it sounds like it might not be the route for me. pun intended ;-). Yes, I drive my dh crazy, but I DO hear those high pitch squeals. I made him return a brand new tv once because it had a high voltage squeal that he couldn't hear - yet I'd hear it and get an instant headache.

and I'm, admittedly, a bit of a pyro. Flames are fun.

as far as the spill over/turn off function, I was thinking in much more minor situations... obviously if I had a full boil over, I'd want to do something about it.

thanks for your input! and for those who are able to enjoy induction, happy cooking!

these minor noises are audible when all is quiet, like late at night.

at first, i posted about it because i thought it was less than ideal, and good to ask others about, because the manual doesn't mention it.

NOw, I'm sorry I posted about it because it's taken on a life of its own, and some people are using it to say they'd never want induction.....

--

autoshutdown is good whether the boilover is big or small.
autoshutdown also happen when you leave something simmering and it goes dry. It's sensitive enough to know when you've forgotten it.

Thanks Davidro1. I was worried about the noise, but you put me at ease about that issue.

The two remaining issues I'm working thru are: resale (can I just switch out to gas if I do gas hookup during construction?) and our elderly parents who will occasionally cook on our cooktop. I need to find these pans that are not heavy because that is a real issue. Any recommendations on brands and where I can check them out?

Again, thanks so much.

The minor sounds that come from an Induction Cooktop or Range are SO minimal. Does the sound of the gas burner on high bother you? That's about the decibel of the sounds that sometimes can come from an Induction burner.

The ONLY times I hear a super faint clicking or buzzing, is when you have the Induction set to super low (Settings 1-3) and/or when you are using an Induction suitable stainless pot or pan that is made from many layers (3-8 ply steel). When I am cooking, I almost always use my Miele vent hood on the first or second speed setting. It is very quiet, and it still covers any sound that may or may not be coming from the Induction.

If someone is going to weigh going Induction or not going Induction based on some super faint noises Induction "can" possibly make....I do not think you should even be allowed in a kitchen or near appliances!!!! :) LOL

Yes, you can switch to gas (or tell potential buyers that there is a proper gas hookup).

For lightweight cookware, All Clad if you're feeling spendy, Macy's store brand (Belgique) if you're not-so-spendy, Ikea 365+ if you're being really frugal.

More and more lines are available that are induction capable and most are marked now so you don't need to shop with a magnet.

I used to think induction was great for older people and encouraged my parents to get it (my mom wanted gas but can't get it where she lives). It's true my mom can't burn down the house anymore. But they keep hitting a child lock or something and won't read the manual so they have to reset the circuit. :/

I just tell the shop that I will return the pots if I find they make a hum when my induction is on "High" and the pot is both cold and empty. Within a half second I know if the pot will be OK.

Yes, it could be more work than I thought it would be (thought back in 2008), but no it's not going to make me want to tell anyone to "wait" years before getting induction.

Do you realize that you can get an induction cooktop for half the price I paid?

Very soon in the future, there will be no more electric radiant cooktops sold at all, because the price will make it worthwhile to sell only induction. Maybe three years from now. (I don't predict the future, or if I do, I refrain from predicting a date too!) That will change everyone's perception about it being somehow unusual or different or european or faddish or new or unknown or a third-alternative, or you-name-it....

Every Advantage Explained ABove is worth it. The Con arguments are false Cons.

You can't tell me this looks modern! This induction cooktop was over 25 years old and functioning perfectly before I replaced it. It probably cost more than Davidro's. I hadn't really thought about it, but he's probably correct about the old style electric being on the way out. This one was before its time.

And anyone with a sensitivity to electronic noises really should be cautious. It is definitely a possibility that it'll get to you, and probably more likely than a gas burner would. I'm not that sensitive, but sometimes I do pick up a resonance.

There is a place for both. Some people love gas others have embraced induction. I have induction - LOVE IT!!!
RESALE - I think the biggest problem with induction is that some people associate it with glass electric cooktops. Induction is a completely different animal. Nothing bakes onto the cooktop, instant heat or cool - as noted above.
Education regarding induction is all that is needed. We all changed our opinions didn't we? A cooktop is not going to be a deal breaker on resale, believe me.
NOISE - yes there can be a hum, click, vibration - depending on the setting or pan. My 15 yo notices it the most - she can't tolerate the exhaust fan either
It doesn't bother me at all. It only happens occasionally
THE ELDERLY AND INDUCTION - I actually think this is a huge selling point for induction. It is SAFER than gas - there is no flame - if you remove the pan the unit shuts off. I think they should market the induction towards the elderly especially when you consider that most of us will become forgetful at some point. Paper set near the induction ring doesn't catch fire.The cooktop doesn't get as hot as gas grates and cools quickly so there is less chance of burning oneself on the cooktop. It does get hot so don't go setting your hand on it to prove a point. As far as heavy pans - I have some Demeyer pans - OK they are HEAVY - really heavy, but you don't need that. I have some cheap light weight pans that work well too. Needing heavy pans is just nonsense. And as far as heavy goes, what about lifting the heavy grate to clean the gas grate??

If you want gas because you love gas, go for it. There are plenty of people that love it. For me, I love induction - I'm happy as a clam that I switched at the last moment and got induction.

I thought I'd come back over here and see what else was being said...

a low hum etc. is ok... the hood/vent would certainly cover that. My fear is a high pitch electronic squeal - not everyone can hear it, so if you can't hear it, you don't know what I'm referring to. My dh half-jokingly refers to my hearing as "dog hearing" - but many electronics do emit high voltage squeals. my concern was whether or not induction is known for this. As I said, the fat tv's before the flat screens would emit this sound, some brands worse than others.

I replaced my cookware about a year ago - with induction in mind. I really thought I was going to make the switch when we remodelled the kitchen... now I keep wavering, with a preference towards gas. time will tell. In the meantime, I'm enjoying my tri-ply stainless -- but really have fallen in love with cooking on the cast iron. that stuff ROCKS!

I know the squeal.

It's not the humming or the clicking you're talking about. Cast iron is much less likely to pick it up and amplify it, but that doesn't mean it won't still make you batty.

I can't make any recommendations. Even if you try one out in the store, the one you have delivered might be bad. If you use an upscale shop that promises to let you exchange it should it be squealy, maybe...but I dunno.

Everybody, I hear most fluorescents and that's bad enough. I think when I was younger I did also hear some of the electronic noise that bothers Lawjedi, but only a little. It would be awful to really hear it and not be able to stop it!!! There is a whine that stainless ply pans make on induction that many adults can't hear, but which I think Lawjedi might. I don't know if some induction units also make an electronic sound that ordinary ears, post rock and roll, can't hear. That's why I cautioned about finding an induction unit/pan combo that would work for this one person.

For just about anyone else, the noises aren't a problem, though some members have talked about sounds they couldn't hear annoying their kids to the point of driving them out of the room.

Re pans, I never hear any machine noise nor pan noise with cast iron. Under certain circumstances I can hear a faint, low pitched pulsing with my 7-ply stainless or carbon steel pans. Kitchen noise could mask that, but it's there. Mostly happens with empty pans, or ones with just a little water in them. Each induction unit is a bit different, however.

For very light weight, the DeBuyer carbon steel pans are terrific. I bought them for making crepes, socca and the like, but have been experimenting with them for other things lately. DeBuyer also makes some high sided carbon steel pans. They have to be seasoned like cast iron, and handled similarly vis-a-vis water (don't soak, heat to dry, etc.). They're not non-stick, but they get hot so fast that it's easy to get a pan that's correctly heated to release, and the oiled (seasoned) surface, while not non-stick, they aren't "stick" either.

Interesting. Should I put driving the kids from the room in the pro or con column?!

Well, now you've raised the noise issue again. I used to hear the high pitched sounds that others didn't notice, but I don't hear them anymore. So I may have damaged my hearing enough to be unbothered by any squeals. However, rhythmic noises like a clicking or whatever would annoy me to no end. How significant is this for those who've heard it?

Also good to know: wiping up anything, at any time.

I find I don't need to wait ever, not even a second. Of course, nothing burns (like on electric radiant cooktops) so there is no penalty for waiting. But I just don't need to wait a second or two to begin wiping up, even with pots boiling. So what if it's as hot as boiling? (The stuff that overspills is as hot as boiling not the glass top). You don't harm the glass when you wipe stuff that is boiling. THIS can be hard to believe if you've seen electric radiant cooking, where the glass is as hot as coals and embers in a fire, and any wiping risks thermal shock sufficient to crack the glass. You simply cannot crack an induction glass top because it never gets that hot.

Induction is space age cooking.

I rarely hear mechanical clicking--when I do it's a lightweight empty pan on a low speed. Keep in mind you'll hear a gas burner at simmer as well because of the igniting. It's not annoying.

On my old cooktop, which was a little noisier, at first it was annoying when the cooktop cycled because the lights in the house dimmed and throbbed along with it. Yeah according to the fire department and the emergency electrician, that wasn't the cooktop's fault...it was also one of the few electronic devices in my house that survived that. :)

plllog, thanks for the compliment! I just spent a week taking care of my 86 year old dad. He has an electric coil stove. The contrast between electric coil and induction is astonishing and extremely frustrating. But I digress; that is not what you asked.

1) Modern aesthetic will not fit well in our period-influenced white kitchen
If you are going for a true period look, induction will not be authentic. But neither will a modern gas cooktop. There are ways to disguise an induction unit. The inspiration for my design was this from the workshop of David T. Smith.

2) Requires special cookware and dedicated circuit that will cost addl money
This is accurate, but hardly an issue. Any cooktop requires a dedicated circuit. Induction cookware is available at almost any price point. I started with a few pieces and add as I need. Some expensive, some very inexpensive. It gives me time to determine what works best with particular cooking methods.

3) Special cookware is very heavy and as we age it may become too burdensome
Depends on what kind of cookware is used. I have to admit, the cast iron cookware has been a blessing. I can lift more weight now than before I started using it. At some point, I may not be able to manage the cast iron. In my mid-50s I am not there yet.

4) May turn off potential buyers (if we sell for some reason) No one I know has this cooktop and only one of the GCs I spoke with knew what it was
GCs don't know everything! Only the appliance stores knew about induction technology when I was making that decision in 2008. Induction's advantages are becoming well known and prized as the price drops.

5) Can't char a pepper or use a grill/griddle on it
Everyone has their own cooking style, and some features are more important than others to each of us. There are ways to compensate for no flame induction. I roast peppers under the broiler. It is not as fast, but it works. A little torch would work as well. I use more than one grill/griddle at a time (on separate burners) quite frequently.

6) This is not the cooktop of the future but a 40+ year fad for gadgety folk
It may be a 40 year fad, but it will be replaced only when something better comes along. For now, it is the best we've got! The gadgety technology may be difficult for older people to master. I am sure my mid-80s parents and in laws could not get it right. If selling your house in future, you will likely have younger buyers who will demand the best technology. That is not gadgety or gimmicky, it is good sense not to prefer out-dated appliances.

Here are a couple pictures of induction in my period-inspired kitchen. HTH

Using a large cutting board over the cooktop for proofing bread under the lights. The house was cold!

The cooktop in context

Cotehele.....YOUR KITCHEN IS AMAZING!! I really love it. Stunning!!!!

larsi --

What is the black front/skirt made of, that your cooktop sits on. Some purpose, or just aesthetics?

I've cooked on gas, radiant electric and induction. Induction wins hands down. I have the 36" Miele and it's an awesome piece of equipment. EASY to keep clean. Control is instant. On the Miele, you can set a timer for EACH burner--either to just tell you that X minutes have passed or to turn itself off. I set the timer for 20 minutes and let the cooktop turn itself off when the rice is done. I love that feature. If there's a boil over, cleanup can be done instantly or later--and it really won't matter. No burned on goo. No catching the corner of the towel on fire if someone carelessly leaves a corner too close to the burner. No problem if someone leaves a burner on. (I have teenagers). The induction cooktop 'knows' when there isn't anything on the burner and turns itself off. If you just lift the pan to shake it, however, it won't turn off immediately--there is a grace period. :-) Power is there, responsiveness is there, and I think it looks nice in my Craftsman style kitchen--it kind of dissapears rather than being a focal point. It doesn't look any more out of place than my stainless ovens or fridge! Cookware doesn't have to be expensive or heavy--I got a 10 piece set of Tramontina that's really nice for $250 and every single piece is useful--that's not the norm for sets, but this one rocks. They don't hum, and neither does my cast iron, but my uber cheap Ronco nonstick with the disks on the bottom does buzz a bit on high. I think others have adequately covered the other high points, which I agree with, enthusiastically. Not to dis your husband, but if he likes to cook, he needs to go play with an induction cooktop in the showroom before dismissing it. If he doesn't do the cooking, well, then...you get the final say and you can tell him I said so. LOL!!!!

Cj

Thanks, Larsi! You used a very creative way to adapt the existing cabinetry for the induction unit. It gives it some heft and is attractive.

fori: did your house catch fire??!

Cotehele: Wow! What a beautiful one of a kind period kitchen! What induction cooktop did you get? I notice it is flush with the counter, which I really like. However, I was told by Miele that I probably could do this with their cooktop, but it would be hard to replace if necessary. They do allow you to install without the ugly silver rim, but you lose some utility (catching liquid spills, getting crumbs in the space, chipping).

cj47: Is this the Tramontina set you got?

Here is a link that might be useful: Tramontina cookware

HulaGalJ, Thanks! I have a Miele 36'' induction cooktop. Miele has installation instructions for flush mount. The opening is 1/8'' larger around than the cooktop. It seats nicely, and can be pushed up from the bottom for cleaning. It has the trim, but it is not very noticeable. The soapstone is not chipped or scratch around the cooktop. I trust it will not need to be replaced soon, but another 36'' Miele should fit without any problem.

@attofarad...

My Miele cooktop sits in a "frame" of black granite. We used to have a 36" Thermador Range there. When we went Induction, we had to put something in the front above the cabinets. So, we found some granite, that matched the darkest swirls in our counters, and made a frame. We could not find the exact granite, so the next best thing was to pick up the colours of the black swirls and specks in our existing granite. I know not ideal setup, but it person, it actually looks great, and even had 2 compliments about the beautiful black granite accent pieces :)

HulagalJ, yes, that's the set. I saw it recommended by Cooks Illustrated as comparable to All Clad. It was a nice surprise that it actually does--I went and looked at the All Clad. Works fine on my Miele.
Cj

In my perfect kitchen I would have both, gas and induction, and I'm sure I would love induction. BUT I'm also one of those love the fame folks and you'd never get flame away from DH:-) I'm still planning on an induction hob if I can find a good one.

I knew I wanted Induction about 25 years ago, when I first saw the Kenmore Induction Cook-top. It was the first Induction unit I had ever seen, and may have been the first marketed in the US.??? It's cool to see fori's picture of that same Kenmore on the Jan 27 post here. Induction finally became a reality for me last year when Induction became available on Ranges, instead of just as separate cook-tops.

I am quite sensitive to noise. Yet, the slight buzz from my induction range hasn't bothered me a bit. It is relatively "quiet" noise, and usually only noticeable at the highest settings. I love the exceptional control, speed, and responsiveness.

Before getting induction, I had a conventional glass top for a while and hated it. The worst thing for me was the daily cleaning, usually with a razor blade, to remove all the cooked on food. With Induction, I have been able to keep the surface in perfect condition with nothing more abrasive than a micro-fiber cloth. I vote a huge Yes for induction!

Here is a link that might be useful: My Electrolux Slide-In

I have no axe to grind here and would not want to talk the OP into or out of a particular type of range. I'm more curious: how many induction users have had to modify their techniques at the stove/range-top in moving from gas? I often work quickly, and by feel. Pots get shoved from front burner to rear, routinely, pans get shuffled and jiggled and jerked as I cook. I know that people have used induction tops for years, without issues, and that the tops are not fragile. It just seems to me that, for the way I cook, solid cast iron grates actually make a very functional surface. My techniques are pretty common, although more or less important to different folks, and maybe not much at all to some. Has this been a concern for any induction users in moving to induction? Have you changed your methods in the kitchen at all?

I haven't changed my methods at all. Shake, shuffle, flip...no problem.

Cj

Cotehele, I have been looking online for a flush-mounted cooktop and most seem to have a stainless or beveled edge. Would you mind sharing your model # or can all the Miele induction cooktops be flush-mounted? I plan to do soapstone countertops and wany exactly the look you have with the smooth counter.

I love all the kitchens everyone is showing.

Djg1, I've been using mostly Le Creuset cast iron from the rental with coils through the gas that came with the house to the induction/gas combo I currently have. Other than adapting to the peculiarities of each cooktop, I haven't changed my methods. The pot on induction heats up so much faster that I have been changing my order of work. For instance, on the old gas (underpowered, probably an old Dacor) I would start a pot before I did most of my prep, especially if I had to heat water or oil. With the induction, that happens when most everything is done. Also, with the induction, I make sure to have the serving dishes and utensils at the ready because things will be done fast. That's the kind of thing that has changed more than my cooking methods.

With induction, however, comparing how you describe your own way of working, it's not so much about "back burnering". You match the pan to the best element size. Tending to pans in the back isn't a big deal because the cooktop itself doesn't get hot. I don't know about thinner ones, but the tops of my cast iron pots don't get very warm when I have something cooking along, so it's easy to reach past it to stir something in the back. That is, there's not a lot of rotating pots, but it's also not necessary. It also means that one isn't constantly fiddling with the controls to change each element as the pots move around.

You can also, on many models, program in a temperature change to save some intensity during the cooking process, and program a countdown time for the element to turn off. For instance you can set a pot in the back to, for example, boil rice for five minutes then simmer for 15 and then turn off. Instead of fussing with it at all, you basically have an automatic rice cooker without having to deal with an extra counter top appliance.

In all, I think if you got a full suite of features and used them to their maximum, you might find your cooking a lot less frenetic. If you really love all the hustle bustle and flinging things back and forth and constantly changing the levels of flames, and feeling the heat and all, induction is probably not for you. Induction is a waltz and (powerful) gas is a polka. Both get you across the room on the same path and in about the same time, overall, but there's a lot more movement and sweating with the polka.

I've had an induction cooktop for 5 years now and I would hate to have to go back to cooking over an open flame like a caveman. (OK, so that may be a little hyperbolic). We are planning on retiring next year and moving and if I buy a house with a gas cooktop, I'm planning to rip that sucker out and replace it with induction PDQ. When I first bought the induction, I had a set of aluminum bottom SS pans which I had to replace. I bought an inexpensive and fairly lightweight Sitram set at Costco. They've been just fine. They are certainly no heavier than the previous set.

As far as elderly parents using an induction cooktop, I should think that belongs in the "pro" column. Induction is much safer. My 74 year old mother and 80 year old father remodeled their kitchen last year and installed an induction cooktop. My mom hated the heat from cooking on gas and my dad hated cleaning the grates. They like the new cooktop much better. Of course, I'm not calling them "elderly"....

As far as durability of the cooktop goes, the glass on mine is unblemished after five years of use. Shaking, lifting and moving pans is no problem what so ever.

The very best feature though is the clean up! Windex, spritz, wipe, done!

CJ~ My 36'' Miele is model number KM5773. It has a stainless steel edge. All the Miele induction cooktops should be able to be flush mounted. So many people have cautioned that it would be hard to keep the gap clean between the cooktop. I think it is actually harder to keep it clean between the cooktop and the counter of a surface mounted cooktop. Just my opinion.

A few questions...

Regarding the strength and durability of induction cooktops and the elderly or frail: What about dropping a pan or pot from a few inches above the surface onto the cooktop? My mother-in-law lives with us and cooks every day, usually in a wok. She sometimes has difficulty lifting the Calphalon non-stick wok that we use, and will get it within a few inches of the gas grate before kind of plopping it down heavily. Are there any reports of people cracking the cooktop from pot falls from, say, a foot or less above the surface?

We're trying to decide between a Blue Star 30" range or an induction cooktop, specifically to get the high heat for wok cooking. The Blue Star and its cast iron grates and bowls is appealing both because of the heat and because the MIL can't break anything if she plops a wok down hard.

Speaking of woks...what's the consensus on the specialty induction woks with the flat bottom plus round bowl? My wife says flat bottom woks (like what we've been forced to use on our current range) don't work as well as round woks, so we'd probably invest in a specialty induction wok...*IF* it's really worth it.

I don't *think* we have room - physically or budget wise - for a single curved wok hob....but maybe....

Also we have two young kids. Trying to balance saftey/heat and durability + woks. Thoughts?

I love mine but I will add one con:

sometimes light pots and pans slide around on the burner when you are stirring or flipping. You have to keep the pan centered on the circle.

don't know if this would also be an issue with gas.

If you do a lot of Wok cooking, I would suggest either a separate single gas burner and the rest induction, or go all gas.

I have a Le Creuset wok, which has a flat bottom and round interior. It works very well but very differently from a traditional wok over a flame. One of the most different things is that it takes a long time to heat up because the contact with the induction element is small, though the "pot" is big. The sides do heat, but not fast. Once it's really hot, it's really hot. It doesn't cool down a lot during use--you don't lift and shake it to cool it off, you turn down the stove control, etc. Because of the small contact area, it doesn't take advantage of the full maximum power of the induction unit either.

The Gaggenau wok unit (a single element) with their wok might work better, but I don't know that the other stainless induction woks are all that great. I checked out a number of them and wasn't impressed, but I'm not very good with a wok altogether, and someone with more skills might find a way to make them work well.

They also make single induction wok bowl units that have a dish shaped surface for the wok to fit into. These are very popular in Asia so I assume they work well, but have never tried one.

The ceramic-glass surface of an induction unit is pretty tough, but the more often things are dropped on it the great the probability that one of them will be the one that hits just right to crack it. It does happen.

For all of these reasons, and because I don't think your m-i-l wants to relearn how to cook, I think you're better off with the blast furnace range. :)

For us to re learn to cook on induction was at most the first day we used our induction cook top. There is not a lot to learn...

My mother and mother-in-law are die-hard electric range people. So, contemplating this. Does anyone know whether induction ranges give off much in the way of electromagnetic fields?

I'm waiting for this one!

Here is a link that might be useful: Thread: For all you induction fans, or anyone considering it

The learning curve for my husband went like this.

First morning, he wanted to make cocoawheats (like he has been doing since he was about 12).

Grab favorite pan and put in water - put on cooktop and it won't turn on. Favorite small pan is too small (lots of crabbing now).

Get slightly larger pan and then put in too much water (he never measures). Turn on boost and walk away - water is boiling and spilling all over cooktop - way more crabbing.

Turn down burner and dump in too much cocoa-wheats (remember the part about no measuring?). Turn away like normal to get coffee - cocoa-wheats boil over and have huge mess all over the cooktop - major use of naughty words going on, and "why did we buy this ---- thing!".

Removed pan, grabbed sponge and wiped up mess with almost no effort - in seconds the boiled over mess was history. Now all of a sudden - "WOW!!! I LOVE THIS COOKTOP!"

Anyone that has had to cook boiled over, cooked on cocoawheats off either a coil or smooth top electric cooktop can understand how this caused my husband to go from angry to in love in seconds. From that point on, he considered every new thing with the cooktop to be worth the effort to learn.

It doesn't take long to learn - main thing is it's fast, you don't want to turn it on and walk away while it heats up like the old style electric. The almost instant control and ease of cleaning is so great. I can make jam and never have to remove the pan from the heat as I can shut the heat off instead. I've about forgotten the "pan is too hot, turn it down, now it's too cold, turn it up" over and over again trying to get a good simmmer going.

There is a big difference between learning to use induction for standard cookery (really easy) and learning to wok on it. Other than the wok specialty units, there really is no way to handle a standard hammered carbon steel wok in the normal way on induction. One has to change to cast iron or clad stainless, or a flat bottomed wok, and one's gestures are very different. Things that a lifetime of cooking may have made automatic, like shaking, flipping, and tossing, don't work the same way as in a standard wok over fire. And a lifetime of doing it that way might not be a lifetime of knowing why, that is, which gesture is for cooling, which for mixing, etc., and thus be harder still to adapt.

I am a great fan on induction, but it's not always the best answer.

Here's a con: no one makes a slide-in induction range in white. We have all white appliances, and a kaput dual-fuel Thermador in an island. I would put induction in immediately if I could get white, but looks like Electrolux gas for me :( I'm at least skipping the dual-fuel to try to reduce number of things that can go wrong (Thermador's problems are all electric).

jaz50y, concerning the desire for matching white, the Bosch HBL5420UC wall oven (which has a smaller than average top to bottom mounting hole requirement for the capacity of its interior) is available in white, and can be mounted in a standard kitchen counter cabinet unit (substitute for the dual-fuel Thermador in the island). (We have a Bosch wall oven -- ours is stainless, not white, finish -- mounted that way in a counter cabinet in our kitchen.)

Atop the counter cabinet, you can install an LG LCE30845 induction cooktop, which is very shallow (less than 2-1/4" undercounter), and has no undercounter venting requirements. (No surprise: we have one of those, too.) Together they make a composite "range."

Of course, the choice of the countertop surface, into which the cooktop would be dropped, would be up to you. (Our LG cooktop happens to be mounted into a white porcelain tile counter.)

All good comments ...... Very happy to have found the blog..... Many thanks to all that have contributed....

My husband and I are planning on a new kitchen and went to the local shops to compare prices and appliances. We tried both gas and electric. However the place we are going to has no option for gas so electric it is. The sales person wanted to show us the cream of the crop of electric stoves so he brought us around to the induction display.... I liked the idea of fast cooking... Cool plate and easy cleaning .... However every time he would turn any of the plates on I could hear this high pitch noise .... It will start 1 or 2 seconds after the plate button was pressed to on.... Nor my husband or the sales person could hear it.... I could hear it and tell when it was on or off every time even in the showroom environment with music in the background and all the shop background noise.... After only a couple of minutes (no more than 5 min) I realised that my head was pounding and I had a shocking headache. (I rarely get any). The effect lasted for about 30 min after we left the showroom..... Safe to say we are not getting induction cooktop!!!!!

Elena, you must be very sensitive to this. I cook every day on induction, and while i can hear the noise (it's the pan that makes noise when it heats up), it doesn't really bother me, and didn't have any headaches.

It would be best to try different cooktop brands to evaluate noises. The frequency of the power feed to the induction coils should in most cases be ultrasonic, and not perceivable by humans, even young ones with hearing possibly topping out at 22 kHz, although sub-harmonic resonances in some pan bases are a possibility. (Bring your dog with you if you have one.) Be sure that a suitably inductive pot or pan is used in this test, and not a naked hob or non-inductive pan, else the cooktop might make some audible noise pulsing the hob to test whether a proper inductive pan is present.

My former Kenmore (Electrolux clone) cooktop did not make such noises, nor does my present Frigidaire (Electrolux manufactured) cooktop make them, although my hearing now likely extends to well under 22 kHz. I haven't read here of such noises from Miele, Bosch, or Wolf induction cooktops. What was the brand of the cooktop you were subjected to.

kas

I have a Miele and it's not completly silent. But from what I can tell it's the pan making noise when it heats up (not so much after it reached the target temperature). I don't really find it disturbing tho, it's more like a low buzz than a high pitched noise.

My Bosch makes a noise for a few seconds with certain pans on certain hobs - not consistently at all. I can certainly see (or rather, hear) it being annoying if it were happening on all four hobs all the time.

I have a de Dietrich, and while we can't hear any high-pitch sounds, the interior cooling fans are rather noisy. I would liken it to the hum of a refrigerator. It's noticeable but not bothersome. I still love my cooktop. If I had access to gas, I'd still go with induction. Had I read Elena's post about headaches, I'd sure as heck be investigating that possibility thoroughly. I'd need more than one anecdote, though.

The cookware makes a huge difference. A friend has a GE induction that makes noise with her metal cookware but not with cast iron. Also, the sound is different depending on the power setting.

I suffer from severe migraines and have very good hearing. My Miele induction cooktop makes noise on one of my all clad frying pans but not on all the other all clad, demeyere, de buyer or le creuset pieces.

I would try out the different cookware on several induction cooktops to see which one works for you. Induction is great technology!

Good luck!