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It’s this direct approach that gives induction most of its uniquely impressive qualities, including the one up next. It’s pretty easy to see why induction cooking would be more efficient than gas and electric if you think about the heating processes involved. A gas flame is going to release lots of heat around the pan, and an electric burner emits radiant heat at any point where it’s not in direct, firm contact with the pan.

One of the biggest selling points of the induction cooktop is speed. It simply takes less time to cook food because the pan heats up quicker. That’s because while both gas and electric cooktops use a middleman to transfer heat to the pan — flames and an electric burner, respectively — an induction cooktop generates heat directly in the pan. Since there are fewer steps involved in heating the cookware, it takes less time for the heat to get to the food — 25 percent to 50 percent less time, on average. The pan is the starting point of the heat. Electromagnetic activity in the cooktop triggers electromagnetic activity in the pan, and the pan itself heats up (see How Induction Cooktops Work for more on this process).

First, the most obvious: No flame means no grease fires, and no gas means no gas leaks. But the induction cooktop has another safety feature: It typically doesn’t get all that hot, since the heat is created in the pan itself. This means it would be far less likely for the cooktop to cause a burn. What’s more, the pan’s response to a turn of the dial is practically immediate, so as soon as you turn off the heat, the pan cools down.

This makes it a lot more difficult to burn yourself as you pour your sautéed vegetables onto a serving plate. Induction cooktops are as responsive as gas to a turn of the dial, and they’ve got another thing going for them, too: more settings. For people who love to cook — or at least love to eat great home-cooked food — control is probably the most important feature of a cooktop. It’s why many serious cooks prefer gas to electric: Gas burners are more responsive when you adjust the dial. The temperature change is fast. Induction allows for much more precise control of heat, with more temperature increments and better performance at very low heat settings.