replace trash induction with gas hob in this space - possible?

Soldato
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We've gone induction and love it. Faster than gas and easier to just wipe clean. As long as you have the pots/pans for it and a semi-decent unit they're really good.

Plus. we noticed they use them on Masterchef so if it's good enough for those on there it's good enough for us :p
 
Soldato
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Induction is a love or hate thing, I've been using them for about 12 years now and once you get used to them they really are great for every day cooking. They don't have the flexibility of gas but the boiling functions and flexibility of the good ones to move pans from one area to another are fantastic and can simply wipe down in seconds at the end. If I had the space I'd have a high heat gas burner for work and griddling stuff, but I get by just fine for everything else with Induction, plus if you have kids there is no risk of being left on or lingering heat after cooking.

When I moved into my current house there was a ceramic hob and I bought one of the single burner induction plate things whilst I waited to get a new Induction Hob installed, just could not cook with it.
 
Soldato
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Just checked on one of our gas hobs and its 650 from worktop to hood and 400 to wall cabinets plus 50 from side of hob.
Manufacturers spec supersede gas regs so it will be very dependent on what you buy.
As @200sols said your biggest issue is the plug socket and that 395, but you'd probably get over the 400 by taking the decor trim off.

What are your issues with induction, is the one you have one of the stupid 3kw variants?

ah right, i'll start to look at more specific manufacturer specs then - i have a few gas hobs in mind so i'll pull the PDFs for them all and check, Thanks.

There's not a lot to go off but it's a Beko QHI64 and says 'HOB TOTAL LOAD 7.2kW' I looked up the model number and there are some terrible reviews of it. seemed like it came as a package with an oven so that's probably why it was surplus to requirements at my in-law's house.

my issues are mostly about heat control and general ergonomics of use; but this particular hob has so many flaws, including but not limited to.. wait for it - overheating and refusing to work again 'til it's cooled down.

The inductors on this hob seem to have 2 states - full on, or full off. The heat setting is not equal to power but rather time of it being on or off. so on a low setting it flicks on for like 2 seconds and off for 10. on higher settings it turns on for much longer intervals ike 6 or 8 seconds with shortening off periods. pans boil over all of the time, or overheat in the middle. the temperature sort of 'runs away' the longer it's left on. I guess it's like a pulse width modulation - but a crudely implemented one with a course duty cycle.

Better induction hobs (like the one I used to have) use much much shorter pulses of on/off and maintain an even temperature far better. I pretty much refuse to use this hob but my misses uses it all the time and she hates it too.

How did you manage that? I've cooked on induction in several houses for the past 12 years and never once managed to warp a pan.

As for the space you have, I don't think a gas safe installer would fit a gas hob there.

https://ao.com/help-and-advice/guides-and-advice/measurement-guides/hob
I think this particular induction hob might be an out-lier for how bad a hob can be. even on the big rings it only really heats pans up right in the centre. the heavier pans do a bit better since they spread the heat out more readily, but the thinner pans are the worst.

i've just checked, and every pot or pan I own that works on this hob is bowed/cupped from the centre outwards - even my heaviest pans are warped. my pans are an eclectic mix of judge, stellar, pilot, prestige and a couple other odd ones. my cast iron skillet (which to be fair might not be completely suitable) got cracked in two because the heat is so un-even. I put my infrared thermometer up to it the other day and it literally reads 270c+ in one spot and 65c a few inches away on setting 7/9 as it's heating up. I have to continuously nurse pans as they're warming up to avoid this hot spot. because of what I said above about the crude PWM you have to make sure toy move the pan about when it's in the 'on' phase and not let it lift or it will cut out.


Does the extractor extract outside do you have scope to raise it?

Does the switch only serve the hob or is there an oven below? If just the hob it would be redundant anyway once the hobs removed, disconnect at the board and blank it off, tile over or similar.

Do you need the corner wall cupboard? would removing it be an option?

If the eventual plan is to change the kitchen anyway and this would make your life easier I'd be looking at the above options.

And I agree I much prefer gas and have brought mains gas into my current and last property mainly for the cooking aspect :D current build is a 32mm steel gas pipe under screed 15m run just for the hob :cool:

the extractor goes straight outside yep. I don't think it would be impossible to raise either - saying that it's not a very effective extractor at all!
nice to it's possible to get a gas pipe under the floor like that - if I rebuild this kitchen I think the hob would go on the opposite wall and I'd have to run the gas under the floor somehow for that.


We have an induction hob in the house we just moved in to. It's a NEFF and I bet it cost a fortune.

I much preferred using the ~£250 ceramic hob we had at the last house. Heating with heat instead of magnetism just seems a whole lot more natural. Although it was harder to keep clean as anything hitting the glass almost immediately burned.
yea I was more at one with the ceramic hot plate hob I had in my uni halls than I am with this PoS! it's a nice idea and that; very efficient and such but can't beat cookin' on gas!


I think I had the same extractor at my last house. If not, I bet the fixing is almost identical. It's just a couple of bolts into the wall, so should be dead easy to take off and shift a few inches higher up the wall.

The main issue I can see if the horrible placement of that plug / isolator. Do you have access to the cable that leads to it from anywhere? If you can access it from below - I'd want to isolate it elsewhere (under the counter ideally) amd remove that socket / switch entirely. If I were doing it quick and nasty, I'd then add a splash back behind the hob to cover the gap in the tiles (both where the socket should be, and the increased distance to the extractor).

the horror doesn't end there! There's a 6mm2 (maybe) T&E that goes down behind the cupboard to a JB that's just flapping around on the floor that connects to the hob. this FCU and socket is on it's own breaker too so it's easily isolatable; I'm just not certain where the feed comes in from the power DB - as in which direction it goes between the FCU and DB. I could easy find out by popping the front off and checking thee back box though - hoping it comes in from the bottom as that gives me more options for moving it.

Fortunately, I've bought an air fryer - so I barely ever use the hob now. :p
I'm with you there brother! i love my air fryer, we have a tefal 2-in-1 actifry and it does the best job of sausages and bacon. chips too of course! I cook with a sous vide a lot but everything ends up on the hob at some point for searing or glazing.

This is interesting as i was musing getting rid of our gas topped range cooker for an induction one as i'd only ever heard positive things from other people.
I'm not dead against them to be honest - i have had a decent one in the past but still long for my gas back! there is amazing things about them - they can be incredibly fast to heat up and they're definitely the easiest to clean out of all glass-topped hobs; but it seems like you have to spend mega money to get a really decent one. the main downside is you can't just whack last night's currry still in the tin on them haha.

Yeah cooking on our gas hob is brilliant and i can't fault that really apart from i wish ours would go a bit lower on heat, even the smallest ring can be a bit too hot to just simmer some things.

I'd mainly want to change as cleaning and then keeping a gas top clean is a massive huge pain that i hate
well for your first problem, there might be an adjustment for the flame height on your gas hob - as for the second thing, the best thing i've found for cleaning a gas hob is a wife!

Love the foam on the extractor hood. Have you considered wearing a helmet whilst cooking instead to maintain the kitchen aesthetic?
haha, nah man I'd get too hot and end up raging! this foam gives me comfort & options when banging my head off the hood out of distain for the hob.
 
Soldato
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i've just checked, and every pot or pan I own that works on this hob is bowed/cupped from the centre outwards - even my heaviest pans are warped. my pans are an eclectic mix of judge, stellar, pilot, prestige and a couple other odd ones. my cast iron skillet (which to be fair might not be completely suitable) got cracked in two because the heat is so un-even. I put my infrared thermometer up to it the other day and it literally reads 270c+ in one spot and 65c a few inches away on setting 7/9 as it's heating up. I have to continuously nurse pans as they're warming up to avoid this hot spot. because of what I said above about the crude PWM you have to make sure toy move the pan about when it's in the 'on' phase and not let it lift or it will cut out.

Bowed pans are usually a sign of overheating the pan. Induction can put a lot of energy into a pan, and I've found that for most cooking I need to use lower settings than for gas. You may just have a cheaper hob that isn't very good, but we've been very pleased with ours, which is a decent brand (Neff), that's wired directly into it's own mains circuit for maximum power.

If you search, there are a couple of existing induction hob thread on OCUK, they may have a different perspective, but it does seem that people either love them or hate them, but I wouldn't go back to gas personally.
 
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Soldato
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Better induction hobs (like the one I used to have) use much much shorter pulses of on/off and maintain an even temperature far better. I pretty much refuse to use this hob but my misses uses it all the time and she hates it too.
Agree ... it's a pity the manufacturers do no publish the control mechanism in their specs - even Miele don't.

i've just checked, and every pot or pan I own that works on this hob is bowed/cupped from the centre outwards - even my heaviest pans are warped. my pans are an eclectic mix of judge, stellar, pilot, prestige and a couple other odd ones. my cast iron skillet (which to be fair might not be completely suitable) got cracked in two because the heat is so un-even. I put my infrared thermometer up to it the other day and it literally reads 270c+ in one spot and 65c a few inches away on setting 7/9 as it's heating up. I have to continuously nurse pans as they're warming up to avoid this hot spot. because of what I said above about the crude PWM you have to make sure toy move the pan about when it's in the 'on' phase and not let it lift or it will cut out.

I stopped using my cast iron wok until I get back to gas , as you say, you have to heat things up slowly, and gas gives much less of a problem because it is more even (with the hot gasses)
 
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