r/inductioncooking

We installed a Miele KM 7745 FL induction cooktop this March as part of a kitchen remodel. I chose the Miele over Bosch/Wolf/Thermador mostly because the controls are simple and one touch. I think this cooktop was introduced in 2020, so maybe it doesn't have some of the latest bells and whistles. On the other hand it's a reliable, straightforward cooktop that works great, and induction is now a pretty mature technology.

Pros:

• It's a beast power wise. A pot of water boils fast, especially on a bridge burner. It keeps fry oil at temp very well.
• It's one touch to change the power setting on a burner. The controls are nicely spaced out along the bottom, no video screen. Everything is intuitive and well thought out. For example, there is a "Pause/Play" button, perfect when you need to attend to something else for a moment.
• The power settings are well modulated. "1" is perfect to keep a tray of veggies warm, "5" is perfect for sweating but not browning onion, and so on.
• It looks understated when off, just a sheet of black glass.
• The coils under all six burners are large enough to heat the bottom of a 12" fry pan (probably 9" at the pan's base) evenly.
• Like most induction cooktops, cleanup is easy.

Cons:

• Don't be fooled by the rectangles on the glass. The heating elements are a circular coil under each rectangle.
• "Bridge Mode" is best for boiling water. Putting a large fry pan on the bridge gives an uneven heating pattern, cool on the sides.
• It's tough to get a griddle evenly heated. Pictured is a Made In carbon steel griddle, with the handles bent up so it will fit. Note the uneven browning on the pancakes.

My basic non-stick fry pans (for scrambled eggs and omelets) buzz a little. My cast iron, enameled cast iron, Volrath, All Clad and Made In pans (stainless and carbon steel) don't buzz.

Except for the uneven griddle I love it

Can I take a hot pan- like a baking sheet or casserole dish- out of the oven and set it on top of my induction stovetop (vs my counter)? Will the heat break the glass since it isn’t being heated at that time? I just bought a silicone mat to protect the glass from sliding pans. It shouldn’t be a problem doing it with the mat, right?

The first one had all touch controls, which was ok, the previous electric LG I had came with them.

We went with the induction because of the great reviews. I loved everything about the first one except I could not get a good sear on a steak with my cast iron.

After researching I picked up a new model at Costco with more powerful coils.

Super happy with the new one!

It's really hot the last few weeks so I don't wanna make a video showing the differences. But one thing is ace clear. You really need a high powered induction wok burner if you want to get towards high quality restaurant grade Asian food....

Pictured here is a standard 3.5kw (actually 2.5-2.6kw measured draw) on top wok induction burner 28cm diameter -4cm deep like you get around 100-120euros on AliExpress. Touchscreen is a pain in the ass and while it's leagues above the fully underpowered ones like Abangdun, Nuwave or other toys, especially the 120v versions, there's a huge step up to a 6000w (actually 5.3-5.4kw) restaurant grade unit.

That was my first buy but I just couldn't ever get it hot enough, tiny portions weren't even possible and the heated area with a ln effectively 22cm coil is too small.

So step up to a 6KW concave induction burner with magnetic slider. It again doesn't hit the real power levels but it gets to 5.3 or 5.4kw power. About 1/3 what I have seen and was allowed to use in a starred Sichuan Michelin restaurant in Shanghai for a dish and what I know is used by some high class restaurants in Taipei. Yes 15kw induction, foot operated power dial, and 46cm wok I've seen the chef do two portions at once, and get wok hei so good everyone would say they must have used a 200k BTU or higher gas wok burner. But with a little over actual 5kw power you can easily get restaurant grade wok hei without gas at home. You can dial it to the max for a few minutes to get oil actually self igniting but it's a bit of a mess indoors with fire alarms tripping virtually in your neighbours flat and even with great ventilation it will take a few hours for the smoke to really clear your flat.... What you do get that is virtually impossible on the small burner is crispy veggies, smoky taste from sauces/oil slightly burning off instead of half stir fried half steamed veggies which is about as good as you can get on the small burner. Price wise you look into about 160-170euros from Taobao or Alibaba,plus 30-40 Euros shipping, plus toll, plus VAT and plus the toll processing cost charged by your postal operator. All together like 300 Euros.

I have here now a 32cm, 7.5cm deep 6kw model with magnetic slider control. Yeah you could go for a dial but trust me the magnetic slider is much more intuitive and faster. The coil was wound at 26.5cm actual width but I plan to rewire it sometimes to 28cm or so to spread out the heat on the sidewall a bit more. But while it's easy to open the bottoms it's hard to take of the protective metal casing for rewiring the coil.

Yeah as visible in the introduction picture, you need a lot of space for it, and you will need to either hard wire it to 24A - 230v or you get a CEE plug combo so it stays mobile and your plug doesn't go up in fire... And you want at least 2.5mm² cabling or thicker all the way to your breaker box.

The wattages I measured are 500w on level 1 pulsing. 1000w pulsing on level 2, 2000w steady on level 3 then rather continuously up to 5.3kw. 500w is quite a lot for keeping dishes warm, that's not optimal but the pulsing is quite fast, so fast you cannot see it on a standard 1sec interval shunt meter.

The actual levels I use are usually 1,2,3 or 8. You don't really need any of the intermediary steps. If you want to keep something warm it's deciding 0 or 1... 2 is already easily hot enough to keep something cooking/steaming/frying and 3 is hotter than your Abangdun will ever get. Then whenever you need power it's flick the slider to max and get stirring fast. Yes you still may need to cook even single portions in 2 batches. Otherwise you end up with some ingredients burned with others just starting too brown. Say Sichuan green beans I make a single portion in two batches for the beans on max heat, then fry the rest on setting 3, then add back both portions of beans, up to max and add the sauces and dry it off.

What you do get is really crunchy veggies and meats that have nice char to them. Something basically impossible on any gas burner <50K BTU, and impossible on all the consumer grade induction burners.

What is not too like besides the size and the electric side? You really need a wok that fits. I always prefer my Yoshikawa 36cm over my Oxenforge 34cm for ease of maintenance and cleaning up. But the Oxenforge has a too big cold spot right in the middle here because it is too flat and bigger. The Oxenforge still has a small coolish spot of 3cm diameter or so right smack in the middle but that is not a worry. You would not be happy on a 36cm Oxenforge I believe as it will sit too high.

I somewhat need to hammer my yoshikawa into form, but not sure that will work smoothly. Too bad yoshikawa has no fully round version.

I've added some water boil pictures to show the difference. Yoshikawa has the additional handle, Oxenforge doesn't.

So yeah, you don't want a too thin wok on induction. You will inevitably miss some reactivity Vs gas an super thin wok, you will not be able to toss food, and you really need to find a wok that fits nearly perfectly. So get a 36cm diameter induction wok for 36cm wok. I'm not kidding for those 7-8cm deep cookers. The big advantage over the 4cm deep ones is much better heat up the sidewalls. You want it deep but it will make wok selection hard.

And why not save 10-20euro and get a version with knob? It's much harder to get the knob from 8 two 3 and being sure you hit 3. Any second you need to check is degrading your food.

So vs dedicated wok gas burners. I would say it beats any 50k BTU dedicated burner. If however you can install a 100k or stronger BTU wok burner, cook outside, it beats the induction burner here. My kitchen only has 25A-230v, so I cannot get a 18-20kw induction burner and the crazy ventilation you would want for it in my kitchen. This is the best compromise for me. It's a huge step up from the smaller old so called 3500w induction wok burner. But there's still enough moments where I would just like to have those 20kw instant firepower. Actually the chefs told me they prefer their 20kw induction over gas for indoor kitchen. They are even faster than 200k BTU gas, you don't have bad air quality and for their health it's just much better. Outdoors go gas, indoors just go for the biggest induction burner you can afford. It the pros can get a Michelin star for a Sichuan restaurant serving loads of stir fry dishes, you don't need to compromise your health and use a gas wok burner indoors. Also with gas you can use any kind of wok and showcase your tossing. You'll learn however to move food with spatula not much worse.

Oh yeah - takes about 5 seconds for my 2mm Oxenforge 34cm to hit 250° Celsius when empty. It took 15 seconds on the small burner. Even though it's only twice the actual power, it's three times as fast empty as there is less time for the wok to lose heat to the air.

Oh and another plus, it doesn't stop ever if you take the wok off. Cut power, plug it in it will always directly fire away on the level chosen if a wok is present. I think the consumer grade all stop and start making annoying noises to remind you they are on. Restaurant grade means your job to switch it off. No standby nothing. As soon as the metal gets contact it fires away.

Bartscher for example has a 5kw model. I'm sure it's good but the touch controls simply destroy it. That's why for a 3.5kw model I think GGM Gastro is as good as it gets (the one with a knob dial, they also have a touch one). Deeper is always better but makes it more problematic fit - meaning harder to choose the right wok.

Hello,

Ive researched where I can and have found out that induction pulsing is typically:
A. For low quality induction hobs, or
B. When cooking at low temps

I bought a rangemaster professional plus cooker - and to simmer water I need to keep it on 7 (goes up to 9) temperature to get a simmer at all - and when its at that it pulses like this (bubbles up, stops, repeats) with clicks for each pulse.

New to induction - normal or needs a fix?

Thanks for your help!

Just passing along some info about the coil size in the ge cafe line

Roll of painters tape for scale as I’m all out of bananas.