Cooktops: Best brands

Choosing the right cooktop will play a vital role in making your kitchen practical and easy to use. Along with the oven and fridge, the cooktop will be used heavily in the household's food preparation, and should be the best one for your needs. There are a number of factors to consider when choosing cooktops, including ease of use and cleaning, and ensuring that it is suited to the type of cooking that you will be doing. With a large number of brands to choose from, which are the best brands for cooktops, and how do you choose the right one for your needs?

Choosing cooktops

While the brand you choose is important, it is useful to consider these points before you go looking for your ideal cooktop:

• Do you want a gas, electric or induction cooktop? Electric are cheap to buy, gas is a cheaper energy source and is more responsive in cooking, and induction is a more energy efficient but more expensive to buy way of cooking with electricity
• Check the energy efficiency star rating on the cooktops you are looking at, and choose the one with the most stars for greatest efficiency
• Do consider aesthetics. The cooktop should match the general style of your kitchen, and be pleasing aesthetically
• Ease of cleaning is important, as cooktops can accumulate grease and food remains, which is unhygienic. Flat glass electric cooktops are the easiest to keep clean. Check gas ones for ease of cleaning as the bowls can collect grease
• Cooktops can be purchased new from between about $800 to well over $2000, so assess your budget and check what is within your range
• Safety is vital, especially if you have children, or children will be visiting. Electric plates can stay dangerously hot after they have been turned off

It is important to be sure of what you are looking for before looking at which brands of cooktop are best for you.

The best cooktop brands

There are a range of cooktop brands available, and most will be suitable for the needs of different consumers. Here are some of the more popular brands:

• Maytag make high quality appliances, including cooktops.
• Electrolux are another trusted brand in appliances, and manufacture cooktops ranging from inexpensive to top of the range models
• Smeg sell high quality cooktops
• Westinghouse are another excellent brand for cooktops and other kitchen appliances

There are a wide range of cooktop brands available, and most are reliable and safe. Choosing a trusted brand that has been around for a while can make a difference if anything goes wrong, though, and may mean that it will be less likely to in the first place.

Choosing the best cooktop brands

Cooktops, like other appliances, should be chosen on the basis of your needs and the brands that you feel comfortable with. If you are still unsure, ask friends and family for brands that they have found to be reliable. Choose carefully and your cooktop should last for years to come.