Smeg SAI4954D

I can tell you I have never been so dismayed in a product in my life. We are now over three months trying to deal with SMEG and they have been nothing but difficult. A fracture appeared in the product only a few months after installation. Now over three months and still no joy. We were offered twice by SMEG that they would pay half of the repair bill. I don't think so, faulty product you replace it. Job numbers have been lost or not delivered and now a month after having it checked by their repair agent who agreed it was a fracture in the glass, we are still no better off and they are talking about replacing the glass top not the whole product. We have been unable to use it in case of a glass explosion from the heat. Dodge SMEG there are better products that cost alot less and are better at honouring their warranty I am sure. Next step consumers affairs.

The product was bought for us by a builder through Harvey Norman.

Timer in not useable. Control panel is difficult to use – The cooktop works well until you try the timer. I defy anyone to set the timer for 10 minutes to cook perfectly done eggs! To enter the time greater than 9 minutes, you need to enter the time in backwards. For 40 minutes you enter “0” then “4”. And if you are not quick you miss getting the 4 in. It is extremely difficult to use. Sometimes I make 10 attempts to set the time. Forget 40 minutes, easier to put in 41 - the 1 then the 4. This will do your head in.

Effective and easy to use – We bought this induction cooktop to replace an ageing gas cooktop (also from Smeg, and still in reasonably good working condition). This was part of a goal to electrify our whole house and eventually disconnect our gas supply. So far the cooktop is really impressive. It looks great compared to the old gas cooktop and the installation process was straightforward into our wooden kitchen bench top

The controls are intuitive and easy to use. A great feature is being able to precisely control the cooking heat via a temperature touchscreen embedded in the unit. And in boost mode, boiling a pot of water (for pasta etc) is extremely fast.

We bought this 90cm model to fit into the space where the old cooktop was. This gives multiple zones which can be used separately with plenty of space.

The only slight disadvantage of induction cooking is that our old wok is not suitable for the technology, however we have found other pans which can serve the same purpose and the cooking speed and control of induction helps to get the job done for stir-frys etc.

So far this is a great upgrade from our old gas cooktop and we are very happy with this model!