The shape of induction cook tops to come

I love induction cook tops. I say it all the time. They're smarter, faster and more efficient than any other cooking technology out there. Induction may be new in the US, but it is here to stay. I keep up with new developments in the induction world and yesterday I stumbled upon this photo.

Big whoop, right? Well it is a big whoop because it's the first induction cook top on the market that dispenses with circular coils. here it is up close.

That's the 93cm Continuum Induction Hob from De Detreich, and the the world's first flexibly zoned induction cook top. Right now, it's only available in the UK but this is how they will all look and operate within the next two years, mark my words. By flexibly zoned I mean that the surface interacts with whatever pot or pan gets placed on it, regardless of the pot's size. You use the same controls for a Dutch over as you would a small saucepan and the cook top "knows" how big the metal surface is that's sitting on it and adjusts itself accordingly.

Let me explain a little bit.

Here's a particularly good induction cook top from GE Monogram. See the circles? It has round electromagnets underneath those circles. They're round because that's what people expect a burner to look like.

Electric burners are also round and they're round because gas burners are round.

Gas burners are round partially due to the way that gas functions, but that was lead by the woodstoves that proceeded the widespread adoption of gas. Since pots have been round ever since the dawn of pottery, it made sense to have round burners. However, not all pots and pans are round.

This is an All-Clad roasting pan. I like to make gravy right in the roasting pan after I remove a bird when I'm making a big meal.

Similarly, if I'm trying to boil sweet potatoes, boil regular potatoes, steam broccoli, reduce a sauce and make gravy at the same time, I run out of burners. With a zoned cook top, I'm not limited to the number of available burners. I'm only limited by the number of pots I can fit on the cook top.

It's genius. It's genius and it's definitely the shape of things to come.

All the way from the Dominican Republic, Jorge Aguayo checks in

I wrote a post about cement tiles from Aguayo last May and it launched a discussion and cement tile love-fest in the comments that followed the post. Yesterday, Jorge Aguayo himself left another comment on that thread and I wanted to make sure that more people saw what he had to say.

Greetings from the Dominican Republic! I'm kind of disappointed that I only got to discover this great discussion today! It is really awesome that cement tile has made a comeback such as this. If any of you would like to see what the manufacturing process is like at our plant just go to youtube and type in Mosaicos Aguayo.

Jorge Aguayo

And here's the video he mentions:






Thanks Jorge! You can find out more about Industrias Aguayo on their website. When you're ready to buy some Aguayo cement tile, I highly recommend that you purchase it from Avente Tile in Los Angeles. Avente sells online and ships worldwide. So from the Dominican Republic to Los Angeles to wherever you are, these tiles are available.

Amusing British night light

This is the Martyr, designed by The Play Coalition.

It makes me laugh. It fits those enormous British wall sockets perfectly. I wonder if there's a North American version in the works.

Did Madonna ever get this kind of treatment?

Iowa State University at 12pm on the 27th of August:

Having fun with stereotypes

The great Erin Loechner had something on her blog, Design for Mankind, the other day that I thought was hilarious.

She'd picked up a map created by Russian turned British illustrator Yanko Tsvetkov and featured on his blog Alphadesigner. The map Erin ran was one of series Tsvetkov made that illustrate the stereotypes Europeans have of each other and that Americans have of Europeans and I thought they were hilarious. Here are some highlights.

This is Europe according to France:

This is Europe according to Britain.

This is Europe according to Germany

Here's Europe as Italy sees it.

This is Italy as seen by posh Italians.

This is Europe as the US sees it.

And in a turn around provided by a link from one of Erin's readers, Here's the US as Europeans see it. This map came from the Swedish graphic designer Attila Toth and his website Attila.

Thanks for the laugh one and all.