I’m in the early stages of planning a kitchen remodel and considering replacing my 10-year-old electric radiant heat electric cooktop with one powered by natural gas. Then I heard about the San Diego Green Building Council’s free promotion for a three-week induction burner “test drive” and I signed up!
According to the website, the Electric Home Cooktop Program was launched to give homeowners, contractors, designers and anyone who loves to cook hands-on experience using an induction cooktop to demonstrate how effective the technology is from a culinary perspective, while at the same time, showcasing that it is an effective tool for addressing climate change by reducing fossil fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions.
Reservation & Return Process
You begin by making an online reservation at https://www.ehomecooktops.com/reserve. Once you complete the reservation form, you will be offered several dates to pick up the burner and a choice of three pick-up/drop-off locations (Carlsbad, Solana Beach and central San Diego). Before selecting your pick-up date, it’s important to note you are expected to return the burner three weeks later. As the program is primarily staffed by volunteers, pickups are scheduled only on select Saturdays at 2 pm and returns are scheduled exactly three Saturdays later, at the same spot, at 12 noon…so check your calendar to make sure both the pick-up and return dates work for you. According to Colleen who is with the SD Green Building Council, the program was developed with the idea that pick-ups and drop-offs would occur at the Green Building Council office, but the office closed as a result of the pandemic and rather than delay the program the decision was to make-do with the limited pick-up and drop-off times. Another helpful hint: if you arrive early, there’s no signage to let you know you are in the right spot.
At pick-up time, the helpful volunteer staff person will present you with the portable induction burner which travels in a very nice padded bag. In addition to the burner, the bag holds a Cuisinart skillet and lid, a magnet to test your own cookware to determine whether any of your pans and pots are compatible with an induction burner and an info sheet with clear instructions on how to use the induction burner. And with that, you’re ready to start cooking as soon as you get home.
Induction Burner Performance
It takes about five to ten minutes to review the bag’s contents and find a good place in your kitchen to set up (you need a flat area with an adjacent outlet). As promised, the 9100 Duxtop induction burner heats the pan and its contents instantaneously. Note: pan must be on the burner in order for it to turn on (nice safety feature). The only downside is (similar to a microwave) as soon as the burner is on, an automatic fan starts up to cool the internal elements. The first time I used the burner, the fan seemed very loud and definitely a deal-breaker for me. But the good news is that the fan noise is a property of the small portable units. My neighbor remodeled her kitchen almost a decade ago and had opted for an induction cooktop. She invited me in for a demonstration and, low and behold, no noticeable fan noise. I’m not sure if that’s standard in all induction cooktops, but I would consider that a necessary feature for any induction cooktop that I might buy. Another feature my neighbor bragged about is that since the cooktop surface stays relatively cool, spills, splatters, and occasional boil-overs don’t burn onto the cooktop, making clean-up quick and easy. After nine years her induction cooktop is pristine and more importantly, she appreciates that even though the contents of the pan are heated quickly, the surface of the burner is not heating the pan. The heat to the pan is transmitted via electromagnetic force. So, once the hot pan is removed and/or the burner is turned off, the surface of the burner will only be as hot as if you set the hot pan on a counter. This is a plus if there are grandchildren around asking to help in the kitchen!
Based on the dishes I prepared, the induction burner works faster than my standard radiant heat electric cooktop (according to online research, experts say induction is as fast, if not faster than, natural gas). The portable burner offers two different ways to set cooking temperatures which gives you more control and more predictable results: a temperature button can set the heat level from 1 to 10 (low to high) or a button that can set an exact temperature setting. There’s also a button to set the cook timer. These features make cooking much more precise and controllable. For example, in order to cook poached eggs to my preference, I started out by setting the temperature to 5 (medium) to bring the water to boil, added the eggs, and then lowered it to 180°F and set the timer for 4 minutes. For my kitchen, the cooking timer and dual temperature control features would be required.
The www.ehomecooktop.com website also offers links to video tutorials by various chefs who provide demonstrations and helpful user tips about induction cooktop cooking.
In summary, thanks to the “test drive” I feel I am able to better evaluate the pros and cons of an induction cooktop as an effective kitchen tool as well as from an energy and environmental perspective.
Article by STAY COOL member Judy Leitner.
