Cooktops

Lifetime score

Our overall score combines test performance (how well the appliance works) with predicted reliability (how likely models from the brand are to remain free of faults) and owner satisfaction (how likely owners of the brand are to be very satisfied).

We’ll only recommend appliances you’ll love to own, that work well and keep working well for a long time.

Test performance

It’s no good if a product that’s built to last for several decades doesn’t actually work well. A disappointing product will soon become unloved and unwanted. For this reason, our independent lab testing still forms an important part of our overall lifetime score.

Our cooktops test includes:

Cooking performance

We conduct three tests to assess the performance of the cooktops. Each test is performed with exactly the same ingredients and method on each cooktop tested.

First, we make white sauce on the simmer-burner or element with the lowest setting. We test the hob’s ability to perform at a low temperature for a long time. We score the final cooked sauce on:

• colour – ideally pale with no brown spots
• taste – no raw milk or flour taste
• sticking – what is left in the pan once the sauce has been removed.

Next, we cook rice on the medium-sized burner or element. We test the "turn down" capacity of the hob and whether the cooktop can maintain a suitable heat at the lowest temperature setting. We score the final cooked rice on:

• cooking – Are the grains still firm, cooked properly and not mushy or sticking together?
• sticking – Are any grains stuck to the bottom of the pan, and if so, how difficult are they to remove?

We then use a beef and vegetable stir-fry to see whether the cooktop can deliver continuous high heat. If a consistent heat isn’t maintainable, you can end up boiling your meat and veges instead of frying them. We score the final cooked stir-fry on:

• texture – Is the meat tender or tough, the vegetables crisp or soggy, the sauce smooth or watery?
• colour – Is the meat dark brown or grey and the vegetables bright or colourless?

Ease of use

The ease-of-use rating is assessed in terms of:

• how easy it is to use the cooktop’s controls
• how easy it is to clean the cooktop
• the user-friendliness of the cooktop layout.

Survey data

In our annual reliability and satisfaction survey, consumers tell us about faults that have left an appliance they own unusable or mean they’ve had to change how they use that appliance. We also ask them how satisfied they are with the appliance. We use their data to produce our predicted reliability and owner satisfaction scores.

We use a statistical test to rate the relative performance of each brand. Compared with data we have for all products (of the same type) in the survey, we rate each brand as highest, high, average, low or lowest for reliability and satisfaction. You can compare the rating of different brands for the same product type (for example, the reliability rating for Miele and Haier washing machines), but you can’t compare the results for different product types (for example, satisfaction of LG TVs and Samsung phones).

We analyse brands that get at least 30 responses in our survey. That means there are some brands we can’t analyse because we don’t have enough data. For those brands, we assume they have average predicted reliability and owner satisfaction.

Our data is based on responses for 1,525 cooktops or hobs in our 2022 survey.