. Also the knobs have been cleaned a thousand times and are hard to read. Have searched many places for new knobs, even generic and cannot find any.

Getting older, burners sometimes left on by mistake or wrong burner turned on. I think induction would be safer in that respect. In my old house with a gas stove the wrong burner was turned on by mistake more than once and melted parts of the overhead microwave. Finally had to replace microwave as tired of pushing on a pencil stuck through a hole to open the door.

Yes, that's a big advantage of induction (we have induction), the stove automatically turns off if it doesn't detect a pot/pan and the cook surface barely gets hot anyway, since it directly heats the pot/pan.

 

[edhackett]

Looking to pick up an induction cooktop during Black Friday sales. Two questions:
1) does it fit the existing cutout or might I need to get someone to modify the opening of the quartz countertop?

Be sure you check that your wiring is adequate for the model you choose. Most coil/quartz are on 30A circuits. Many induction models require 40-42A.

I ran into that when choosing a replacement. I was deciding between induction and propane to replace a low end glass top electric. The wiring was 30A that would have had to be upgraded for the induction model I wanted. Alternatively I would have to have a branch for the propane installed. I opted for propane due to cost and the ability to cook when the power was out.

Ed

 

[repairman54]

We currently have a flat glass cooktop with coils under the glass. Works pretty well but wife says sometimes a coil does not work properly, So unsure. Also the knobs have been cleaned a thousand times and are hard to read. Have searched many places for new knobs, even generic and cannot find any.

E stove infinite switches are a common wear item as time goes on. Coil or glass top. Internal switch contacts carbon up / burn and get sticky or poor contact. On my old stove I had to replace the ''favorite'' burner switch a couple of times due to primary operator's complaints.
Easy change on a freestanding range. Cooktops are a PITA.

 

[Donald]

Be sure you check that your wiring is adequate for the model you choose. Most coil/quartz are on 30A circuits. Many induction models require 40-42A.

I ran into that when choosing a replacement. I was deciding between induction and propane to replace a low end glass top electric. The wiring was 30A that would have had to be upgraded for the induction model I wanted. Alternatively I would have to have a branch for the propane installed. I opted for propane due to cost and the ability to cook when the power was out.

Ed

Good point. I see some are 30A and some 40A. Not looking to upgrade the wiring to the stove.