Induction is superior to gas for simmering. As far as canning, I'd do a portable propane burner outside for the number of times per year that that happens rather than permanently modifying the actual kitchen to account for such an infrequent use. Plan your life around the 350 days of a year that ordinary use happens, not the 15 that you entertain or can or have other specialty happenings.

A friend of mine has a 6-burner Wolf range plus a 2 hob induction unit. No pix but they are very happy with the set up.

Gas does not have an advantage over induction when it comes to precision but it does with visual feedback.

In theory induction is superior to gas when it comes to simmering/canning but due to corporate lawyers mandating electronic nannies to protect us from our own forgetfulness and inattention it is not.

If you want an outdoor kitchen for canning, woking ,grilling, and paellaing (coined new word) then go for it. If you want to do one or all these inside then setup your indoor kitchen for the way you want to use your kitchen and not to meet the rational expectations of others.

Induction can be fine for canning. Checkout Gardenweb's "cookware" and "harvest" forums. (Try googling "gardenweb + induction + canning" or simply "induction canning."

Do note that some manufactuer's manuals forbid very large pots and/or canning for a variety of reasons including concerns about excess weight. Others have no restrictions. If you do water-bath canning, it should work well. Pressure canning is a different matter because, of course, most pressure canners are aluminum which, of course, won't work on induction I can tell you from personal experience that putting a pressure canner on a cast-iron griddle can work .... eventually. . . but . . . you . . . will . . . find . . . it . . . intolerably . . . unbelievably . . . slow. For that, you can have the twin gas burner unit in your counter. If that is all you want it for, though, I'd suggest looking at one of the Coleman propane-fueled, twin-triple ring 30k-btu-hr burner campstoves,

I'm sure I've seen pictures of a set-up with gas and induction cooktops. THe ones recall were four-burner gas cooktops with single or twin induction burner units.. It was either here or in the ktichens forum, or maybe over at chowhound's cookware forum. Can't find a link for the life of me, though. Sorry.

The folks that recommend an outdoors canner are on the right track. See the post about the hot grates on a Wolf heating up the kitchen!!!! Soooo you wanna can on gas during the summer, well maybe the veggies and/or fruits, "May" not be all that is "Canned"!

I have induction inside and gas outside and I love it that way.

If you must have "both" in your kitchen, I believe Rhome does, and she has,
(as I recall), posted pictures of her "setup" either here or in the kitchen forums.

Gary

I water bath on induction- but I generally only can things that are 10-12 minute baths, not hours. Friends have done it for years on glass top electric radiants, so I figure I am not a pioneer.

The only thing I pressure can is albacore tuna, and that MUST happen outside, we use a gigantic two burner propane stove. Way too stinky for indoors.

I do both bath and pressure canning and also own a pressure cooker that I use on my stove. I can meats (mostly beef and chicken when they are on sale) so I pressure cook year round. I also can veggies and fruits in season.

We are considering an outdoor kitchen but it will not be built right away, but we are building in the coastal plains with a high water table so we will have a lot of stairs to get down there.

Maybe it is my single hob but it really doesn't have a good simmer mode and that is why I felt I needed the gas two burners. Perhaps, I should go the other way and do the four gas burners with 2 hobs instead. It may make more sense.

Anyway, I love the fact that induction is fast and that it consumes less energy to cook.

Thanks for all your input.

I remember in the past. A couple of posters installed 2 burner gas & 2 burner induction. Best of all choices.

>>>"Maybe it is my single hob but it really doesn't have a good simmer mode ..."Single hob meaning a portable/countertop unit like the Max Burton, Aroma, Fagor things?

I've had experience with induction going back decades and never had a lick of trouble simmering on any induction unit. Until I was given a Max Burton 6200 unit a year or so ago. The portable units have their uses but low and slow does not seem to be one of them.

Are there any stores near you that can demonstrate induction cooktops or ranges? Don't be afraid to call some of the high-end places and ask. A live demo will show you more about your kind of simmering than we can tell you.

Also, induction units vary in how fine a control they give you. Some of them only give you whole number settings (which is what a lot of the portable countertop units do.) Others, will give you half steps bteween the whole number steps. Some, like Electrolux, will give you finer steps at the low end of the heat range. My recollection is that some Electrolux units give you steps of .2 in the lower range of heat settings.

My husband works for GE so we will be buying GE appliances due to our discounts.

And, yes, I have a Max Burton and it never seems to do simmer.

My husband works for GE so we will be buying GE appliances due to our discounts.

And, yes, I have a Max Burton and it never seems to do simmer.

If you go to the finished kitche gallery, you can look up Elizpiz's kitchen with induction and gas. I am doing a 36in induction with a 12in gas wok unit. Both Gaggenau but not installed yet. I prefer induction for most cooking. Gas is for specific ethnic cooking pots like woks with a rounded bottom andethnic foods that require actual flames like eggplant charring, puffing chapathis, cooking corn over flames, making pappadams. Please note that I have a very large vent to cover all of the cooking surface with a few inches on the sides to spare. Ideally I would have preferred the 24in Gagg Induction with a single wok unit. Unfortunately that requires importing from UK or outside US. Doable - search for posts by Plllog who did it.
I plan to can outdoors with a portable induction. Cooler this way