Excellent induction hob at a reasonable price & has totally transformed cooking in our kitchen since replacing our old hot plate hob. Well worthwhile purchase even though we had to replace all our pans as non of them would stick a magnet to them & so were not suitable for use with an induction hob. Been using for a couple of weeks now & realised that it does actually have an overspill cut off feature (not that we used it because it is so controllable!) which some far more expensive makes list as an additional feature! Beko prove that induction cooking doesn't have to be that expensive..
I had hoped, but didn't expect that an induction hob would be as good as they make them out to be, but they are. When you are boiling something, you can literally see the amount of bubbles drastically change as you adjust the settings up or down, and only the base of the pot gets hot - not the whole thing. And it's very quick, but without burning things. It cooks hot milk in 30 seconds.
At the current price of £177 you can't go wrong. Just be aware it needs wiring directly into a 30AMP capable power supply - like the cooker supply in most kitchens.
I shall assume you know the merits of any induction hob v any other fuel type, for example the superior safety, power output etc, and concentrate on what this particular induction hob has to offer, or not.
Manufactured in Turkey the Beko HII 644035 is a basic no frills induction hob with two pairs of heating areas that are sized to match typical compatible pans. It has simple touch controls that are clearly identified, largely intuitive and easy to use. Just remember they are called touch controls - there is no need to press the ceramic surface, all that will do is leave finger marks.
It is sized for a cut out of 56 x 49cm, so it was a direct swap for our old halogen hob. It is not 60 x 60cm as ASDA said.
The supplied fixing brackets will need to be modified if you have a worktop less than 40mm thick, like our 30mm worktop that was popular a few years ago.
The hob is square edged and frameless, so very easy to wipe clean - no trapped crumbs etc. This does however mean that if you have a major spill or boilover it will not be contained at all. Because this hob heats the pan very quickly we tend to stay and watch for that ‘turn it down point' rather than wandering off to do something else to make use of the time and regret it having boiled over.
If you are a gadget freak you may be disappointed that it has no complicated timing controls, except for the ‘A' (Auto) setting that starts on boost power and drops to the chosen power level (1-9) after a predetermined time. It seems that even this is something of a gimic that most people will make little or no use of.
The printed user manual that is specifically for this hob and no other, lists functions that are not available on the actual product - these include ‘hob timers', ‘Child Lock' and ‘Key Lock'. I can see little difference between the ‘Locks', neither of which I need, so no loss there.
The manual is only in English and therefore runs to just 22 pages. As far as technical manuals go it is probably better than most for imported domestic appliances and shows little evidence of the usual translation problems. Rather cleverly it says use washing liquid to clean without being specific - are you sure it really means washing-up liquid and not something you put in the washing machine. The manual does contain some text that could be deleted because it is not relevant to this product.
Prior to purchasing this hob I tried to obtain a copy of the manual from Beko's website, but this model was not listed as being either made or supported for a manual to download. If I was paying the sort of price that other manufacturer's hobs are priced at, then this would bother me but at £177 I'll accept this situation especially as it comes with a 2 year guarantee from Beko.
Registering the guarantee is a bit confused - I started to do so on-line but that says products with a two year guarantee cannot be registered on-line. You then have to choose which of the several phone numbers to use, from a sticker on the hob, the manual, Beko's website or the number on the registration card. I decided to post off the card.
Conclusion: Bearing in mind that I am a very critical consumer, I am very pleased with the simple functionality of this hob (less to go wrong and not paying for more than I need), combined with it's clean lines. It is impossible to gauge how well it will last but a two year guarantee should go some way to show how confident the maker is. And at £177 you can afford to buy a spare, just in case (Check out other induction hob prices/specifications to see that this is good value).
The click and collect service was effectively ‘free next working day delivery' and we collected it when convenient to us - no waiting in for a delivery!
Tip 1: Use only a damp cloth to clean the ceramic - as instructed in the manual. Our old ceramic hob was replaced, not because it didn't function but because ‘special' cleaners had damaged the frame, controls, and in time had dulled the ceramic and we are not going to repeat that mistake.
Tip 2: We had to replace most of our saucepans and did so at some expense. ASDA do a set of three Russell Hobbs induction compatible saucepans and lids for £20 in store. They are very similar in general design to the expensive ones we bought but they say ‘not suitable for dishwasher'. We have been ignoring that and so far they show no signs of dishwasher damage, but we do only use a ‘glass' setting and at £20 what the heck! But don't expect to find them on Russell Hobbs website.
