Induction vs. Electric Cooking in 2026: What's the Difference, and Should You Switch?

In this video, we're going to answer the most pressing questions we get about induction. We answer about 150 questions a day, 25% of them on induction. There's a lot of misconceptions, the way you buy, the way you cook, the way you vent, and we're going to cover all of them this one video. All right, let's go. We got a lot of questions to answer here. So first, let's start talking about the electrical aspect of induction. First question is what electrical upgrade does induction actually require and what does it cost? Well, we're going to assume you can get an electrician in the area you live in, which is not a given here. Yeah, but we can't assume. One thing about gas is it's 120 volt, doesn't use a lot of power. Induction, on the other hand, you're talking about two forty volt, 50 amps. So you're going to need a new socket, wiring. You probably need a panel upgrade. In Boston, I am comfortable with the figure 2,500 to 3,500. But the one thing I want to say, this is not plug and play. Even if have electric, electric in some cases may be 30 amps, you're going need 50 for an induction range. So it's not plug and play, and it is somewhat expensive. And you're gonna need new cookware, but we'll get into that in a second. And that kind of leads us right into the next question. You mentioned really most induction ranges are 50 amp. Now the Wolf new 48 inches induction that just came out is 100 amp. Why is that? Well, and this is especially problematic because we had a builder that bought two gas Wolf 30 inches ranges only to find out that Brookline doesn't allow gas anymore. So she had to get the Wolf 100, and that was a major electrical overhaul for her. From what Wolf says is, if they were to use the range, all of it, there would be a drop off at 50 amps in a 48 inches range. So they said, If you want to use, maximize it. That's why they go to 100 watts because they're assuming they're going use every burner and every oven. But 100 amps, that's a lot of power. Now, do I actually have to switch to induction, or is it just a trend? It depends. If you're remodeling 51% of your house and you live in Brookline, Boston, I think Newton, Needham, Lexington, Concord, yes, you are going to induction. If you're just doing a straight replacement, you can still buy a gas range. We actually sell more Wolf gas ranges than we do induction ranges or even dual fuel ranges to this date. It isn't mandatory. I think LA, New York, San Francisco, they're getting induction because of I think it makes a lot of sense in California because of the earthquakes and can affect the gas lines, but this is a trend that's growing. If you're remodeling over a certain percentage, you now have to buy an electric or induction ring. Yeah. And there's certainly a lot of benefits to it, just the safety aspect of it, the cooking performance of it. So, maybe not necessarily you have to switch to it, but there is a lot of compelling reasons that you should at least We'll get into usability in a bit. Now let's talk about cooking performance. Will current pots and pans work on induction? Depends. Ceramics, copper, anything that's non magnetic. Easiest way, you put a magnet on the pan, if it sticks, it's at least induction compatible. Now there's better induction pans. I think All Clad makes one that's 90%. There's a company that, Harbor Supply, they used to be a commercial supplier in Boston, they wind up and made their own special induction pans. We carry them. They're, I think, 90% or over, so there are better pans, but if your pans are magnetic, you're all set to go in induction. Now, induction actually faster than gas? The standard induction burner is 3,700 watt, and it's faster than gas. We tested it against a pro burner, but there is now You're talking about now LG has 4,000. Blue Star's got 7,400. SKS has got 7,000. Miele's got 7,400. A 7,000 watt induction element will boil water at three minutes and twenty seven seconds versus thirteen thirty for a 23,000 BTU pro power burner. So yes, induction, and getting the divides getting And with induction, you're really harnessing all that power, whereas gas, you lose a lot of that to the side of the pan as well. Now, on the flip side, can induction really simmer better than gas? Do you remember going to concerts, right, when everyone had their lighters up? Yeah. I'm going to a concert Saturday night. Have a lighter ready to go. I know I have a lighter. But if you ever play with a lighter, at a low point, it just blows out because gas needs oxygen. Without oxygen, it can't. So the knock on gas has always been the simmer. Now thermodynamics and SKS mitigate that by turning it on and off. But induction in electric, you can theoretically go as far as one watt. So it is a better simmer than gas. And pretty instantaneous too. Now, you run multiple burners at once, do they all get full power? No. They do either power share. What's sploshes? Yeah, the power share. Power share, there's power boost, right? Where if you're gonna boost a burner, it's gonna take some of the power from the back. Yeah. Right? Now that seems odd. That would be a disadvantage. But when you look at a gas burner, your power burn is in the front, and then your lower BTU elements are in the back probably for the same reason. But yeah, you can't turn every induction burner on to full power. So why does the induction cooktop buzz or Buzz and that's a lower quality pot and pan. It's electromagnetic signaling. Yeah, and sometimes the amount of plies in the pans too can cause that. And sometimes just the pan, can just be the pan itself too. Yeah. All right. Now let's talk about picking the right induction range. What's the difference between bridging in a full surface induction? Well, these are at cooktops where you get the freedom where you can go from left to right and the induction will follow it, the power will follow it back and forth as the full surface. And that's still pretty cool, like twelve years later. However, you're not getting nearly the power that you're getting on these new cooktops. SKS, again, is 7,000 watt. I think the whole Thermador cooktop is around 3,700 to 4,000 watts, so you don't have the kind of power that you do with a regular kind of cooktop. Now, can do things. Thermador's got the freedom where you go straight back and change the temperature that way. But I think one is really cool and interesting, and the others are straight, more powerful. So it really depends on how you cook. You'd like to shift things around. The freedom's good, but it's still expensive. Yeah. And really, most of these induction cooktops, I mean, you're gonna be hard pressed to find the pan that you can't get to work on these, like a Miele or a Wolf either. They really all have spots for griddles or odd shaped pots and pans as well. What is the most reliable induction range? Depends. We're looking at cooktops. It's Bosch products, whether you're going to buy them in Bosch, Thermador, Gaggenau, they've always been super reliable. You know where they make those? Spain. Oh, no kidding. I didn't know that. It was six months ago. Say, Yeah, we make them in Spain. In terms of ranges, ranges are less reliable because you're using more of the circuit. So any kind of like voltage spike or anything can fry that control panel. The most reliable that we from last year, we're ready to update them. Again, year was LG, and I think Profile did pretty well. I think Bosch is okay. But on the range, can know, Electrician once said, Get a smoother. You can buy them on Amazon to protect you from spikes in the range. That might be a pretty good investment. Now when you're buying larger ranges like gas, you know, 36, 48, you have the option for grill, griddle, French tops. There's a lot of different configuration. You don't see that as often Well, you're talking about in terms gas, right? No, but with induction, you don't see that configuration. Why is that? Well, you will. First of all, induction, if you want different configurations, dual fuel is still a great range in the 36, 48, and 60 inches units because you have a grill and induction grills are coming out for the outside, induction hardware is making them, but there's no induction grill. Wolf's coming out with an induction griddle next year supposedly. So you don't get any kind of configuration on an induction versus you do on a dual fuel because it's a gas grill, and it's a gas grill, it's a gas French top. And on the dual fuel, you have different oven types. So you can get a steam oven in a Thermador, can get a steam oven in an SCS, or a speed oven in a Miele. So really what it comes down to is induction is certainly better in a 30, but in a 36, 48, induction have a 60, but in a 36 or 48, it really depends on how you cook. If you like to grill, or if you want a steam oven and not put it in a wall, dual fuel is still a pretty good range to consider. Like you said, you have the option to even have an induction burner on some of those ranges as well. Now let's talk ventilation. What size range hood do you need over an induction range? Let's talk CFMs, any certain power that you need over that. It depends on the range and it depends on how you cook. Someone boiling water needs a different vent than someone who's going to take a trivet and put a wok on it and cook with induction. Right? You're still creating a lot of smoke and grease. What induction doesn't do that gas does is, A, you don't get the combustibles, you don't get the byproducts of burning gas, which is nitrogen oxide, dioxide, formaldehyde. I can't imagine why it is, but it just is. And you don't have heat because a lot of that gas, you talk about these super burners, but 40% of it is going out through the front. Plus, your new house is going to be a lot more airtight than your parents. You're not going to get that draft. So it becomes more incumbent to get gas versus induction. If you're just boiling water and you live in Massachusetts, say, we have makeup laws, don't go over 400 CFM. You don't have to. But the more you use it as a cooking implement where you're stir frying and all the rest of it, the more CFM you would need. It's totally up to how you use it. Absolutely. Now, you hear oftentimes customers with gas will say, Well, if my power goes out, I'm still able to light up my gas burner. What happens with induction when the power goes out? Well, that's easy. You can't. And that becomes everyone wants to sell induction or bull fuel as the way you do it. And it really depends on where you live. We've had two blackouts in Boston since I've been there, and they didn't last very long. So that's not a consideration for me. Now, we have a store in Nantucket in Hyannis, and I believe that's probably a consideration for them because you can't turn it on, whereas you can with a match in gas. Would you say induction's a good fit for aging in place? Kids and aging? Absolutely. This is another consideration. You turn on a gas burner, and even you shut it off, it's off, but the burner's hot and the grates are hot, it's easy to get burned there. Plus it's easy to turn on. Your kid can turn on the knob and turn the gas burner on. I've left a gas burner on similar thinking I shut it off as well. With induction, you don't have that ability. It has to sense metal. You If don't put a pot on induction range, it's not going to turn on. That's the first thing. The second thing is tops aren't going get hot because induction bypasses the glass, excites the metal in the metallic pan. That's how you cook. You're getting the heat from the pan to the glass, but the glass doesn't directly get heat, so it's much easier to cool down. So for aging in place, or I got a nine year old at my house, It's not much a confisceration anymore, but when she was like five or six, that was a problem. This is tailor made for aging in place. And lastly, we're starting to hear a lot about these battery operated induction cooktops ranges. Tell me a little bit about those. Yeah, we tested it. I love the impulse. You're talking about a 10,000 watt burner. That's a two minute gallon boil. The problem is that the technology is new. They had two that didn't work before, one did. And the problem with that is, and really this is a good way to end, is what happens when any of these break has to be consideration, right? Let's just say we sold one of those to a customer. That's a two seventy pound cooktop, right? Doesn't sound like anything, no big deal. Now you need an installer and three or four people to lift that over, God forbid, that last piece of marble or granite to make sure that doesn't get damaged and put another one in there. That is not something I'm ready to get the company into just yet. So really all these induction, the last thing is make sure that, especially buying the range, that there's available service for what that brand actually is. All right. And that's that? Those are your most frequently asked questions. Doctor, if you've more, we do answer questions every day. Put them in the comments. We're happy to answer them.