GE JBC17, Use And Care & Installation Manual

8

HOW DOES THIS COOKTOP COMPARE 

TO YOUR OLD ONE?

Type of Cooktop

Description

How It Works

Electric Coil 

Flattened metal

Heats by direct contact with the pan and by heating the air under the pan. For best

tubing containing  

cooking results, use good quality pans. Electric coils are more forgiving of 

electric resistance 

warped pans than radiant or solid disks. Heats up quickly but does not change 

wire suspended

heat settings as quickly as gas or induction. Electric coils stay hot enough to 

over a drip pan.

continue cooking for a short time after they are turned off.

Radiant 

Electric coils 

Heat travels to the glass surface and then to the cookware, so pans must be flat on 

(Glass Cooktop)

under a glass

the bottom for good cooking results. The glass cooktop stays hot enough to 

cooktop.

continue cooking after it is turned off. Remove the pan from the surface unit if 
you want cooking to stop.

Induction

High frequency 

Pans must be made of ferrous metals (metal that attracts a magnet). Heat is 

induction coils 

produced by a magnetic circuit between the coil and the pan. Heats up right away

under a glass 

and changes heat settings right away, like a gas cooktop. After turning the control

surface.

off, the glass cooktop is hot from the heat of the pan, but cooking stops right away. 

Solid Disk 

Solid cast iron 

Heats by direct contact with the pan, so pans must be flat on the bottom for good

disk sealed to the

cooking results. Heats up and cools down more slowly than electric coils. The 

cooktop surface.

disk stays hot enough to continue cooking after it is turned off. Remove the pan 
from the solid disk if you want the cooking to stop.

Gas Burners

Regular or sealed 

Flames heat the pans directly. Pan flatness is not critical to cooking results, but 

gas burners use

pans should be well balanced. Gas burners heat the pan right away and change 

either LP gas

heat settings right away. When you turn the control off, cooking stops right away.

or natural gas.

Your new cooktop has electric coil surface units or a
radiant glass cooktop. If you are used to cooking with
gas burners or other types of electric cooktops, you
will notice some differences when you use electric
coils or a radiant glass cooktop.

The best types of cookware to use, plus heat-up and
cool-down times, depend upon the type of burner or
surface unit you have.

The following chart will help you to understand the
differences between electric coil surface units and any
other type of cooktop you may have used in the past.