I have touch decision to make between gas hob and induction hob. Actually what are the differences and factors to consider when choosing the ideal hob for your culinary adventures? Heard that electric hob will cost a bomb to electricity bill, is it true? and it works only with certain cooking utensils, still true till today?

Please verify if i'm correct for below comparison and need some advice.

Gas hob:
1. Instant heat - heats up quicker, can adjust temperature according to cooking needs. Food will be tastier?
2. Compatibility - can support many types of cookware including traditional pots and pans.
3. Cost - cheaper to run? appliance is less costly than electric hob?

Induction hob (Electric hob):
1. Safety - auto cut off, can set timer on when it will stop the heat. No need worry gas leak/explosion
2. Cleanliness - easy to clean due to flat surface, no need remove parts

What are the other benefits of induction hob?

This post has been edited by goolie: Jul 5 2023, 09:35 AM

Pro for induction:
1. Safe for children. The surface won’t get hot, only your pan/wok will.
2. Space efficiency. No need to allocate space for gas tank.
3. Easy to clean, easy to maintain. Will look nice a long time.
4. Speaking of gas tank, no need to carry around gas tank to change every now and then.
5. Efficient heating, rapid heating for cooking.

Cons for induction:
1. Cooking pan tends to be more expensive.
2. Hard to find rounded bottom wok that works with induction hob.
3. When cooking, lacks the char/smoky texture you get with fire stove.
4. Rapid heating gets too hot too quickly. If not careful or lose focus, food will be toasted. Buy induction hob with many heat steps to combat this.
5. Obviously will pull high power, so need to pull one from DB. Costs more to install.
6. When no power, then can’t cook.

This post has been edited by arffrhn: Jul 5 2023, 09:46 AM

Are you staying landed or high-rise? If high-rise, just get Induction

you forgot about the residual heat that still remains on the hob for a while after cooking.

Actually the induction heat up faster than gas. The gas hob flame directly onto pot but the heat also spread into kitchen. More wasted energy but still cheaper to operate than induction. The induction kitchen is cooler than the gas kitchen.

Me? I used induction for about 20 years. Replace hob once already, faulty. Why not repair? Model old already and it has been fixed twice too

If you want to use induction, then make sure wiring is designed for the hob. Well, I should call it stove. There are stove with 2, 3 or 4 hobs. Bear in mind that the PSU (Power Supply Unit) is usually only one. The PSU will supply the power to all hob units. So, max heating power can be different when using one hob or more than one hobs.

The disadvantage is like what others said that you need pots that is magnetic. Yes stainless steel can be magnetic but also can be nonmagnetic, depending on process when making one. The aluminum type has metal base. If you are into traditional cooking using clay pot, then you are out of luck.

Me? I used modular type. Instead of using the unit with 4 induction hobs, I used 1 unit with 2 induction and 1 unit with 2 ceramic hobs. So, I can use any type of pots. To be honest, I rarely use the ceramic side

Another reason for choosing modular type is that if 1 unit is faulty, I can still use the other unit because they have their own PSU

Those are good points!

During my younger days where I cooked less, I had prefered electric hob, since its simple cooking. And been using pan and pot

Now with kids, I prefer gas, just bcoz most of my cooking now are on Wok, and not worried about electricity cut offs and gas been overall cheaper option

I'm currently using both in my home, TEKA brand. This is from my own personal experience.

another plus point is that induction produce less smoke

This post has been edited by kira_88: Jul 5 2023, 10:23 AM

If you don't use the typical Chinese wok for cooking, just get a induction hob.

im using gas hob because i like to do tossing

maybe just me but cooking soup on gas hob is tastier than induction.

Just go for simple point, if u/ur family loves cooking, go for gas hob
If just cincai cook for filling up tummy, cook maggi, then induction

Other factors such as safety, smell, smoke those... gas or induction also poses the risks

Gas actually slower to heat up compared to induction, unless you cook the food directly on fire (without pan), then nothing to say liao

Gas overall cheaper (the stove, the gas tank, compatible cookware), but produces more ambient heat + soot + you need to source gas tank.

If you live in small highrise and your kitchen doesn't have a separate outdoors yard area/"wet" kitchen to cook in, strongly do not recommend gas tank because of ventilation issues and heat issues.

Wok hei honestly difficult to reproduce unless have very powerful flame.

I stay in condo. In your opinion, any reason why we should go for induction?

This post has been edited by goolie: Jul 5 2023, 04:27 PM

I’m more on ceramic hob , just keep a spare portable camping stove in case no electricity still need to cook . Induction hob cookware can be more expensive than the hob itself

Less issue carrying gas tank or running out of gas after hours
Plus no gas leak issue with induction

all the silly 'you cant get wok kei with induction' kids better grow up.
I can get tons of wok hei with induction. Who says induction cant produce wok hei??

Kids who dunno how to control temperature and don't know how to use a well seasoned flat bottomed wok on induction, don't know how to deliberately heat the oil to smoking point before cooking, not using dry/drained fresh ingredients at room temperature 😂😂😂 on gas or induction, it's more important that the ingredients are sufficiently dry without excess moisture and that the food is at room temperature, so the maillard reaction happens quickly without overcooking.

Yea ori version of wok hei needs a super seasoned wok and the rocket engine that professional kitchens and hawker centres use. Modern gas stoves don't go that strong or high because it's a greater fire hazard than usual, so the condition of ingredients are more important.

This post has been edited by DragonReine: Jul 8 2023, 01:38 PM

very well said

I have to disagree on this one.

You just can't get the real wok hei without the use of a wok and a jet engine hob.

Your stir-fried vegetables will never taste the same as those prepared at a restaurant.

[quote=Created On 21/1/2021,Jul 8 2023, 02:15 PM]
I have to disagree on this one.

You just can't get the real wok hei without the use of a wok and a jet engine hob.

Your stir-fried vegetables will never taste the same as those prepared at a restaurant.

[/ whatever

induction hob heats up faster ok.