Gas hobs - steel or glass

Dooooonnnnn't!!!

You will never keep the bugger clean and shiny after a while. Unfortunately that tampered glass is quite prone to scratched. Plus all the calc starts to settle.

Black glass, embeded into a black worktop looks great in photos. Bugger is in details. The only way to seal that joint is with a black silicone. It will start to peel off after few years.

We've just finished our renovation last summer - having deliberated many choices, ended up with a 5 hob, conventional gass top, made of stainless steel. It's ok to clean.

One more thing. A conventioinal gas / stainless steel top has a small lip on the edges. That's to keep all the spilage from sauses withing a confined area. Imagine that pasta sauce running away onto your worktop and your floor - there is no edge to those glass cookers....

Good point. My pans of lentils are always boiling over - I sit down for a few moments while it comes to the boil and the next thing I know there's a lot of froth all over the hob. Steel it is.

Brushed steel is the one to go for. This way scratches are less visible

I use a thick gloss black enamelled gas hob at home , which surprisingly is easy to keep clean, any hard burnt on grime comes off easily after a spray.   I use a steel gas hob at work, and find that yes you can go at it with a scourer with confidence but I think more harder to bring it up as new.  Only problem with black gloss enamel after its cleaned from any grime is taking any soap and water residue from spoiling the clean shiney finish, but you would get with brushed steel aswell

We don't have mains gas, and ditched our energy guzzling Aga for an induction hob. I've been so impressed with it that even if gas became available, I'd almost certainly stick with induction. Yes, it's a glass hob that needs to be kept clean, but because the heat is generated in the pan, not the hob, spillages don't get burnt on, and cleaning is easy. 

Never had any issue cleaning my "gas on glass" AEG hob.  Anything burned on comes off either with a nylon scrubber (and Mr Mussel) or using a blade scraped (the kind sold in B&Q to remove paint from windows).  The only slight issue is around the knobs.

Forget gas,  its now the 21st century.    We went induction 7 years ago & would never go back.  Clean (no burning or staining,  no smells, no noise, a quick (no mussels required) wipe is all thats needed & a hob-bright sparkle polish once in a while)   Efficient (heats the contents of the pan, not the room,  it gets to temp (boils water) faster by some margin,  & lower bills)   Control (set the known temp number to auto & forget all about boil overs)   .............  if only - if only - we could have induction ovens.    

My thoughts too Mike. Our induction hob, after years of using a gas one, was a revelation.

How does induction work with something that needs to be cooked really slowly on a low heat without burning, such as a tortilla or a dal? Being veggies, we eat this sort of thing all the time. Will pans not boil over if you set the heat too high, in which case, with the hobs being flat, the food would be all over the floor? And don't you need special pots?

For those using induction hobs ... how do you find stir flying such as chinsese cookery?  

As for HH's question ... the "special" pans that an induction hob needs is basically any ferous pan works ... so just nothing glass/ceramic or with copper bottom or aluminium.

We have lots of copper bottomed pans, and also little Italian stove top coffee makers, so it's very likely we will stick with boring old gas. The induction hobs look very interesting though. I think I'd rather have twisty knobs rather than little buttons too - it's more tactile. 

I find induction very good for low temperature as well as fast boiling. (No fancy button controls on ours, it has old fashioned knobs.) We did have to replace a few pans though, including a coffee maker - I managed to find a steel one. Cast iron pans work very well, but tend to scratch the glass a bit on any glass hob. Regular stainless pans often had aluminium to thicken the base, so don't work, but these are becoming less common due to the incompatibility with induction. 

Re slow cooking,  I/we find it excellent - you just need to find & remember the setting numbers, & just like gas a fine tune adjustment - a simmer as in slow roll for poached eggs,  a dahl that bubbles once or twice every few seconds etc .... Re boiling over,  yes it will just like any hob, gas or 'lecky, that is not used correctly. Most induction hobs have an auto function that sets the required boiling/simmering level number but gets there at full speed,  so it gets to temp in double quick time & goes to whatever boil or simmer automatically;    & mine has old fashioned twisty knobs,  not touchy buttons  .....  Re stir frying,  I do stir fry but admit the intense heat of gas & a round bottomed wok in the Chinese way is best,  but that said I have my own stir fry techniques for induction & it does not involve very high heat & in many respects its easier & more flexible,  least say its stream fry with stock rather than stir fry with oil ... Re pan material,  it needs to be ferrous (stainless steel, cast iron etc)   aluminium does not work,  & many copper bottoms are copper skinned & might be steel inside - if a magnet sticks,  it'll work on induction.

If your a keen foodie then gas is what you need. More versatile and responsive in a tactile way that's important for most types of cooking.   Induction hobs are mostly preferred by people who use it to make porridge, soggy stir fries and boiling sprouts for four hours at Christmas.   Also with induction hobs you can't do the shake and flip without scratching or possibly breaking something. 

TOBYJUG posted:

If your a keen foodie then gas is what you need. More versatile and responsive in a tactile way that's important for most types of cooking.   Induction hobs are mostly preferred by people who use it to make porridge, soggy stir fries and boiling sprouts for four hours at Christmas.   Also with induction hobs you can't do the shake and flip without scratching or possibly breaking something. 

Sorry, but I think that's a load of bollocks! (Apart from the bit about shaking and flipping...)

We've had gas-on-glass for 6-8 years, and we are happy with it. There is a polish that you can use to keep it shiny and new looking.  And you use a single-edge razor blade (as mentioned above) to get off the chunky stuff.

Why do commercial kitchens stick with gas, rather than go to induction?

winkyincanada posted:

Why do commercial kitchens stick with gas, rather than go to induction?

One reason is with gas it's easy to ignite the alcohol in a sauté pan when needed. The induction surface would become a mess in a hurry in a commercial kitchen setting.

winkyincanada posted:

Why do commercial kitchens stick with gas, rather than go to induction?

Paying customers would have to wait longer, and then be disappointed by the quality. 

This is just like Hifi Corner - someone (muggins in this case) asks about whether to get A or B and then people start arguing about the relative merits of X and Y! Anyway, we are off to John Lewis to order a boring Neff gas hob. We also have to decide between two built under double ovens and work out why one is £300 more than the other. But it does have an additional knob and different oven linings that are great for cleaning up after the Sunday roast, which of course we never eat. It's been fun so far sorting out a new kitchen, but after spending £4,000 on worktops (we've looked at so many samples I've lost count) and £1,500 on floor tiles the savings are looking a bit depleted. Then there's the units themselves (another colour choice challenge) water softener, new back door, new electrics, new ceiling, labour..... This is far more complex than choosing a stereo. Mumsnet has been very helpful. 

Yes it's frustrating when someone asks between 282 and 252, and gets 552 as an answer.

On the ovens - go for the one which has automated cooking programmes, dependent on meat and weight. 

We need a lentil programme. 

My MILE oven has a 'programme creator' function, on top of a number of own ones.