A heated argument

Induction cooktops are certainly convenient. They are safer than traditional gas stoves too. They involve a bit of a cultural shift, though. Difficulty making phulkas and roasting papads... I'm not ready for that

- Swetha Sivakumar

How can a stovetop be smooth, flat, and eternally cool? Induction cooking feels like something out of a sci-fi movie, but the truth is, it has been around for almost a century.

The technology made its debut at the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair. A range of demonstrations, including one by General Motors, showed crowds how a pot of water could be made to boil on a stovetop that could be touched at all times.

This works because of a magnetic field that affects only the metal it comes in contact with. (More on that in a bit.)

The catch was the price. Induction cooktops require powerful copper coils, high-frequency electronics and fancy cooling systems for the coils. They also only work with pans made from a certain grade of metal. In addition, the early machines were really noisy. All this drove the price up and the appeal down. All in all, the world just wasn’t ready for it yet.

It would take half a century for the technology to quietly mature.