Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Well, with trepidation after reading the previous review I decided to try one of these. First some background.
I plan on replacing my 15 year old radiant cooktop and have decided that induction is the way to go. Cooking - particularly Italian - is my hobby and stress reducer. Before investing in both the cooktop and the almost $800 that it will cost to upgrade my 30 amp wiring to 40 amp, I decided to do some testing.
Several weeks ago I purchased a Waring Pro single burner induction cooktop (Waring Pro ICT100 Professional Induction Cooktop) to test out the concept. I was really impressed with induction cooking but, like many others, have a number of favorite pans which are not induction capable.
I had thought about a hybrid radiant/induction cooktop such as the Thermador but really would prefer more power and controllability such as available with the GE all induction cooktop. Thus I decided to try the induction plate figuring that, even though it didn't work for the previous reviewer, it might work under different circumstances and that I could always return it if it didn't work.
It arrived yesterday and I've now done several tests. The Waring Pro ICT100 is rated at 1400 watts. Mauviel's instruction say "Always use the interface disc on a low temperature." Consequently, I started at the lowest setting and increased only to medium.
Initially, I just used a copper bottom pan with several inches of water in the bottom. I used a cooking thermometer to check the temperature of the water and an infra-red thermometer to check the temperature of the top of the induction disc and the burner surface. After the water had heated to 180 degrees the surface of the induction disc was also 180 degrees and the surface of the cooktop was about 345 degrees. I had no problem with the cooktop turning off because of the temperature.
This morning I tried using one of my favorite pans -- A Calphalon non-stick frittata pan that my wife gave me several years ago. I used only the larger half of the pan to simply make scrambled eggs. While it took somewhat longer to heat the pan, I was able to make the eggs without a problem. The pan heated to about 220 degrees with both the surface of the disc and the cooktop being 220 degrees. Perhaps the difference between the burner surface temperature in the two tests is related to differing heat transfer properties between the two pans.
Obviously this thing does work. I only gave it three stars because I would have liked more specific instructions regarding the temperature at which it could be used. Mauviel does state "Never use the booster on the induction hob" but there is a great range between "low temperature" and that. It would be nice to have more specific information -- perhaps in the form of maximum wattage. I really wouldn't like to test out the disc to failure on a new $1700 cooktop!
Still, if you need to use non magnetic cookware on an induction cooktop, this does work. I can even picture buying a second one to have available if I need to use two non-induction capable pots/pans at the same time.
Now to convince my wife! ;-)
Addendum March 12, 08:
Well, the new GE induction cooktop was installed today. I tried the induction disk and it worked just as before. No problems with overheating. Of course, I did limit the induction setting to about 1/2 maximum.
Addendum August 20, 2008:
Well, I've used this several more times and am more and more satisfied with how it works. If I could, I would change my review rating to 4 stars. It certainly is a useful addition if one has an induction cooktop and some favorite non-induction capable cookware. I have used it with a power of 7 1/2 (out of 9) on my GE cooktop without problem.
Click Here to see more reviews about:
M'plus Interface Disc for Induction
Click here for more information about M'plus Interface Disc for Induction
