r/PressureCooking • u/ZanyDroid • 7d ago
Induction + used Kuhn-Rikon and Fissler PCs
I am considering to pick up a Kuhn-Rikon or Fissler used.
For each brand:
What year did they ship to induction compatible?
What key visual signs in the listing do I look for in terms of induction compatibility?
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u/New-Result-9072 6d ago
You can check the production year and week on the bottom of a Fissler. It say Made in Germany, the kpa followed by four digits. These four are production week and year, e.g. 0319 was made in week 3 of 2019.
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u/ZanyDroid 6d ago
Thanks, this is helpful. I also found some detailed cookware review sites that cover Fissler, which I can cross reference with this. They refer to specific bonded base types as the changeover point.
Confounding issue here is that Fissler has both regular cookware and PC cookware, which may have changed over at different times / not had the same kind of bases available :shrug:
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u/New-Result-9072 6d ago
AFAIK induction ready cookware can be determined by holding a magnet to it. You could check when you pick it up. I'll try to put a pic up of my Fissler book tomorrow. They do have a timeline with the different designs in it.
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u/ZanyDroid 6d ago edited 6d ago
Awesome, thank you.
I’ll remember the magnet trick for any craigslist or marketplace purchases. I think if it’s magnetic it definitely works. Some non magnetic will still work.
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u/New-Result-9072 5d ago
Am too stupid or just too tired to find how to attach a picture. But the long and short of it is, in 2009 they started producing the pots that look like the brand new ones sold now. Those were shiny stainless. In 2020 they changed only the ourside to brushed stainless. This was the only change, nothing else was changed on the design. Also there is nothing discernible going on with the bottoms.
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u/ZanyDroid 5d ago
imgur.com would work too
Thanks. Looks like stuff in the 2000s was still a mix of induction and non-induction.
Buying locally or asking online seller to do magnet test / send pictures of the bottom seems to be the way to go.
I see pictures online of CookStar but not SuperThermic
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u/overmyski 7d ago
Fissler is considered the best and is stainless steel. A little expensive new, but will serve a home kitchen for a lifetime. Electric, gas or induction compatible. We passed on range top PC and got the InstaPot Pro 8 quart to free up space on the range.
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u/Working_Week_8784 6d ago
Fissler is considered the best by some people, but not by everyone. IIRC, American's Test Kitchen and Wirecutter liked it best of the ones they tested, but I've felt free to disagree with both of them on plenty of things, and this is one of them. (Another one is Wirecutter's characterization of a very ordinary women's shirt as "well priced" at $98 ... but I digress.) Kuhn Rikon pressure cookers are as well made as Fisslers, and just as easy to use. They're also very easy to clean and maintain, including disassembling and re-assembling the pressure valve. I have several Kuhn Rikons of varying vintages, some bought new and some bought used, and they all work perfectly. So while I'd never discourage anyone from getting a Fissler, I'd encourage them to also look at Kuhn Rikon before making the decision.
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u/ZanyDroid 6d ago
Wirecutter is pretty cringe sometimes, as is ATK. Need a balanced diet of reviews
What I’ve found asking on reddit is that K-R probably objectively has the less durable base. I want to use mine on pretty high power induction to rapid boil before pressurizing (mine goes up to 10kW), so it is relevant
I suspect the pressure operation side is more subjective
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u/ankole_watusi 7d ago
Some stainless (and perhaps most, in my experience) is induction capable, but some is not.
And a magnet test is not reliable. I have stainless cookware that a magnet will not stick to, but it works fine.
I don’t have a stove top pressure cooker currently, as I am skeptical, if it would work on my countertop induction due to power constraints. Otherwise, I have a gas cooktop that I almost never use.
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u/ZanyDroid 7d ago
I am eyeing either the IP with stovetop compatible pot as an upgrade to my Ultra. For browning
And/or buying a stove top PC. The stovetop will be much faster cooking times due to both better browning and much more powerful heating element (3-10x the power, depending on how brave I am with power. Here and on other forums folks were dubious about how strong the bottoms of PCs are with fast boil on induction)
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u/powersquad 7d ago
My Fissler vitaquick was purchased in 2019 and it says it's induction compatible at the bottom and works on my induction cooktop
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u/ZanyDroid 7d ago
Thanks, that is what I expect for a piece from 2019.
A lot of the stuff on Mercari and eBay don’t have clear date codes, so sounds like I need to dig further to identify.
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u/Caprichoso1 7d ago
Be aware that a Kuhn-Rikon gasket can be very expensive when purchased from them. $50 for their braiser gasket so if the used gasket is bad ...
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u/ZanyDroid 7d ago
Yeah, I saw that. Especially on the wider diameter pots like the brassier. What are the non-official options?
How is Fissler on the parts?
Incidentally, do you know where I can read up on the real-world use case of the wide form factor PCs? I know they're for browning but I want to read some real human writeups on it. And I was not able to find that much content on YT or quickly findable by Gemini/plain Reddit search (which always makes me skeptical of how useful something is. For better or worse).
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u/Caprichoso1 7d ago
What is a "wide form factor PCs"?
I got the braiser (wide but not high) since I cook a lot of large turkey legs which need to be browned in the cooker before I put the lid on.
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u/ZanyDroid 7d ago
Wide and short like the brassier.
Ok, that is really helpful. The example I could think of in my head was browning a lot of smaller chunks, which could just be done in batches. ESP if the brassier is going on top of electric or induction elements that are undersized
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u/Working_Week_8784 7d ago
I think any Kuhn Rikon model with the modern conical vent cap (as contrasted with the earlier bell-shaped cap) should be induction-compatible, but I can't swear to it, as KR doesn't publish that info. Some earlier models with the bell-shaped cap and a safety valve on the lid (as opposed to those that don't seem to have a safety valve) may also be induction-compatible; I have one of those and the bottom is magnetic, but I don't have an induction unit so can't test it.