Duxtop Induction Hob, Portable Electric Hob Induction

I bought this to use while our kitchen is being remodeled. I gave it a quick try, and am very impressed. It boiled 2 cups of water in a saladmaster 4 quart pot in 2 minutes.
The video is of me cooking cream and whole kernel corn together. It started cooking the corn very quickly and held the temp well.

It easily handles a 12″ cast iron skillet.

One drawback is that the fan is a little noisy, but not too terribly.

Dislike the raised buttons, my first one broke, I ordered this one not realizing it was similar to the first one my second one was the best
This is over a 10 years period

My gas stove seems to take forever to boil water. My Duxtop induction burner boils water in half the time!
It’s easy to operate and cleans up like new. When frying food, however, it’s sometimes a little frustrating to maintain the desired cooking temperature. Overall, I’m very happy with my purchase.

Southern cooks here… love our heat control that we are used to from propane/natural gas. Gotta say… this thing is better.

We have a natural gas stove, but we end up using this induction burner more because it is easier to use, better heat control and easier to clean. Even at only 120V, this thing rocks! Reaches 650F at dry pan for corn tortillas for tacos.

Great simmer control for other needs. Truly have no use for the gas stove top anymore. Between this and my toaster oven/air fryer…. we have no need for gas anymore. Already got off grid electric setup, and here we are. No more utility companies needed while cooking in style.

Got this because of great reviews. You won’t be disappointed as long as you have appropriate expectations. This isn’t a work burner. This is a fantastic alternative to normal stove tops. Will never go back to gas unless living environment requires to do so. This is SO much easier to use and clean and provides better heat output and easier cleaning than gas stove tops. Will upgrade to 240V induction stovetop at some point in future.

Just get it and try it. It’s Amazon Prime….. ya know.

Works just as advertised. No complaints. Very happy with it.

Purchased Jan 30, 2020
Died today April 20, 2023

Loved it while it worked. Used the timer a lot, especially for rice. Held the temperature really well.

Debating buying another 3 years 3 month use.

I use this hob everyday and I’m really happy with i

I was struggling with my hobs, it takes 15-20 minutes to heat properly. Then I bought this and it surpassed my expectations. It heats within seconds and thus takes much less time to cook. Many south Asian dishes need high heat to be properly cooked and it serves the purpose perfectly.

I have not yet found any dislikes about this product. It performs well. I tested the two cup boil test immediately after receiving it. This cooktop excelled way past my expensive 3 yr old smooth top range. To be clear, once you can heat water and your cookware this fast you cannot go back from that. I knew all of my current cookware would not work with the cooktop, I well understood that when I purchased it. However, about half of my cookware does work with it. Because I am so pleased with the use of this cooktop I was motivated to order a few more essential cookware. I’ve been using this cooktop for nearly a week now, I ordered two of them. I have not turned on my smooth top range since they arrived. I find that learning to regulate the temperature while cooking was easy for me. It didn’t take me long at all learning to regulate the temperatures I needed effectively which made for quick and easy meal preparation. Far easier than using my range. All of the food I’ve prepared using these two cooktops have turned out well and delicious. I’m sure I will eventually need to use my range again for some reason but with these two induction cooktops and my two instant pots it will certainly not be often. To be clear, I’m absolutely in love with these two induction cooktops. If you need to prep do it first because your pans are going to heat up quickly! You won’t have time to heat your pans and prep simultaneously! In about one minute or so it’s time to start cooking if you are sauting and about 3 minutes if frying in shallow oil. Anything that helps me to produce quality meals quickly is a win win for me. Additionally other benefits of using induction is they do not heat up you or the room. They only heat the pan. The food cooks while the unit is in operation. Turn of the unit and the cooking process stops immediately. My big stove makes my air conditioner come on minutes after turning it on. That doesn’t happen with these induction cooktops! I’m so glad I bought these! I highly recommend this cooktop.

My unit arrived on time and in working order.

My primary use is for a large copper tea kettle (With steel bottom – must have magnetic bottom or it will NOT work with any devices of this type). Heats the water quickly.

Likes
– Versatile product – can certainly heat more than water with it… especially with temperature hold feature.
– Can hold a specific temperature, cook at a specific power level (1-10) or for a specific time at a specific power level, making for easy combinations that will suit the dish you are preparing.
– Maintenance is simple as the top surface is ceramic, and since it only gets ‘hot’ due to the pan (The ceramic itself is not heated by any ‘heating element’ as it uses induction – a coupling between the metal base of your cooking pan and the heating coil within the unit) to create heat and cook your food, you won’t find food ‘baking onto’ the surface as you would with a ceramic cook top on an electric range.
– That said, the surface can still get hot to the touch due to the heat transfer from the pan to the ceramic – includes a ‘HOT’ indicator that will flash until the unit is cool to touch. Note that if you keep your pan on the surface after powering off – the HOT light will stay on longer as the pan cools since it retains heat.

Dislikes –
– Circumference of heating area is relatively small. Pan sizes must be selected accordingly. Will only heat in the area drawn within the white circle on the top of the product – could create hot spots if the pan were oversized as the center would heat and the edges remain cooler. This is NOT the fault of this specific product or brand – it’s merely the size of the heating element. There aren’t many that have a larger size, and they do cost more if so. Select yours accordingly.
– Wish it would keep the standard heating level as a remembered value – always turns on at heating power of 5 (Scale is 1-10) so you are constantly pushing the + button to increase heating power if max heat for boiling water is desired. (And it is – trust me)
– Fan inside product (to cool electronics used for heating the inductive coil) is rather loud. Only comes on when heating and stays on for about 2 minutes afterwards, but if in close proximity, would need to talk a bit louder to be heard clearly.

Since the controls are not ‘touch’ sensitive, but are ‘bubbles’ of a plastic film with a metal layer on the back (invisible), these bubbles will no doubt crack over time. Since the + button is used most of the time for increasing either the power of the unit (to 10) or the timer on the unit (Time starts at 1:00 heating time, then shuts off after your selected time) this will definitely be the first part to break over time. I’ve had mine for about 2 months so far, and all is working well, but will update if I run into any issues.

Product is used daily for coffee and tea water heating (Often 3 or more times/day) which is kinda normal for a home kitchen. I bought it to replace the self-heating kettles that I must have burned through 3 or 4 of in the last few years. This is far more versatile than those, heats water as fast or faster, and lets you use your own preferred kettle/pan VS having to use the one that came with your brand of electric tea kettle.

I’d definitely consider an inductive range for overall cooking after using this product – though I’d make sure all my pans were able to heat inductively (magnet must stick to the bottom of the pan or these products will NOT work) and I’d make sure that the ‘burner’ surface/heating area was large enough to accommodate the whole pan circumference as anything that goes beyond the edge of the heating surface will not be inductively heated and therefore would be cooler.

After careful research and a few experiments with other folk’s induction cooktops (NuWave, Max Burton & Tramontina), I chose the Secura DUXTOP 9100MC and haven’t regretted it. While the NuWave claims to have more temperature and power settings, it seemed to me that there was more frequent power cycling at comparable temp/power levels than the 9100MC. Saying nothing bad about Max Burton and Tramontina, I eliminated them for not having as many power and temperature target settings as the 15 levels (each) available on the 9100MC.

In order to maintain temperature control, in temperature mode operation, induction cookers have to cycle on and off in order to “hover” around any target temperature. One difference between lesser & better induction cooktops is how much power (actual Watts) is being cycled for any given temperature target. 5 seconds of 1800 Watts/pulse is going to be more energy violent (to whatever is being heated) than 30 seconds of 300 Watts/pulse, even though these two pulses represent the same amount of total power.

The 9100MC uses a wider range of Watts/pulse across the range of supported temperature targets than other induction cooktops, so cooking should be gentler across the lower temperature targets. there’s a table in the printed manual breaking this all out.

In power level mode, I did not notice much power cycling above power level 2.5 (=500W) per power setting, indicating that the 9100MC is providing a more even/continuous flow of power to the induction coils, at each power setting, rather than pulsing fewer fixed power flows across a range of given power settings. I did not test this with an ammeter, but rather by using an IR temperature gun, aimed inside the cookware in use, and observing how water heats at different power levels.

The type and quality of induction cookware is going to make a big difference in how any induction cooktop is going to perform. Aside from the magnet test, pure steel is a relatively poor conductor of heat, such that cheap steel pans are going to experience high initial temperature overshoots, in target temperature mode, and actual ring shaped hotspots on the cooking surface side over the course of any prolonged cooking, whether by power level or target temperature.

The initial target temperature overshoots occur inside the cookware because the cooktop’s temperature sensor is beneath the cooktop’s glass surface and NOT inside the actual cookware. There is always going to be a time lag before the heat, reflecting back from the bottom of the cookware, registers with the cooktop’s temperature sensor. It is during that initial temp sensor time lag that temperature overshoots can happen INSIDE the cookware (sometimes momentarily exceeding 500F, depending on the pot/pan). Any induction cookware that exhibits ringed hotspots while cooking is going to be VERY PROBLEMATIC for target temperature cooking on ANY induction cooktop, not just the 9100MC.

Cast iron cookware can tend to even out the ringed hotspot effect seen with cheap pure steel cookware, but cast iron is generally on the heavy side and can present other cooking issues.

What I’ve chosen to begin collecting for induction cooking is fully bonded, “tri-clad,” 18-0 stainless steel (exterior)/full-core 3004 aluminum/18-8 stainless steel(interior) cookware. The 18-0 steel exterior is the induction layer, delivering heat directly to the aluminum core. The 3004 aluminum core rapidly distributes the heat all across the bottom and sides of the cookware, eliminating the ringed hotspot problem. The 18-8 stainless steel interior provides the non-chemically reactive cooking surface. I’ve really come to admire Vollrath’s Tribute line of pots and pans as a result. These Vollrath post/pans have completely flat bottoms, which is also a huge plus for induction cooking. High quality, tri-clad cookware, with excellent heat distribution across the entire cook surface, is a must for accurate, target-temperature-based cooking.

Even slightly warped induction cookware, no matter what its composition, is going to produce very uneven heating/cooking performance (which you may or may not want).

Partially or non-fully bonded tri-clad cookware can vibrate, between the metal layers, at certain power/temp settings, producing a high pitched whine that may or may not annoy you during cooking. That’s because the different metal layers are vibrating against one another, as a direct consequence of the induction process, and ANY air gaps/hollows between layers can then generate audible noise, which will vary from pan to pan. Generally speaking, the higher the power level, the more vibration and the greater chance that there will be a high-pitched whine.

I will never use any external steel heat diffusers in an attempt to “adapt” non-magnetic cookware for induction cooking. First, an all-steel diffuser is guaranteed to create ringed hotspots, because steel is a poor conductor of heat, making target temp cooking very problematic. Any induction diffuser essentially turns the highly power efficient induction cooktop, back into a far less efficient, radiant heat hotplate. If I wanted to cook on a hot plate, I would’ve used a hot plate to begin with. Induction diffusers make no sense to me, but you can always find someone who’ll sell one to you.

I also took the following dB sound measurements, 3′ from the front of each appliance while running:
DUXTOP 9100MC = 46-48dB
Panasonic 1100W microwave oven = 48-55dB
Kenmore refrigerator = 40-43dB

ambient kitchen = 7-13dB (from the center of kitchen, with no motors running)

So, the 9100MC is louder than the fridge, but quieter than the microwave. Subjectively, the 9100MC is not too noisy for me. but your own dB readings may vary (depending on the physical condition of your cooling fan/appliances) and everyone is entitled to their sonic preferences.

I like the fact that the 9100MC gives audible and visual cues that it is energized and/or cooking. Total silence in operation would be an unwelcomed and dangerous way to go.

When not in use, I completely unplug the 9100MC from AC power. When the 9100MC is in use, I make sure that no other appliances on the same circuit (not just the same plug) are ever in concurrent use, 1800W is 1800W.

One thing that surprised me when using my older cookware from gas cooking days, on the 9100MC, was the amount of white, waxy build-up that would suddenly appear on the 9100MC’s glass cooktop. It turns out that thin oil residue/skin, that builds up over time from radiant heat cooking, on the outside/bottom of cookware (no matter how “clean” it may look to the eye), gets literally boiled off of the cookware, by induction heating, depositing a cloudy “wax” on the cooktop’s glass. In order to remove this waxy boil-off and restore the original beauty of the 9100MC cooktop, I used a fish-oil based, light machine oil, as a solvent, a microfiber cloth and the requisite elbow grease.

Even though the printed manual says not to place the 9100MC on top of any steel surface, I’ve found that there are no EM/RF heating effects below the 9100MC when the unit is sitting directly on top of a steel cooking cart or on top of a steel wire rack.

The angled control panel is a big plus. There is no way for a pot/pan to damage the panel from direct “hot” contact while on the cooktop surface. I also have faith that the plastic-film covered blister-style control buttons are durable enough for my needs and actually prefer them over “touch” sensor controls. I want the tactile sense that a button has been pressed.

The two things most likely to fail, IMO, are the induction coil cooling fan and the glass cooktop. While I have no intention of abusing my 9100MC, I have no idea what kind of bearing system the fan uses (ball bearings=best, sleeve bearing=worst). The printed manual also says the unit cannot support more than 25lbs total load. So, I bit the bullet and purchased a multi-year asurion/Canopy protection policy, as either of these failures would be total showstoppers.

The only modification that I made to the 9100MC is to add an air intake filter to the exterior of the case opening for the induction coil cooling fan. I did this to reduce the odds that lint/dust/oil vapor will be sucked inside the case by the fan, without impeding airflow. The filter is made from soft screen material designed for use with overhead cooking exhaust fans and is held in place by a frame of painter’s tape.

Induction cooking has it’s own learning curve. I’m finding that power-level cooking is more useful and successful than target temperature cooking for dynamic, hands on cooking. I never start a “cold” pan in target temperature mode, in order to reduce the risk of initial temperature overshoots. I use an IR temp gun to learn how different pots/pans perform on the induction cooktop. I find the 9100MC’s wider variety of power and target temp settings, in the low and medium ranges, are very useful and sufficiently granular for my cooking needs — along with understanding how my different pots/pans actually perform.

I have no need for the 9100MC to have a 212F target temp setting. I live at sea level. If I want 212F, then I cook in boiling water or with atmospheric steam and let the water/steam control 212F. Or, I will use a convection oven set to 212F. I do want very even heating/energy delivery at whatever setting I pick and the 9100MC delivers that in spades. Induction cooking, once mastered, makes it very difficult to accidentally burn food, and opens up slower/lower-temp dynamic/interactive cooking as a whole new world to explore.

As far as Lafraise is concerned, I have no complaints. I will say that Amazon shipping did not do a first class job of packaging the retail 9100MC box for shipping. The Amazon box was holed in transit and there was inadequate padding inside the Amazon box, such that the retail packaging suffered a minor puncture. My 9100MC arrived undamaged and fully functional, but Amazon needs to do a better job to protect Lafraise’s good reputation in the Marketplace by shipping more promptly, with better protective packaging.