Westinghouse 90cm 5 Zone Induction WHI955BD
VerifiedMPNs: 853968 and WHI955BD4 reviews
The cooking is great. The hob2hood function is the dumbest idea ever. This turns on/off and adjusts speed of the matching rangehood exhaust fan based on the temp of the cooktop. According to the manual: "compatible rangehoods work seamlessly with your induction or ceramic cooktop to clear your kitchen of cooking smells and steam. As you start cooking, the rangehood will automatically turn on then intuitively adjust the fan speed and airflow to match your cooking. How's that for hands-free convenience?"
How is it? Horrible. Constantly changing fan speed when not required. You can empty your pots after finishing cooking, turn rangehood off, put pots back, and it turns fan on again because it's still hot on the cooktop. No steam or fumes anymore, but Westinghouse knows best.
Recommend not getting a matching rangehood.
Purchased in .
We bought a brand new cooktop to go in a brand new kitchen, from the first time we turned it on it was error codes and turning itself off, we called Westinghouse/Electrolux only to be told they don’t replace only repair and we weren’t in their area so it would be contracted out, a week later of not being able to cook for 4 kids a technician comes out and lets us know yep it’s faulty and that it actually happens all the time with brand new ones, I also realised I couldn’t see a QC sticker anywhere, anyway 4 weeks later and 3 visits by a contractor we still can’t use it and Westinghouse just playing dodge, will never buy another product from them
Purchased in .
Average induction cook top from Westinghouse – Bought the Westinghouse WHI955BD 90cm induction cook top to replace an existing Westhinghouse 90cm gas cook top that had developed a leak. First the usual warnings for people replacing a gas cook top (nothing specifically to do with this model): - Make sure your pots and pans are induction compatible or be prepared to replace them. - You will almost certainly require additional wiring to be installed from your electrical metre box. The cost depends on the distance of cabling required, but budget in $500 - $1000. - Just because the cutout dimensions of the previous cook top match, it does not mean it will fit. This was a problem, because I had an engineered stone bench top, but it was solvable in late 2023. Given the new legislation banning engineered stone from mid 2024, this might become a much bigger problem in future. - Induction cooking can be a lot hotter and faster than gas, start low until you get use to it.
Now to the WHI955BD. The features that set this apart from the other 90cm induction cook tops in this price bracket: - Boil Protect (sense a boiling pot and turn the heat down) - Power Boost - 10 power levels for each 'burner' - Bridge Zone - Maxi Zone
None of the features are unique (expect perhaps Boil Protect), but having them all in a ~$2k cook top was a selling point. The burner spacing, even with a large pan on the middle maxi zone is generous and allows you to cook and keep warm a lot of different dishes. The maxi zone also has a large coil so that even large frying pans are heated evenly. That said you cannot have all the burners running at max, although this is not an issue with this specific cook top. It's simply a matter of physics, there is only so much power available on a 63 amp circuit. Power boost will boil water faster than gas ever could, although again only 1 burner can be on boost at a time. I cannot think of anything else you would use power boost for beside boiling water as it would just incinerate anything else and probably damage your pan it is so hot. The 10 levels of power is a wider range than most gas cook tops. I found 3 to be a low gas simmer and 8-9 high gas. Levels 1-2 are really good as something like caramelising onions on a consistent low heat I has never able to achieve with gas. Bridge zone on the right is useful for using an oblong griddle which I have used only once because I prefer to use a BBQ if I am 'grilling'. This leaves boil protect, which I read from many other reviews simply does not work. On Westinghouse's website, they show a video of a stainless steel pot activating this feature, even though the manual saws that only enamelled iron pans are suitable. I have a set of Scanpan Impacts which matched the style on the promotional video and is simply does not work. The other gripe I would have with this cook top is that if you have wet fingers whilst using the controls or spill water on the control area, the cook top just wigs out, gives you the 5 beeps of death and turns itself off. It requires a full clean/dry of the control area and your hands followed by a random wait up to 30 seconds before you can start it all up again. Absolute pain if you have a lot of pots on the go at all different levels because you need to set them all up again.
The good: - Power Boost - Maxi Zone - 10 Power levels - Super easy to keep clean
The bad: - Boil protect - Cook top cannot handle a splash of water without losing it's mind
Would I buy it again: Maybe, but I would have a look around at the competition in the same price bracket first.
Purchased in at The Good Guys Physical store for $2,099.
The Seduction of Induction – When we had our kitchen renovated recently we were going to have all the existing appliances re-installed as before but in a discussion with the fellow fitting the cabinetry I raised the idea that we might eventually be replacing the gas hob with an induction one. This was more about safety than cooking efficiency or lowering emissions as we've both left burners on recently; I tend to overlook them if they're turned down low and my partner would set a pan on high and then get involved in something else and forget it; coming back to find a hot, dry pan and an exploded egg! The installer suggested that if we were going to fit an induction hob we should buy it before the renovation was finished so that the cut-out in the stone bench-top could be customized for the unit we chose. It seems they’re all different and are not made to standard sizes!
The Westinghouse range seemed to offer the best balance between price and function. While a 60cm or 70cm unit would have been cheaper we chose the 90cm WHI955BD to fit in with the existing range-hood and also for the extra capacity and versatility of five cooking zones, should it be needed. Installation involved electricians running a dedicated power supply with its own safety switch/circuit breaker at the switchboard and an emergency switch near the hob itself. This cost us over $500 for the electricians partly because the hob is on the back wall of the kitchen and there’s no ceiling or under-floor access!
Each zone on this model has its own individual timer and the two right-hand zones can be ‘bridged’ together for large pans. The two left-hand zones have a feature called ‘Boil Protect’ which prevents pans boiling over, but as it seems it can only be used for certain types of cookware, and only for boiling water, to me it’s pretty pointless. All the zones are also equipped with ‘Power Boost’ which can be selected to quickly heat the pan to working temperature but uses far more electrical energy for up to ten minutes. Be very wary of using this feature – and never with an empty pan! The unit should turn off if the pan gets too hot but the bottom may be 'bowed' by then. When boiling water for pasta I may use it to shorten the wait but otherwise I’ll leave it well alone. The gas hob could take 15-20 minutes to boil a large pan of water while induction, with Power Boost, takes about 6 minutes. Other features include a ‘Pause’ switch, the ability to integrate with a Westinghouse range-hood and a child lock, none of which are likely to be of use to us.
Unfortunately we had to dispose of some of our favourite cookware to the op-shop because any item used on an induction hob must have a steel or iron bottom to react with the magnetic field and several of our good Circulon pans were aluminium only. The test is whether a magnet clings to the bottom of the pan – if it falls off you can’t use that pot and the hob may not even be aware it’s there (BTW, many pans sold in places like Coles are marked “All cooktop types EXCEPT induction”). It takes a little while to get used to the speed with which the hob can heat a pan. We found it wisest to start at low settings while learning its capabilities. It also seems to me that while gas will tend to heat the whole pan evenly, if slowly, induction tends to concentrate the heat above the base of the pan, at least at first. I'm not sure how it would go with a wok. It's also easy to clean, provided you at least wipe it down after every use.
On the whole we’re very pleased with our choice of the WHI955BD and once we’ve adjusted to it, after the gas, hope it’ll serve our needs for many years. Finally, some niggles; if you splash water, or anything else, over the control panel (very easy to do!) the whole thing can shut down, necessitating cleaning and a restart. A couple of times the power on/off has refused to function from cold and I’ve had to switch the hob off at the wall and then on again, just like a computer! – I don’t yet know what causes this. Another thing is the warning/timer beeper on the hob; it’s almost inaudible, at least to my older ears. There's no metal grates so there's nothing to stop a pan sliding on the surface if you're trying to stir it and you have to hold them in place. Lastly, the user manual supplied with this hob is really inadequate – it covers seven models and it’s about A5 size. The print is so small I needed a magnifying glass to read it! I downloaded a copy from the web-site and printed it on A4 for convenience.
Note: I almost never give a five-star rating - there's always room for improvement!
Purchased in at Appliance Central for $1,735.
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Good morning Julie from Electrolux here. We are sorry to hear you are experiencing problems with your cooktop
We would love the opportunity to discuss the concerns you have raised with the cooktop
If you wish to discuss this further please feel free to contact me at customercare@electrolux.com.au attention Julie Ticket Number 11856704