The Best Induction Cooktop For Van Life [Pros & Cons]

One of the things I was most excited about in our new Sprinter DIY van conversion was our new induction cooktop.

After years of living in a Chevy Astro cooking with propane and a camp stove inside the van, I was thrilled by the ease of use of an induction cooktop.

Our induction burner is easy to set up, doesn’t create carbon monoxide or moisture, heats up really quickly, and is simple to adjust. It also cools down really quickly.

The main negative is that our induction cooktop requires tons of power.

In this post, I’ll tell you more about our induction cooktop and some of the best ones on the market.

Pros and Cons of Induction Cooktops for Campervans

While an induction cooktop might look amazing in your van, there are several things to keep in mind before you order one.

Here are some of the pros and cons:

Pros:

• Heats up quickly
• Has a variety of settings from simmer to stir fry
• Precise cooking
• No carbon monoxide
• No moisture
• Cools down quickly
• Portable
• No open flame inside your camper van
• Environmentally-friendly
• Easy to clean

Cons:

• Takes significant power, so you’ll need to spend money on batteries, solar and an inverter
• Only works with magnetic pots and pans, including magnetic steel and cast iron
• Heats only a small ring inside your pot. We have found that we have to move the pot around for even cooking
• If it’s embedded in the counter, you won’t be able to take it outside
• Internal fan can be noisy

Honestly, I’d say the main con is the amount of power a portable induction cooktop needs, which we’ll cover in the next section.

How Much Power Do you Need to Run an Induction Cooktop?

Running one of the best induction cooktops for van life takes an immense amount of power.

In our campervan, we have 400 amp hours of lithium batteries by Battleborn, plus a 2000-watt inverter. The plan is to have 300 watts of solar on the roof.

I’ve noticed that when we cook just one meal, our battery percentage goes down about 30%. The induction has a max wattage usage of 1800, and typically pulls between 60-80 amps when in use, depending on which setting we have it on. Our inverter doesn’t like it when we go to the highest setting on the induction, so we leave it on lower settings, which works just fine for us.

I’d say you’d want AT LEAST 400 amp hours of batteries, and you’ll definitely need a 2000-watt inverter. The amount of solar panels you have depends on which other appliances you’ll be running, and if you’re also using a generator or shore power.

The Best Induction Cooktops for Van Life

Most portable induction cooktops for a campervan are relatively similar. The biggest decision you’ll make is whether you want a single burner or double burner induction cooktop. A double burner unit will take twice the power in your camper van, so make sure you have tons of batteries or access to shore power.

Here are some of our favorite induction cooktops to check out.

We chose the Zavor induction cooktop mostly because it was available in a Sur La Table near us. We were passing through the San Francisco Bay area and didn’t have time to wait for a shipment from Amazon.

The Zavor hasn’t disappointed. It’s easy to store, easy to clean, and quick to heat up and cool down.

We use it with our stainless steel All-Clad pressure cooker and our Staub cast iron skillet. It works beautifully with both of these pots, yet doesn’t work with our non-magnetic stainless steel skillet.

All we do is put the portable induction stove on top of our large fridge, plug it in, and we’re good to go. I have noticed it using up to 70-80 amps at its higher settings, which puts a strain on our battery system. If we turn the cooker up all the way, our Victron inverter complains, but we don’t need to use the stove at such a high setting.

I also love that the stove automatically shuts off when it doesn’t detect a pot. It also comes with a timer which we’ve never used.

Overall, a great induction cooktop for our camper van!

The Duxtop portable induction stove for a van doesn’t have the same preset buttons as the Zavor, but comes with a lower price point and does everything you’ll need.

This efficient portable stove has a variety of temperature settings, and the angled control panel makes it easy to see the temperature, even from a distance.

This induction cooktop for van life is also super easy to clean – just wipe it down and you’re good to go.

We love all the safety features included with the Duxtop portable van life induction stove, including auto-pan detection, over-heat protection w/diagnostic error message system, low and high voltage warning system.

Reviewers are very happy with this particular induction stove, saying it heats up to 350°F in under a minute. Way faster than a propane stove!

This cooktop comes with a 170-minute countdown timer. It’s one of the highest-reviewed induction cooktops on Amazon.

We love the large digital touch buttons on this portable induction cooktop perfect for van life. This is a versatile campervan stove, going all the way down to just 100 watts at the lowest temperature setting.

The iSiLER induction cooktop can fit pans between 3.9 and 8.6″ and is only 2.3 inches thick. It also features a premium glass surface with excellent wear resistance.

Plus, the cooktop includes overheating protection. If the stove goes above your selected temperature, it automatically shuts off.

You can set a timer on this portable induction cooktop for up to three hours, and is adjustable with one-minute increments.

A 6-blade whirlwind fan helps dissipate heat from the cooktop, although some reviewers say listening to that fan is annoying.

We were hard-pressed to find a bad review on Amazon for this little induction cooktop for a campervan.

The Amazon Basics portable induction cooktop is another great choice for van life and is the most budget-friendly option on our list.

With an LED interface that’s simple to use, this highly-rated campervan induction cooktop will boil 1000ml of water in just 3 minutes – 4 times faster than a traditional hot plate.

This stove comes with a child lock and a timer that can be set for up to 300 minutes. If the cooktop doesn’t detect a pot, it shuts off within 30 seconds, which is a handy feature.

You may also like the induction cookware tester that comes with this stove. If the included magnet sticks to the bottom of a pot, it’s suitable to use with the induction cooktop.

The Amazon Basics unit claims to use the most advanced thermal cycling cooling system to rapidly cool down the stove.

If you feel you need a double burner induction cooktop in your camper van, you might like this Aobosi two-burner induction stove.

You can control each burner independently for induction cooking, which can come in handy if you’re trying to fry up a pan of eggs and one of potatoes, for example.

We’d recommend installing a double induction cooktop recessed right in your countertop, as this would be much more difficult to move around and stove.

You also can’t just take it outside your van with an extension cord if you prefer to cook outside. Although we typically just use our outdoor propane stove for this.

A double induction cooktop like this will also require tons of battery power or a shower power hookup.

This camper van stove also has a variety of safety features, including overheating, over-pressure, and over-current protection. You can also turn on a child lock feature so kids can’t play with the unit.

Where to Put an Induction Cooktop in Your Campervan

There are a variety of ways to install or not install an induction cooktop in your camper van. Here are two of the most popular methods.

A Non-Permanent Install

We are choosing not to do a permanent install of our portable induction cooktop and instead, we store the stove and take it out when needed.

We still do the majority of our cooking outside using our camp table and double-burner propane stove. This prevents us from constantly using up our lithium battery power, and we are usually cooking in climates where we like being outside.

The induction cooktop is mostly used when we are in cities or during inclement weather. It’s been a great tool for us during van life in winter, when it’s really cold outside and all we want to do is sit indoors in our cozy space.

The stove really takes too much power for this to be a feasible cooking method for three meals per day.

A permanent recessed install

Some van lifers choose to make their induction cooker their camper van’s main cooktop. This can be a great idea if you have a beefy enough electrical system for constant induction cooking.

Induction stoves set into a countertop have many benefits: they look sleek, they are easy to clean, they cool off quickly, and you won’t have to worry about finding a another storage place for your stove.

Doing a permanent install means your cooktop will be much easier to access when you want to cook in a hurry.

Pots and Pans to Use with Your Induction Cooktop

We pretty much only use two pots in our campervan: A pressure cooker and a cast iron skillet. Here is what we use:

You can really choose any pot or pan, as long as it’s magnetic. The Magma nesting kit is also a popular choice.

Should You Get an Induction Cooktop for your Camper van?

Honestly, I’d only recommend purchasing an induction stove if you have the budget for a huge battery bank.

Keep in mind that our 400 amp hours of lithium batteries are worth almost $4,000, and this doesn’t even include the solar panels and 2,000-watt Victron inverter. You probably don’t want to purchase that much money in batteries JUST to run a cooktop, especially if you can simply use propane for van life.

We used propane for many years while cooking in our Chevy Astro. You just have to make sure you are properly venting while you cook. This means having a good overhead vent fan like the MaxxAir fan and some other windows you can crack.

If you are installing a lot of batteries in your camper van, having an induction cooktop when you want it is a no-brainer. We love the ease and efficiency of using this type of campervan stove – it’s made a huge difference to us when it comes to cooking in cities. I love that we aren’t putting deadly carbon monoxide in the van, nor are we lighting a fire, which just seems a little dangerous indoors.

Conclusion on the Best Induction Cooktop for a Van

An induction cooktop for van life is great for a campervan with an electrical setup. You’ll most likely need at least four batteries, a 2000-watt inverter and 400-watts of solar panels to run an induction cooktop.

You can also be connected to shore power in a campground, but I’m not sure how many van lifers want to be on-grid.

Even though a lot of these cooktops go as low as using just 100 watts, you won’t be cooking much with just 100-150 degrees.

Most of the time, you’ll be using between 600-900 watts to cook meals on your induction cooktop for a van.

Some van lifers claim this only drains their batteries by a few percentage points, which are quickly replenished on a sunny day.

If you don’t feel like installing a complicated solar system in your van, a propane camping stove like this one will work just fine.l