Duxtop Professional Portable Induction Cooktop, Commercial Range Countertop Burner, 1800 Watts Induction Burner with Sensor Touch and LCD Screen, P961LS/BT-C35-D, Silver/Black

TLDR: Nice.I'm comparing the Secura Professional against the smaller one that I've had for almost 3yrs now, the Secura 9100MC Portable.Photos (from left to right):1. The portable (left) with my 10in All-Clad fry pan vs professional with a 12qt All-Clad stock pot.2. The portable (left) with my 8qt All-Clad stock pot vs professional with the 12qt.3. The professional with the 10in fry pan, and a 12in ruler on the side for scale.4. Same as (3), but from the front.Why induction?I live in a desert, and a while back I got tired of the heat radiating from my stovetop fighting with the AC for dominance. The stove was winning. So I bought an induction stovetop to more efficiently heat the cookware. It worked. Hot cookware still radiates heat, of coure, but at least the stovetop's "leaky" heating was solved.Why this one?I bought this because I wanted to make a larger pot of broth and I because I needed to cook it for longer. The portable has served me well, but being the portable it is smaller and doesn't have the heavy reinforced structure of its bigger brother. It only supports about 20lbs max, hence why I've only been using an 8qt stock pot. I've been making broth from chicken scraps and bones and vegetables for a while, but I wanted to make more, and more means a bigger pot, and bigger pot with more water is too heavy. Also, for some reason the portable only has a 2hr max timer (might have something to do with cooling the heating elements). To make a good broth, I need to simmer for much longer.The professional is a stainless steel beast that is rated to support 65lbs. That's more than enough for a full 12qt. And it has a 10hr timer, which I can reset if I need to go for longer.Temperature control:Once it is at temperature, it seems to hold well. On my first time making broth, I brought it to a boil, which took about 3hrs because I was being gentle with the heating. If I had cranked the power level to 9000 it would have gone faster. Once it was boiling, I put the lid on, switched to temperature mode and set it at 200F. I set the timer for 10hrs, and then reset it a couple times so that it would go for a full 24hrs. It never overflowed. This tells me that it never went above the boiling point, so I'd say long term temperature control is pretty good.Coming _up_ to temperature though is a different story. It is quite...eager. In my fry pan I use cooking oil rated for smoking point above 400F. When I turn the stovetop on and use temperature mode set to 300F, it reaches smoking point in less than 30sec. I don't have a thermometer, so I can't get an estimate of the real temperature, but whatever it is, it appears to drastically overshoot at first.But that's only part of the story. The cause is mentioned in the manual, saying that the temperature sensor is below the surface of the cooktop and therefore can differ from the actual temperature. This behavior wasn't observed when I was cooking a big pot full of broth, which tells me that as long as I'm cooking something that can absorb the influx of energy long enough for the cooktop below it to conduct heat from the cookware and reach temperature, then I'm golden. A 10in fry pan with a little bit of oil isn't enough. I had the same issue with the portable.In practice, I compensate for this by bringing it up to temperature in a more constant and controlled power mode. By practice, I've learned to use power mode 7, and once it reaches smoke point, I set it back to temp mode and it seems okay. This isn't a big deal if you're more patient than me and can wait for power mode 5 or 6 to reach temperature. Point is, it's workable.Build quality:- Very sturdy, as mentioned previously.- I miss the tacticle buttons of the portable, but since the touch-sensitive surface is covered with a thin layer of glass, it is really easy to clean, and in the long run, I will favor easy to clean over tactile buttons.- In the 3rd picture (professional from the side), an overhang is visible on the back. This is nice. I've accidentally boiled over my 8qt pot on a number of occassions, and when that happens, it runs over the back and slips down the sides of the vent. That's a little bit of a pain to clean. With the overhang bolted to the back of the professional, that isn't going to happen. If it boils over, it will still drip off the back, but the radiator vent will be untouched and I won't need to clean it. This is nice.- The feet are big, thick, and fastened to the frame with screws. This is much better than the glued-on pads for the portable. The consequence is that the underside of the professional sits almost an inch higher than the portable, but if you're buying this thing, you're not doing it for the compactness, so it shouldn't be an issue.- It sounds like it has a larger fan than the portable. In practice, it doesn't sound much louder though, so I'm guessing that it's a bigger fan moving at slower speed that still ends up moving more ai. As a result, this thing can run for hours on end and no

There is an old expression that one would use to praise another one's actions or performance that went:"Now you're cooking with gas!"Well, that needs to be updated to "Now you're cooking with induction!"Seriously, I have been eyeing this particular Duxtop model for some time, and induction countertop burners in general for some number of years.I've looked at them in person and online, and finally decided to purchase this Duxtop commercial model.I have had it now for a little over a week, and I find myself using it daily, and even going out of my way to use it over my "high performance" GE Profile Dual Fuel Range.My range has a gas cooktop that has been good, but I have always wanted to try induction.This Duxtop commercial model outperforms even my high output burner on my range.Boiling water is a snap, whether for a pot of coffee, or a big pot of pasta; melting butter, or clarifying butter, frying and sautéeing, cooking slowly, keeping food warm, this Duxtop is simply a dream come true.The unit itself is very well built.The cabinet is stainless steel, the cooktop itself is thick black glass, and the touch controls are sensitive and responsive.There are quick-start buttons, and three quick keystrokes get you cooking in a jiffy.You can select between "power levels" 0.5 (Very Low) to 10 (High), and you can alternately shift to temperature mode.Temperature mode seems to be pretty accurate; I have set the temperatures to varying levels for different foods to hold at 140°, 180°,200°,, and each time, I fitted the pot with two separate probe thermometers on opposite sides of the pan.In each case, I used either water, or a dense vegetable soup with chickpeas.In all cases, the Duxtop warmed the contents of the pan evenly, and held the contents at the preset temperatures, with a little variation of about ten degrees on either side, as the burner cycled on and off.I found this variation to be totally acceptable, and my next step will be to attempt deep frying.I have used this for pressure cooking dried legumes, regular boiling for pastas, soups, coffee, tea, etc., simmering and slow-cooking soups, sautéeing, and shallow frying... all results have really been to absolute perfection.Cookware to be used with an induction cooktop must be made of ferrous metal, e.g. iron, cast iron (Lodge, Wagner, Le Creuset, Staub, etc.), stainless steel to which a magnet will stick (many brands such as All-Clad, Cuisinart, Viking).It will NOT work with cookware made from ceramic, Pyrex, Corningware, aluminum, copper.The best way to test your cookware is to take a standard kitchen magnet, and test the bottoms of your cookware.If the magnet sticks, you're good to go; if not, then reserve that for your stove.Speaking of cast iron, and this Duxtop commercial model, this particular model can withstand a total weight capacity of sixty-five (65) pounds!This model is, as I said, well built, heavy for its size, and very, very stable on the countertop.I shall give updates, if I find them necessary, as to continued performance and longevity, but it is my instinct that this is one of the best choices I have ever made in terms of having a good, high quality accessory burner to supplement my stove.If I had to voice a regret, it would only be that I should not have waited this long to make this purchase.It is well worth the money!As a matter of fact, I am going to order another one soon.You can buy this with confidence.MARCH 2021:THIRTEEN MONTH IN-SERVICE UPDATE:Performance is just as excellent thirteen months later as the first day I plugged it in and put into service.I literally use this Duxtop Portable Induction Cooktop every single day.From boiling water for coffee or tea, to sauté or simmer, or frying, this appliance is tops!

I have a $700 Vollrath Mirage Pro 59510P.This unit is 90 percent as good as the Vollrath for 1/4 the price.The Vollrath has 100 power level settings versus 20 on this one.20 is twice as many as most induction cooktops. This is good.When the temperature control is set to 300 degrees, there is very little variation.The most I saw was -10 to +5, 290 degrees to 305 degrees. Using an infrared thermometer directly on the bottom of the pan. On the low end of the scale, it seems to run a few degrees warm. On the high end using a dutch oven, With two quarts of oil in it, it seemed to run on the cold side. About 40 degrees low.As far as induction goes, this seems to be far better than average. I had a Newwave pro that I replaced with this Duxtop. With the Newwave pro, the temperature varied by 100 degrees below what I had it set at or it was 100 degrees above it. It was either not cooking or burning up the food. I hated using it.The temperature settings go from 120 degrees to 460 degrees.This is better than most.The only con I can find with it is the temperature settings are in 20 degree increments. Ten degrees would be better. But you're not going to find anything that precise without spending 700 dollars or more.The learning curve on this Duxktop Is rather short.There is a slight variation between pans and the amount of oil you have in them. But you will figure it out quickly.It's nothing like that Newwave Pro that I had, that cooked differently every single time you used it.Duxtop makes a consumer version of this unit, which costs about 95 dollars.I recommend that you spend the extra money and buy this one. This one is more sturdy and supports considerably more weight.The controls are very easy to use. But there's one thing I really don't care for once you hit the lock button. The only way to make a change is to turn the unit completely off.In summation, I have used induction for several years. Unless you get a bad unit, I am sure that you will be very pleased with this Duxtop. Like I said at the beginning, it is 90 percent as good as the Volrath Mirage Pro.