| Asin | B00GMCAM2G |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | 12.7"D x 16.3"W x 3.8"H |
| Weight | 6.2 Pounds |
| Manufacturer | Duxtop |
Countertop Burners
Duxtop 1800W Portable Induction Cooktop Countertop Burner, Black 9100MC/BT-M20B
$4.30
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HCO in California –
I bought this cooktop to experience induction cooking before we do a kitchen remodel. I like the cooking fine. PROBLEM: My workhorse 12″ skillet works fine on the digital settings, but the temperature control settings do not (pot just gets cool after heating). Any experience with this?
E. N. Videtic –
I was very skeptical about getting an induction cooktop. I’ve seen some real bad reviews on many units , and I was concerned about the diameter of the heating area against the bottom of the pans. I’ve seen videos in my research on some of the induction tops and many of them looked as though the heating circle was only about 4 inches in the center because thats where the water was boiling, and I thought , if I put a skillet on it, I’ll have to keep moving the food over the center, as the center is going to be the hot area and the outer portion of the pans are not going to get as much heat.
Well, I searched and searched and came across this Duxtop 9100C model at a reasonable price and thought I would give it a try however, it says that for induction you need pans that a magnet will stick to or you can’t use them. Well none of my stainless cookware would hold a magnet and I have a 32 piece set. So what I did was I researched more and came upon a nice 10 piece stainless set made by Duxtop for this induction top and I bought them. Boy, am I glad I did, but thats another review, if you’re in need of a beautiful and very heavy triple clad set of pans check out the 10 piece set sold here on Amazon they are absolutely stunning. The bottom of each pan it a triple clad bottom with no line showing like my older stainless cook pans have, these Duxtop pans have a beautiful smooth rounded edge leading to the bottom so you dont even know they are clad on the bottom, plus the side walls of each pan has to be about 1/8 inch thick… I’m just amazed because they are so heavy, and my older set was very costly and the side walls of my stainless set are paper thin. The handles also on the Duxtop pans are solid not hollow. I have to say they cook so well on this Duxtop unit. The Duxtop unit itself is very accurate, and I put it the boil water test, and I took a 3 quart sauce pan and put is about half full of cold water they turned on the Duxtop. Well in less than 3 minutes I have a rolling boil. What I do it turn the unit on, and it defaults to a number 5 setting which is 320 degrees I believe on the dial when you press the temp button. When you press the Temp button you can toggle between the temperature you want of a number from 1 to 15. I also gave it the simmer test and yes it will simmer at 200 degrees, it will cycle on and off but you wont hear any changes. The unit has a fan that you can hear but it’s not obnoxious or loud and it runs after you turn off the cooktop for about a minute to cool the internal parts. Nothing gets hot other than your pan like the commecials on Tv show about induction. The pan is hot but the cook top is not, and this is true you can put your hand right onto the glass cooktop right up to the pan you are cooking in and it is cool not even warm. I am very impressed with this unit, and it move in 20 degree increments when its in Temp mode, you can go 140, 160, 180, 200, etc all the way to 460 but I have found that I never have had to go beyond 320. Water will boil if you set it on 220 vigously so why set it higher and use more electricity? The unit begins at the bottom end using only 200 watts on the 140 degree setting, and it climbs up from there all the way to 1800 watts if you have it on 460 degrees. Personally I cant see having to set it very high because even frying eggs or burgers, or pork chops etc, I leave it about 320 and then I lower it down to about 200 to keep them hot. Nice thing is you can drop it to 140 and your food will stay nice and toasty. I can’t do that on my Gas stove. I also can’t boil a pot of water in 3 minutes, and with my gas stove there is always heat coming up around the sides of the pans, which make the handles super hot and I need pot holders a lot of the time. On the Duxtop you’ll have cool handles and I really mean cool. I really like this Duxtop cooktop, so I purchased a second one and I plan on putting them side by side on the kitchen counter , but I’m going to install a separate 20 amp line for the second unit, as you can’t run 2 of these on the same electric line or you will pop the breaker. Cleanup is very simple as the top is a tempered glass and very nice done up in black. Also what I was going to say is that the circle of magnetic force is larger on this Duxtop 9100MC. I would say it’s 6 inches or better because when I put the 3 quart sauce pan on and boil water I can see the diameter of the bubbles and they pretty well cover the entire bottom of the pan. There are no humming sounds as I have read from some reviews, and I believe a humming or growling sound is due to the cookware being used. If you raise the pan off the surface the unit will display Error ,a and it will stop cooking but it resumes if you put the pan back on it . The unit is very light and you can take it anywhere. I’ve taken mine out on my back deck on a wood folding table and did some cooking outside with it . Also from the time I got the Duxtop units I’ve rarely used my gas stove, I prefer to use the Duxtop induction top to cook on. I can do fried eggs in minutes and not burn them and they don’t stick. I make a grilled cheese sandwich in a couple of minutes and the bread comes out very nice with a golden tan and again no scorching, unless you set the temperature too high and don’t flip it regularly. The cooktop is a 5 star unit in my book, I use it daily and out of all the units I reviewed this one is a Winner, you can’t go wrong for the price and features. It’s very safe, if you have a child you wont worry about them burning their hands unless they grab the pan itself, and when you turn the cooktop off, its instant off and the glass is just warm under the pan area and cools down rapidly. I like it a lot, and I highly recommend it to anyone who is thinking they might want to try induction cooking. It really does get the job done and it’s very safe, I leave the wooden spoon on the skillet at times and I have no worry that the flames will toast the wooden spoon which is what happens on gas stoves. Try it out, you can always send it back if you’re not happy but I’m sure you will love it as I do mine….Also lots of safety features such as auto shut down, if you forget it’s on , 2 hours it will shut down and you wont blow up your eggs. If you’re elderly and fall asleep when you put your tea water on you wont have to worry about the pan being red hot if your water evaporates it has a temperature sensor that will turn it off if ti’s goes to high so the safety features alone are well worth the peace of mind. I used to always worry about my mother who was in her 80s’and she often forgot the pan on her stove, she lived alone after my father passed away and I was always worried that she might set her kitchen on fire, but not with a Duxtop induction unit, I would have had peace of mind…. These units are awesome….
Brent Marsh –
I bought this as an extra, portable cooktop for when I cook outdoors but also as a test; I had read good things about induction cooktops and wanted to experiment with one. I may be remodeling my kitchen in the near future and I can now say that an induction cooktop is a very real possibility.
I’m used to cooking with gas and have grown accustomed to its wide range of temperatures and fast response time. I’m please to say this induction cooktop meets – or even exceeds – my experience with cooking with gas.
The order was quickly and efficiently handled and I received the product far sooner than I had anticipated (your results may vary, of course). The product was indeed new in its original packaging and was well and securely packaged for shipping.
The item itself is very well made. Solid. Feels substantial and rugged, yet not so heavy as to be burdensome in its capacity as a portable unit. The bubble-membrane interface is angled nicely both for viewing and access as well as not being on the same plane as the cooking surface – I was concerned that large pots would overhang this interface, but I quickly discovered that that is not a concern. My largest stockpot is 12 qt and it sits very comfortably on the cooking surface with no overhang.
The controls are very simple to use: select HEAT or TEMP and then the "+" or "-" keys to set either:
– HEAT is on a scale from 1 to 10 in 0.5 increments. Just like the knob on a traditional gas or electric cooktop
– TEMP is on a range (seems to be in Fahrenheit only) from about 240 to 320. From what I recall from the instructions, this approximates the cooking temp inside the pot. I experimented with this for only a few minutes so I can’t say with any certainty how well it works or how accurate it is.
Once you’ve set the heat/temp settings, you can optionally use the TIMER feature to set (in minutes) how long the unit will run. It will remain at that HEAT or TEMP setting for the duration of the timer, at which point it will shut off automatically. You can certainly change the HEAT and TEMP settings while the TIMER is running without interrupting the timer function.
I experimented with this also by bringing a large (12 qt) stock pot of water to a boil – it seemed a lot faster than my electric cooktop – putting in a whole chicken, and then simmering on low (2.0) for three hours.
At the end of the three hours, the timer shut off the unit, and beeped pleasantly to notify me. (I then immersed the chicken in cold water to stop the cooking process. It was the best poached chicken I’ve made).
Not having used an induction cooktop before, I was really impressed with how responsive it was to changing temperature. It is – in my estimation – at least a responsive as gas, if not a bit more responsive.
The unit does have an internal fan that remains on during most of its operation. It is very quiet. There is a slight humming sound as the induction cooktop cycles on and off. It’s not loud and it’s not annoying, but the unit is not completely silent.
I’m considering getting a second one and putting both onto a mobile cart for full-fledged outdoor cooking.
I would definitely recommend this product.
Whiskey Tango –
After careful research and a few experiments with other folk’s induction cooktops (NuWave, Max Burton & Tramontina), I chose the Secura DUXTOP 9100MC and haven’t regretted it. While the NuWave claims to have more temperature and power settings, it seemed to me that there was more frequent power cycling at comparable temp/power levels than the 9100MC. Saying nothing bad about Max Burton and Tramontina, I eliminated them for not having as many power and temperature target settings as the 15 levels (each) available on the 9100MC.
In order to maintain temperature control, in temperature mode operation, induction cookers have to cycle on and off in order to "hover" around any target temperature. One difference between lesser & better induction cooktops is how much power (actual Watts) is being cycled for any given temperature target. 5 seconds of 1800 Watts/pulse is going to be more energy violent (to whatever is being heated) than 30 seconds of 300 Watts/pulse, even though these two pulses represent the same amount of total power.
The 9100MC uses a wider range of Watts/pulse across the range of supported temperature targets than other induction cooktops, so cooking should be gentler across the lower temperature targets. there’s a table in the printed manual breaking this all out.
In power level mode, I did not notice much power cycling above power level 2.5 (=500W) per power setting, indicating that the 9100MC is providing a more even/continuous flow of power to the induction coils, at each power setting, rather than pulsing fewer fixed power flows across a range of given power settings. I did not test this with an ammeter, but rather by using an IR temperature gun, aimed inside the cookware in use, and observing how water heats at different power levels.
The type and quality of induction cookware is going to make a big difference in how any induction cooktop is going to perform. Aside from the magnet test, pure steel is a relatively poor conductor of heat, such that cheap steel pans are going to experience high initial temperature overshoots, in target temperature mode, and actual ring shaped hotspots on the cooking surface side over the course of any prolonged cooking, whether by power level or target temperature.
The initial target temperature overshoots occur inside the cookware because the cooktop’s temperature sensor is beneath the cooktop’s glass surface and NOT inside the actual cookware. There is always going to be a time lag before the heat, reflecting back from the bottom of the cookware, registers with the cooktop’s temperature sensor. It is during that initial temp sensor time lag that temperature overshoots can happen INSIDE the cookware (sometimes momentarily exceeding 500F, depending on the pot/pan). Any induction cookware that exhibits ringed hotspots while cooking is going to be VERY PROBLEMATIC for target temperature cooking on ANY induction cooktop, not just the 9100MC.
Cast iron cookware can tend to even out the ringed hotspot effect seen with cheap pure steel cookware, but cast iron is generally on the heavy side and can present other cooking issues.
What I’ve chosen to begin collecting for induction cooking is fully bonded, "tri-clad," 18-0 stainless steel (exterior)/full-core 3004 aluminum/18-8 stainless steel(interior) cookware. The 18-0 steel exterior is the induction layer, delivering heat directly to the aluminum core. The 3004 aluminum core rapidly distributes the heat all across the bottom and sides of the cookware, eliminating the ringed hotspot problem. The 18-8 stainless steel interior provides the non-chemically reactive cooking surface. I’ve really come to admire Vollrath’s Tribute line of pots and pans as a result. These Vollrath post/pans have completely flat bottoms, which is also a huge plus for induction cooking. High quality, tri-clad cookware, with excellent heat distribution across the entire cook surface, is a must for accurate, target-temperature-based cooking.
Even slightly warped induction cookware, no matter what its composition, is going to produce very uneven heating/cooking performance (which you may or may not want).
Partially or non-fully bonded tri-clad cookware can vibrate, between the metal layers, at certain power/temp settings, producing a high pitched whine that may or may not annoy you during cooking. That’s because the different metal layers are vibrating against one another, as a direct consequence of the induction process, and ANY air gaps/hollows between layers can then generate audible noise, which will vary from pan to pan. Generally speaking, the higher the power level, the more vibration and the greater chance that there will be a high-pitched whine.
I will never use any external steel heat diffusers in an attempt to "adapt" non-magnetic cookware for induction cooking. First, an all-steel diffuser is guaranteed to create ringed hotspots, because steel is a poor conductor of heat, making target temp cooking very problematic. Any induction diffuser essentially turns the highly power efficient induction cooktop, back into a far less efficient, radiant heat hotplate. If I wanted to cook on a hot plate, I would’ve used a hot plate to begin with. Induction diffusers make no sense to me, but you can always find someone who’ll sell one to you.
I also took the following dB sound measurements, 3′ from the front of each appliance while running:
DUXTOP 9100MC = 46-48dB
Panasonic 1100W microwave oven = 48-55dB
Kenmore refrigerator = 40-43dB
ambient kitchen = 7-13dB (from the center of kitchen, with no motors running)
So, the 9100MC is louder than the fridge, but quieter than the microwave. Subjectively, the 9100MC is not too noisy for me. but your own dB readings may vary (depending on the physical condition of your cooling fan/appliances) and everyone is entitled to their sonic preferences.
I like the fact that the 9100MC gives audible and visual cues that it is energized and/or cooking. Total silence in operation would be an unwelcomed and dangerous way to go.
When not in use, I completely unplug the 9100MC from AC power. When the 9100MC is in use, I make sure that no other appliances on the same circuit (not just the same plug) are ever in concurrent use, 1800W is 1800W.
One thing that surprised me when using my older cookware from gas cooking days, on the 9100MC, was the amount of white, waxy build-up that would suddenly appear on the 9100MC’s glass cooktop. It turns out that thin oil residue/skin, that builds up over time from radiant heat cooking, on the outside/bottom of cookware (no matter how "clean" it may look to the eye), gets literally boiled off of the cookware, by induction heating, depositing a cloudy "wax" on the cooktop’s glass. In order to remove this waxy boil-off and restore the original beauty of the 9100MC cooktop, I used a fish-oil based, light machine oil, as a solvent, a microfiber cloth and the requisite elbow grease.
Even though the printed manual says not to place the 9100MC on top of any steel surface, I’ve found that there are no EM/RF heating effects below the 9100MC when the unit is sitting directly on top of a steel cooking cart or on top of a steel wire rack.
The angled control panel is a big plus. There is no way for a pot/pan to damage the panel from direct "hot" contact while on the cooktop surface. I also have faith that the plastic-film covered blister-style control buttons are durable enough for my needs and actually prefer them over "touch" sensor controls. I want the tactile sense that a button has been pressed.
The two things most likely to fail, IMO, are the induction coil cooling fan and the glass cooktop. While I have no intention of abusing my 9100MC, I have no idea what kind of bearing system the fan uses (ball bearings=best, sleeve bearing=worst). The printed manual also says the unit cannot support more than 25lbs total load. So, I bit the bullet and purchased a multi-year asurion/Canopy protection policy, as either of these failures would be total showstoppers.
The only modification that I made to the 9100MC is to add an air intake filter to the exterior of the case opening for the induction coil cooling fan. I did this to reduce the odds that lint/dust/oil vapor will be sucked inside the case by the fan, without impeding airflow. The filter is made from soft screen material designed for use with overhead cooking exhaust fans and is held in place by a frame of painter’s tape.
Induction cooking has it’s own learning curve. I’m finding that power-level cooking is more useful and successful than target temperature cooking for dynamic, hands on cooking. I never start a "cold" pan in target temperature mode, in order to reduce the risk of initial temperature overshoots. I use an IR temp gun to learn how different pots/pans perform on the induction cooktop. I find the 9100MC’s wider variety of power and target temp settings, in the low and medium ranges, are very useful and sufficiently granular for my cooking needs — along with understanding how my different pots/pans actually perform.
I have no need for the 9100MC to have a 212F target temp setting. I live at sea level. If I want 212F, then I cook in boiling water or with atmospheric steam and let the water/steam control 212F. Or, I will use a convection oven set to 212F. I do want very even heating/energy delivery at whatever setting I pick and the 9100MC delivers that in spades. Induction cooking, once mastered, makes it very difficult to accidentally burn food, and opens up slower/lower-temp dynamic/interactive cooking as a whole new world to explore.
As far as Lafraise is concerned, I have no complaints. I will say that Amazon shipping did not do a first class job of packaging the retail 9100MC box for shipping. The Amazon box was holed in transit and there was inadequate padding inside the Amazon box, such that the retail packaging suffered a minor puncture. My 9100MC arrived undamaged and fully functional, but Amazon needs to do a better job to protect Lafraise’s good reputation in the Marketplace by shipping more promptly, with better protective packaging.
Erika –
I’m quite fond of this little guy. It’s come to replace about 3/4 of my stovetop usage. It’s got a variety of control options that I’ve never used. It’s a little noisy in operation due to the fan, but no more than the exhaust hood on my gas range. *But* before you get an induction burner, unless you want to buy new cookware, test everything. Even if you think it’s steel.
I had some saucepans and a pot i picked up at a thrift store when i first moved out. They’ve served me wonderfully for close to a decade. They *look* for all the world like they’re stamped from stainless steel. So I just figured, hey, they’ll do fine. The one thing I have that’s probably extruded aluminum won’t but that’s one pot.
I get this burner, and plop one pan on it. It says it can’t find a pan. (Thankfully this warns you when you put something nonmagnetic on!) I shuffle it around, try turning it off and on again. Then I try the rest of the pans. *Nothing* worked. Except the cast iron skillet. That works fine, so it’s not a defective burner.
I finally do the magnet test and they all flunked. I ended up using it as an excuse to upgrade to a proper stainless set, but unless that’s you, do beware.
Chris Crawford –
While remodeling our kitchen we setup a temporary kitchen elsewhere in the house. I initially thought I could get by with a microwave and toaster oven for the two month project. We realized a week in that we needed a “burner” for everyday use and I grabbed this one. It was my first experience with inductive cooking and it worked great–made me even wonder if I should have done induction instead of gas in the new kitchen!
Pans heated quickly, and I typically used settings in the middle of the scale. (The power settings are 1-10, with 0.5 increments around the middle of the range). Only mild complaint is that the heat was concentrated in the middle of larger skillets. I don’t know if more expensive models have a larger element, but you did have to make sure your settings didn’t result in scorching in the center of the pan. Like all induction elements, you need compatible cookware. If a magnet sticks to it, you can use it.
If you need an extra burner, are setting up a temporary kitchen, or just want to try induction before committing, I’d recommend this unit.
Matt –
I am using two of these in my seasonal mobile home as my primary method for cooking. They are working great in my opinion. I think they easily rival the heat output from the burners on the propane gas stove I had used in the past. I have done everything on them from simply frying an egg to boiling a very large pot of water for corn on the cob. I have not actually timed the boiling times between this burner and a propane burner to compare (maybe I should just to see) , but to me I have not noticed any sacrifice. These are more efficient and put way less wasted heat into the kitchen, which is very important in a small mobile home kitchen on a hot day.
The only potential issue is you do need to have compatible cookware. A magnet has to stick to the bottom of any cookware you wish to use for it to work. I did not have to spend a fortune getting a couple new pots that work though, and was a good excuse to replace some old worn out non-stick pans.
Another thing to keep in mind is these do draw a lot of power from the outlet. It depends on the pot, but with my biggest pot on high I measured between 1600 and 1700 watts. Considering a typical outlet is rated for 15 amps and 1700 watts is just a whisker over 14 amps at 120 volts, so just have a plan to power these units. They really need dedicated circuits run, but if you manage it carefully while cooking you’ll be fine (nothing else drawing power on that circuit while cooking). I am running mine on two different 15 amp circuits and so far have had no issues with tripped breakers or hot wires.
Nannette Silvernail –
While our induction range was busted, out of warranty and too expensive to repair, we took some time to decide what to replace it with and bought two of these individual burner cook tops to get us by in the meantime. We used these for about two months, and during the discernment process, considered using them permanently and buying a counter top oven. But using these convinced us that this is not an option.
PROS: Understand that we were already sold on induction before buying them, and will probably never go back to gas or non-induction electric. So we already knew how to cook with stainless steel and we do so with ease. (You have to know to get the pan hot with fat before adding food, for example. If you are a non-stick cookware lover, you will probably hate these, or at least have a learning curve with them.) That understood, these work great. They heat up fast, are easy to use, easy to clean up, and are as efficient as was our GE induction range cook top. (We loved that range and are very sad that it died after less than 4 years of use.) Actually, they may even have heated up quicker than the GE range, and the settings definitely ran hotter than did our range burners. We have since bought a new induction range (an Electrolux), but are glad to have these as a supplement and a backup, and have stored them carefully for that purpose. Also, the price is right for an alternative to a full cook top.
CONS: The fans on these things are LOUD. Again, we were used to induction, and so were used to the fans coming on with use of the oven and burners. But these are at least three times louder than were our GE range fans. And they are probably 6 times louder than our Electrolux range fans. It doesn’t bother my husband so much, but I have more sensitive hearing. Before I would sit down and eat the meal just prepared on these things, I would turn off every noise making device (range hood fan, TV’s, etc.) to give my ears and brain some peace after the loud droning sound, mixed with a light squeal, that was unavoidable while the meal was being cooked. The sound of two of these burners and a range hood fan was over the top. Also, the first time I had to do kitchen cleanup, I decided that using these permanently was not an option. I don’t think the oil and "stuff" that spews from the pot or pan is any more with these than on a normal cook top (that would all just depend on the food and temperature), but having to clean grease splatter off the long, thick, hard-to-straighten out, zig-zaggy electric cord, as well as the sides of these, then move them and clean off the surface of whatever you have it sitting on (we had them on our broken range), was simply too big a pain to me. It is no big deal if these are an occasional use thing. It would be like using any counter top appliance–of course you need to clean it all up and the counter and wall around it afterward. But I would not want to have to do this daily. Also, the cord seems unnecessarily long. We used them on quite close to our counter top outlets, so the cord did not hang away from the appliance, but was zig-zagged quite close to the burner. It would have been nicer if we could plug them in down low on the wall behind the counter top. If we had to use them permanently, I would arrange to do that.
In summary, these cook food great and are super user friendly. They’re a great option as a way to test induction, and to have as a backup, or when cooking a large meal and you need extra burners. But as a permanent solution, in my opinion, they’re just too loud. Even for other uses I have though of, like as warming plates on a buffet for a big holiday meals, I wouldn’t recommend them, because they are simply too loud. A sound-sensitive guest may turn unexpectedly aggressive if you subject them to that sound throughout dinner. However, I think my husband would use them and think nothing of it. Background droning noises don’t usually bother him.
Debbie Koontz –
I bought this as an anniversary present. We use it with Strauss Stainless Steel 2.6 Quart Whistling Tea Kettle – Induction Ready – Mirror Finish . The cooktop and kettle together are a replacement for a stovetop kettle that had seen its better days. Let me just compare the old with the new–
The new cooktop and kettle together cost about $125, and they replace an essentially zero cost kitchen tool. As a special gift, that’s OK from my point of view. They are good quality and look nice, which was the main point.
The induction cooktop avoids all the issues with cooking spatter, so we don’t have any issues with burned on grease or food. That’s a big improvement over the old one.
The induction cooker heats water faster than our gas stove. I believe that it actually costs less to operate than the stove. The speed is nice, especially in the morning when we are struggling to get down our first cups of coffee and tea.
The new cooker provides an alternative to our propane stove for when the propane tank is empty or frozen. We live in interior Alaska and like to have alternatives for things like that.
It’s simple. One button and the cooker is on. It always starts at a medium cooking rate (#5 out of 10), so I always punch the "+" button to crank it up to top speed for heating the kettle. A batch of hot water takes maybe 3 minutes. There are other functions, including temperature and a timer. They do what they are supposed to do. The whistle on the tea kettle tells us exactly when it starts boiling.
It’s safe. There is no way it can start a fire, as far as I can see. I left a pot of water on and forgot it for a couple of hours. It boiled dry and automatically shut off. The cooktop has a warning placard that you can burn yourself on it, and it does get hot; but the heat comes from the pan, not from the cooker. After boiling a kettle of water, the cooktop is almost hot enough to burn my hand, but compared to any other cookware, that’s great. The handle and the lid of the kettle stay cool to the touch.
It’s a bit bigger than I might prefer. Our kitchen is pretty tight, and it occupies some prime cabinet space, but I feel that it’s well worth the room it takes. The fact that it stays clean with almost no effort counts for a lot. There are smaller, lower powered units, BTW. 1800 Watts is probably more than we absolutely need, but I went for the big one anyway.
There is a little noise. I think it’s louder than the microwave, and it runs for a minute or so after you turn it off.
It requires iron or steel cookware, which means that we can’t use a couple of our kitchen pots. Most of our stuff is black steel or cast iron, and they work fine. Note that a thin steel pan heats very fast–especially on high heat. Simmering or frying works fine, but I prefer to use the gas stove for low heat or for anything that can spatter.
Chris –
We ordered this induction cooktop because we live in an area that is not supplied with natural gas, and our JennAir built-in electric non-induction stovetop seemed to take forever to simply boil a pot of water. A friend had demonstrated their built-in induction cooktop to us; we had been impressed with a pot of water coming to boil in about two minutes, and the fact that immediately after a burner was turned off, a person could place their hand on the burner itself and and it was not hot. So, based on the positive reviews we had read on the Amazon site, we ordered the 9100MC.
We received our Duxtop countertop cooktop yesterday and, having read the instruction manual thoroughly, decided to test it by boiling 6 cups of cool water in a stainless steel pot that we had also tested would hold a magnet per the instruction manual. SEVENTEEN minutes later the water began to boil. We were also surprised that right on the unit it said the surface would remain hot. It did remain hot, for an additional TEN minutes.
We then conducted a test for bringing water to a full boil between 1) a Russell Hobbs 1500 Watt electric tea kettle, 2) a different Le Creuset pot on the induction cooktop, and 3) a stainless pot on the JennAir stovetop. Each contained the identical amount of equallly cold water (6 cups).
The results were:
First place: the Russell Hobbs tea kettle at 6 minutes.
Second place: the induction cooktop and Le Creuset pot at 10 minutes.
The JennAir stovetop at 19 minutes.
To our surprise, the surface of the Duxtop remained hot for an additional 17 minutes. We also noticed that it was quite noisy (fan and other noise) when running.
This Duxtop unit did not come anywhere near what we had expected, based on reviews. But, since nobody else seems to have complained about how long it takes the Duxtop to boil water, we have to assume that we must have received a defective device. We are willing to give Duxtop another chance, and have used Amazon’s easy return service to try another unit. We’ll see how the next one works, and then write another review.
It hardly seems worth the cost of this 1800 watt induction unit to save only 9 minutes of time over the JennAir. And for it to be occupying space on a countertop and remaining hot is a problem. It also has a footprint three times the size of our tea kettle.
Since we have a kettle that is out performing the induction cooktop, we returned the unit. Granted we do not cook food in our tea kettle, but so much of what we do (canning, blanching, cooking pasta or rice) is about bringing water to a boil. We can simply heat the water in our kettle and put in a pot on the JennAir to remain boiling.
Update November 2: We just got our replacement Duxtop from Amazon yesterday. It is definitely superior to the original one we got. We conducted the same test – boiling six cups of cold water in a LeCreuset cast iron 8 inch diameter pot. This unit took 8 minutes to get the water to a rolling boil. After removing the pot, its fan continued to run for 1.5 minutes, and its "Hot" message remained on for 8 to 10 minutes after removing the pot.
We had hoped to reach a boil in under 4 minutes, based on other reports we had read. We are also surprised at how long the unit remained too hot to touch. We will be keeping this unit, but are now aware of its shortcomings. Its rating should probably go from one star to three stars. We highly recommend that the unit be tested when it’s first received, just to make sure that it’s working OK. Our first one wasn’t.