Comparison

Infrared Cooktop vs Induction Cooktop: Which One Fits Your Kitchen?

Both sit flush on the counter and run on electricity, but they heat food in completely different ways, and the cookware in your kitchen usually decides which one is right.

Elegant Galaxy5 min read

An infrared cooktop and an induction cooktop look almost identical on the shelf. Both are flat ceramic glass panels with touch controls that plug into a wall socket. The difference is in how the heat is made, and that one difference decides what cookware you can use, how efficient the cooktop is, and how hot the surface gets. Here is an honest comparison to help you pick.

How Each One Heats

An induction cooktop creates a magnetic field that induces a current directly inside the base of the pan, so the pan itself becomes the heat source while the glass stays relatively cool. An infrared cooktop works more like a very fast electric hotplate. A heating element under the glass glows red, the glass gets hot, and that heat passes into whatever is sitting on it. Our EG Infrared Cooktop, model EGIR-1000S, uses a 2400W element under a ceramic glass surface with a touch panel and a timer up to 180 minutes.

Cookware Is Usually the Deciding Factor

Induction only works with cookware that a magnet sticks to, which means steel and cast iron with a flat base. Aluminium, copper, glass, ceramic, and clay pots will not heat on induction at all. An infrared cooktop has no such restriction. Any flat bottomed vessel works, whatever it is made of. If your kitchen has a mix of aluminium kadais, a steel tawa, and the occasional glass or clay pot, an infrared cooktop uses all of them. If everything you own is already flat based steel, induction becomes a real option.

Infrared vs Induction at a Glance

Factor	Infrared Cooktop	Induction Cooktop
Cookware accepted	Any flat bottomed vessel: steel, aluminium, copper, glass, ceramic	Only magnetic metal: steel or cast iron with a flat base
How heat is made	Element heats the glass, glass heats the pan	Magnetic field heats the pan directly
Energy efficiency	Around 60 to 70 percent	Around 85 to 90 percent
Surface after cooking	Very hot, stays hot for several minutes	Only the pan area is warm, cools quickly
Slightly warped cookware	Still usable, tolerates minor unevenness	Poor contact, heats unevenly or cuts out
Direct flame tasks like roasting papad	Not possible, but a hot surface helps	Not possible, pan contact only
Best suited to	Mixed cookware kitchens, simpler needs	All steel kitchens chasing lowest running cost

Running Cost and Efficiency

Induction is the more efficient of the two because it puts energy straight into the pan with very little lost to the air. An infrared cooktop loses some heat warming the glass and the space around the vessel, so it draws a little more power for the same cooking. Over a year of daily use the gap is real but modest for most households. If you want to see where appliance electricity actually goes, our guide on lowering your appliance electricity bill has the full picture.

Where an Infrared Cooktop Is the Better Choice

You want to keep using aluminium, copper, glass, or clay cookware you already own
Your existing pots are not all perfectly flat, and buying a full new set is not worth it
You value a simpler appliance with fewer compatibility rules to remember
You occasionally want a very hot surface for tasks induction cannot do

Where an Induction Cooktop Pulls Ahead

Every pot and pan you own already has a flat magnetic base
Lowest possible running cost is your top priority
You want the surrounding glass to stay cool with children in the kitchen
You cook mostly on the boil and simmer settings where induction is very precise

Before choosing induction, walk through your kitchen with a fridge magnet and touch it to the base of every pot and pan. Anything the magnet does not grip will not work on induction. If that is more than one or two pieces, an infrared cooktop will save you a cookware bill. Our infrared cooktop buying guide covers what else to check once you have decided.

The infrared cooktop surface stays hot for several minutes after you switch it off, hotter and for longer than an induction top. Keep the residual heat indicator in view and keep children away from the glass until it has fully cooled.

What About Gas?

If you are also weighing either electric option against your existing LPG stove, that is a separate comparison worth reading. Our guide on infrared cooktop vs gas cooktop covers running cost, safety, and the cooking tasks where a flame still has an edge.

People ask which is better as if there is one answer. The better question is what is in your kitchen cupboard right now. That decides it more often than efficiency numbers do.

- Sanjeev Awal, Owner and Founder, Elegant Galaxy

Our Recommendation

For most Indian kitchens with a mix of cookware built up over years, an infrared cooktop is the more practical electric option, because it works with everything and asks nothing new of you. If your kitchen is already all flat based steel and you cook mainly by boiling and simmering, induction will run a little cheaper. Whichever you choose, a few care habits keep the glass performing for years. Our guide on extending an infrared cooktop's lifespan covers them.