I've regularly been cooking the Sunday dinner for about six years now, and the Christmas dinner too and it is the latter that formed the justification for my clever plan of getting our old Ceramic hob changed for a fabulous new Induction hob. Kitchen appliances have really advanced these days.

I have the ‘honour' of changing the light bulbs in our extractor hood and two years ago on Boxing Day I accidently dropped the filter holder onto the hob & smashed it. Fortunately we were still able to use it but at this time opted to change to induction, and what a transformation that was! Cooking using numbered settings makes controlling how you cook so much easier! For example, when par boiling potatoes for roasting, our kitchen hob usually takes around 60 seconds to boil using the level 9 ‘boost' setting.  I then select level 6 resulting in an immediate simmer, following which the timer is set for 12 minutes and bleeps on completion whilst switching off the cooking. No more ‘mash' disasters to start-over with!  When cooking delicates like asparagus, fine beans or broccoli, I cook these when I have plenty of time, drain them off and just leave them on the hob until I'm ready to serve, and they always come out perfect. The same applies for tricky sauces like béchamel or white sauce which can so easily become overdone within just a few seconds. I find the responsiveness of the induction rings so much more controllable than both gas and ceramic.

I love cooking Sunday roast when I go to my Mum's house, she has a gas hob and apart from the ages it takes to cook even peas, the heat from the gas burners is overwhelming.

When boiling a 2.5 litre pan of water from cold, on gas it takes around 8.5 minutes, on an induction hob, just 4 minutes. The other huge benefit of using induction is that it is so easy to clean, even if you have an over-spill whilst cooking. Because there is so little heat generated with induction, you can quickly mop up as you go and your pans stay so much cleaner on the bottoms. The induction generates the ‘induction loop' heat 4mm above the glass and actually cooks the food in the pan rather than heating the pan to a high temperature first.  Once you're all finished, to keep your hob looking pristine, a quick wipe with a solution of mild soapy water, then dry over with a two part ‘E' cloth which will give you a streak free finish which will endure indefinitely.