Most people have never heard of induction. When shopping for our cooktop, also Thermador, even store assistants were clueless. The simplest way to explain is that the alternating magnetic fields generated by the coils beneath the cooktop induce a current in the pot above, providing the pot is ferromagnetic. The current, flowing through the metal, generates heat just like an electric coil heater. Perhaps that will do it?

You could always demonstrate the difference by asking them to put a hand on the hob while you turn it on. Then put a pot on the hob and ask them to touch the metal. That should illustrate the difference.

I'm a plasma physicist so induction doesn't seem so exotic. My physicist friends think it's cool to have an induction cooktop, just as we have a plasma flat-screen TV. What else would I get?

Cheryl

There are a lot of restaurants in the world and, of course, more kitchens. The best reataurants are chosen every year. Like the Fat Duck, Heston Blumenthal's Berkshire restaurant or Dinner in London which use induction. Or Noma, Copenhagen. Or Per Se, NYC. Or Mugaritz, San Sebastian which rebuilt after a fire--
"The equipment we have in the kitchen is pretty much the same as before the fire, with the difference that now we are seeking precision in cooking temperatures and humidity control. All the technology, from induction burners to heat lamps, has been provided by our partner De Dietrich. It has been adapted to our needs with great attention to detail."

So you are patterning your kitchen after current top professional reastaurant kitchens.

Add my name to the growing list of induction users ...Words do describe how much i love my viking induction range !!!! And I get tons of compliments on it from those that see it , but most had never heard of induction ... I remember the first time I heard about it , but like I others i scoffed like the others when i heard it took special pans ...Fast forward a few years and actually researching gas stoves did I really discover induction cooking ..the more I researched , the more it made since ..and once i was able to cook side by side with a gas range , i was hooked !!!! And , YES 90% percent of my cookware had to be replaced ...but it was cheaper than having a gas line run into my kitchen ...

I can identify with the cost/benefit analysis regarding new cookware vs. running a gas line. And using my new LeCreuset on my induction cooktop provides so much more enjoyment.

I had never, ever heard of induction before I began research on this forum for our kitchen renovation. Once I checked it out, I was sold. We already had the right type of cookware, too. An induction cooktop is part of our new appliance package.

How about just saying this...
Cooking with gas has an energy efficiency transfer of about 40% and the efficiency of energy transfer for an induction cooker is 84%.

Link to earlier thread

One thing I would suggest is let your friends cook on induction.. Even if it to just make tea or boil water for pasta...

Here is a link that might be useful: You know you have I function when.....

I am interested in theThermador Professional Series PODMW301 which combines wall oven, speed oven and warming drawer in one unit---comments/critique please?

Because your question has nothing to do with the topic of this thread, you won't get any answers here. You need to start a thread of your own so people who have that equipment can see it and respond to you.

Since diab123 is obviously no stranger to starting threads, I would tend to cut some slack. I have had the experience of years later stumbling acoss some "lost" momentous posts of mine chock full of pearls of wisdom desperately needed by a waiting world, in areas far removed from my usual haunts. The mysteries of how they got to where they wound up will never be solved.

Um, it seems that the original poster nlion did purchase the exact equipment that I subsequently asked about in my (disparaged) post, the "Thermador convection oven/microwave/warming drawer"---which is what (and why!) I was asking about it for comment/input. And in my short experience with Gardenweb I've quickly learned that you sure aren't welcome to go starting a thread if that subject has ever in the history of earth been brought up previously on Gardenweb. But go ahead...it seems that snarky nastiness is all that a few Gardenwebbers live for. The rest of us just want answers to our questions and concerns about a kitchen remodel---or to help others with theirs. Gee---wait---I think maybe that is the whole point of Gardenweb?

diab123- Just because the original poster purchased the equipment you asked about doesnt mean this is the place to ask about it. This particular thread has nothing to do with that equipment. If you want to ask the original poster about that equipment then either send them a direct message, find a thread where that equipment is the topic of the thread, or start a new thread if you cannot find such a thread.

I don't believe JWVideo was being snarky or nasty. If you really took their comment that way then you need to grow thicker skin. They were simply pointing out that your question has absolutely nothing to do with the focus of this thread. JWVideo is one of the nicest people on this board and constantly posts high quality valuable information. Your comment was way snarkier than anything JWVideo posted.

This place is for helping others; however, it is really hard for the information here to be useful to others if it is buried in thread where it is impossible to find. Asking you to post your question in a separate thread is an attempt to keep this place orderly with information easy to find.

If you want snarkiness here is some for you: Learn to use the internet. Its basic internet etiquette on message boards to keep the conversation to the topic in the title. Look up the term thread hijack.

Mea Culpa! I am quite familiar with the internet, but this site is not very easy use-wise. I have now found the (rather hidden) way to contact a GW member directly---did not know that was possible until now, thus the reason I injected my question (aimed at nlion) into this thread. I am learning the ropes here, but many posters do not make it easy or pleasant for newbies who are not familiar with message boards/forum. Apology to JWVideo and laat.

Actually, I'm glad this got bumped, because it's a subject near to my heart (like french doors on ovens). I always make a point of showing off my induction cooktop to my dinner guests. I sound like an appliance salesperson.

I've tried to get the word out even further. I have contacted both the "style/design" writer and the "living (read women's)" section editor on my local paper with the suggestion that they do a little article on induction, and I never got even a polite, dismissive response. It needs to be in regular papers and women's magazines, not just the ones that TKO's, I mean knowledgeable consumers like us read. Maybe I should pitch it to the NY Times? They like cool new things, and induction is great for New York apartments.

Great ideas, Ginny...keep trying to spread the news. :-) As an aside, I've been looking closely at the cooktops they use on the TV show The Chew. I believe they are Viking induction? Does anybody else think so? If it's good enough for Mario Batali, it's sure good enough for little old me. :-)

Thanks for the compliments and the efforts to smooth ruffled feathers. One of the things I like about GW is the (mostly) civil tone. Sometimes a printed suggestion can come across as a pointed barb when nothing of the sort was intended.

For Ginny: see the NYT article linked below. Maybe you can use that to shame your local paper into letting you do a write up?

For nlion:
I'd never heard of the Chew before -- spending a lot of time editing video and somehow I'm not too interested in tv, doncha know :>) --- but induction is great for cooking in tv studios both because of its very fast responsiveness and because it throws so little waste heat. Studio lights can make a set really hot, so induction is great for not adding to it. (Of course, having an open flame on most sets is seriously discouraged by risk managment folks, too.)

IIRC, when Ming Tsai was doing his show on the Food Network a decade or more ago, he used induction cooktops in his set. (Brandt or Bosch, I think).

If you've seen the last couple of seasons of Andreas Viestad's New Scandinavian Cooking show on PBS, you've seen him using portable induction units for on-location cooking. (Okay, so I do watch a bit of tv now and then.)

Here is a link that might be useful: NY Times Article on Induction