This $7,000 Induction Cooktop Gets Smoking Hot in Two Seconds. And I’m Rounding Up.

I initially evaluated the Impulse Cooktop as I would any other: I heated a stockpot full of water over maximum heat to see how quickly it would boil. I put a saucepan of marinara over medium heat to see how well it would hold a simmer. And I toasted flour in a 14-inch skillet to determine if the four elements provided heat evenly across their surfaces.

I also tested that battery-boost, and I can tell you one thing for sure: This baby does indeed get very hot, and very fast. On medium-high heat, a few tablespoons of oil in the bottom of a pan began smoking in two seconds.

And I’m rounding up.

In my previous tests of high-end induction cooktops, bringing 4 quarts of water to a full, roiling boil took eight to 10 minutes. On the Impulse Cooktop’s battery-powered boost setting, it took just under three minutes. That’s so astoundingly fast, I went around the office showing the timer to my colleagues.

Not only is this cooktop exceedingly powerful, but it’s also more precise than most: You can set an element’s target temperature down to the degree, and then sensors track and maintain the heat of the pan itself. I did this with my saucepan of marinara, with a pan of oil for frying, and with a pot of water I wanted to stay just barely warm, for which I set the element at 160 °F. A handful of cooktops try to achieve something similar, but none make it quite so easy or elegant.

In truth, what excites me even more is that this thing is legitimately intuitive to use, unlike the dozens of full-size induction cooktops I’ve evaluated over the years. Many other models have confusing digital control panels that stop working when splattered with whatever you’re cooking, or they have awkwardly placed and sized elements that make it hard to use two larger pans side by side — flaws that make me feel like induction cooktop design still hasn’t fully found its footing.

The Impulse Cooktop solves for that. Its huge central control panel is easy to read and creates a space between the heating elements, all of which can accommodate small or large pots. The elements are also raised, so it’s easier to find their center, which can be trickier on some fully flat, glass-ceramic induction cooktops.

The four knobs work as they do on traditional stoves, so there’s no learning curve. You can also press down to toggle between temperature (in degrees) and power level (in wattage). And the knobs are held on by magnets — which is super cool and still fairly rare — so you can take them off completely to clean the glass. Plus, an element shuts off automatically when you remove its knob, which gives you an easy hack to lower the heat immediately.

Bright, dim, solid, and dashed lights around the elements provide handy visual cues as to how hot they are, just as the size of a flame on a gas stove does.