Cooking in Style (AEG C6010KMN)

Member Name: shroud

Product:	AEG C6010KMN
Date:	23/05/07 (327 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: near instant heat response, easy to clean, smart looking, A rated energy efficiency

Disadvantages: not all types of cookware can be used, hard or heavy objects dropped can damage the surface

~~~~Background to Purchase~~~~

We bought our first house last year, and in order to be able to afford a house and garden with the space we needed, we looked at houses in need of refurbishment. We actually preferred this anyway, as this meant we could put our own personality stamp upon it without feeling bad about undoing someone’s careful recent decorating job and also because being quite handy, getting a fixer upper would save us cash on the refurbishment needed as well. Having found the perfect home and sealing the deal, we moved in, and after recouping the lot of cash related to the move, went about deciding the first place to refurbish.

Being built in 1950, and last decorated and redone circa 1976 save for the lounge and dining room, most of the house gasped for a make over. The lounge was fine, having been done rather tastefully bar the artex remaining on the walls, with a nice carpet recently laid and new central heating and gas fire installed. But that review has already been done, so this is not about my boiler and fire! The bedrooms were liveable, as was the bathroom, but the kitchen was falling to bits.

The cabinets were falling to bits, and the units were not in the best sizes or positions they could be in, nor were that many of them. So hubby got out his measuring devices, squares, and whatnot, and headed over to the PC to use the B and Q kitchen planner software to come up with an idea of what we needed and wanted. Several paper written pages later, he came up with a decent plan I approved of and we could actually afford. There was an old but completely useable and not unaesthetically pleasing gas hob and double wall oven with several posh features I had wanted to reuse, but this proved impossible if I was to fit in everything else I needed.


So, I was faced with the awesome task of selecting what I wanted in a hob and oven. I wanted something that responded to a twist of the temperature knob as a gas hob would, but with the higher prices of gas and environmental concerns blah blah blah, I felt an electric hob was my better energy choice. I also wanted easy to clean with no rust appearing on the elements and I wanted it to look smart in my new kitchen. Spending the next 6 months talking to salesmen, reading reviews, and speaking to other cooking fiends, I settled on this little number for my hob top.

~~~~The Integrated into the Worktop Hob~~~~

The hob is square in shape, and made of a glass ceramic top with the heating elements below the surface. The glass is edged with a stainless steel band that runs completely around and slightly over all sides. The band is attached in such a way that it is fairly flush with the ceramic though so nothing goes under the band. There are 4 cooking zones. These are denoted by a very thin lined white circle that shows you the size and location of the elements. There are two smaller sized circles, one medium, and a much larger one to the lower left hand side that also has a much smaller zone indicated within it. The reason for this is that you can match the size of the bottom of your pan to the ring. The smaller sizes fit a normal sized small saucepan, the medium a medium to large sized pan, and the very large one is for a frying pan or wok. The smaller circle inside is to fit a milk pan sized pot. If you turn this burner on and only place a milk pan upon the inner circle, only that much of the element heats up. If you place a large frying pan upon it, the entire circle lights up. Rather ingenious!

The far right of the hob hosts the controls. While you can get the touch controls that are hidden beneath the ceramic these days, I preferred not, especially as we have cats who I KNOW sneak onto counters at night! This model therefore has four black knobs with a little diagram next to them in white showing their relation to the hob zones. There are also markings numbered one to ten about each knob, allowing for very minute gradations in temperature as you need to slightly increase or decrease. The change is nearly instant, but like with a gas hob, reducing the heat still leaves the residual heat in the pan to contend with, so it’s best to start too low and have to turn it up.

In addition to all of the above, there is also a handy little feature that is there for safety. Unseen except for a small white cross when off, when you turn the hob on, a glowing indicator appears when that cooking zone has become hot. When you switch off the hob, it stays lit until the surface has gone cool enough for even a baby to touch. This means that the radiant heat may seem to be gone as the top has cooled to black, but that the indicator will remain lit until the ceramic top itself is actually at a safe temperature. I really appreciate this feature as it has already saved me from burning myself on more than one occasion when I was distracted! I have also found it handy when wanting to cook custard and deciding to reuse a burner that still showed itself to be warm, as it takes less time to get back to the desired temperature.

The lower left hand corner also has markings on it. The markings read AEFGElectrolux in their logo style. It is not ostentatious or boldly written, and blends nicely into the overall style of the hob.

Being ceramic, there are certain limitations on the type of cookware you can use with it, but this is not limiting you to very expensive sets. You cannot use enamelled or painted cookware, or aluminium, as they mark and can cause pitting to the surface. It is recommended to use stainless steel pans with thick steel sandwiched type bottoms. Seeing as this became a quite popular style with the steel and glass lids several years ago, I already had a suitable set. These days you can buy a quality set of pans like this for under £20, including a steamer, milk pan, and frying pan if you shop around. I got mine individually at Wilko’s and paid about £25 all told when they first came into fashion. The instructions also advise cooking with the lids on to minimise spills that may cause damage or prove hard to remove. One such spill that can cause pitting is sugar. Sugar gets VERY hot indeed, and can actually melt pits into the ceramic, so must be removed IMMEDIATELY. To avoid this catastrophe, simple precautions can be taken. Simply removing the pan and placing onto a trivet to add sugar, custard powder, or whatever keeps the hob clean, and prevents any possible troubles.

Cleaning the hob itself is quite simple, however. A plastic scraper can be purchased from the likes of John Lewis to remove hot particles that need immediate removal, such as sugar. All other spills may be wiped up when cool and a simple damp wipe by a microfibre cloth is enough to return it to a shining pristine and streak free beauty. If you do get a few bits of stuck on food, you can use a proprietary ceramic hob paste to clean it off. I use Whizz hob and oven cleaner as it specifies it can be used on ceramic hobs and costs the huge sum of £1 for a tub. As you only use a very minute amount, it looks to last me a year or two at least! The knobs come off to make cleaning around and under them a breeze, and if you get crumbs or food in the area by the band, you can simply use a child’s soft toothbrush dampened with water to remove the offending mess with ease. I can honestly say I have never had such an easy to care for hob! No stainless steel jets to scour with Brillo, no need to oil and Hob Brite electric elements, simply wipe with water, buff with a microfibre, and very rarely, use a small amount of paste and wipe away.


~~~Where To Buy It~~~
As to where to buy, I have seen this offered several places on the web, but we got ours from B and Q. They sell special two packs, often called Builder’s Packs by the trade. Inside these are a hob with a matching style oven and they are heavily discounted. We got the hob and it’s A rated matching AEG oven for about £400. The oven on its own costs more than that purchased separately, and the hob by itself just under that, so it is wise to shop about for these offers.


~~My Verdict~~~
Energy wise, this hob is A rated and so costs literally pennies to run. So all in all, I rate it A not only for its given efficiency, but also an A for its smart looks, an A for ease of use and quick response, an A for its safety features, and finally, an A for ease of cleaning. Buy one of these and get an A* yourself and go to the head of the cooking class!

Summary: Buy one of these and get an A* yourself and go to the head of the cooking class!

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