Double Induction Cooktop Reviews: The Best Double PICs

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Standard Features

All the double induction cooktops we review here have these features:

• 1800 watts of power
• Can be plugged into a standard 120V outlet
• Auto shutoff when a pan is removed and for overheating (some with 30-60s delay)
• Pan sensor so the unit won't switch on if it doesn't detect a pan
• Cooling fans that run continuously while unit is in operation
• Require induction-compatible (magnetic) cookware.

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What to Know Before You Buy

Here are some basic facts about how induction cooktops work.

Pulsing: How Induction Cooktops Work

Induction cooktops control heat by pulsing power on and off to reach and maintain the set point.

This is important to understand, if even in broad terms, because it explains the primary difference between inexpensive induction burners and higher-end ones.

When you pay a premium price for an induction burner, you are paying for more sophisticated heat control.

In inexpensive portable induction cookers, the pulsing is crude and poorly controlled, which accounts for the scorching that can happen with induction cooking and the inability to hold a nice simmer. 

In more expensive induction cooktops, the pulsing has better controls, with the ability to speed up and slow down based on how close it is to set point, and also to pulse at different wattages (rather than just On/Off, On/Off). This results in smoother temperature transitions and better ability to hold constant temperature, particularly low temperatures. The result is less scorching and gentle, constant simmers.  

All of these double induction models have good, but not great, temperature control. To get really good low temperature control, though, you have to spend quite a bit more, either on a full-sized cooktop or a high-end model like the Vollrath Mirage Pro.

Power Usage--Important!

An 1800W double induction cooktop--this is one that plugs into a standard wall outlet--uses power differently than a single portable induction burner. The maximum amount of power available is 1800W--this is true for all standard 120V power outlets. On a single burner, that power goes to only one burner, so no problem. But when an 1800-watt unit has two burners, there are all sorts of ways that power can be distributed.

Some double induction cooktops have 1800 watts available to both burners. But that doesn’t mean you can run both burners at maximum power simultaneously--you can't. You can only use a maximum of 1800W including both burners. 

This equation holds true for all double induction burners: the power being used by both burners simultaneously cannot exceed 1800W. So even if both burners are capable of an 1800W output, they can’t operate at their maximums at the same time. You can have 1800 and zero, or you can have 1600W and 200W, or you can have 900W and 900W, or you can have 1200W and 600W, etc. And if you set both burners to maximum, most units will simply divide that power up equally so both burners operate at the maximum possible power with both burners running (i.e., 900W). 

So note that regardless of what specs are given, no 1800W induction burner can produce more than 1800W total at the same time. Probably the biggest frustration about this for most people occurs when you have both burners going and you raise the temperature on one of them: the other burner will compensate by lowering its temp. You have to keep this in mind when you cook on one of these units, and learn to adjust temps accordingly.

The Cuisinart ICT we review below handles this issue differently. It has one burner that has a max setting of 1200W and a smaller burner that has a max setting of 600W: this means both burners can operate at maximum power without draining energy from the other one. This may or may not appeal to you, depending on how important power is to you. 1200W is still fairly powerful, but it will never boil a pot of water as fast as an 1800W burner.

Overall, unless you routinely need two pots of liquid to boil as quickly as possible, power sharing shouldn’t be a big concern. Most cooking is done in the medium power range--max power on induction units can burn food and warp pans--so two burners going at 900W will get most jobs done satisfactorily. And if you’re boiling water for pasta while simmering spaghetti sauce on the other burner, you’ll still get boiling water--just not quite as quickly (although still pretty fast).

If you want more power, you will probably want to look at commercial grade units or full-sized built-in cooktops, both of which run on a 240V power supply, which can supply more than double the wattage. There will still be power sharing going on, but it will be far less noticeable because you have so much wattage to work with--if you've never noticed it on your full-sized range or cooktop, you wouldn't notice it here, either.

Burner Size

The burner sizes in most double induction cooktops are the same as in single portable induction burners: somewhere around 6 inches in diameter and able to accommodate pans with bottom diameters between 5-11 inches (give or take). However, in order to fit two burners into a portable induction burner, there may be some sacrifice in cooking area. You may not be able to use two large pans at the same time, for example, because the space is just too small. Unless you’re cooking for a crowd, this shouldn't be an issue.

One really cool feature of double induction cooktops is that you can use them for oblong and rectangular pans such as griddles. The seamless glass surface makes this easy--but for best results, you should use cookware with excellent heat induction properties to compensate for the cool spot between the burners.

Temperature Control

Because these double induction cooktops are designed to replace full-sized cooktops, they generally have good temperature control. Most have a standard temperature range from 140F-460F. We prefer more granular controls for more precise temp settings, but to get that would require spending quite a bit more.

Having said that, the Duxtop has 20 temp and power settings and low settings of 100W or 100F, which is great. The True Induction TI-2B has just 10 power and temp settings with low settings of 200W or 150F, but it does a pretty good job of holding a simmer temp. 

The Cuisinart accomplishes simmering by having one burner with a max setting of 600W, but its lowest power of 200W, it's not the best choice if you want to do a lot of low-temp cooking.

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Best Overall: Duxtop 9620 LS LCD Portable Double Induction Cooktop

See it on Amazon 

About $230

This is a fairly new offering from Duxtop, having been released the end of 2018. This is a portable induction cooktop with two hobs; it is not a replacement for a built-in cooktop. However, it has a lot of great features, and it's a very nice double portable induction cooktop. 

See also our comprehensive Duxtop induction burner review.

Duxtop makes some of the best inexpensive portables, and this double cooktop is no exception. It has the same powerful features as Duxtop's single burners, including an excellent temperature range and 20 power and temperature settings for precise control. We also love the 60 second delay shutoff that's hard to find on portables. You can remove a pan from the burner and it won't shut off for a full 60 seconds. If you've ever dealt with a portable burner that doesn't have this feature, you know how frustrating it can be to have to reset the burner every time you move a pan.

CHECK OUT REVIEWS ON AMAZON FOR THE DUXTOP 9620LS DOUBLE INDUCTION COOKTOP

Features

• Standard 120V outlet 
• 1800W
• Great Duxtop features including auto safety shutoff for overheating (above 460F), high/low voltage warning, and error code message system 
• Child Safety Lock
• Digital readout shows temperature, timer, and error codes
• Power sharing to automatically adjust power levels when both burners are being used
• 60 second-delayed shutoff when pan is removed
• 20 temp settings from 100-460F
• 20 power settings from 100-1800W
• 10 hour timer, settable in 1-minute increments (will run for 10 consecutive hours)
• One-touch Boil and Keep Warm shortcut buttons
• Pan sensor: unit won't switch on if no pan is detected
• Cooling fans run continuously while in operation

Controls

The 9620LS uses power sharing to automatically adjust power levels when you're using both burners. Here's a diagram from Duxtop explaining how this works, with a table of the power to each burner: