Product Description

Induction cooking is a safe method of cooking because there is no open flame or hot cooking element. Additionally, our Induction Cooktop has more heat settings than others on the market, offering greater flexibility in cooking.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2182 in Kitchen & Housewares
• Color: White
• Brand: Max Burton
• Model: 6000
• Released on: 2008-06-05
• Dimensions: 2.50" h x 12.63" w x 14.00" l,

Features

• Induction cooking technology keeps the cooking surface cool, except where it comes in contact with the cookware.
• Adjustable heat settings
• Warm setting
• Timer function to set cooking duration
• Unsuitable cookware detector

Customer Reviews

A mixed review
There's good news and bad news. I bought this unit as a training unit to check out the technology and have a good extra hob on hand for times when we strain our kitchen resources. The intent is to eventually equip our kitchen with an induction cooktop for energy efficiency.

The good news is that the technology works as advertised. It's remarkably quick and has plenty of power despite running off a normal power outlet. The bad news is that on this unit the heating element (if that is the correct terminology) is only about 7 to 8 inches across. It worked fine when we made soups, though we did notice that only the middle boiled or simmered. However, when frying, the limitation of the element size became a problem. We used a lodge 12" cast iron skillet to fry fish. The center of the pan put a beautiful tan on the panko, but the outside of the pan was relatively cool, requiring that each piece of fish be flipped to four positions before it was properly cooked.
We tested the unit by wetting the bottom of a cold pan and watching how it dried. The center bubbled and dried, but the outer bottom was only warm to the touch. I thought perhaps it was defective, but other reviewers have commented on the problem.

I notice that most of the units on the market do not specify the size of the heating element. Whether this exposes a problem with the technology or is just marketing avoiding a problem with inexpensive units I can't tell.

I am hopeful of the technology, but returned this unit because of it's limitations. If you only use smaller pans, or rarely, if ever, fry, I recommend it.

As has been mentioned before the first unit arrived broken.

Cook dinner without cooking the cook.
You have to use the Max Burton Induction Cooktop to fully appreciate the induction cooking experience.

At your command are the power and instant response of an 11500 BTU gas burner without a natural gas line or a butane cylinder in sight. You're cooking with electricity, but unlike a hotplate, an induction cooktop doesn't emit a single degree of thermal energy. Switch it on without a pan in place and it just shuts itself off. Center a pot of water on the circles, crank the power up to the highest setting, and in minutes, the water's boiling like there's no tomorrow. Amazingly, you can rest your hand an eighth of an inch from the pan and the cooking surface is barely warm. At a half-inch, it's downright cool to the touch. In fact, about the only heat escaping into the room is from the steam itself. The cooking surface is producing NO heat of its own!

Don't believe me? Take the pot away, drop a paper napkin on the cooking surface and . . . nothing. No fireball, no billows of smoke, no glowing ashes flitting around the room. Yes, the surface is hot, but only because it absorbed some heat from the pot.

It's not magic. It's induction. Computer-controlled electromagnetic energy induces the bottom of the pot or pan to produce its own heat. It all seems so futuristic but in reality, it's been around since the previous century. As is true with all things electronic, the technology gets cheaper as it gets better. Today's countertop induction cookers are giving their built-in big brothers some real competition. Factor in portability and a small trade-off in power, and many folks are thinking twice about remodeling the kitchen. Just plug one or two of these into separate circuits, and your kitchen is ready for any season.

In the summer, use your induction cooker for stovetop cooking. And don't be afraid to crank up the A/C and turn the ceiling fan to High, even if you're simmering a delicate Hollandaise. There's no flame to blow out, so there's no danger of gassing up the kitchen.

In the winter, an induction cooktop becomes a handy keep-warm burner while the waste heat from conventional cooking warms up the kitchen. Of course, you already know you should NEVER use the stove or oven solely to heat the kitchen but when you're cooking in the dead of winter, that extra warmth won't go to waste.

Any time of year, induction is the method of choice for sustained low-heat cooking that would normally call for a double boiler.

And who says you have to keep it in the kitchen? I know folks who take their induction cookers out on the patio when the weather's nice or when they want to cook fish without smelling up the house for weeks. Max Burton even offers an induction-ready stovetop smoker. Truckers use high-wattage inverters to power their induction cooktops when they're on the road. Take it to work, find a vacant outlet in the break room, and wow your fellow cubicle-dwellers with one of your culinary specialties prepared on the spot, not reheated in the microwave oven. RV cookery no longer needs to feel like you're fixing dinner in a phone booth over a blast furnace. Remember: Electrical outlet + induction cooker = instant kitchen.

At 1600 watts, the Max Burton offers the most bang for the buck among 120-volt units. The next step up in power, 1800 watts (equivalent to 13000 BTU), is found mainly on commercial units that require beefier electrical circuits than are found in the average home. They also cost about five times the price! Maybe YOU have that kind of money to burn but I'd rather wait a little longer for my pasta water to come to a boil and pocket the difference.

The control panel is simple and uncluttered. If you're comfortable with the touchpad controls on a modern oven, you'll be right at home. The Function touchpad cycles through Power or Temperature cooking modes and a Timer mode. The Power mode provides 10 settings and the Temperature mode steps from 150 to 390 degrees Fahrenheit. Setting the timer is a little tricky because it counts up in 5-minute jumps but counts down 1 minute at a time, so to set 13 minutes, you push the up-arrow three times to get to 15 minutes, then the down-arrow twice to subtract two minutes.

Now, I can already hear your know-it-all friends warning "If you buy one of those, you'll have to replace EVERY POT AND PAN IN THE KITCHEN!" Not very likely. Line up all your pots and pans and pick out those with perfectly flat bottoms. Grab a magnet off the fridge and see if it clings to any of those bottoms. Chances are, it clings to quite a few, like Grandma's cast iron skillet and Aunt Sophie's enamelware Dutch oven. Hey, look, it clings to the bottom of that pressure cooker you picked up on your last trip to the Galleria! Well, whaddaya know! You DO have some induction-ready cookware!

If your kitchen has stainless steel counters or other metal work surfaces, they're off-limits because they can weaken the electromagnetic field. A small amount of energy radiates from the bottom of the cooktop and can make the surface below too hot to touch. Reserve a spot on a Formica, marble, granite or wooden countertop near an electrical outlet.

And, yes, it's true that every induction cooktop has a fan to keep the magnetic coils cool. The sound is more noticeable on a countertop unit than on a built-in but much quieter than a range hood exhaust fan or a microwave oven. If that's the sound of a cooler kitchen, it's music to my ear.

"Bugs"
I love this product, but there are some "bugs" with the sensor. When using my Le Cruset cookware, the overheating error message pops up after about ten minutes on power setting 3. According to the product service manager, the key is to use the temperature function and/or timer, rather than the power setting. Apparently, the Le Cruset and other cast iron cookware retains heat to the extent that it fools the sensor into believing the cooktop is overheating, and sends an error message and/or it shuts down completely. I'll certainly try this approach, but it's a bit annoying and defeats the purpose of decreased cooking time.