Whether simmering soup, boiling water or searing a steak, choosing the right hob can have a huge impact on your energy bills. Fortunately, there are many ways to keep your bills down including switching to an energy efficient hob.
These use heating elements underneath a flat ceramic cooking surface which directly heats your pots and pans, eliminating wasted electricity. They also have a range of safety features including residual heat indicators and timers to prevent over-boiling.
Heat up indicator hob
There are a variety of ways to help reduce your energy usage when cooking. One way is to use an electric hob with a heat up indicator that alerts you to the cooking zones being hot, allowing you to save energy by switching them off before leaving the kitchen. Another way is to opt for a model with dual zones that operate in two size options, allowing you to use smaller pans when possible and accommodate larger ones when necessary.
A ceramic style hob is perhaps the easiest to keep clean and also offers good levels of energy efficiency, thanks to their smooth glass surface that allows maximum contact between the heating coils underneath and your pans. These are available in rotary controlled or touch control designs, with most offering a range of additional safety features like residual heat indicators and heat and time limit security systems to ensure you can cook safely.
Electric solid plate hobs take longer to heat up than other styles but offer good levels of energy efficiency due to the fact that they only heat the element and bep tu munchen then your pan and its contents above it. These are a good choice if you have limited space at home or do not have gas installed.
Customizable cooking presets
Most smart hobs have a number of preset cooking functions to help you make the most of your appliance. These may include a boost function (perfect for searing meat) and an Eco mode to reduce energy consumption. You can also set a timer to help you keep track of your cooking. Some hobs will even switch off automatically when the preset time has passed.
Gas-on-glass hobs use the same heating system as traditional gas hobs but are mounted on top of smooth glass for a sleeker, easier-to-clean finish. These are often pricier than regular gas hobs but offer the precision of gas with a more stylish design. Some models come with an additional, powerful cooking ring that allows you to cook larger pots and pans.
Induction hobs have a flat, easy-to-clean surface and heat up quickly. They only work with induction-friendly pans, though, which must have an iron base and attract a magnet to activate the cooking zone. These can be expensive to purchase and don’t score as well in our tests.
Temperature boost hob
If you want to get a meal on the table fast, induction hobs with PowerBoost can help you make your pans boil faster. This function allows the cooking zone to borrow power from unused zones to increase its maximum heat level by up to 50%, so you can cook meals in larger pots or in a shorter time.
Induction hobs use copper coils to generate heat that causes your pots and pans to heat up themselves, so you don’t have to wait for them to preheat. However, you’ll need to have the right type of cookware to use your induction hob. This means it needs to be induction-compatible, with a flat base that can come into contact with the coil. You can test your cookware for compatibility by rubbing the bottom with a magnet.
Most induction hobs also feature a programmable countdown timer that can be set to automatically turn the zone off after a pre-set period of time, meaning you don’t have to worry about leaving it on when you go out for dinner or shopping. Some hobs also have a Stop&Go function that stops all of the working zones with a single operate-touch and saves whatever you’re doing, so you can return to it later.
