tangeli

Pulsing the power every 3 to 5 seconds would be fantastic! One pulse every 30 seconds is not good. But I haven’t yet found a manual or sales person that can tell me the period of the pulse width modulation for any brand/model. Not that I have tried very hard.

Maybe I should try KitchenAid. What you describe sounds wonderful.

That was exactly the problem with simmering anything.

Also, only 9 power levels wasn’t enough. It was very powerful (nice when I wanted full power) but the steps in power were too big. For many things the only options were too hot or too cold.

But the fault that made me replace it was an intermittent one: occasionally (about five times in 18 months) it went to full power. This could happen at any power setting. No change in the indicated setting, but the power would come on continuously. Anything other than a pot of water would, in just a few seconds, be burning. Very dangerous! Fortunately, it never happened when I wasn’t standing right there to turn the power off at the wall switch. Being intermittent, technicians couldn’t find/fix the fault. It also occasionally stopped heating for a minute or so at a time, as if there was some thermal lockout even when nothing was unusually hot, but at least that wasn’t dangerous.

It was Haier. And I see they are no longer the biggest by revenue, but still #3

The problem with simmering is that the cooktop was very powerful (nice when you want to heat something quickly) but it only had two modes: one or off. The power was regulated by turning it on briefly, once every 30 seconds. Even at the lowest possible setting (there were 9 power levels), a pot of water would boil each time the power came on for about 3 seconds. Then it would cool for 27 seconds. Even a pot with a thick base, designed for induction cooktops, and heavy cast-iron pans had this problem.

It would be easy to turn the power on and off more frequently than once every 30 seconds. It wouldn’t be much more difficult to have a mode that delivered less than full power.

A thick iron plate under the pot smoothed the power delivery to the pot, but then it’s not really induction heating of the pot: just a hot plate.

Pancakes, steaks and simmering anything were my biggest frustrations.

It’s good to know there are some decent productions. That’s what I was expecting. I understand the technology. I know what is possible. It was very frustrating and disappointing. The largest appliance manufacturer in the world is selling poorly designed rubbish. The documentation doesn’t describe essential parameters. If only there were a practical way to distinguish the good from the bad before buying… try before you buy is my advice.

I had a terrible experience with one just last year. Had to replace it. Went back to an electric cooktop with simmerstats just last month. We’re much happier now. Can cook again without all the burning and boiling over.

I know an induction cooktop could be much better but the one we had couldn’t simmer anything: it could only intermittently overheat it. And occasionally it would switch to either full power (very dangerous - it was very powerful) or no power (absolutely ruins a steak when you’re trying to sear it). Technicians came multiple times and concluded ‘there’s nothing wrong’. Fortunately, after almost two years, they agreed to an ‘upgrade’.

I expect commercial induction cooktops are much better than consumer grade but they’re too expensive.

I wouldn’t buy another that I hadn’t tried first. I know one place that has a showroom with everything powered. Not that they would let me actually try cooking anything, but at least one can put a pot of water on and try out the controls.