My Smart Home: The induction hob that boils water in minutes but baffles me daily

One of the things you'll often have to make time for in a new house is getting used to the oven. A new oven means new temperatures and timings, they're never the same as your old one, and that's before you figure out how to set the clock. But enough of my crozzled carrots. The kitchen tech I'm finding it hardest to adapt to so far is the hob. Because it's an induction hob. Switching from my old gas hob to an electric hob is the biggest culture shock here. Having to buy a whole new suite of pans to work on induction was an expense we didn't want, but completely relearning the process of boiling a pan of water really does make me feel a tad inadequate. With a gas hob, you turn and push a dial, wait for a clicking noise, let the flames flare up, release the dial and get on with your day. Ten minutes later you'll have a vat of frothing water. With an electric hob you have to turn it on. Then you have to use a little slider to select a number from the sequence, and hope you land on the right one. None of this is done with physical buttons on my hob, they're all touch-sensitive controls behind a glass panel, so it's all a trifle vague. Mine has numbers from one to 14, and then a "P" mode, which I had no idea about until I properly ruined a pan of bacon one morning. It actually stands for "power pro", I've since discovered, and it's used for bringing water to an absurdly quick boil. Use it for cooking, and you've got a great way of testing your smoke alarm. So I've been working my way down from 14, leaving the P setting alone, and I haven't quite found the right numbers yet. It's going to take a while. Fourteen is far too hot for frying, 12 is too low, you'd think 13 would be about right, but I seem to be flitting from 12 to 14 a lot. And it's not because I'm superstitious. The problem with induction hobs is standard pans won't work, because they don't have the magnetic coil in the base This meant investing in a whole new set of pans, which was an expense we didn't relish having to stomach But this set by Tefal has been brilliant to get us started. It's really easy to use, and with clip-on handles it's incredibly easy to store away The set I bought is on offer at the moment, with a 12% discount bringing them down to £109.59 - check them out by clicking here And all this mucking about with a touch-screen panel is fine until it gets some dirt on it. Or you've got some sort of sauce on your fingers - because then it just won't work. And then there's the moment one of the pans boils over because you've forgotten to turn the potatoes down, and hot water spills out over the hob. Instantly, it goes into some sort of induction panic mode, and all the rings shut down. You can't turn it back on, because it's covered in potato water, so you've very quickly got to grab some kitchen roll and get it properly dry and clean before it will let you turn the other rings back on and your mushrooms are back on the heat. I'm making it sound like living with an induction hob is a nightmare, but it's not. It's taking a lot of learning, and there are some obvious annoying quirks, but I'll get used to it, and I'm pretty sure I'll grow to love it more than gas. Firstly, it's a doddle to clean. Just wipe it down. No more removing burners or metal racks. It's a flat surface, and that also means you've effectively got more worktop space. Another thing I love about it is the built-in timer. I've also got one on my nearby oven, obviously, but this means I can time whatever's in there at the same time as keeping a check on how my pans are doing. I love cooking with timers, so this really does push my buttons. I'll also never tire of that P mode. It might be the most violent and dangerous thing in my kitchen next to my Japanese knife, but boiling a big pan of water in a few minutes will never be boring. I just need to remind myself not to glance at my smart meter, because I bet it's a horribly expensive thing to run. And here's the important test: if someone came to me tomorrow and said they'd convert it back to a gas hob free of charge, I'd be in a quandary. On one hand, any professional chef will tell you gas is better. It's more controllable, you can use any pan you fancy, and it's much easier to judge the heat. But then the gadget freak in me loves the sleek touch-screen, the built-in timer, and the lazy housekeeper in me loves how easy it is to wipe it down. I'm not fully sold on induction cooking yet, but I know I soon will be. Would I go back to gas? Nope. Although I do really miss my old wok...