NOTE: This unit is also sold as the Max Burton 6000 for half the price. My recommendation applies to the Max Burton unit as well.
This is our first induction unit and we love it. I think this is a remarkable technology and can be had so cheaply, I don't know why everybody isn't buying these.
1)Very intense heat when you want it -- better than a high powered gas stove for stir frying or steak on cast iron. This unit is quite powerful rated at 1600 watts.
2)Instant and precise temperature controls -- comparable to gas.
3)Digital temperature indicators -- far better than gas.
4)A timer!! Fantastic. So you can put something on and plan to have it stop cooking in 10 minutes. No range does this that I know of.
5)MUCH less wasted heat. With a conventional range, 50-60% of the heat is just heating up your kitchen. With induction, ALL the heat goes into the bottom of the pan so much less is wasted and your kitchen stays cooler. That is also why induction provides such intense heat for frying.
A couple of other comments.
-- Don't get bamboozled into buying expensive clad stainless for compatibility with induction. There are very inexpensive disk bottom stainless saucepans pans that will perform extremely well -- shop the restaurant supply houses. Johnson-Rose is one brand I like and they're dirt cheap. Arguably disk bottom is BETTER than pricy clad pans that try to spread the heat up the walls of the pan. You usually don't WANT the heat on the sides. Another thing that works great on induction is your old reliable cast iron.
-- I cannot tell if there are real performance differences between induction brands. People seem to like the $500 Viking induction cooktop, but Viking customers are notorious for wanting to justify all the money they spent. The Viking's selling point is a lot of wattage, but the $105 Eurodib we own has virtually the same power rating.
The quandary is what brand to buy -- and I suspect for the most part you can't make a bad choice. I've shopped 110 volt induction cooktops extensively and the differences seem to be relatively slight. They all have mostly the same features and all seem to get good reviews. Some are more powerful than others (this Eurodib is 1600 watts supposedly) but I'm not sure that power really means much for home use because they will all heat up a pan to 400 degrees. And most people don't need searing heat most of the time anyway -- most of our cooking is at the moderate temps. So the most important feature may be a wide gradation of power and temperature settings.
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Eurodib Single Induction Cooker, 120 VoltsProduct Description: Induction cooking produces heat through the production of magnetic fields.This is an extremely energy efficient cooking method using approximately 90 percent of the energy produced.When used with magnetic cookware the electrical energy utilized by the induction cooker is transmitted directly to the pan surface.It is the pan not the burner that heats up.In addition to being efficient, this allows for very responsive temperature adjustments.Induction is also an extremely safe method of cooking.Once the pan is removed from the cooker, the energy transfer stops and the cook plate is soon cool to the touch.This single burner, portable induction unit is designed for light commercial and domestic use.Control functions allow for adjustment of temperature (140-390F), power level (1-10), and cook time (5-120 minutes). Note that low temperatures are achieved at the lower power and temperature settings, whereas the higher temperatures are achieved at the higher power and temperature levels.Safety features include auto switch off and alarm when temperature exceeds 390 degrees F.
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I have to return this now because the phrase "18/10 stainless" only refers to the handle, not the whole pan.I have a full set of Circulon pans that work with our induction cooktop this one looks just like them.But this one apparently is aluminum (never mentioned in the product description) and it does not have the steel bottom needed for induction cooktops.For any other cooking method, this would be great.Circulon pans are great -- far easier to care for than All-Clad.
