would love to see an induction stove with a usable UI. everything I have used is designed by a person that never had to cook for more than 1. the automatic off during the slightest spill, and the impossibility to operate buttons with wet/greasy hands, has to be one of the biggest design mistakes in the history of engineering.
my idea of a great time is to invite this engineer to cook with me a 4 course dinner for 8, where everything is timing crucial, and I get to scream at them like Gordon Ramsey the minute the stove switches off and they lost momentum with the heat but can't operate the button because "wet fingers".
the problem isn't induction and consumers cooking with gas, but that we have a culture operating on "ownership and exploitation" of the environment.
I like induction stoves. Easier to clean, and do 90% of what I need doing in a kitchen. Not having to run gas lines is a plus, and for the other 10%, I'm probably working on a grill or using a dedicated burner anyway.
But the UIs are awful.
Stop turning yourself off. Yes, I do intend to cook the thing I put on you for six hours. Just fucking do it.
Give me a knob. Gas stoves use knobs for good reasons. You don't need to invent new UX, just give me a motherfucking knob. A knob without complicated family issues is fine as well.
My stove does not need Bluetooth or WiFi. It's a stove. I expect it to work with minor maintenance for 40+ years. Protocols are going to change a lot between here and there.
I am not installing your app. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever. Baphomet will call up and tell me he got right with Jesus before I install your app.
There has to be a market for people that want appliances that just... work.
Addendum: there are a few induction stoves with knobs, but they are definitely the exception, rather than the rule:
- https://www.bluestarcooking.com/cooking/cooktops/36-turn-ind...
- https://performwireless.com/7-best-induction-cooktops-with-k... (half of these are not full-size built-ins)
The other problem to watch out for is poor reliability due to gradual "cooking" of the circuit board -- after all, the knobs are not physically connected to the power electronics; they're just a digital input to a controller, same as for the touch controlled units.
The showroom had this Beko range with knobs and no Wifi or "smart" stuff for ~half the starting price of their (so-called) "pro" ranges: https://www.yaleappliance.com/kitchen/cooking-appliances/ran...
I think I'm going with this GE ("Café") double-oven option for my small kitchen, as long as I can confirm the Wifi stuff is strictly optional and isn't in the failure path: https://www.yaleappliance.com/kitchen/cooking-appliances/ran...
Other options with knobs were from Miele, Fischer and Paykel, and (less expensively) LG. I believe Samsung also sells a range with knobs; see the photo in the article.
Spilling have to be a gas thing? I experience it maybe once every three months on a induction oven (what I have at home).
I hated the gas oven when I studied in US, impossible to control the temperature accurately and boilover almost every time. Not even any faster.
If you're not spilling, you're not cooking hard enough. :)
Gas does provide easier temperature regulation, as the change is (a) instantaneous; and (b) infinitely fine-grained compared to the average "levels" of an induction stove.
A good gas burner also puts out a more consistent heat pattern, as opposed to the "ring of burning" that is common to most induction cooktops.
But for most things, induction is good enough, and I appreciate the day-to-day versatility of "just wipe it down".
I bet none of the commercial induction cooktops are internet of shit devices.
I bought an AEG stove last year (similar to [1], but an older model I think). Physical knobs for temperature control, no auto off on spills. Touch interface only for a few convenience features and the extra power mode, which is fine by me. I'm very happy with this stove and like cooking with it just as much as I liked gas when I had it a few years ago.
[1] https://www.aeg.com/kitchen/cooking/cookers/electric-cooker/...
Mine has all touch controls but I love it. I think it might be my favourite appliance in the new kitchen.
A big slab of black glass with nothing to trap dirt on.
We had to replace a few old aluminium pans with nice Samuel Groves carbon steel ones but I think it was well worth it.
I haven’t had many boil overs or any switch offs.
It has more than enough power when needed. 230v 40amp dedicated supply and RCD I think but it could be 50amp, can't remember.
I would not go back to gas.
I’m not sure I’d want a plug-in 13amp unit though. Seems a bit weedy compared to a real hob.
The fan and high-pitched pan noise is not my favorite though.
How is it for keeping a constant, low-mid temperature? One of the issues I have with induction is that the heat is applied in bursts rather than as a constant with gas
This means that when frying with some oils, induction will either heat them past their smoke point in the burst or the temperature will be too low in-between bursts
That said, I'm probably an ok cook at best and I don't eat meat so I can't really say how it would work with that. However, I found that at least the gas range I used when I lived in the UK, wasn't really great for low temperatures either, as the flame tended to not self-sustain properly on low settings.
The killer feature for me personally was actually the steambake thing, as I bake bread weekly. It's not quite as good as directly spraying water into the oven, but still works really well. Obviously independent of the induction top though.
It doesn't really matter much as I mainly linked it as an example, but I experimented a bit with the countries and the specific model isn't on the UK site either (they have other ones with knobs there though). If you want to see the one I linked you can choose "Germany" in the "Choose your Country" page and click "Hausgeräte" (top left) followed by "Standherde" and "Standherde" again (what a weird navigation). In the filters select "Kochfeldart > Induktion". It was the first result left.
I haven't actually seen a stove in the stores that are touch only.
To me, induction with physical knobs and buttons would be the best. Other than the stupid touch things, induction is just so much better than gas for almost anything.
Fortunately we found one with knobs. https://www.aeg.co.uk/kitchen/cooking/cookers/electric-cooke...
It does have auto off on spills, but it's not overly sensitive and only triggers if you really let things boil over. Had it 9 months, can highly recommend this cooker.
That leads to touch controls with all the listed drawbacks, but it's nonetheless what has gained the most support.
For most i suspect the aesthetics of one clean flat surface wins out over alternatives, even though these alternatives are more usable for cooking.
https://www.gaggenau.com/global/appliances/cooktops/400-seri...
For those who haven't experienced that particular abomination, they had sliding quadrant doors and separate buttons for locking and unlocking the doors as opening and closing the door. Originally the colour of the lights around the buttons was the only clue to the state of the lock (I think these have been redesigned). This resulted in the unintended comedy of someone sat down to do the toilet as the next person came along, pressed the door open button and slowly unveiled the person doing their business to the whole carriage of people. Inevitably resulting in a mashing of buttons from both sides trying to get the door to close again.
UI is typical: buttons to set "heat" and "temp", plus on/off and timer. Good part is than buttons activate mechanical momentary contact switches that have a really solid "clicky" feel.
Overall it's a real pleasure to use, but it has its quirks. The biggest "issue" (not really a gigantic flaw) is the ambiguous controls re: heat and temp. Nominally the heat setting controls wattage, temp supposedly sets limits on temp erature of food. It's just very inconsistent, like setting temp to 160 degrees F doesn't have much to do with actual temperature as measured with a thermometer. But I've gotten used to how it works and very rarely overcook or burn stuff.
In the past I preferred gas, but that's not my first choice now.
It's the same as the gas stoves of my childhood; I'm not sure how it could be simpler. It even has the icons indicating which knob is for which burner. Is your stove postmodern?
