Cast Iron and Glass Cooktops / Radiant cooktops, Your thoughts?

I have a glass cooktop. I like it a lot more than electric coils, but not as much as gas. It's super easy to clean, though. Heat rings are not as big of a deal as you'd think. The flat bottomed pieces perform slightly better, but it's not a deal breaker or anything. I have a WWSO handled griddle, where the burner fits completely "inside" of the griddle (it only touches the surface along the rim, and there is a significant air gap in the middle, moreso than a skillet heat ring). Even with no direct contact with the burner, it works just fine. I guess it heats through the air gap.
 
The flat bottomed pieces perform slightly better.

Hi John, Thank you for the reply.
Question for you. Do you get any movement with your flat bottomed pieces before you heat the pan or after you heat the pan. Does the pan change at all from the heat, even a little at all, being more noticed on glass than with electric coils or gas stove?
 
The glass tops are inductive, are they not? I would think this would be a bit less forgiving, in that, a small or uneven air gap won't make that big of a difference. Also, I'd think heating on an inductive would be more even, across the entire bottom of the parts of the pan that sit over the inductive coil.

My Mom ruined her cast iron skillets on her electric coiled stove in the 80s. I remember her cussing out that stove. We'd moved from a home with a gas oven to a house with electric.

I'm running gas. Had the electric stove removed and gas plumbed into the kitchen. Even my gas stove is inadequate for my 12" pans. They never seem to get hot enough out in the edges. I have to be careful to heat my big pans slowly. My 10" pans are perfect for my stove. all my pans are hottest right under the burner, of course.

If it wasn't for the cost of electricity out here in Cali., I'd have a glass top inductive stove. A friend has one and it's fantastic, heats evenly, cleans easy. Not sure how finely variable the heat is, if it's like gas.
Other than that, it's gas all the way!
 
Hi John, Thank you for the reply.
Question for you. Do you get any movement with your flat bottomed pieces before you heat the pan or after you heat the pan. Does the pan change at all from the heat, even a little at all, being more noticed on glass than with electric coils or gas stove?

None of my pans warp when heated. However, my wife's grandmother has a 3-notch lodge and a glass cooktop. Last time we went to visit I made some bacon and eggs in it. It sits dead flat when cool, but it is an extreme spinner when it gets up to temperature. It was bad enough that I only used it once and the next time I went for a nonstick instead. So, it all depends on the pan I guess.
 
Yeah I know. I never use them, this was an exception. I neglected to mention that the lodge was completely unseasoned on the cooking surface from 60 years of scouring with steel wool after each use (but was amazingly smooth and polished). That was the main reason I didn't use it, although the spinning drove me nuts and contributed.
 
Yeah I know. I never use them, this was an exception.

Sorry to blast you like that. I was teasing of course. :razz: If I hadn't said it, someone else would have.

Confession: I use old un-coated aluminum Wear Ever, & Wagner sauce pans. :redface:
 
Well a little rib - ing in cast iron is good for you, just,not well done please. All in good fun.

Confession: We did junk all the nonstick coated pans in our home.

Now back to the post.

John E. "None of my pans warp when heated." What I am trying to find out is when things are heated they move. But do they move to the point that one would notice the movement cooking. Just like you wife's grandmother's 3-notch lodge. Someone using a gas stove and or electric stove might not notice ant change in the skillet. I am not saying that all pans move or warp when heated. Also any change in the pan due to the heat is only temporally.

Is there anyone else that noticed this when cooking on glass / radiant cooktops?
 
The glass tops are inductive, are they not? I would think this would be a bit less forgiving, in that, a small or uneven air gap won't make that big of a difference. Also, I'd think heating on an inductive would be more even, across the entire bottom of the parts of the pan that sit over the inductive coil.

My Mom ruined her cast iron skillets on her electric coiled stove in the 80s. I remember her cussing out that stove. We'd moved from a home with a gas oven to a house with electric.

I'm running gas. Had the electric stove removed and gas plumbed into the kitchen. Even my gas stove is inadequate for my 12" pans. They never seem to get hot enough out in the edges. I have to be careful to heat my big pans slowly. My 10" pans are perfect for my stove. all my pans are hottest right under the burner, of course.

If it wasn't for the cost of electricity out here in Cali., I'd have a glass top inductive stove. A friend has one and it's fantastic, heats evenly, cleans easy. Not sure how finely variable the heat is, if it's like gas.
Other than that, it's gas all the way!

Inductive stoves have glass tops, but glass top on a stove doesn't mean it's inductive. Induction heating requires ferromagnetic pots and pans so that the pan itself heats up and not the stove top. You could literally leave the stove top on for 15 minutes and then put your hand on top of it and it would be cool to the touch.

My glass top stove heats up with an element underneat the glass. It gives off heat and I could literally slap a steak on the glass top and cook it, or cook with a glass pot, or copper kettle, I refuse to cook with aluminum.

I have no issues with my cast iron on the glass cooktop. Just have to be sure not to drop one on it.
 
We have some minor issue, and that is keeping the top clean. I think some of my seasoning has transferred to the glass top from the bottom of the iron, and after a while it becomes very stubborn to clean off.

I do have a Griswold 12 with a HR and Small Block Logo, that when heated on the range it will spin, but otherwise sits perfectly flat when cool. I now use it for biscuits in the oven, but was hoping to be able to fry up enough chicken in one shot for the family. :frown: Just went back to my LODGE 10 as it is impervious to that sort of thing.
 
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