Just like everything, it’s a good to understand the pros and cons of a new products when building a new home. I have always been a lover of gas cooktops, I could see it, understand it and know how to use it. I believed gas was the most efficient way of controlling temperature, which made me a very confident cook. That was all well and good until I was introduced to induction cooktops.

 Friends of ours who had recently built a custom design home and had an induction cooktop installed, were telling me how good they were. They told me it was almost instant heat to a pan, and I said, ‘oh really?’, but what I was really thinking was, ‘what a load of rubbish’ and ‘surely not!’. They are good friends and highly intelligent people, so I knew they weren’t lying, I just thought it was a case of slight exaggeration. 

The time came in the home building process to choose our kitchen appliances and I reluctantly went along with the salespersons recommendations to get an induction cooktop, plus my husband looked like he’d fallen for it hook, line and sinker! I must say, since cooking on the induction cooktop for over a year now, I have really taken back any negative thoughts I had at first…this thing is brilliant!

Not only were my friends correct in saying it heats a pan almost immediately, it is super easy to touch a sensor screen to control the temperature. Cleaning the induction cooktop is also much easier to my previous gas cooktop. There’s no trivets to remove and scrub, I just simply clean the cooktop with a sponge and soapy water. I will say however, I do use a microfibre cloth to polish off any water marks, a task my husband is still working on!

The only other dilemma I had from changing from gas to induction was my cookware. I needed new frying pans while still in my previous house using gas, so I bought pans that could be used on gas and induction cooktops. It turns out a lot of my saucepans and other cookware was compatible with induction cooktops and I didn’t even know it, so that was a pleasant surprise that I didn’t have to replace all my cookware! Otherwise you need to allow for this in the building budget.

Overall, I have been pleasantly surprised with my change over to induction cooktops and cannot see myself every going back…until the next amazing piece of technology comes along!

Vickie Kirkham

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