Siemens EX875KYV1E

Very disappointing experience for such an expensive cooktop – My wife and I recently purchased a Siemens 80cm induction cooktop to replace a 15 year old Miele induction cooktop which developed a fault that was too expensive to repair. This review is based on 6 months of experience with the Siemens cooktop. I'll start with the Siemens' good points: ⁃ The cooktop appears to be of good quality and performs well at delivering nice even power level to the cooking zones, which is helpful when maintaining a simmer, etc. ⁃ A choice of 17 power levels is available for each cooking zone (0.5, 1.0, 1.5, … ,8.5,9.0) ⁃ The cooktop has an interesting concept of flexible cooking zones to accommodate oblong or unusually large cooking pots & pans. There are four rectangular 23cm(W) x 20cm(D) cooking zones (each consisting of two 23cm x 10cm induction elements). The two left cooking zones can be linked together to form a 23cm x 20cm flexible cooking zone and the same can be done with the two right cooking zones. In addition, each large flexible cooking zone can automatically include an additional “flexInduction Plus” 9cm(W) x 20cm(D) induction element if the cookware extends over it (see first photo for layout).

Now for what we judge to be the Siemens’ bad points: ⁃ There are no markings on the cooktop to indicate the boundaries of the cooking zones and, in our kitchen, these zones are only visible if the range hood lights are switched on. Even then, it can be difficult to see the cooking zone boundaries if there are large pots & pans which cast shadows. This makes it awkward to accurately position cookware, which is essential for proper use of the cooktop. ⁃ The use of boost power in a cooking zone is quite restrictive in that it is not available if the other cooking zone on the same side is operating (even at low power). In contrast, our old Miele cooktop used to allow the boost power to be engaged in this situation and power was shared intelligently between the two cooking zones ⁃ The distribution of power within a cooking zone (or a larger flexible cooking zone) is not as even as we were used to with our old Miele cooktop. This is particularly evident when, for example, making jam and getting it to set. ⁃ The two “automatic” flexInduction Plus elements sometimes don’t engage when we would expect them to - a bit hit and miss? ⁃ The cooking zones are positioned towards the rear of the cooktop which can make it difficult for my wife of modest height (5ft 3in, 160cm) to look into large pots and to stir them. ⁃ The cooktop cooling fan makes a noticeable whining sound when cooking zones operate at higher power levels and the warm air flow is quite noticeable in the cooking utensil drawer below the cooktop. We were never aware of the Miele’s cooling fan operating in 15 years of use. ⁃ The ceramic surface of the Siemens cooktop has chrome trims along the left and right edges but there are no trims on the front and back edges which, instead, have bare ceramic with a 1.5mm indent along the bottom which contacts the bench top. We don’t look forward to having a food spill — very tricky to clean here. ⁃ The cooking zones have a slightly textured surface which is proving more difficult to keep clean with time (compared to the gloss glass finish elsewhere on the cooktop). ⁃ The cooktop has a 11cm(W) x 7cm(D) display which requires a two stage process to change power level by first touching the rectangle for the desired cooking zone, waiting a moment for the power adjustment scale to appear and then touching/sliding a finger to select the desired power level. This two stage process is quite fiddly (particularly with the power adjustment scale being only about 5cm long) and can become a real bother if you are doing complex cooking operations involving three or four cooking zones at once. Our old Miele cooktop had dedicated plus/minus buttons for each cooking zone, which were always displayed and were quick and intuitive to use (see second photo).

On balance, while the Siemens cooktop is of good quality and has reasonably flexible cooking zones to accommodate large and/or unusually shaped cookware, we consider it to be inferior to the 15 year old Miele cooktop it replaced. We regret choosing the Siemens cooktop but, at the time, there was little choice because the old Miele cooktop failed in mid-July and most retailers had very restricted stock available because of the recent end-of-financial-year sales (frustrating!). We purchased the Siemens from Winnings in Indooroopilly (Brisbane) "on special" at around $4,000 (list price around $5,000 at the time).