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You’ll pry my gas stove out of my dead cold hands.
NGL as someone who jumped ship from the gas camp to induction, Induction is really incredible just how much better it is.

Everything about it is better with the exception of an annoying buzz from the induction on occasion.

- My carbon steel pans get to temp basically instantly.

- My cast iron gets to temp in a fraction of the time it took on my gas stove.

- It also works fantastically on my stainless steel pots and tbh it feels like I can get a pot of water to boil in half the time.

- Cleaning induction surfaces is way easier.

- For "specialty stuff" like woks, curved induction is so much cheaper, more convenient, safer, and more approachable than the equivalent gas setups.

This isn't me trying to suggest anyone should be forced to give up gas. It definitely has it's uses. However I really have to recommend trying out a nice, modern induction setup. They are like fucking magic.

I assumed the parent comment was a joke considering the article subject
You forgot the cost. Gas is much cheaper than electricity in most places.
That's true, unless you have local generation that produces electricity cheaper than the grid supplies to you (i.e. rooftop solar).
Not just cheaper but more reliable. Here in New York I lose power several times a year - sometimes for multiple days at a time. In 5 decades I've never lost my gas.
+1, and the reliability point would be better as a top-level comment. Perhaps also noting the cost and environmental impacts of most stove-grade electrical backup systems.
> stove-grade electrical backup systems

What the heck is that? Where in the western world can't you run an electric induction stove? And what would the environmental impacts of that be?

Gas leaks and gas explosions is nothing I see as benefits.

And en electric stove also have many benefits over gas such as automatically turning off, timer based shut off etc.

>> stove-grade electrical backup systems

> What the heck is that?

Try searching for "UPS" on Amazon. How many of the search results would be capable of powering an electric stove (to cook meals) through a several-day electrical outage? If you looked at larger units (and generators) which were capable of doing that - what physical/electrical/safety issues would you face in actually connecting them to a typical residential stove? And once you're into the generators - those have their own fuel safety issues.

> Where in the western world can't you run an electric induction stove?

Anywhere that does not have electrical power available, during a power outage. Which the comment I was replying to very specifically pointed out.

“UPS” is the wrong search term. Buying a “UPS” gets you 1990-era tech for cleanly powering down a computer if the power fails or riding through a brown-out. You’re looking for an off-grid system or a hybrid system or a portable power station. A company like Ecoflow will happily sell you one for $600 or so that will power a perfectly nice induction stove at full blast for half an hour. (You don’t need full blast for very long to cook most meals — this is good for quite a lot of cooking.) Throw in a single solar panel and a patch of sun and it will keep you cooking indefinitely.

Impulse Labs would like to sell you a really nice 4-pan stove with a built in battery that will ride through a decently long outage.

Perhaps.

But there's also the virtue of tech that just works, without everyone having to spend time & money researching/purchasing/maintaining/using backup systems to cover its frequent outages.

Tech like those old gas stoves.

It has 3kwh and the stove costs $6k + installation. Based on their specs thats less than an hour.

Gas stovetop costs $400 and just works.

Well, in most developed countries it happens very rarely (less than once a year) and when it happens it's typically in the minutes or maybe an hour range.

As a backup I would recommend a camping stove that uses ethanol over using a UPS system.

> Well, in most developed countries...

Vs. the USA? Further up the chain of replies, this was specified:

>>> Here in New York I lose power several times a year - sometimes for multiple days at a time. In 5 decades I've never lost my gas.

And I know quite a few people in Michigan who had similar experiences last year. Total outage duration for many of them was >2 weeks.

(I'll admit that, these days, "USA isn't really a developed country any more" is a credible argument.)

Ever seen an electrical fire? Nasty business.

It'd cost me $20k to install an induction stove, not buying it.

I lose power in SF 3-4 times a year, have never lost gas. Last power outage I cooked with gas and it was great. I have gas heat too, always works.

Really? I think I’ve had 3 power cuts in 10 years (mostly in London), and none lasted more than 3 hours. What is so terrible about the state of electricity distribution in New York?
I live in the Midwest, and we've had 2 instances of week-long power outages. Our power lines are overhead in many cases, and we have tornadoes. In 2012 we had an EF4 near here: 166-200mph winds! Overhead power lines do not handle flying trees very well. And even with high winds of 85mph, which is not uncommon, there are a lot of falling tree branches that cause downed power lines.

My newer neighborhood (25 years old) has buried power lines, but it's fed from overhead power lines, so we still have power issues. I'm not advocating for gas over electric, just giving some perspective from another part of the world.

New York (the state, which is almost certainly what he's talking about) is mostly rural and has harsh winters. It gets a whole lot of snow dumped on it due to the lake effect. London winters are mild in comparison, and being a city, has more wires buried and thus protected anyway.
A lot of rural and semi-rural area, which leads to above ground power lines as it is more expensive to bury them. Add in trees to the mix and you have the recipe for power outages.

In the North East, usually a wet snow or freezing rain to ice will cause the branches to fall.

In the South, drought will often weaken the trees and winds will will do the rest.

Excessive rain can also cause problems when coupled with wind. The trees topple over, roots and all.

Hurricanes and tornadoes will often cause prolonged outages, note that the wind form these can reach far inland and beyond what we consider the edge of the hurricane.

Induction stoves are almost 2x more efficient than gas stoves in regards to how much of the output energy ends up in the pot or pan.

So unless gas is 1/2 the price of electricity where you are at, induction still wins!

Oh and because gas puts approximately 50% of its heat into the environment and not the cookware, it can cause an increase in AC costs in the summer!

In the UK, gas has been roughly a quarter of the cost of electricity for decades.

I find it hard to believe given global markets that it is more than half of the cost in more than just a few extreme parts of the world.

> Oh and because gas puts approximately 50% of its heat into the environment and not the cookware, it can cause an increase in AC costs in the summer!

Or a decrease in heating costs in the winter. :)

Basically instantly? How do induction hobs defy the laws of physics?

If the massive difference is the pan type, why isn't it almost instant with gas?

Or do gas hobs output way way less energy than an induction hob?

How many kilowatts is yours?

> Basically instantly? How do induction hobs defy the laws of physics?

They circumvent laws of heat transfer by pumping energy directly into the pan at the speed of light and creating heat right there.

> Basically instantly? How do induction hobs defy the laws of physics?

On an induction hob, the heat is generated by the pan itself. That’s the instant part. The pan itself heats more or less quickly depending mostly on its mass and what it’s made of.

A gas hob is much less efficient in the way heat is transmitted to the pan: the flame irradiates everywhere, not only on the pan, and the air around the flame and the pan moves, carrying heat by convection.

> If the massive difference is the pan type, why isn't it almost instant with gas?

A steel pan heats quickly because it’s light and thin. A cast iron pan heats slowly because it’s thick and heavy (kind of material also plays a role, but steel and cast iron are not too different in that respect).

> Or do gas hobs output way way less energy than an induction hob?

Off the top of my head I think they are comparable. It’s just that most of this heat is wasted.

Yes this is a great selling point for induction. You turn it to six, and hey presto in mere seconds it's HOT.
Induction is notorious for warping carbon steel pans. It's supposed to be the worst option for them.
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"People with swimming pools more likely to drown in their back yard"
That analogy seems more in line with the risk of gas leaks and explosions.

The subject here is more that in addition to that, every time you use the pool, you have to gobbel down a bit of posion water. But in addition to that, you depend on using that thing almost daily.

I've never had a choice until very recently when we redid the kitchen in our first owned house. Went with induction. It's really great, best of both worlds. We got one with proper knobs rather than the stupid touch controls many hobs have.
What brand were you able to find with knobs? I went with induction as well in a recent kitchen renovation, but I was not able to find any with knobs, except for some professional restaurant grade stoves. It's my biggest beef with induction, there is always a slight delay with these touch buttons, and they are triggered by a drop of water.
Smeg. Yes it was expensive. We talked to a chef/restaurant owner and she recommended them for the oven part as it's a freestanding hob+oven unit.
I’ve owned both a Frigidaire cooktop and an LG range, both with knob-controlled induction. Both great and not too pricey.
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Some chefs do use them and advocate for them.
Any good chefs?
I am sure those are no true Scotsmen, either.
Apparently Gordon Ramsay ( a true Scotsman) has both: https://www.devonlive.com/news/celebs-tv/what-its-like-insid...

> As expected for a family who loves their food, their kitchen comes with all the mod cons - including TWO cooking ranges each set in their own island.

> One has modern induction hobs, while the other is an old-fashioned gas-powered stove for when Gordon needs as much space as he can get to work on new recipes and taste various dishes.

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They're starting to make the switch. Here's one example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfbYtJXa858#t=4m13s
This seems to be coming more from an environmental standpoint, not being effective
I'm not entirely sure, but FWIW I think there might be something behind the fact a lot of restaurants historically had a lot of gas connections compared to electrical making it relatively cheap and easy to continue with gas. Meanwhile, especially at a restaurant scale, swapping out that much gas infrastructure could mean literally close to a megawatt of peak power for all equipment installed at a large restaurant compared to just continuing on using the same gas pipes that have been there for decades to almost a century in some cases.

That and there's probably a lot of "this is how I've always done it" in some industries. I'm just an outsider though, so I'm entirely open to these ideas being refuted.

If the energy cost difference to run a stove isn't that much different at current market rates in terms of overall COGS, but it'll cost you six figures to redo your whole kitchen, you're probably not going to switch. This gets continued on when the next tenant moves in. There's plenty of gas capacity here but barely enough electrical to run all the lights. Do you renovate to add enough electrical or just continue running gas?

he said he was using electric before, so obviously it's an upgrade from that

he also completely avoids the question and implies that "those guys" (other celebrity chefs) don't use it because they don't have "fantastic kitchens" like he does

Former chef who still keeps up with friends still in the industry. Everyone I know loves using induction at home, but it hasn’t really hit the professional kitchen yet for a few reasons. 1. Electric service upgrades are not cheap. Running 8+ burners for hours a day takes some beefy infrastructure. 2. Gas is already there and the stove is paid off. Restaurants are really low margin, so splurging on an induction range does not make sense when the gas range you already have running is still working fine. 3. I am not seeing as many manufactures of restaurant grade induction stoves. Chefs beat the shit out of stoves, lots of pan slinging and extremely heavy stock pots moving around. I am not sure how well an induction rangetop would hold up to the abuse.

Where I loved induction burners was for doing random small projects like Sunday brunch omelettes, or a one off dish that needed a sautéed element on pantry shifts. Super easy to set up at a banquet and so much better than the little butane stoves we had when I first started working in kitchens.

> 1. Electric service upgrades are not cheap.

THIS, and worse. I'm in SE Michigan (USA), and kinda follow the local business news. For decades there have been occasional stories of businesses failing, or restaurants failing to even launch, because "no, you cannot get that electrical service upgrade here, without paying $millions and waiting for years".

I’d guess that long term costs are also a factor? A gas stove is almost just a properly shaped piece of metal. It needs to be well designed, but it’s essentially just a hole for gas to come out of and a valve. I assume failure rates and maintenance costs are a lot higher on induction stoves just because of their complexity.
My mum used to work catering until she retired this year and, to be honest, I don’t think the question ever crossed her mind. She’d always used gas at work and that was that.
I've seen plenty of chefs use them? And not just recently either.
Okay? What kind of range hoods were tested?

Let's sous-vide a steak for 2 hours, and then throw it in a hot pan with oil, without drying off the steak. You'll get a lot of smoke, which will probably set of any kind of ionizing smoke detector.

Whether you're cooking on gas or electric at that moment really doesn't matter.

What matters is that you have a _PROPER_ range hood. One that vents outside and one that isn't integrated into a microwave oven.

Previous comment about range hoods: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40161811#40163023

Why do you jump on a specific scenario and then assume it’s the norm? The vast majority of people with a gas range never did anything like that, if even they’ve heard “sous vide” before.

There is no way around the fact that a gas range combusts stuff and that combustion products are mostly toxic. Regardless of what you put in your pan.

The post you are replying to is saying that heating organic matter produces more emissions than the flame used to heat.
uh, yeah, they did.

Do you not cook or something?

> What matters is that you have a _PROPER_ range hood. One that vents outside and one that isn't integrated into a microwave oven.

Not wrong, but given how many people have an 'improper' range hood, or a proper one that is never used (often because it is "too loud), or no range hood whatsoever (a common situation in rentals), you're stuck with chemicals in your home.

> Whether you're cooking on gas or electric at that moment really doesn't matter.

Yes it does: all cooking will generate chemicals, but you're adding extra ones by using a combustible heat source.

> Yes it does: all cooking will generate chemicals, but you're adding extra ones by using a combustible heat source.

All that goes up the hood and outside. Criticize the hood not the range if its not functioning properly. Browning meat or frying anything in oil is not exotic and is not good for you to breathe regardless of range type.

> All that goes up the hood and outside.

In theory.

In theory, theory and practice are the same; in practice, theory and practice are (often) different.

LBNL found that range hoods sometimes captured only 55% of pollutants like NO2:

* https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22044446/

Another study found it 30%:

* https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/es3001079

Even with range hoods, results can vary even for the same range, see (e.g.):

> These studies found that for many range hoods, [capture efficiency] is much higher for the back than for the front cooktop burners.

* https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S03601...

Design for the real world, not the spherical cow idealized one, for example when it comes to make-up air (so you're not depressurizing your home):

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwSWOAkbhjA

> Criticize the hood not the range if its not functioning properly. Browning meat or frying anything in oil is not exotic and is not good for you to breathe regardless of range type.

Of course blaming ventilation is a standard go-to response:

> “Ventilation is really where this discussion should be, rather than banning one particular type of technology,” said Jill Notini, a vice president with the Washington-based [Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers] trade group. “Banning one type of a cooking appliance is not going to address the concerns about overall indoor air quality. We may need some behavior change, we may need [people] to turn on their hoods when cooking.”

* https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/us-safety-agency-to-consider-ban...

But that may not help: In 2014, a group of researchers in Baltimore ran a study with 78 homes with gas stoves to understand the most effective ways to reduce indoor air pollution. In one group of homes, they replaced gas stoves with electric stoves. In this group, NO2 pollution levels fell by 50%. (Kephart told me the remaining NO2 probably came from cars and other sources of pollution outside). In another group of homes, they gave homeowners an air purifier with a carbon filter and NO2 levels fell by 22%. In the last group, they installed range hoods. In this final group they found no significant difference in NO2 pollution.

* https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24329966/

Many gas stoves leak pollution even when they are turned off (are you planning to run a vent 24/7?):

* https://sustainability.stanford.edu/news/climate-and-health-...

It's probably a lot easier to prevent pollution in the first place as compared to dealing with it after the fact.

Yes: a good vent (that is actually used) is necessary. But the vent has to be so much better for combustible fuel than non-combustible, and so non-combustible allows for more tolerance of errors.

Hate to say it, but I don't know how trust worthy those studies are especially the one claiming vent hoods have no impact! If I cook bacon on my stove without a venthood the entire main floor would reek and require opening windows and doors to air it out. With a vent hood there is literally no issue with smell. Are you telling me that the vent hood is somehow picks and chooses which pollutants to expel leaving behind NO2? What mechanism would there be to cause it to behave this way? I'll choose to believe my lying eyes.
> With a vent hood there is literally no issue with smell. Are you telling me that the vent hood is somehow picks and chooses which pollutants to expel leaving behind NO2?

Yes:

> […]The results show that UFP reduction varies with range hood flow rate, particle size, and burner position. Higher range hood flow rates generally increased UFP reduction within a house, though the effect of the hood flow rate varied with the particle size. At the same exhaust flow rate, lower particle reduction effectiveness was observed for smaller particles, likely due to molecular and turbulent diffusion. With regard to burner position, larger UFP removal was observed for the back burner than for the front burner. Regular and appropriate usage of a kitchen range hood during cooking activities can potentially reduce UFP concentrations; however, decisions about the design and use of kitchen exhaust hoods for controlling UFP and other combustion contaminants require consideration of both the indoor air quality improvements and energy costs. What mechanism would there be to cause it to behave this way? […]

* PDF: https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=91081...

* https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22750181/

> I'll choose to believe my lying eyes.

What you perceive as present, and what is actually present, can be different things. Do your eyes (or nose) detect NO2? CO2? CO1 (carbon monoxide)?

Buy an IAQ meter and measure for yourself if you want to be sure.

In particular I'm refuting the study that purports to measure NO DIFFERENCE with or without a hood. I am saying that is so far outside the realm of the every man's experience with vent hoods that I think the study is busted in some way. UFP is coming from the food you cook, its irrelevant for gas vs electric right?
Never mind that almost no residential structure has an actual proper range hood: a proper range hood has a matching makeup air system to avoid depressurization the room, which has its own problems.

(Modern codes mostly require some form of makeup air mechanism for a hood rated 400cfm or higher. I’ve never seen a residential kitchen with an actual working setup like this, although it’s common in a well designed commercial kitchen. What actually happens is that lower end / smaller residential kitchens often have combination microwave/hood units, and they work very poorly. Large / high end residential kitchens end up with standalone hoods with far too much flow, poorly sealed ducts, crappy loud blowers, and no makeup air. If you enter the parameters of a residential stove into a commercial kitchen ventilation calculator, you end up with a rather small flow rate, and the high end residential brands love to advertise much larger numbers.)

Range hoods stay winning
I still have a hard time believing this. That is not to say that the science is wrong. It’s just that it is very unintuitive to me.
Gas is combusted in your kitchen, and that combustion is of course not perfect, and in at atmosphere mostly N2. What's hard to believe about that?
Also, CO, CO2 and particles. NOx are not the only problem.
It's neat to see the whole-party effort behind these things. The climate people and the government want to ban gas stoves, journalists write stories saying that this is misinformation and that the government has no such plans, universities dig up some data showing that gas stoves are unhealthy or whatever. It's cool to see how coordinated these things are - especially because I have no doubt that most of these people are acting independently. It's like, you don't even need to give orders. There's just a sort of mood in the air that people coordinate themselves around. We're like a bird flock, the way they kind of vote which direction they're going to fly in next.
Universities come up all sorts of results all the time. Media decides which are worth to make into news. I doubt this is first time that some university as come to this fairly obvious result, but now it is relevant so it becomes news.

But induction stoves are just better for most users, no need to thing any grand conspiracy why many would prefer that it became more popular. They are safer. They heat faster and are also react immediately to changing heat level like gas stoves.

Gas stoves do have some benefits compared to induction, but most only affect professionals. I'd guess at least 95% of people would prefer induction stoves, all costs being equal.

I prefer cooking in my own kitchen with gas stove and range hood than my parents with induction and no hood. It is a disgusting mess to cook on a stove without a hood.
One of the reasons why I put a serious fume extractor over my gas stove - with remote engine and rooftop exhaust.

15 years old setup - made most sense at the time but, if I upgrade some day, it'll be for induction.

Or you could have both. I find that gas offers quicker heat which is excellent for certain types of cooking. I find the responsiveness and heat control provided by gas are unmatched, that's why I use it most of the time
I found my induction stove to actually be more responsive than gas. The main issue with induction is the noise in my experience, but a more expensive stove might not have that problem.
I think I have some pretty low or medium range Ikea induction range. And I notice the sound only at most powerful modes. Otherwise it is reasonably quiet. Experience can vary with some pans.
Reminder: the supposed greatness of induction stoves will be irrelevant to most people who would be forced to replace their gas stoves by some hypothetical ban; induction stoves are substantially more expensive than traditional electric stoves and if people are made to prematurely replace an appliance most people will be going with the most economical option. The ban would be forcing people to use inferior stoves.

And do you know what's cheaper than both? Fume extraction. If the kitchen fume threat warrants legislation, that legislation should specify air quality standards and not stove technology. If those air quality standards can be met by gas stoves with fume extraction, that should be permitted.

Are there places that are requiring replacing existing stoves? All I’ve heard about suggest banning gas in new construction.
Traditional electric stoves are the most economical option in new construction as well. Mandating induction would drive up the cost of housing.

"Just use induction" is this thread's "let them eat cake."

What are you talking about? I can get a 3-spots induction cooktop at the shop across the street for €150, exactly the same price as a resistive electric one or a gas one.
To replace the gas stoves and oven combos found in most American homes that currently use gas, you're looking at a thousand dollars at the lowest. Most are several thousand dollars. Replacing a gas stove and oven with a low power (single phase 120V in America) induction hotplate would be a substantial downgrade.

You also have to consider that many American kitchens that presently have gas will probably need an electrician to install two-phase power. Admittedly some will already have that, but in the homes built for gas it will be several hundred dollars (at least) just to get the wires put in.

But isn't induction only mandatory in newly constructed houses? In that case, how is this relevant?
> Traditional electric stoves are the most economical option in new construction as well. Mandating induction would drive up the cost of housing.

So realistically, working class people get left with inferior traditional electric stoves. The talk about gas bans being fine because induction is better anyway is a "let them eat cake" argument. HN is consistently out of touch with working class reality.

Do you think installing gas in a new house is cheaper than an induction plaque?

(Especially in areas where working class can afford newly built houses)?

> And do you know what's cheaper than both? Fume extraction.

I suspect a cheap electric oven (400 bucks) is a lot cheaper than installing an entire venting system that, in many cases, will require drilling bricks and opening ceilings and walls.

The "gas" mentioned in the article, is that LPG?
I’m just amazed that this needs a study at all.

Electric means the fire part happens at a coal station, gas means it is in your home. And people are surprised there is more crap on the air of their home? Hardly rocket science is it?

We never realized how high the carbon dioxide got even during the normal day, but especially when cooking. Definitely recommend getting a monitor if you seem to wake up with inexorable headaches