A Little Too Excited About Induction Stoves

I have to confess up front that I don’t like cooking. I mean, it’s just so much work for something that is over so quickly. Don’t get me wrong: food is wonderful. I just strongly prefer meals made by someone else. No fuss, no muss. No cooking, no cleaning. That is my perfect meal.

This general lack of interest in cooking, of course, shapes how I think about the benefits of clean, all-electric kitchens, particularly induction stoves. To me, the health and climate benefits of going all-electric are king.

A few months ago, I was talking with a friend who actually likes cooking (she likes cooking so much that she even likes grocery shopping…oof. I cannot relate). She was excitedly telling me that she was about to start her long-awaited kitchen remodel.

Me, being me, dove right in with all the great health benefits of induction stoves and why she should get one. Why she had to get one. Actually, what I did was talk about all the negatives of gas stoves. Lots of negatives. How they cause asthma and how having one is like living in a house with a smoker. Since stats and figures are usually what motivate me to do something differently, this is what I started rattling off.

This totally backfired with her.

She said she was mad at me because now if she did get a gas stove she would feel like a jerk.

Instantly, I realized I had boxed her into a corner. I had shamed her into a corner.

To my surprise, about 20 minutes after we got off the phone, she started texting me all these other great things about induction stoves – things I hadn’t mentioned because they weren’t important to someone who doesn’t prioritize the cooking experience.

She wrote that induction stoves are 50 percent faster than gas stoves and because they don’t get hot, the food doesn’t get caked onto the stove. Being easier to clean and saving time really sold her. She also asked why I didn’t tell her this in the first place.

I love talking about how amazing our all-electric future can be and yet I had blown this simple conversation with someone I am very comfortable talking with. I realized that I was going to need to talk a lot more people and get more perspectives that I wasn’t naturally seeing with my stats-and-facts goggles.

While I like to think I am empathetic and a good listener, I also know that I can get so excited about something that I can really start rambling on. And, boy, I am excited about going all electric! (Dear Reader, consider yourself warned.)

I was grateful to have had this conversation. It was a good reminder to be better about balancing my excitement with my empathy. And just like my friend could find out something great about induction stoves that she didn’t know, who knows maybe I can find something that I like about cooking that I didn’t know. Maybe.