Beko HILW 64122 SWE 4 Flames 60cm Built-In Glass Top – Glass

The kitchen is the heart of every home. A cookstove is a vital appliance that keeps your kitchen going. The right cook stove helps to keep your kitchen functional as well as whip up some mouth-watering dishes. If you are planning a new kitchen or renovating your old one you will come across two choices for cookstoves: freestanding stoves and built-in hobs. A variety of options are available in both categories; the efficiency and ease of usage of each cookstove depend upon the model you choose.

Freestanding gas stoves are often an easy option for cooking as they are portable. But they come with limited functions. Modern hobs, on the other hand, come with many features and are becoming quite popular with homemakers of every age. This article is to help you understand the difference between hobs and gas stoves so that you can make a better choice:

Built-In Sleek Look:

The design of a built-in hob is such that it gives you a seamless and integrated look by being levelled at the same height as that of your kitchen countertop. The gas connecting pipes and electrical wires are concealed in a smart way to give your kitchen a modern look.

The burners of a built-in hob fixed onto a flat surface of the hob made up of stainless steel and glass or ceramic material. The latest burners on hob tops now come with enamel coated cast iron.

Hobs elevate the aesthetic look of any kitchen. They can easily fit in where space is limited and therefore, are a viable option for compact kitchens. Choose the design of your hob top beforehand. Depending upon the model you choose you can design your countertop. It is also essential to ensure that the place you choose for your hob top should be within reach of gas supply. Additionally, the countertop needs to be cut, designed and completed before you begin the installation of kitchen cabinetry.

Ease of Use:

The design of built-in hobs is such that it should make your everyday cooking more manageable. If you or any household that requires cooking up of many different dishes, they can easily benefit from hob tops. Unlike the stand-alone gas stoves, hob tops are at a levelled height as that of your countertop, and therefore, you can shift large food-filled pots or pans from burners to directly atop the pot support/stands seamlessly.

Cleaning a hob top is also easy as you need a damp cloth to wipe off the spills/grime from the cooktop's surface. Higher models have rubber gaskets fitted around the knobs preventing the seepage of water while cleaning.

Size:

Like gas stoves, hobs also come in sizes such as three, four, five burners. Some high-end models even offer six burners. Depending upon the style of cooking and your household needs, you can choose the one accordingly. If you love stir-fried food, then a five-burner hob should meet your needs perfectly. A five-burner cooktop will have four burners one at each corner, along with one large burner right in the middle. This middle burner is grounded and therefore can easily support large pans or woks. The chances of toppling food while you stir it in the pan and make a mess in the kitchen are less because of the precise support offered by the burner.

A five or six-burner hob also makes it easy for a large family to cook several dishes at the same time. If you get a six-burner hob top, you do not have to worry about big family dinners ever

Heat Control Options:

Built-in hobs come in both gas and electric varieties. The electronic array does not require the use of that clunky lighter to light up the burner. With the turn of a knob, the burner gets ignited up using the pulse ignition feature.

Conventional gas stoves give you limited options to control the heat required for different recipes. Latest built-in hobs come with multi-flame burners, allowing you to individually control the interior and exterior ring of the burner and adjust the heat to the precise required temperature. The dual ring of flames not only cooks your food to perfection but can also enable you to cook food at a faster rate as you can oversee and control the heat.

Safety Features:

Conventional gas stoves have limited features when it comes to safety. The engineering of built-in hobs is such that it ensures safety as their priority. One of the safety features to be noted is the flame failure feature. In case of an accidental flame extinguish, the safety feature activates itself automatically and cuts off the supply of gas instantly. Saving lives and gas is an assured feature you can expect from the latest high-end built-in hobs.

Another exciting feature of a high-end hob top is that it allows you to cook using a timer function. If you are a big multi-tasker, then this feature is made for you. It can help you to save your food from being over or undercooked as well as manage other things. The timer function will enable you to cook your food precisely and manage other important work at the same time, like cooking in a microwave or an oven.