The best kitchen appliances don’t come cheap – but they’re almost worth their weight in gold when considering their returns and longevity.
They often serve their owners loyally for years, consistently producing great meals and wonderful memories every time.
A properly equipped kitchen should have these best-in-class appliances to make your cooking and life easier. Should you choose a gas stove or an induction hob? Let’s weigh the pros and cons.
Which Is Better – Stove or Induction?
Cooking and food enthusiasts will always tell you that the gas stove with “real fire” is always going to better. Why? They will then explain that there’s nothing like cooking with fire, the roast, the fragrance, and that foods should (and always have been) charred with real fire. Gas stoves with fire generally heat up and cook faster. Most of us are more accustomed to the Asian quick fire cooking, tossing, stir-fry styles, and we’ve learnt to gauge the heat visually based on the flames.
What about the induction hob people? They will explain to you that there are two types of hobs: coil burner hobs, and induction hobs. While both are powered by electricity, induction hobs are more common amongst the two. It heats up slower, but the temperature control is very precise (if you get a high quality induction hob). Induction hobs are extremely easy to clean, is safe, and doesn’t heat up your entire kitchen.
In a nutshell, disadvantages and advantages of gas stoves vs induction hobs are:
Gas Stove | Induction Hobs | |
Cooking/ Heating Speed | Faster | Slower |
Temperature Control | Cook’s Skill | Precise |
Cleaning | Difficult | Easy |
Powered By | Gas | Electricity |
Heat Transfer | High | Low |
Here are our top picks for the best luxury cooking stoves, hobs and hoods in the coming year, perfect for cooking up any family meal:
Best Gas Stove: Wolf Sealed Burner Rangetop
One of the biggest bragging rights appliances you’ll find in the kitchen department is the Sub-Zero Wolf brand.
With its iconic red knobs, the Sealed Burner Rangetop by Wolf is for a home chef who takes cooking seriously.
Dual-stacked, sealed burners – including a 10.3kW wok burner – lets you precisely control the temperature.
Sear your steaks with powerful heat, or keep sauces simmering with a gentle flame. The range top is hand-built in the US to last a good 20 years.
Reviews by users noted that Sub-Zero’s appliances do consumer a lot more electricity. As with all appliances, some users had no hiccups over the years while others had the repairmen swing by pretty often.
Retails for $16,088 at the House of Sub Zero & Wolf.
Best Gas Stove: Miele Five Burner Gas Hob
If you know, you know. Miele’s kitchen and home appliances are reputable for their reliability, longevity, great design, quietness, and functionality all-round.
The Miele gas stoves are not excluded. Here’s a large 94.2cm Miele glass-top stove with five burners.
You get both touch screen and knob electronic controls, sensor feedback and auto-stop when pans boil over, and easy-to-remove and wash pot rests.
Miele KM3054-1 five burner gas hob is available for $6,200 at Harvey Norman.
Best Gas Stove: Fulgor Milano
A luxury kitchen appliance name that’s seldom seen or heard in Singapore is Fulgor Milano. Founded in 1949 in Gallarate, Italy, the brand is led by the Meneghetti family and is best known for their ceramic glass grills and kitchen cooking appliances – the latter which they have been producing since the 1940s.
Fulgor Milano’s gas stove cooktops are represented in Malaysia, and approximately cost $1,000 to $3,000.
Best Induction Hob: Bertazzoni 60cm Induction Hob
Having trouble finding the right pan to fit your cooktop?
The Modern Series induction hob includes a multi-zone that lets you specify the cooking area to fit any pan size.
Choose from 10 power levels with boosters on all three zones for even faster cooking. Touch controls and an LED display make it intuitive to use.
Retails for $1,488 at Bertazzoni showrooms.e.
Best Induction Hob: Smeg, Miele, or De Dietrich
Other kitchen appliance brands that are good, reliable, and reputable globally include Smeg, Miele, and De Dietrich.
These three brands do carry induction hobs in Singapore, and they do cost quite a small fortune:
- Miele Induction Hub with Extractor with 4 burners is available at $8,700
- Smeg Dolce Stil Novo Venting Induction Hob at $7,480, pictured above
- De Dietrich Built-in Induction Hob with 4 burners at $6,700
All are esteemed brand with illustrious histories.
Founded by Carl Miele in 1899 in Germany, Miele today remains a family-owned business known for the high-quality household products.
Smeg was founded in 1948 in Reggio Emilia, Italy by Vittorio Bertazzoni (same name as the current third-generation CEO).
Perhaps the least known of this list, La Maison De Dietrich’s history stretches way back to 1684 in Strasbourg, France, by Johann Dietrich.
Best Induction Hob: Invisacook by Ciot
Ever seen one of those professional-looking yet minimalist kitchens where chefs cook directly on the marble countertops? Those are called invisible induction cooktops, and Ciot’s Invisacook series is one of the most well-known.
These induction hobs also happen to be smart, and can be controlled wirelessly via Tuya on your mobile phone.
You will need to plan to install this Invisacook induction hob from the get-go. Otherwise, you can only install it when you’re renovating or tearing down and rebuilding your place.
Some things about the Invisacook to note:
- You will need to use large format porcelain materials from select tile manufacturers that Invisacook is compatible with (12mm thickness)
- Granite (1.5cm) works too, but it’s best that you consult Invisacook nonetheless
- Your Invisacook then has to be installed by a certified dealer (or get the Invisacook HQ to send someone over)
- Like all induction hobs, you will need induction-friendly pots and pans
A two-burner Invisacook by Ciot induction hob is reportedly priced at US$1,800.
Best Kitchen Hood: Fotile JQG9009T Cooker Hood
This has extraction down to a precise science. The patented automatic smoke baffl e plate and the open-top wide intake design of this hood help to eff ectively control and minimise the spread of fumes. It also has an Intelligent Air Steward feature to monitor air quality and Auto Extraction Resistance Detection, which increases power when it detects the need to do so.
Retails at the Fotile store, price upon enquiry.
Best Kitchen Hood: Bosch Series 8 Wall-Mounted Cooker Hood
A powerful extraction rate of 964m3/h allows it to remove over 85 per cent of grease and filter out fumes from the air. Using the PerfectAir sensor, you can automatically control settings to maximise the extractor performance without noise.
Retails for $3,699 from Bosch.