Pot sticking to induction cooktop

induction

I recently bought a Max Burton 6400 induction cooktop. I used it a few times with some pans I already own and had to problem. Today I wanted to heat some milk up quickly, and I used a cheap Ikea sauce pan. The milk heated up fine, but when I tried to remove the pot, it had become stuck to the surface. I turned the cooktop off, but it was still stuck. I finally was able to slide it to the edge and pull it off, throwing hot milk all over my kitchen.

Has anyone experienced this with an induction cooktop before? Is it considered a malfunction? And should I blame the pot or the cooktop?

Best Answer

I am guessing you had a bit of fluid either on the bottom of the pan or on the top of your stove. It could have been almost any fluid including water. Even though your pans can get really hot, water trapped under a pan doesn't seem to boil away very quickly, and the longer the pot sits on top of the fluid, the thinner it is pressed, thus turning into a suction problem because there is no effective fluid surface (thickness) for air to slurp in under the pot.

I cook mostly with cast iron, so the irregularity of the surface minimizes this effect a great deal.

Make sure your pot bottoms and stove surface are dry and clean. Obviously they'll still get greasy, especially during heavy cooking sessions, but try to keep the grease level to a minimum, and wipe down the stove between the burners as you go.