Are there any hotplates with large heating areas?

December 21, 2017 4:18 AM

I will be without a kitchen for months and would like to be able to cook on a portable burner/hotplate/induction plate. Ideally I would like something that can work with a 12" skillet but all the options I see have a small hot area that would be more suitable for a smaller skillet. Any suggestions for hotplates with a decent sized hot area?
posted by Easy problem of consciousness to Food & Drink (9 answers total)

Most any induction burner can handle a 12-inch cooking vessel. It is not necessary for the burner to heat the entire cooking surface of the pan directly. This is why everything but the cheapest poor quality cookware incorporates materials that have good thermal conductivity: to spread around the thermal energy. Any multi-layer induction-compatible pan will do just fine on an induction burner. (For the record, I own and use a portable induction burner.)
posted by slkinsey at 5:11 AM on December 21, 2017

I think maybe you should be looking at electric griddles instead of hotplates. They are meant for you to cook on them directly, but you can also use them as a heating surface for cooking with pots and pans.

Here's an example that is 13 inches wide.
posted by 256 at 5:12 AM on December 21, 2017 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Slkinsey: I was under the impression that most induction plates have a coil diameter around 6" and then a hot spot about half the coil diameter. Is a 3" hot spot really enough for even heating on a 12" skillet?
posted by Easy problem of consciousness at 5:29 AM on December 21, 2017

I have two of these restaurant-type hotplates: http://cadco-ltd.com/product/kr-s2. The elements on these are about seven-inch diameter. I use them successfully with stockpots and canning kettles. The company also makes a nine-inch model.

(They're spendy, but you get what you pay for. They're solid and dependable. I got them when we remodeled the kitchen. It was cheaper and more adaptable to get a four-burner stove plus two good hotplates than to get a six-burner stove.)
posted by Weftage at 6:08 AM on December 21, 2017

I highly recommend this Cuisinart cast-iron burner. It should be plenty big enough for your purposes, and it really works well. Other single electric burners I have tried have been flimsy or not gotten hot enough. The Cuisinart has been a rock solid performer.
posted by acridrabbit at 7:35 AM on December 21, 2017

My mom loves her NuWave induction burners so much she owns two of them. I think one actually came with a 12" skillet (which she never uses, but it worked perfectly - she just doesn't like handling a pan that large).
posted by dust.wind.dude at 8:13 AM on December 21, 2017

Ikea just started selling this cooktop. I saw it in person - it's very generously sized and modern looking and you can hang it on the wall (as shown on product photos).
posted by rada at 11:50 AM on December 21, 2017

The cooking zone on the IKEA induction cooktop that rada linked to is 185mm – 7", with a 5" minimum pan size. That sounds pretty close to what you want, I guess.
posted by ambrosen at 1:59 PM on December 21, 2017

Costco is sellingthis. It looks like the cooktop is about 10" diameter.
posted by ericales at 10:29 PM on December 21, 2017