Our oven/range died at a few weeks ago, and when we replaced it, we decided to go with an induction range (an IKEA Tvärsäker). Though we hadn’t used an induction range before, we’d done some reading and some research, and everything we’d heard sounded pretty enticing, so we decided to give it a shot.
Short version: That was a really, really good decision.
First off, induction heating is just cool. Something something magnets and magic is how it works, but it means that instead of a heating element getting hot and transferring the heat into the pot, with this, there’s no heat generated from underneath: the pot just gets hot. The only heat the range surface gets is whatever it absorbs from the pot that’s sitting on top of it, so it never gets as hot as a normal range, and it cools off faster because it didn’t generate the heat. And if you do accidentally let something boil over, because it’s not landing on a super-hot burner, it doesn’t get cooked onto the range top, making cleanup a lot easier.
Heating is much more consistent. Our old range would constantly cycle the coils up and down, never settling on a consistent temperature. With this one, whatever setting you have it at is what it’s at, making it very easy to keep things at a good regular simmer or boil or whatever you need.
And it’s fast. The burners have the normal 1-9 settings, “H” for “high”, and then a “P” setting that apparently means “power boost”, that will only run for a maximum of 10 minutes, but I can’t imagine what would need that level of power for that long. That setting will easily get a teakettle boiling in just a minute or two. It’s really neat.
It is slightly noisier: The burners produce a buzzing sound that increases with higher power settings and can also make the cookware buzz a little bit from the magnetic fields. However, while it’s very noticeable at first, it’s not so loud as to be intrusive, and we’ve found it very easy to get used to.
Plus, induction ranges are more energy-efficient and environmentally friendly than standard electric or gas, so that’s nice too. If you’re looking for a new range, we’d definitely recommend going with induction.
Also, though it wasn’t one of the first places we looked, based on this experience, we’re very happy with going through IKEA when appliance shopping.
The oven died on a Friday at the end of January, so we went shopping on Saturday.
Lowe’s: Didn’t have quite what we were looking for, the salesperson was bad (my wife told him what she was looking for, he proceeded to only speak to me, and then walked us over to something that was what she specifically said she didn’t want).
Home Depot: Didn’t have quite what we were looking for, and even if we went for the best possible match, it would have been the end of February before it got delivered.
As we were heading home, my wife had a sudden thought: Doesn’t IKEA sell appliances?
Went to IKEA. They had what we were looking for. The salesperson was good. They apologized that because we wanted to have the old range hauled away, they had to use a different company to do the delivery and pickup, and so it would take a little longer — so the delivery would be that Monday. Y’know, three days after making the purchase.
That Sunday we got a text giving us a delivery window of 4-8 p.m. on Monday. Monday at 10:30 a.m. we got a knock on the door — they were early, by at least six hours.
And a few minutes later, we had a big, heavy cardboard box in our dining room. (Unsurprisingly, IKEA doesn’t do full installs. And there was some assembly required — attaching the power cord and the door handles.)
Later that day, we got everything assembled and put in place, and did the first test batch of cookies. Success!
Four days from failure to replacement with good service? We’re pretty happy with that.