What's new and hot in stoves

For the past few days, I've been using a magnetic-induction cooktop, and I have seen the future of cooking.

Microwave technology introduced a whole new alternative to conventional cooking. Today, magnetic-induction technology takes a similar leap forward. It has the ability to produce heat instantly, and you can control that heat with a great deal of precision.

While a gas flame is instantly hot, the pan in which your food sits still takes some time to heat up before things begin to sizzle. And forget about how long a conventional electric-range element takes to heat up, let alone the pan that sits on it.

Magnetic induction

But with magnetic induction, the cooktop's surface doesn't heat up. The pan that sits on it does. The magnetic-induction field causes a flow of electricity within the pan's metal and its resistance to that flow generates heat directly in the pan itself.

The result is that you get virtually instant heat to the food along with a high degree of temperature precision. It's amazing to watch. I put a half-cup of water in the pan and turned the cooktop on. The water came to a boil in just 15 seconds. That's faster than gas and even faster than a microwave oven can do it. On that very same cooking surface, an ice cube I had placed next to the pan of boiling water remained frozen.

While the technology is being used in Europe, only now is it appearing in the United States. GE Appliances has just introduced its Profile line of induction cooktops for the home. The one I've been using is its GE Profile 36-inch induction cooktop with five cooking areas, model PHP960DMBB ($2,349). GE (www.geappliances.com) also makes a smaller GE Profile 30-inch model PHP900DMBB ($1,849) with four cooking areas.

Both feature touch-sensitive electronic controls (no ugly knobs) that display glowing red digits within the glossy black ceramic surface. They are absolutely beautiful. The temperature controls offer 19 levels of heat, including a Burst mode that really heats things up.

Lots of smarts

The GE units have a whole lot of smarts added in, especially when it comes to safety. If you remove the pot or pan while cooking, the surface detects its absence and cuts off. If you place something with less mass on the surface such as your ring or a spoon, it won't heat up. Only pots and pans will be allowed to generate the cooking heat. There's even a setting that lets you lock the cooktop's controls.

One other thing: Your cookware has to be made of something that's magnetic, namely iron or steel. The cookware I use has an aluminum core, but the inner and outer surfaces are stainless-steel-clad so they work just fine. The best test is to see if a magnet will strongly stick to it. If it does, it will work.

For those of you who live in an area where gas is not available and you've been lamenting that you can't cook with gas, you're actually in luck. Because now you have a whole other option. Magnetic-induction cooking really is the next big thing in cooking technology.

Other than its cost and the possibly of having to buy some new cookware, I can find no real downside here. It's faster and more precise than gas, and it has the convenience and safety of electricity.

Smartparts SyncPix

Smartparts

www.smartparts

products.com ($180)

The Smartparts SyncPix Digital Picture Frame likes an audience: Loaded with a built-in motion detector, the frame automatically starts working when someone walks into the room.

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The 8-inch SPX8 model has 256 megabytes of memory, slots for popular media cards, a power adapter, a USB cable and a remote control.

— Deborah Porterfield

Gannett News Service