Whether you’re looking for something sophisticated, precise and flexible to cater for a wealth of gastronomic possibilities, or you just need an efficient and effective model for a delicious stir-fry, we have a cooktop for you!
Where to start? Let’s talk size.
How big should your cooktop be?
The main factors in this decision will be the size of your kitchen and the amount of cooking you are required to do.If limited on space - you live in an apartment, for example - a simple 60cm four burner cooktop will fit the bill.
However, if your kitchen is a bit larger, you might think about investing in a 90cm sized cooktop with five or six burners. This will also give you flexibility if you’re cooking larger meals or more complex recipes. Be sure to measure the available space before making your purchase.
If style is also important to you, note that symmetry is an important consideration in interior design. With your cooktop the same width as your rangehood and oven, you'll achieve an elegantly streamlined look in your cooking area.
What type of cooktop do you want?
At Winning Appliances, we feature three broad kinds of cooktop:Gas |
Induction |
Ceramic Electric |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Heat-ups | Very quick with visual response to changes in temperature. | Very quick heat-ups applied only to cookware - for best efficiency. | Good heat ups, but least efficient cooktop type. |
| Cooking Quality | Precise and powerful with great versatility. | Powerful, flexible and highly responsive with many innovative auto features to assist. | Reliable and effective cooking. |
| Installation | Requires gas connection (installation of gas lines are an extra cost). | Requires proper connection and compatible cookware. | Easily installed by a licensed tradesperson. |
| Price | Greater initial outlay for greater quality - very cost effective in the long run. | Greater initial outlay for greater quality - and greater efficiency. | Most affordable option in short term. |
| Safety | Sophisticated safety features such as flame-failure cut-outs. | Sophisticated safety features plus advantage that the surface does not get hot to the touch. | Good safety features such as residual heat indicators. |
Gas Cooktops
Gas Cooktops are highly regarded for the precise heat control and powerful heat-ups they offer. Available in a variety of designs and finishes - including glass, enamel and stainless steel - they mix durability and performance with style.Obviously their suitability will depend on the availability of gas - so be sure you have access to the mains supply before considering one.
Advantages
Renowned for its exceptionally quick response times and excellent control, gas remains a great cooking option. It offers great versatility too - giving you low heat if you’re looking to bring sauce to a simmer, while also giving you intense heat if you want to bring something to a boil.Just as importantly, gas flames provide beautifully even heat across the base of cookware, including woks and those with rounded bottoms.
And, of course, that flame provides the immediate visual feedback - when you raise or lower the temperature - that makes for such an enjoyably intuitive and responsive cooking experience.
We should also mention the exceptional durability of these appliances: the metal components of burners are much tougher than ceramic cooktops.
Things to bear in mind about gas cooktops
The availability of a gas supply will ultimately be a major determining factor in whether you choose a gas cooktop. Remember that, unless your kitchen is already equipped with gas lines, it will be much cheaper upfront to install an electric cooktop - however you may be willing to make that initial investment to enjoy the undoubted benefits of gas.One more thing: gas cooktops, which incorporate bulky cast iron trivets, can be more fiddly to clean than the smooth surfaces of electric cooktops. However, this is becoming less of a problem with minimalist designs making it easier to wipe down your cooktop.
Contemporary style meets traditional quality
While representing a traditional (and still highly effective) cooking mode, modern versions of this appliance incorporate beautiful style and sophisticated functionality. Gas cooktops from Winning Appliances are very user-friendly, with electronic ignition meaning that a turn of a control will activate a flame.Meanwhile, you’ll find elegant use of materials such as stainless steel provide visual appeal without detracting from the robustness of performance. These are designer items, offering a low profile or bolder aesthetic depending on your preference.
Compact yet versatile
Versatility of the gas cooking is complemented by the presence of wok burners on select models. Exemplified by the one on this Bosch Gas Cooktop (PCI6A5B90A), wok burners are large, powerful gas burners, particularly good for cooking stir fries quickly and effectively.
As you can see, this versatility is incorporated into an elegantly compact design which - at 582mm wide - will fit easily into smaller-sized kitchens.
Larger cooktops
Larger gas cooktops provide more flexibility in your kitchen, with the added advantage of being able to accommodate larger pots and pans.This cooktop, a Smeg Gas Cooktop PGA75-4, provides five burners. With four burners grouped around a larger central burner, this is a typical configuration - certainly compact, but you still need to be able to fit an appliance that is 90cm wide.
Still, if you have the space - the extra burner will be welcome if you want to expand your culinary horizons or need to make meals for a family: it’ll let you boil water, heat up a casserole and simmer sauce all at once. The central burner is in fact an “ultra-rapid” burner, which will suit large stock pots, boilers, saucepans and griddles - while a wok stand is supplied for easy fitting over the centre trivet for stir fry cooking.
With gas cooktops, the “best” is as much a case of personal preference as it is a matter of your technical requirements. For more information, please talk to one of our in-store experts or visit us at your nearest Winning Appliances showroom.
Choose from our range of Gas Cooktops
Induction Cooktops
As with gas cooktops, Induction Cooktops provide superb heat-ups and precision temperature control. Once considered cutting-edge, induction cooktops are now a very popular technology in contemporary Australian kitchens.However, Induction Cooktops still impress with the sheer ingenuity of the technology and its fantastic cooking abilities.
How do induction cooktops work?
The manner in which they work may still seem mysterious to some but put very simply: Induction cooktops use a magnetic field to heat up the base of compatible cookware.Advantages
Still mystified? Don’t worry!The definite advantage of induction is in the extremely fast heat-ups, as the process brings energy to the cookware very quickly. Furthermore, you’ll enjoy immediate and accurate temperature changes according to the control adjustments you make.
In addition, since they are able to automatically sense when there’s nothing on the element - they minimise energy waste (which will, in turn, maximise savings for your power bill).
Safety is also an advantage with these appliances: the surface doesn’t get as hot as traditional ceramic cooktops, which heat-up to transfer energy to your cookware. However, it is a mistake to assume the surface of your induction cooktop will be entirely cool to the touch throughout the cooking process. You will register some transferred heat from the base of hot cooking equipment.
Things to know about Induction
Simply put, your home needs to be ready for an induction installation!Firstly, your cookware needs to be suitable for induction cooking and will need to be replaced if not.
The technology requires cookware to have a ferrous bottom so the heat can be conducted rapidly - plus the pot bases need to be within the recommended size for each cooking zone. Fear not, when you are looking to purchase induction-friendly cookware, it should be marked on the packaging as such.
Secondly, induction cooktops require more power in the short-term - to get the temperature to high heat and boiling point so quickly. While normal home plugs have a 10amp connection, an induction cooktop may need a 20A, 32A or even 42A connection. You will need to have the correct power allowance otherwise your cooktop will not work efficiently and cooking zones will begin to shut down.
Please note: However this does not mean your Induction Cooktop is inefficient - read on!
Power Savings
Their incredibly quick heat ups and a variety of special features ensure they are highly economical. In fact in the long run they will save more energy than traditional electric cooktops.If you’re feeling daunted by this, don’t worry: installation is easily handled by licensed tradespeople, including our Winning Services team.
Cutting-edge cooking
If you haven’t already done so, it’s important to grasp the extent of the capabilities that induction delivers - and the incredible selection of features you’ll find. Sense technology, automatic programmes and touch control features are just the tip of the iceberg.Flexibility is key here.
A cooktop such as the Smeg SmartSense Induction Cooktop SAI95 epitomises the elegant functionality of many induction cooktops. The distinctive rectangular cooking zone on the right, for example, is able to cater to several large, irregularly shaped pans at once.
You can even use preset temperatures to take the guesswork out of cooking with ‘keep warm’, ‘simmer’ and ‘rolling boil’ options available.
Similar flexibility is also demonstrated by this Siemens iQ700 Induction Cooktop EX975LVC1E which features so-called “flexInduction” cooking zones which can be used separately or together as a single cooking zone.
Durability
Induction Cooktops at Winning Appliances are all expertly manufactured. However, those built to the highest-standard feature Schott Ceran, which is the toughest glass-ceramic brand available. Look also for a bevelled edge to the ceramic, which helps prevent cracking across the surface.Safety and efficiency
Safety and efficiency is paramount with induction cooktops - common features include automatic pan recognition (the cooktop will not work if there is no pan on the heating zone or the pan is not suitable), automatic safety switch-off (which will automatically turn the element off or down in the event of overheating or if you remove a pan) and child-proof locks.For more information on Induction Cooktops, please talk to one of our in-store experts or visit us at your nearest Winning Appliances showroom.
Choose from our range of Induction Cooktops
Note, there are a couple of other very cool variants on the basic Induction cooktop format, which you can find at Winning Appliances. The first one is:
Cooktops with Integrated Rangehoods
This appliance combines two technologies in one ultra-convenient appliance. With a "rangehood" - integrated downdraft ventilation - actually built into it, this is a sleek and effective option for a very minimalist kitchen aesthetic (or a compact kitchenette, for that matter). No overhead rangehoods are required here - cooking odours and steam are extracted and pushed downward. The one below is a Siemens - featuring the climateControl Sensor which is automatically able to adjust the extraction rate to match the amount of steam being produced on the cooking surface.
Gas & Induction Combination Cooktops
As the title suggests, this appliance gives you the "best of both worlds" - gas and induction combined in the same unit, with separate hobs or cooking zones for each technology. The result is (potentially) even greater flexibility - the opportunity for wok cooking with gas along with efficient cooking via induction technology.
Choose from our range of Gas and Induction Combination Cooktops
While they provide excellent heat-ups, they are (typically) not as efficient or effective as their induction or gas counterparts, while providing less of the precision that the others offer.
That said, they are increasingly improving in terms of the quick and even heating they provide. This can be attributed to the tightly wound heating elements that provide the heat to the ceramic - these provide better heat distribution compared to older models with more more loosely wound coils.
Ceramic Cooktops
Ceramic cooktops are a sleek and stylish option - generally the most affordable option out of all three. Powered by electricity, they are available in a range of configurations.While they provide excellent heat-ups, they are (typically) not as efficient or effective as their induction or gas counterparts, while providing less of the precision that the others offer.
That said, they are increasingly improving in terms of the quick and even heating they provide. This can be attributed to the tightly wound heating elements that provide the heat to the ceramic - these provide better heat distribution compared to older models with more more loosely wound coils.
Advantages
The best ceramic cooktops provide excellent and effective heat-ups. They are stylish units that are very easily cleaned thanks to the smooth, continuous surface of ceramic cooktops.They are relatively easy to install as opposed to gas or induction cooktops. As such, their pricing and ease of installation makes them particularly suited to apartments or investment properties.
Good examples include this stylish Bosch Serie 2 Ceramic Cooktop PKE611CA1A, which is a classic and simple variety made with the exceptional quality of a leading European brand.
Meanwhile, Westinghouse 60cm Ceramic Electric Cooktop WHC644BA incorporates sophisticated elements such as the touch control for a super sleek finish.
Things to know about Ceramic Cooktops
They are the least responsive to temperature controls, since the ceramic glass will hold the heat. This also means you have to be careful with them once switched off - although residual-heat warning lights will indicate when they have reached a safe temperature.When looking for your ideal positioning and layout, consider the size of the pots and pans you might usually use. A well-spaced cooktop will let you use multiple pots at once - without having to reach over one element to get to another. Meanwhile, the presence of a dual element with two heat rings will provide added flexibility.
For more information, please talk to one of our in-store experts or visit us at your nearest Winning Appliances showroom.
Choose from our range of Ceramic Cooktops
