On 10/18/2016 at 4:26 PM, teapot said:To those of you who have induction...any thoughts about the "freedom" type cooktop that Thermador makes? Does having the entire surface be a cooktop seem like it would be worth the money. I'm tempted because I have a wonderful old Griswald griddle that would be nice to use and I suspect having the entire pan in full contact with the cooking zone would be pretty awesome.
On 10/18/2016 at 8:09 PM, boilsover said:
The idea is great. However... you are at the mercy of what's hidden under the glass. The detector circuits on conventional induction hobs are already complex and idiosynchratic; the electronics or these so-called "zoneless" are even more complex. Likewise, you need to understand how the unseen induction coils fit together, how large they are, etc. People assume there are many of them and that they interlock, but this is not necessarily the case. It is therefore less than reasonable to assume that, e.g., a fish poacher or large braiser will be evenly heated. I would not consider zoneless without a high confidence that the model I want has been thoroughly debugged and has a good service record of 4-5 years,
I have a Bosch induction cook top and am happy with everything but the inability to put my roaster on the cook top for gravy-making or have 2 large pots going at once. Previously I had a Kenmore (made by Electrolux) that worked fine for about 2 years then required a major repair then died 3 years later. When I was shopping for the Kenmore replacement I was intrigued by the zoneless models but would have had to replace a Corian counter top because the existing hole was too small. Multiple contractors said they would not cut the existing Corian. The cost of a new counter plus the cost of the zoneless models was just too much. I now regret that decision (after all, it would have been cheaper than a year of owning racehorses, my husband's hobby). If I get another chance at a redo I will go zoneless, taking boilsover's advice into consideration.
