fredmc - I haven't found many limitations with my induction with the exception of needing to use magnetic pans and I can't use my 23 quart pressure canner on it to do my summer canning (which is close to 200 quarts total). My cooktop has 5 burners, 3 different sizes and each burner accepts different sizes of pans.

When I was cooking apples for applesauce in a huge stock pot that was about an inch larger than the burner area, I searched the operating manuel for info. on that, but it wasn't addressed. So, I called Miele directly to see if it was ok and the rep. told me it was not a problem. Obviously, that must differ depending on the brand.

I'm sure you'll have plenty of people respond to this post because most of those who have bought induction would do it again without hesitation.

Good luck on your decision.

(forgot to say - I now can outside on a CampChef with an incredible amount of BTU power!)

I routinely run the gamut of 6" to 12" pans on my 8" cooktek. No problems.

On my Kenmore, each burner has two rings for the min and max size pan you should use on it. So, it does have limitations. However, my old KitchenAid electric smoothtop also recommended matching the pan to the burner size.

As far as other "limitations" my only gripe is that pans tend to slide around on this cooktop much as they do any smoothtop.

I had posted an answer to this before. I took a pan with an 11 inch bottom and put it atop the 6" burner, the smallest on my Electrolux Icon cooktop. I added an inch or so of water to the big pan. I kicked the burner to boost, In about 30-45 seconds bubbles were already forming in the big pan and by 1 minute the water was boiling vigourously.
You could see the ring from the 6" burner in the bottom of the 11' pan. I turned the burner down, and the boiling was then even, across the entire bottom of the pan.
As another poster had said, the even heat transfer to the entire surface of the pan is more of a function of the pan than the cooktop. IE Clad (mix of copper SS and aluminum) will have better heat transfer than would a pan made of pure SS.
About the only limitation I could think of is if you were to put a very small pan on the biggest burner, the burner may not sense it and hence not turn on. I can try this , if you like but just seems like a waste of power to try to do that in the first place""" it would be like gas flames going around the edges of a small pan and therefore wasting a lotta gas?
Good Luck, with your decison, we sure like ours. We did the potatoes, the gravy, etc etc on it for Thanksgiving.
Cleanup was to "Toss the paper towels" that the wife placed over the cooktop before she starting cooking. How can ya beat that????
Oh noise?, I have seen some post where some folks hear Humming or a fan comes on etc etc---Ours is completely silent---Never has the cooling fan come on--alto I have not had all 4 burners all the way up at the same time yet.
Gary

Here is what DIVA said about straddling two elements, which would in effect be using a pan too big for the burner.

Dear Madam:

Here are the answers:

-" An internal electronic problem may occur if you use a griddle plate (or a large pot) to bridge two elements powered up by different inverters (generators). In other words, the electronics may fail if you, let's say, bridge the 9" element on the left and the 11" element in the center, because they are powered up by separate inverters. There should be no problem if you try bridging the two elements on either your right or left section."

My suggestion is that you contact the maker of the brand induction to get specific answers for the model. If you are considering DIVA the technical contact person is listed on their website and I have found them to be extremely responsive.

I've had the 36 Miele for 1.5 years and the pan size issue has vnever been a rolem. If you have a 12 inch fry pan the size on the bottom is 9 or 10 and will fit on at least 3 of 5 and if you have small pots you have at least 3 of 5 again. Measure your pans or get the bottom size of pans you want and then go shopping. You have at least +/- 1 inch. I doubt you will hve a problem.

Most canners I've seen are aluminum and won't work on induction. But you can get an outdoor propane burner (turkey fryer) and use that. The advantage is that all the heat stays outside during the summer where it belongs.

It took me 1.5 years of contemplating an induction cooktop since no one I knew had one to finally get one. Nov 2008 I got the 36 wolf induction and it is AWESOME! No problems with the pan sizes. I dont always perfectly match it.
I know nothing about canning.. I cook alot and use lots of various pots and pans. I have the new scan pan for induction, green pan from crate and barrell, all clad, lodge preseasoned cast iron, le creuset etc.. it is great!

No pan size issues on my Windcrest (and none on 1983 Kenmore induction either except that my tiny tiny saucepan only worked on one burner).

The main practicality problem I've encountered (aside from having the right kind of pans) is the griddle thing. But if I really missed it, I could get two small round ones and that would cover me.

I made gravy this Thanksgiving in a huge Graniteware roaster on my cooktop. Worked well enough.

After three weeks with the Kenmore induction slide-in range, I've not yet had a problem with pan size.

fori: how do you like the Windcrest? It makes the most sense to me (black frame, 2" clearance below, pre-sets), but I hear little about it on this forum.

I am solving my canning delima by installing a 220 outlet in my kitchen and buying a 2000w commercial quality hotplate. It says it will hold up to 15 qt kettle but I'll try my 21 qt AA on it.

I do a lot of canning (garden is over 4,000 sq ft) and that has been the number one concern I have with going induction. If I had the room I'd have a coil cooktop along with the induction cooktop. I do have a coil cooktop installed in the summer kitchen but it is too cold (SD) many months of the year to use it and I can year round.

I use a smaller Presto canner on my ceramic cooktop. I have yet to see a larger canner that is metalic - bet it would weigh a ton!

Cathy

Cookie, it's fine. No frills, which I like. I have a little trouble with the controls for one of the burners though (fingers too small haha) and should probably have it serviced but I'm lazy and as long as I remember to use two fingers on it it's okay.

I don't like the controls on the front, which most have. The other day I was stir frying some veggies and turned down the cooktop with a stray onion. Yesterday my spouse and I were running all over trying to figure out if and why the dishwasher was beeping. Nah...some junk was sitting on the cooktop and turning it off and on.

On the good side, its beeps are very quiet and it doesn't beep when there's no pan on the burner which I like. My old induction cooktop beeped angrily when it didn't find its pan. I don't need to be told I moved a pan!

I've done canning a whole one time. There are hot water bath canners that are big and induction capable, but I don't know about the pressure ones.

Really enjoying my KA induction 30". Only had it about 3 weeks and don't find a problem with pan size at all. Mine is not so sensitive that it will turn down with a stray piece of food hitting it. It only seems to beep when I take a lid off and put it on the cooktop - not a good thing! Hard habit to break. Love the clean up.

The KA does make a bit of a pulsing sound when I have it down to 2 or 3. Cutting in and out.

Bought a nice (expensive) Tfal frying pan that has a stainless exterior that works excellent on the induction. Would like to have the whole pot set. I'll see if goes on sale.

Love induction so far!

I've only had 5 days of experience having the GE Induction Range. So far, I am IN LOVE with this. I've said it so often that my 14 y/o DS asked if I loved it more than him . . . He likes it, too, since his main occupation these days is eating EVERYTHING in his sight.
Pan size hasn't been an issue, although the range came w/ a sheet stating minimum pan size for each burner.
No beeping when anything is placed on the rangetop.
My only complaint thus far are the fingerprints on the control panel.
The heat is very responsive -- on my old electric smoothtop, the heat was very inconsistent === soup would boil but yet would have cold areas in it. Tonight the soup wasn't boiling, but was hot enough to eat. Weird description, I know, but whatever -- love it!
And the clean-up, or lack of need for clean-up. Just that in itself is a good --no,marvelous thing. Cleans up easier than my 14 y/o DS!

I don't understand all of these people who are saying pan size is not an issue. IT IS AN ISSUE. Perhaps it's not a big deal, but if you exceed the burner diameter by more than 1 inch (1/2 inch on each side) you will suffer heat drop-off. Perhaps most people don't mind it, but it does bother me. Try making a crepe in a 12" pan on a 10" burner. You will have 1 inch all around your crepe that is is not properly cooked compared to the rest. It most definitely IS an issue, but how much you are bothered by it depends on your cooking style and personality.

There are definitely drawbacks to induction, and pan size is one of them. The other drawback is if your pan is larger than the burner, you never know where exactly the burner is in relationship to your pan. You develop a sense for it after a while, but the only way is to move the pan around and try to keep it centered. But when you can't see the outer ring of the burner, it's difficult. Induction cooktops also have built-in pan overheat protection sensors. This can inadvertently cause you to have your burner set to maximum yet it barely boils because the cooktop thinks your pan is too hot. It happens to me on my De Dietrich, which is the same manufacturer as Windcrest and Diva. I've already had two units, and they both exhibit the same "problem".

Sure you can boil water quickly, but maintaining maximum heat for more than 5-10 minutes is impossible given the protection circuitry. I do love induction for its efficiency and speed, but I miss the flexibility, visibility, and the ability to heat my pan to the melting point with gas. You will have the best induction experience with cast iron, but your arms will hate you. In my experience the All Clad Stainless does not work well with induction. The pans make popping noises, sometimes move around on their own due to the magnetic field causing the pan to vibrate, and don't retain heat very well.

The big advantage to gas is that you have a lovely envelope of heat surrounding the pan to keep it hot - from the bottom and along the sides. Induction, on the other hand, only heats the bottom of the pan and you quickly lose heat along the sides. It's a different experience. Not better or worse, just different. In my house I don't have gas, so induction was a good option to give me the same control and speed as gas with an electric cooktop. However, if I had a gas connection at my house I would definitely have a Wolf gas range in my house right now. No question.

I agree sshrivastava -- the manual for my Kenmore induction clearly indicates the minimum size pan that can be used on each burner and then warns you not to exceed the burner size by over 1".

While I can cook with two big skillets (10" and 12") on the front two burners, I have to use the back burner for my 2 quart saucepan because the bottom of the pan does not meet the minimum size requirement of 7 1/4". I hate this because my hood is low and reaching the back burners is more difficult.

It's been discussed what will happen if your pan is too big for the burner -- how about if you use a pan that is smaller than the minimum size for that burner??????

I've wondered about using smaller pans as well. The sheet that came with with my GE says that the smallest pan size for the burners are:

7" min size for 11" burner
5 3/4" min size 7 1/2" burner
4 3/4" min size for 6" burner

They are arranged as LF: 7 1/2", RF: 11", LR 7 1/2", RR 6".

I took my smallest sauce pan that has a diameter of 5 1/4. Per the sheet I should only use it on the RR burner: I put one cup of water and put the burner on high, it took about 40 seconds to boil. I emptied the water, cooled the pan to room temp and repeated on the 7 1/2 burner -- according to the sheet, the pan was too small for the burner, but it worked: no beeping, light flashing as the sheet warned: it took 35 seconds to boil. Repeated the cooling, put it on the 11 inch burner. No flashing, beeping -- but it did take 2 full minutes to boil. Yes, longer than the 7 1/2 and 6 inch burners, but faster than my old radiant top. I know this is by no means scientific, and may only be relevant on GE induction ranges, but now I know that minimal pan sizes are just a suggestion. Also did not notice any increase in noise with the small pan on the larger burner.

On Monday I was cooking and needed to use 2-10" skillets. The skillet on the 7" burner needed a bit more time to get to simmer than the 11", but nothing that slowed me down a bit. I'll be giving it more of a work-out over the next few weeks for holiday prep.

For a visual, I've put in a picture of my small sauce pan on the large burner. So far I am really enjoying the switch from the smooth top electric.
{{gwi:1494760}}

Thanks rjr220 -- so maybe it is just an efficiency thing? I am too scared to try it because I don't want to damage my cooktop. It would be nice to heat up a can of soup on the front burners though instead of the back.

I think the coils are like a donut. There is a hole in the middle, the bigger the coil, the bigger the hole. So on the 11" with the small pot, not as much of the coil actually exists under the pan, so only a small area of the pan gets heated.

RJR: thats the GE induction stove, right?