Great upgrade to my old hob
5/5
Excellent hob. I recently moved into a house with an old electric hob that was terrible for anything other than boiling pasta, to this one. Luckily I had a gas pipe already behind the wall so switching it from elec to gas wasn't a big problem - I went with AO's installation and the fitter was able to install the necessary pipework without issue.
Positives:
- The wok burner is damn hot. Will easily get wok oil burning on the lowest(!) setting.
- The stove top is glass. Easy to wipe down and clean.
- The metal-pot-holder-rack-things that sit on top of the glass are made of rough/matte metal, so there is lots of friction to keep your pots/wok in place. Some hobs have shiny metal racks which means your hot pans dangerously slide around. Not a problem here.
- Turns gas supply off automatically if it detects the flame went out for whatever reason - wind or your water boiled over etc.
- Seems to be good value for money around this mid price range. Looks sleek with a lot of nice features
Negatives:
- The wok burner is so hot at full whack that it actually heats up the leftmost control knob. It's made of sturdy plastic and definitely doesn't get hot enough to melt, but it's definitely hot to the touch. Would be better if they were designed further to the right to avoid it.
- The top is glass, but not flat. There are ridges to guide the metal rack, which makes it slightly more of a hassle to clean than induction/electric glass top hobs, which are completely flat.
- The glass is understandably quite thick and isn't completely flush against my worktop. So bits of food can get trapped in the edges which is a pain to clean. Can be solved with silicone sealant round the edges, which is a small job but a job nonetheless. To be fair, lots of hobs have this same 'flaw'.
All these negatives are nitpicking really - I'd buy this again for sure. Overall would 100% recommend AO and this hob!
Vince Chan
