Electric cooktop Buying Guide – 8 Key Considerations To Know

A perfect cooktop is the first tip to delicious and healthy home-cooked meals. Whether you want to make simple tea, or cook dinner, a good cooktop will always come in handy. This has seen the electric cooktop become a kitchen essential in today’s modern homes. Unfortunately, the market is flooded with a wide range of cooktop models, making it hard to choose the best.

That said, how do you pick the perfect electric cooktop for your scrumptious meals? The ultimate cooktop buyers guide! With this guide, choosing the perfect cooktop won’t be daunting and overwhelming anymore. Here are the top factors to consider before buying an electric cooktop:

Available Kitchen Space

The first question you must ask yourself is how big your kitchen is. If you are dealing with a small kitchen, the cooker you choose must be small enough to fit. On the other hand, if your kitchen is big and spacious, you have more choices on your hands. In fact, you should use tape to measure the available space. Do not forget to measure both the length and the width.

Electric cooktops come in various sizes ranging from 12” to 40”. From this range, select the one that fits perfectly in your kitchen. Remember that the cooker must be placed in a strategic kitchen space to prevent burning or fire accidents. It should also not take all the space in the kitchen, leaving none for other appliances.

Number of Cooking Zones

As you shop for a cooktop, you must choose one that fits your cooking habits. If you are into cooking multiple dishes at once, then a big cooker with many cooking zones is perfect. For working moms who want to fix dinner quickly, a cooker with many cooking zones is a perfect time saver. You can get many dishes ready all at once and still spare time to rest and bond with the kids!

On the other hand, bachelors who rarely cook can do with fewer cooking zones. This is because some people prefer to eat out or order take out whenever they are alone. Depending on your cooking habits, you should be able to decide on the kind of cooker you need. Notably, a chef will need a larger cooktop than a regular person because they are likely to experiment a lot.

Cooktops that are around 24 inch wide can carry four cooking zones, which is enough space to cook basic meals. It is important to note that the wider the cooktop, the easier it is to cook large food quantities. Additionally, they offer space for extra hobs making it easy to accommodate large pots and pans. Therefore, larger cooktops are perfect for growing families that need to cook a lot of food.

Budget Limit Considerations

As the cost of living continues to rise across the globe, people are more cautious with their spending habits. Even when buying kitchen appliances, we all have a certain budget limit that we cannot exceed. This is, of course, dependent on various factors such as levels of income. That said, you must choose the best cooktop that fits your specific budget.

A larger cooktop is more costly than a small one. Besides this, cooktops with more cooking zones cost more than those with fewer cooking zones. That said, your budget can either broaden or limit your search. Either way, the goal is to get the best cooktop at the lowest price.

Additionally, you must look into the extra expenses and not just the initial cost. The most important additional cost to consider is the energy consumption of the cooktop. An electric cooktop will definitely influence the size of your power bill. Therefore, choose one that consumes as little electricity as possible while still cooking perfectly. Moreover, replacement costs of cooktop parts must be considered as well.

Aesthetic Considerations

With the kitchen evolving to be the most important family room, we all want our kitchens to look nice, don’t we? Well, a huge part of having an exceptional kitchen is sticking to a consistent theme. For example, choosing a cooktop that matches the color of other appliances in the kitchen is perfect. You can select a stainless cooktop if your kitchen appliances are stainless to create a matching theme. Most cooktops come in color white, black, grey, or stainless, and the choice is simply yours!

Maintenance Needs

A dirty kitchen equals a pest hub not to mention that it is unhygienic to cook in a dirty environment. Intolerable, if I do say so myself. That said, the cooktop of your choice must be easy to clean to give you an easy time. Not only will it be less stressful, but you will save time, energy, and money altogether. The harder it is to clean a cooktop, the more you spend on cleaning detergents.

Cooktops with smooth surfaces are preferable because they are easy to clean. Moreover, buying a cooktop whose surface is scratch-resistant means that it can be cleaned without ruining its appearance. Whichever cooktop you choose, refrain from cleaning with abrasive cleaning products. Instead, clean with creamy cleansers and clean spills immediately.

Control Features

The most recommended cooktops are those with touch control features. Not only are they modern, but they are also easy to use. This is unlike cookers with knobs that need turning and rotating all the time. Touch control buttons allow you to set temperatures and time digitally, providing precision and accuracy.

By simply touching the glass surface, you can control the cooktop as you wish. Moreover, it is easier to clean such cooktops, unlike it is to clean control knobs. This is because control knobs trap spilled food particles on their circumference, making them hard to clean. With touch controls, your cooktop can merge seamlessly into your kitchen’s benchtop.

Safety Features

Most kitchen accidents are fire-related, and your cooktop is the main source of fire in the kitchen. That said, you must make sure that you and your entire family is safe by buying a cooktop with great safety features. This is especially for homes with babies and toddlers running around. Combined with other safety practices, a safe cooktop can eliminate any chances of burning or fire accidents.

When shopping for a cooktop, choose the one with a child lock. This prevents your kids from playing around with it causing accidents. Additionally, an automatic timer is also a safety feature available in modern models. The timer switches off the cooker after the set time, allowing you to do other things as food cooks. In fact, some models have timers that can reduce cooker temperatures after a specified time. This plays a huge role in the prevention of accidents.

Customer Reviews

Before you settle on a specific cooktop, make sure you do thorough research. Never buy the first cooktop you see in a store or online no matter how good the deal is. Take as much time as you can to research the different types. Be vigilant and visit different stores, both physically and on the internet. Thoroughly compare different prices and models of cooktops.

Most importantly, take a close look at various customer reviews for each brand and model. It is through customer reviews that you gather honest information. You can learn about the durability, energy efficiency, and usability of different cooktops from people who have used them before. Based on the customer reviews, you can decide which cooktop is legit and which one is of poor quality.

Final Verdict

Whether you are looking to upgrade your kitchen or replace a dysfunctional cooktop, finding the one that suits your needs is key. In light of this, finding the right one can be an utter headache because of the many confusing brands available in the market.

Luckily for you, if you use this guide you’re guaranteed to pick the best cooktop at the most affordable price. You may also speak to a remodeling expert and gather more insight. That said, enjoy picking the best!

You might also want to check out these

Portable electric cooktop – Do you want to turn your kitchen into a private kitchen? Then the solution is a portable electric cooktop that is characterized by: Small size, Fast heating, Easy cleaning and Low weight.
The cooktops recommended in this article are ideal for camping, RVs, dorm rooms, studios, small apartments or even offices.
Of course, a portable cooktop is not as fast as a regular cooktop, but it is the ideal solution for situations when the normal hob cannot be used.
For portable electric cooktops it is very important to be compatible with all types of pots or pans so that the user does not have to worry if the pot or pan he wants to use works with the portable hob. For example, the recommended portable cooktops are compatible with: Steak plate, Ceramic cookware, Stovetop teapot, Glass cookware, Stainless steel saucepan, Wok, Frying pan, Aluminum cookware.
Also, this cooktop proves to be very useful for students because if the kitchen cannot accommodate more than 2 people then an extra appliance is needed, and a portable electric hob is just the solution.