Any of you guys have induction hobs? Is it fixed to the work top or not?

[NeilF]

We've just had one fitted.

As per the instructions there's a thin sponge gromit fitting around the underneath which cushions between the hob and the work surface (about 1cm in from the edge). This means there about a 2mm gap between the hobs glass surface and the work top. Obviously smeg is going to get in there...

But the hob can be easily lifted entirely out (as its not fixed) and the worktop cleaned, and underside lip of the hobs glass (about 1cm) can be cleaned.

Now, for you guys who have such a hob, do you have the above fitting, or have you had yours fixed in, and then silicon sealed to prevent smeg getting between the hob and work top?

Cheers for this odd-ball question...

 

[NeilF]

I would say the hob should be fitted down, what does it say in the installation guide ?
You normally get some brackets that fix it to the underside of the worktop.

I'm sort of coming to that conclusion too? I think smeg will build up at an alarming rate in that gap.

The only question is, should the 'gromit' be used or not. This cushions the hob onto the work surface, but also creates the X mm gap. Without it, the glass would almost certainly sit almost flush onto the work top, so only a siny amount of sealant would be needed...

As I understand it the foam gromit is there simply as a shock absorber between the glass and the work top, but TBH I can't really see it making much of a difference!?

 

[NeilF]

Do you know what smeg is?

In this conversation, it's bolognese sauce and food crumbs... And I don't really like the idea of it building up

 

[NeilF]

The help line said the glass panel should be sitting absolutely flush onto the worktop. Mine (as mentioned above) is 2-3mm proud of it.

They said also, it shouldn't (ideally) be sealed in, obviously incase you wish to service it etc...

So this all seems to imply it's not fitted/fitting quite right, hence this 2-3mm gap. I'll mention it to the fitter!

Thanks!

 

[NeilF]

I'm guessing you got a frameless one?

I got a framed and just ran a small bead of silicon around it,which you can't see becouse of the frame.
Induction hobs are great.

Not sure what you mean by framed/frameless (guess mine is frameless)? Mine it just a large flat sheet of glass on the worktop. Underneath it, is about 5-6cm of the actual hardware which goes through the/into the worktop.

So you have a large lip of glass all the way around the hop which goes over the worktop. In my case this is all standing about 2-3mm proud of the worktop (ie: there's a gap). Logic tells me this all the glass should be flush onto the work top!

http://www.appliance-world.co.uk/Fagor_IF64R_Induction+Hobs.html?froogle=1&r=2

 

[NeilF]

Our induction hob stands proud of the work surface by probably 5-6mm. Its is cushioned by a soft foamy grommet jobby all the way round.

In terms of performance this is superior to a gas hob imho.

That sounds a bit like ours, although ours is about 2-3mm... It doesn't look right to me. I'd expect the glass to be surely sitting flush directly onto the work surface else all manner of muck will simply congregate under it?

 

[NeilF]

My mother in law has one. As I recall, it sticks up a bit from the worktop.

Yes... I think maybe we'll just have to live with it and see what happens.

The whole thing just lifts out so I guess every few months we could simply pop it up and clean the work surface and underside of the hob lip in just a minute...

 

[NeilF]

^ I would expect you're supposed to to be honest. I would prefer having the option of lift and clean rather than sealing it in place

Yeh... Just not having had a top like this before I'm wasn't sure what was the norm. Our previous hob was a regular sealed in gas one.

We could have course (silicon) seal in this one, but at the moment, I think we can just remove and clean every few months...

 

[NeilF]

Wasn't sealed down in my last place, had the gap and yes it does fill with crud.

Just used to lift it up and give it a wipe when it got bad...

made it far easier for the bloke who came to fix our oven to do so as well as the hob had to be lifted out in order to unscrew it from its fixings...

Don't understand why there isn't a rubber seal around the very underside of the glass top. So this is squashed onto the work top. That would prevent most stuff from going under the lip!?

 

[NeilF]

But it also requires a perfectly flat bottomed pan (they rarely ever stay that way for long) and doesn't heat up the sides of things like a ok anywhere near as well.

Having used the induction hob a few times, I believe I'm a convert to it from gas.
a) It seems more immediate.
b) It seems more accurate. eg: I know now to keep water simmering just right, set it to "7". I think it even detects if something boils over and automatically lowers the temp (I think).

It's also suppose to be more energy/cost efficient too.

 

[NeilF]

I think those figures may be a little off. Even so, electricity is more than 200% the price of gas

Ummm... And bananas are longer than apples...

Surely you need to rationalise units of consumption for comparative jobs and then take price into consideration per unit, rather than just comparing prices?

 

[NeilF]

GF's parents have one in their holiday home in France, it sits proud on a rubber grommit and says it shouldn't be fixed to the surface in the instructions.

So you could slide a couple of playing cards 1cm under it then?

 

[NeilF]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXZNvmLRj6o

LOL!

Nice!

 

[NeilF]

all that proves is he heated the 5 inches flat bit of the pan, you need the sides of a wok hot too.

Metal convects heat quite well

 

[NeilF]

Noticed the hob (glass) surface is already getting scratchy smears on it where the bottom of the saucepans are scraping the glass!

Seems a bit bad