In the next few months I have a kitchen remodel planned. One item to be replaced is the range/oven. Currently we have a "vintage" electric stove.
I am undecided as to whether to choose gas or an induction model. I had gas in a previous house and I really liked it. However, I have reservations about combustion gases and unhealthy effects on air quality. I have heard great things about induction ranges, but my biggest reservation there is that I'll need to replace a fair bit of cookware. Personally, I have no experience using induction.
My question is mainly directed at those who have used both induction and gas, but if you've used either that's ok as well. So, given a choice between induction or gas, which would you choose?
P.S. – Not sure if this should be a community wiki, but if so I'm good with that.
Update
I was hoping to hear from someone who uses an induction range. The ideal answer would be something like, "I've used gas and induction and when I bought a new range I bought "x" and here's why". Anyway it's not an ideal world…
My issue is that I have used gas for cooking and know lots of others who do as well. I have one friend who used an induction range in a vacation home, and her take was that she hated it at first, but then came to like it. Another friend has a countertop induction burner, but he's not a cook as he just uses it to boil water. The thing is that induction ranges are not very common in the U.S. or at least among people I know.
So, to refine what I'm interested in…. If you are an avid cook, and have used an induction system, "Is it responsive?", "Is it controllable, in that say, you can set a burner at 180 and it'll stay there?", "Is it durable and easy to clean?".
Also, my reservation about replacing cookware pretty much went away. I found flooring materials through salvage for less than half of what I expected to pay. That pretty much opened up my budget if I decide to go with induction rather than gas.
Finally, what I really need to do is find a way to test drive an induction range. I'll be checking in with some local shops to see if there is a way to accomplish that.
And by the way, I have of course googled on this.
Thanks for the input so far.
Another Update
I was hoping to get more comparative experience in using gas and induction. I suppose I didn't get much of that because induction ranges do not have wide usage in the U.S. market.
I know that I generally like cooking on gas ranges. My main concern with gas is indoor air pollution. Somewhere among my bookmarks is an article about particulate matter and CO generated by gas ranges.
On the other hand, I really like some of the things I've read about induction ranges. Efficiency, safety, control, etc.
My final decision on what I actually wind up purchasing is down the road a bit. Hopefully, I'll get to "test drive" an induction range in the meantime.
Best Answer
We have recently remodelled our kitchen and moved from a gas hob to an induction hob. In general it cooks much the same as gas and you get similar levels of control over the temperature. One style of cooking that is not recommended is 'slide' cooking as this will likely scratch your hob surface - this can be mitigated by putting a piece of parchment paper under the pan or lifting the pan off the hob. we don't use a wok and can't see how we could with our hob.
The surface of the hob gets hot but not as hot as it would it it were gas or electric this means that spilt / spattered food doesn't generally burn on to the hob surface and it is much easier to clean.
The hob is touch control and so far we've not had any problems with this. If you lift a pan off the heating zone it will switch itself off automagically after a certain amount of time. Before this happens if you put a pan back on the zone it carries on cooking. If there are no pans on any active zones then the whole thing switches off after 2 minutes.
We chose a NEFF Flushline hob that sits in a natural black granite work surface and the whole thing is positively beautiful and a pleasure to work with.