Chef CHC644BA

Forget it, don't even bother – This stovetop / cooktop gets one star for being so easy to wipe down. I was tempted to give it a second star because it is possible to boil water.... eventually, (yes, of course I have a lid on the pan while waiting for it to boil) but it just doesn't deserve it. Now, what I don't like about it: You can't deep fry on it. Why not? It has a "safety feature" which means the hotplates cycle on and off to prevent it getting too hot. And by too hot, it means the temperature you need to deep fry chips. Dims sims however, you can manage, but make sure you don't put more than a couple in there, as it'll bring the temperature down too far and the length of time it'll take to get back up will have you wishing you ordered takeout. Okay okay, maybe you can can fry up a small handful of chips if you're really patient, but if you've got a house full of hungry teenagers who want more than five chips on their plate, forget it. Pull out the gas hob from your camping gear and use that instead.

Next, large pans just don't work. As it says in the user manual, "bottom of pans and cooking zones should be the same size" and their 15cm and 18.5cm "zones" really just don't cut it for my 28cm pan. I can't even centre my 28cm pan on the back element because the control knob is in the way and although the back right and front left elements are supposedly both 1800W, the front one just doesn't get as hot, simple as that! And the small 1200W elements....what's the point? Though I guess we occasionally use one if we need to fry a single egg.

And don't bother going to the website to try to troubleshoot it, their answer for the issue "Elements / hotplates / zones cycle on & off when set on high" is that "Ice cubes are jammed between the ice maker arm and the back off (sic) the bin." Work that one out!