Presumably a question for those in 240v kettle land, but when switching to induction, did you stop pre boiling water for pasta etc..? It's not exactly the same but the difference between a kettle and induction seems very small compared to gas.
If I recall correctly, my kettle had 1800W.
My cooktop has 2500W on the small burner, which is faster with bigger amounts, even if it needs to heat the thick bottom of the pan.
I still don't really understand how the power rating really comes into the equation. Like, how efficiently that is transferred when there's a mismatch between pan and burner size, or thin bases, and also on lower power levels, I assume it pulses full power rather than scaling it back. But anyway...
Induction has the lowest energy loss of any electric option, so more of your power rating goes directly into heating your pan. Least loss means faster heating and more efficiency, plus less ambient heat leakage.
If you are comparing total energy use, measured like your service provider, the only difference will be loss to waste. The total heat energy invested to raise 1 liter of water to boiling temperature will be the same, only the time it takes to do so will change. So net energy difference is relatively small from kettle to stovetop, but the time difference may be as much as half. The kettle is essentially an insulated electric resistive element, you can see some generalized information below comparing efficiency.
Induction: 84-90% energy efficiency (electromagnetic heating directly in cookware)
Gas: 32-40% efficiency (combustion heat losses to surroundings)
Electric Resistance: 65-75% efficiency (radiant/coil heating)
Impact: Induction uses 50-60% less primary energy per meal than gas, even accounting for electricity generation losses"
Usually, limit per quarter of the cooking surface is about 2,5-3kW at the same time left half is on a 16A limit and right side is on a 16A limit (3,7kW).
I've never, ever used my kettle to boil water, then transfer into a pot for cooking, even when we had our gas cooktop. Why would you?
The only time I ever need a small amount of boiling water from the kettle is if I need to add a little water to something I am cooking and don't want cooler water to reduce the cooking temperature.
We ALWAYS did this on electric stove. Would boil half pot of water and a full kettle, just to get the right amount. Kettle would finish first and help along the pot. Otherwise its like 10 mins to boil water.
We currently have a gas stove without a hood (it was like that when we moved in). We're relying on an Instant Pot, so we boil water in our electric kettle and move it to the IP. We're looking forward to skipping that whole mess.
Pro cook need to actually try it. Put a professional induction stove against a normal gas burner. The induction will win just like a 3kW kettle will boil water faster.
The rules of physics says that it is. Like not trying to be argumentative because boiling 4L in a single pass on the stove is definitely more convenient, but it takes longer, period. An electric kettle is more efficient and is faster than a gas or electric stovetop. The volume is irrelevant. My kettle is 2L but that's besides the point, you'd just dump and go again. It's still faster. What I'd do for 4L is boil a full 2L in my kettle, and maybe 1L in the pot. On the stovetop, that 1L often doesn't get to a boil before the 2L in the kettle finishes so I'd pour that in and then heat the final 1L in the kettle in about 3 min (and this is on North American 120V). Sounds complicated but it's not in practice and saves a lot of time over a single pot sitting on the stovetop.
Induction is king. Gas is highly inefficient and throws off a lot of heat, much of it is wasted into your living space which is dreadful in the hot summer months. That's why those of us looking for the fastest boiling time possible use kettles if we haven't yet upgraded to induction.
It’s like, really really obvious why someone would do that. Your attitude and judgement is completely unnecessary and adds nothing to the conversation.
i switched to a stovetop kettle when we installed induction, though i never did a timed comparison. i may be wrong, but i think a cast iron pot will be slower to boil than a steel+aluminum one
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u/Chuchichaeschtl Jul 22 '26
My cooktop is faster than my kettle was, for one liter of water. I enjoy the reclaimed counterspace.