How to choose an electric hob?

How to choose an electric hob? 

Whether you love it or hate it, cooking is a necessary part of life. The task of preparing food can be made much simpler depending on the quality of equipment you choose to cook with.

Hobs are used more often than ovens as they are ideal for preparing a wide variety of meals. Whether you want to cook a hearty stew, or simply warm up a tin of beans, a hob will hold the pot or pan you’re using and provide heat from underneath.

What are the benefits of cooking with an electric hob?

Probably the most obvious benefit of an electric hob is the fact it has no open flame. This means the risk of setting fire to things is reduced significantly and you have more flexibility on where to place items. It also means you don’t need to keep a box of matches handy at all times. 

Purchasing an electric hob provides you with more flexibility in terms of the layout in your kitchen. As they don’t require a gas supply, you are not limited to where you will place your hob and you don’t need to worry about installing a gas supply if you don’t already have one. They are simple to install as they only require a single socket. 

Modern electric hobs are often all on one flat surface. This allows you to place pots and pans directly onto the surface, rather than balancing them on top of pan supports as you would with a gas hob. This reduces the chances of hot pans unbalancing themselves and toppling over. 

The fact that electric hobs have a flat surface is also good news if you’re a particularly messy cook. They are the ideal choice for you as, without any awkward small parts to remove, an electric hob is much easier to clean, and spills can be removed without hassle.

 Depending on your personal preference, an electric hob offers a more modern look than a traditional gas hob. There are a larger number of simple designs with electric hobs, meaning that this area of your kitchen won’t look out of date.

Should I choose an induction or ceramic hob?

To answer this question, you first need to know what each hob is and how they both work.

Ceramic hobs

Ceramic hobs are well known for being extremely easy to clean. Powered by electricity, the ceramic description refers mainly to the style of the hob, as opposed to the way it actually works and, compared to electric plate hobs, offers a more visually pleasing alternative. Their modern appearance means they will fit into any style of kitchen without breaking the bank and their residual heat indicators provide extra reassurance by telling you whether or not a zone is cool enough to touch.

Induction hobs

Induction hobs are well known for being safe, energy efficient and cooking food quickly. As such, they are increasingly becoming the most popular choice of electric hobs. Using electromagnetism, induction hobs create a magnetic field between the pot and the heating zone. As such, only the pot and the contents within are heated. Surrounding zones simply stay warm to the touch and do not heat up to the same temperature. This means they significantly reduce the risk of you (or any little ones) sustaining any burns. 

Most also contain an automatic pan recognition system. In order for the hob to function, it requires a pan of the exact size to be placed on top of it. Because of this, if any other items were to be placed down, the hob would automatically recognise that they were not the correct size and therefore, would not heat up. Good news if you’re in the habit of leaving objects lying left, right and centre.

Size and space

Hobs are usually 60 cm wide and traditionally they have 4 burners. Additionally, there are 5-burner 70 cm models which can still fit into a 60cm gap, by overlapping the work surface. 

The most popular configuration of burners (or zones on a ceramic hob), whether on a gas or electric hob, is one large, two medium and a simmer. 

The dimensions given for the aperture into which a hob fits will be smaller than the hob itself because of the way the hob overlaps and stands proud of the work surface.