Higher ratedRanked #4 in Best Compact Induction Cooktops
Duxtop 9600LS Portable Induction Cooktop4.3
6 sourcesall derived$116.99The Duxtop 9600LS is a single-burner 1800W portable induction cooktop, and reviewers repeatedly name it a top pick under roughly $250 on the strength of its 20 power and 20 temperature steps and a 10-hour timer that few budget units match. It boils water quickly in testing (CenturyLife saw about 3.5 minutes) and holds low simmers better than cheaper Duxtop models. Precision is not its game: the fan is loud (around 56 dB), it can whine at full power, the temperature sensor reads roughly 15F low, and it pulses at the lowest settings. On an inexpensive countertop induction burner, those are expected trade-offs rather than dealbreakers.
Strengths
- — NYT Wirecutter's top pick after testing more than a dozen portable induction cooktops, praised as "the easiest to use for everyday cooking"
- — 20 power settings and 20 temperature settings — the most of any model in Wirecutter's test group, and more than the 15 on the cheaper Duxtop 9100MC
- — Temperature floor of 100°F, low enough to melt butter or chocolate without a double boiler
Watch-outs
- — Serious Eats could not get frying oil above 350°F on it even after an hour, missing the 375°F target that the cheaper Duxtop 9100MC and the IKEA TILLREDA both reached
- — Slower than its cheaper sibling in the same test: 18.5 minutes to boil a gallon of water against the 9100MC's 16, at roughly 1.4 times the price
- — Its one-touch Boil preset starts a 10-minute countdown, which Serious Eats measured as about eight and a half minutes short of an actual rolling boil
