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.
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.
Sounds like a crappy product. I’ve cooked on 2 Whirlpool/KitchenAid induction ranges (they’re the same company) and two cheap brands of countertop induction. All four were able to simmer easily and cycled on much more often and more briefly than you describe. And all were plenty powerful.
I did the most cooking on the KitchenAid and it could melt chocolate in a saucepan without scorching. I could hear it pulsing on probably for 1/2 second every 3-5 seconds. On the next setting hotter it could maintain a simmer in silly small quantities. And it could still boil a big pot of water for pasta in a couple of minutes. Pot handles stay cool and spoons don’t get burnt if you leave them hanging over the side. Loved it. I miss that range.
The only thing I had more trouble with was making caramel. The sides of the pan don’t get as much indirect heat compared with radiant or gas, so it wanted to crystallize at the edges. I had to use a thick tri-ply pan for that and still kept a blowtorch on hand to add a little side-heat.
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.
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.
Which brand was this? On mine, which is a Samsung (so if any brand was going to poorly design it, it’d be them lmao) I have had no issues simmering
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.
Sounds like a crappy product. I’ve cooked on 2 Whirlpool/KitchenAid induction ranges (they’re the same company) and two cheap brands of countertop induction. All four were able to simmer easily and cycled on much more often and more briefly than you describe. And all were plenty powerful.
I did the most cooking on the KitchenAid and it could melt chocolate in a saucepan without scorching. I could hear it pulsing on probably for 1/2 second every 3-5 seconds. On the next setting hotter it could maintain a simmer in silly small quantities. And it could still boil a big pot of water for pasta in a couple of minutes. Pot handles stay cool and spoons don’t get burnt if you leave them hanging over the side. Loved it. I miss that range.
The only thing I had more trouble with was making caramel. The sides of the pan don’t get as much indirect heat compared with radiant or gas, so it wanted to crystallize at the edges. I had to use a thick tri-ply pan for that and still kept a blowtorch on hand to add a little side-heat.
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.