New Cooking Channels

KitchenAid

Stop us if you’ve heard this before, but induction cooking might be the hottest thing in cooking appliances. However, this time there are indications that induction cooking finally might be poised to reach a mass market.

The number of cooking appliance models that have induction elements—elements that generate heat from magnetic energy—has doubled to 50 (at press time) since 2008. Manufacturers that are hungry to make some money in the slumping appliance market have lowered the prices of induction cooktops by as much as $500 in the past 2 years, and they’ve introduced the technology in ranges. The entry price for hybrid cooktops (part induction, part radiant) now hovers around $1,000.

Manufacturers are trying to make their marketing pitches for induction more appetizing to consumers by trumpeting an eco-friendly claim—induction elements are 20 percent more energy-efficient than are radiant elements and 70 percent more energy-efficient than are gas burners. But ranges and cooktops are not even part of the federal government’s lacking Energy Star program, and there is no independent source to back up company claims.

Induction hype has been around for years, but perhaps it’s finding a receptive audience. A 2009 study by the market-research company Mintel found that 5 percent of respondents owned an induction range or cooktop, but 22 percent wanted induction when they bought their next cooking appliance because of the technology’s energy efficiency. So, time will tell whether manufacturers finally have found the right recipe—marketing and lower prices—for success.

Manufacturers believe that they have. “As the housing market comes back and people are looking to replace and remodel, I could see them upgrading to induction,” says Ali Cafferty of BSH Home Appliances, which makes three models of induction cooktops.

But Alan Wolf, who is a senior editor at TWICE, which is a trade publication that covers consumer electronics and major appliances, says he believes that induction cooking still is outside consumers’ comfort zone. Sure, it’s a well-known fact that an induction element can boil water in one-third of the time that it takes a radiant element to do so. But the sudden rush of heat also means that consumers will have to adjust their recipe temperatures and times. They also might have to buy new cookware, because induction works only with magnetic pots and pans that are made of pricey carbon steel, cast iron and stainless steel alloys, rather than less expensive aluminum.

RANGE OF OPTIONS. Regardless, manufacturers continue to push new induction models on consumers. In the past year, induction technology has shown up in ranges that typically cost $2,200. The thinking in adding induction to a range is that it’s easier to introduce this cooking method to consumers if they only must replace a range rather than remodel their kitchen to accommodate a cooktop to get induction cooking. It also typically is less expensive. Traditional ranges generally cost 20 percent to 25 percent less than an equal-capacity cooktop from the same manufacturer that is paired with a wall oven.

Consumer-electronics giant Samsung, which is a relative newcomer to appliances, brought induction ranges below $2,000 when it introduced in May its FE-N500 ($1,800) and FE-N300 ($1,600), which are hybrid models. The FE-N500 has two induction heat elements and two that are radiant, which is like all other hybrids (cooktops and ranges). But the FE-N300 hits its ultra-low price by including only one induction heat element among its four. We believe that it could be frustrating to cook a meal on a range that lets you use induction heating on only one element because of the different timings that are involved.

FROM THE TOP DOWN. Induction might be making the loudest noise in electric cooking appliances, but gas cooking appliances are doing some trumpeting of their own, particularly among cooktops. The big news in cooktops today is greater heat output, or cooking power, and more flexibility in what a burner can deliver based on the breadth of the heat output.