8
COOKTOP COMPARISON
Type of Cooktop
Description
How It Works
Electric Coil
Flattened metal
Heats by direct contact with the pan and by heating the air under the pan. For best
tubing containing
cooking results, use good quality pans. Electric coils are more forgiving of
electric resistance
warped pans than radiant or solid disks. Heats up quickly but does not change
wire suspended
heat settings as quickly as gas or induction. Electric coils stay hot enough to
over a drip pan.
continue cooking for a short time after they are turned off.
Radiant
Electric coils
Heat travels to the glass surface and then to the cookware, so pans must be flat on
(Glass Ceramic)
under a glass-
the bottom for good cooking results. The glass cooktop stays hot enough to
Cooktop
ceramic cooktop.
continue cooking after it is turned off. Remove the pan from the surface unit if
you want cooking to stop.
Induction
High frequency
Pans must be made of ferrous metals (metal that attracts a magnet). Heat is
induction coils
produced by a magnetic circuit between the coil and the pan. Heats up right away
under a glass
and changes heat settings right away, like a gas cooktop. After turning the control
surface.
off, the glass cooktop is hot from the heat of the pan, but cooking stops right away.
Solid Disk
Solid cast iron
Heats by direct contact with the pan, so pans must be flat on the bottom for good
disk sealed to the
cooking results. Heats up and cools down more slowly than electric coils. The
cooktop surface.
disk stays hot enough to continue cooking after it is turned off. Remove the pan
from the solid disk if you want the cooking to stop.
Gas Burners
Regular or sealed
Flames heat the pans directly. Pan flatness is not critical to cooking results, but
gas burners use
pans should be well balanced. Gas burners heat the pan right away and change
either LP gas
heat settings right away. When you turn the control off, cooking stops right away.
or natural gas.
Your new cooktop has electric coil surface units.
If you are used to cooking with gas burners or other
types of electric cooktops, you will notice some
differences when you use electric coils.
The best types of cookware to use, plus heat-up and
cool-down times, depend upon the type of burner or
surface unit you have.
The following chart will help you to understand the
differences between electric coil surface units and any
other type of cooktop you may have used in the past.
