Ceramic hob care

[Mark]

Does anyone have experience with care and maintenance of ceramic hobs?

I'm currently choosing parts for a new kitchen and in a bit of a quandary about what hob to get for it. Original thought was gas because everyone gets gas hobs, right?

But then it came to me that I'd have a very hard time seeing a gas flame and that something 'obviously hot' would be safer for me. So, the salesman suggested a ceramic hob.

I've no experience with them, and neither have any of my family. So given that I'm all but useless when it comes to housework, how easy are they to keep clean? How do I avoid scratching them?

Thank you, inept of Newbury! :)

[divine]

Surprised the salesman didn't try and upsell you to induction, as IIRC, that doesn't actually get hot, so would be the best solution :p

Can't actually help with the question though, sorry, only ever had gas hobs myself

[Mark]

Unless induction hobs can break the laws of physics, they'll still get hot through radiated heat from the pans you put on them (OK, so not as hot, but still hot enough to do some damage).

Yes, we did explore that option, but given the above, and the fact that I'm taking advantage of appliance pack offers to keep the cost down, I'd have had to switch to a considerably more expensive Neff pack (from AEG) to do it. Cost outweighed the benefit (whereas switching to ceramic from gas cost me £3).

PS - Most built-in induction hobs use ceramic glass, so the question regarding cleaning would still apply. :)

[Nutcase]

I have a ceramic one in the flat, used it for about a year until I moved out.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/61306_473495699743_549039743_6673695_7931201_n.jpg

It's a decent Smeg one (bought off a bloke at a petrol station ;D )

I bought one of these kits and it works really well.

LINK REMOVED AT WEBSITE REQUEST

I worried about scratching the glass or the white markings off but they're very resiliant.

[divine]

Unless induction hobs can break the laws of physics, they'll still get hot through radiated heat from the pans you put on them (OK, so not as hot, but still hot enough to do some damage).

I didn't think they did - warm certainly, but after a few seconds, not really hot enough to burn or do any damage?

[LeperousDust]

My mums induction does get conductively hot through the pans, but dissipates the heat very quickly afterwards. Within the space of 10 of minutes. Also has a light similar to there old standard electric that shows when something is HOT not necessarily when it's switched on.

Anyways as for cleaning, they are undoubtedly easier than gas, that would be one major advantage for choosing them. Very hard to actually get dirty and super super easy to clean. Very hard to scratch but not impossible. My mums old electric was visibly scratched when pans sat, but we are talking about at least15-20 years abuse!

She's still very protective (two years on!) still over the new induction one so i guess its hard to compare. But really I think they do stand up pretty damn well, wouldn't really worry too much about them tbh...

[Mark]

Ta. Ceramic it is then. Induction would be good but don't want to sacrifice a good AEG oven for bottom of the range Neff or pay 50%+ premium for the Neff equivalents (even if I am paying c. £8k for the whole thing :eek:)

[Haly]

We've got a ceramic hob :) Easy to clean and can't say I've noticed it be prone to scratching.

[Mark]

The shop guy did say to not go crazy cleaning near the controls. Might not rub off in 6 months, but 6 years...

I can see his point. :)

[Jonny69]

My mum had one when she had the kitchen put in the old family home and I think we had it ~10 to 12 years. It didn't seem to be particularly scratched at all, despite us teenagers abusing it. It had a (quite harsh) abrasive cleaner that came with it and a scraper that took Stanley blades, that would scrape off that hard residue you eventually get from things being burned on, which also came with it. It didn't cook like gas, but it was unbeatable when it came to maintenance and cleaning.

[BBx]

I use cif/jif and a scourer to clean mine!

BB x

[Mark]

Well, the kit has already come in handy. Despite being covered, the hob ended up with a few paint flecks yesterday. Came straight off with the scraper, which I then used on a nearby window to remove a few more. :)