Hello there:
I am remodeling my kitchen completely and am wondering how I can have both gas and induction. I have read several threads about the induction vs gas debate. Up till three months ago, I had been cooking on gas only and never thought that I would like induction. However, I am living in my rental unit (for which gas is banned) and have been cooking with induction – I am liking it due to the faster heating properties and greater ease of cleaning.
One potential downside of induction – I have been avoiding carbon steel cookware (which I want to use eventually in my new house) at this rental, because I am not sure how to re-season a carbon steel pan/wok on induction. Correct me if I am wrong, seasoning a saute pan/wok requires occasional tilting of the cookware to achieve a layer of thin, even coating of oil. This is something impossible, or least difficult, to do with induction. It’s because induction requires full contact of the pan/wok with the glass top.
I kinda want to cook on induction more than half of the time, except when I use a wok or season any carbon steel cookware. I have grown to enjoy using a wok (flat-bottom version) because I like stir frying greens Chinese style. Another plus of induction is that it may help keep my kitchen less hot. I live in California and my house receives full sun all day long. It’s just bloody hot inside half of the year and I want to save $ from not blasting the AC all the time.
So, there are only two major manufacturers of hybrid gas/induction full ranges/cooktops that I found: Thermador and SKS. The latter is owned by LG and thus I want to avoid it at all costs. Another solution is to buy two modular cook tops, one for induction and one for gas. Gaggenau offers their Vario 200/400 lines for this, but they are pricey and, once the two cooktops are combined, the space requirement is quite big. Also, the hood needs to be very wide and I don’t know if Vent-a-hood (my ideal hood brand) makes a hood this wide. Wolf’s modular units look smaller and there is a gap between each module that is hard to clean. Other than these options, I found from a Google search that SMEG and AEG make hybrid cooktops: but these are for non-US markets, even though there are European vendors who will ship them to the US. Since they are not meant to be sold officially in the US, there is no warranty coverage.
What are your thoughts? How do you season a saute pan/wok with induction? For those of you who have hybrid cooktops, are they durable? What is your advice to me?
I am losing sleep over this issue. I want to remodel once in my life as this process is very $$$ and stressful. I plan to live in this house for a long time.
Thank you very much in advance.
