Headline: Induction cooking is pricy, but really makes for a wonderful cooking experience. The trio that made our cooking life so nice includes: 1) Wolf cooktop, 2) Emeril cookware, and 3) Bar Keepers Friend.
I realize this is an unusual post for me… But after all, the site is Joy of Excellence, and this certainly falls into that category.
Why a new cooktop?
We’d finally had it. We had a nice gas cooktop but the starter started to “click” constantly. We replaced parts, made adjustments, but it always returned. I finally had it and started to look for a cooktop. Our cooktop was an odd size at 34” and I wasn’t certain if a 36” would fit. And what would I do to fill the opening if I chose a 30”?
When I began the research I ran across a cooktop type I’d never heard of before – induction cooking.
Wolf Induction Cooktop
The Wolf 36” induction cooktop is what we chose. Again, while pricy it makes cooking a real joy. My wife is a wonderful cook and now it’s even easier for her. I occasionally cook rice or black beans and rice and I’ve never boiled over the rice! The key features include:
- Instant temperature control
- Very consistent temperature control
- Easy to clean
- And only the part under the pot or pan gets hot
The downside? We needed to get all new cookware.
Emerilware
The Emerilware Stainless with Copper cookware is very nice. I’ve read some complaints about the glass lids breaking, but we’ve had no issues so far.
The cookware looks beautiful hanging in the kitchen.
Bar Keepers Friend
Finally, at first I was nervous about getting “stick cookware”. (What do you call cookware that isn’t non-stick? Non-non-stick? Stick?) I didn’t have much luck when we had such cookware about 20 years ago. But then we had two problems. Uneven cooking (we burned things too much) and no good cleaner.
Bar Keepers Friend (the liquid) along with with some Scotch-Brite Heavy Duty Scrub Sponges made maintaining the cookware in almost new condition easy.