Parade of models: how to choose a hob?

Choosing a cooktop, not all of us can be guided only by its technical properties. For many customers, especially female customers, design is one of the most important points of choice. That is why manufacturers try so hard to make their models exquisite, unusual and stylish. The appliances, without losing their utilitarian purpose, tend to look more and more like a refined piece of art.

The technical specifications of cooker hobs are a perfect match for the notion of design. It can be difficult to make a tasteful and graceful bulky thing. Cooking pans are another matter. Their dimensions are made for daring experiments. And the more resourceful the new solution, the more chances to attract attention to it.

Cooking hobs can not be a compositional center of the kitchen. Hoods play this role. The hood sets the tone. But hobs can support, make a logical and defined technical kitchen ensemble. The stylistic solution of the whole set and appliances must not just overlap, it must be finished, perfect. Therefore, at the stage of selecting your future “hearth” is worth analyzing how the new cooktop will fit into your kitchen. The most favorable option is to order the kitchen furniture and appliances at the same time. Salon designers will help you choose the most suitable hob. Especially at the showroom you can literally see how the furniture and appliances offered. An important detail: the showrooms usually offer furniture and appliances of the same price range. Why it is worth paying attention to? High-class furniture requires the purchase of equipment of the same level. If a new set costs “enormous” money, does it make sense to buy an economy-class hob?? Although from a design point of view, of course, this issue is solvable.

We’re for stylish kitchens!

With the modern variety of stylistic solutions for kitchens, there are three main trends: country, modern and hi-tech.

Country

Country style most often involves furniture with wooden or imitation wood fronts. They can be lacquered, waxed or painted. The style is characterized by a certain conservatism. It dictates the peculiarities of the construction of headsets and the use of details. In general, the details in such kitchens are given great importance. Each sash can have decors, and it’s not considered tasteless. Often the fronts are decorated with carvings, intarsia wood inlay , shaped pieces, ceramic inserts with hand-painted ornaments, and so on. Almost every set is completed with fronts with stained glass sashes. The purpose of all these tricks is to create a special warm atmosphere in the kitchen. Sentimental simplicity, however, does not mean backwardness. These kitchens are not inferior in technical perfection to other more advanced brethren. Appliances for country kitchens must obey the given conditions of the game. Its modernity must be carefully concealed behind a seemingly ancient appearance.

Hobs in such kitchens look like aliens from the 40s and 60s. Their color range can be different, from classic white to green, reminiscent of the color of an old “Cossack”. In developing colors designers often exploit associative impressions of the past, so when looking at new models of hobs in the store you involuntarily feel that you are looking at a rarity. When choosing the color of your stove hob is worth remembering that all appliances in the kitchen must match it. That’s why many people opt for white.

White is a universal color, it never goes out of fashion and is always relevant. In addition, it is easiest to pick up the rest of the kitchen details, such as expensive ceramic sinks that do not cut into the countertop, but simply cover it – most effectively in white version. On the other hand, the white is not so harmoniously combined with the dark wood, while violating the integrity of the furniture and drawing more attention than it should. Most often the customer chooses appliances of black color, here it looks like a modest Cinderella in a vintage dress, although the functional set is not inferior to the most advanced achievements of the industry.

Modern

Art Nouveau kitchens are democratic. The variety of colors, simple cabinet shapes and surface finishes gives you a wide range of design options to choose from. The cooking plates can be retro style, then the whole kitchen will get a chic of the 60s. It takes just a few little things to accentuate the chosen theme. High-tech appliances make your kitchen look tough and aggressive. Hob in an ensemble with other large appliances can set the tone and mood of the space. So the choice can be trusted to intuition. What you want to buy, in principle, the style can take shape by itself. Art Nouveau kitchens often tend to look more technologically advanced, mimicking their urbane counterparts in the hi-tech camp. But the classic roots don’t let us forget about them. That’s why modern kitchens are so versatile, they will be able to adjust to the character of their owners, focusing on the little things. Appliances are not just a detail – they come to the fore, attracting attention. It doesn’t matter what class these appliances are, both expensive and mid-priced will look great.

High-tech

The hi-tech style is considered by many to be a narcissistic egoist. It strives to absorb the best technical achievements of the time, while constantly looking ahead. Its proportions are cold and austere. It’s as if they are admiring themselves, not noticing anyone around them. The hi-tech style can be considered as a design reference. For here, as in an exhibition of achievements, you can observe the latest and most fashionable finds, to which the art Nouveau will “crawl” many years later. But hi-tech design solutions are not just a hobby for novelty, they are dictated by the harsh reality of convenience and technology. Say, the marked desire of kitchens to horizontal solutions dictated solely by issues of convenience, when drawing a wide 90 cm drawer all the items are in front of the eyes, the search for lost items ceases to exist. Kitchen appliances have to follow and imitate. This is where elongated cooktops come in, with burners almost in line with each other. And the cooktops are large, with deliberately long spacing between the hobs. And, of course, “dominoes”.

The main “love” of the style – striving to use details of metals and glass. Glass ceramic hobs look like nowhere else logical in kitchens, complemented by aluminum and stainless steel, frosted glass. imitating the furniture, they are made of matte metals, different shades – from almost white to the color of champagne gold or moonlight. And yet it retains a cool detachment and practicality. The hob can and should be an eye-catcher the technologically advanced style gives priority to technology. So bright colors in the kitchen no longer seem pretentious. You want a party every day? Get a yellow or blue hob and oven. The kitchen will be immediately transformed and the juicy color spots will accentuate not only the appliances, but the whole kitchen as well, while paying tribute to your cheerful personality.

Black is still the hi-tech trendsetter. Its depth and restraint, practicality and independence are so attractive to designers and us, mere mortals. Many designers see white as the ideal color, but this is different. White in such a technological kitchen should be as cold as snow, and unapproachable, and it could be that, but black is by right the primacy. On glossy black surface both flame of gas burner and red-hot induction looks fascinating. Black enamel or glass can find a common language with veneered or natural facades of bleached or stained black oak and exotic African woods, so fashionable now, and plastics, and painted facades.

Beautiful if you like

This famous design motto is particularly relevant when it comes to technology. Cooktops shouldn’t just impress us with their looks, they should work, every day. And work is holidays and weekdays. That is why it is so important for the hob to be as practical as possible, to make everyday use a pleasure and joy.

Among hob surfaces, the most prominent place is given to the glass ceramic. This is quite justified, glass ceramic is an almost perfect combination of a beautiful surface and ease of care. The properties of the coating have given designers the opportunity to come up with more and more solutions. Fiberglass ceramic can be not only the usual black color, you can buy the model of white, gray, yellow and blue tones. Perfectly smooth and even surface is able to reflect the light. Glass ceramic is made glossy and matte. The user can combine it perfectly with the kitchen fronts and the rest of the appliances.

A special place in the design of stove hobs is its decoration. Decorating is not common on appliances in general, and cooktops stand out for the boldness and unusualness of such offerings. For example, “rock painting” on the panel Kaiser and deliberately inaccurate contours of burners seems as if drawn by hand. The panel from Hansa is like a map of the starry sky with the signs of the Zodiac, the outlines of the burners on it resemble the drawings of Leonardo da Vinci. Zigmund&Shtain created a panel decorated with squares that actually indicate the hearths. These squares are like pieces of unvarnished linen, with a thick brush stroke of hieroglyphic writing inside.

The designation of burners on the glass ceramic hob has a utilitarian function, but designers strive to show their taste and abilities here as well. Burners can be outlined in a simple, round shape. If the lines of the circle remain unbroken, a completely new impression is created when the burner is switched off. The rotational dynamism of the burners is created by the circular arrangement of the risks: when they form a series of lines with a slight offset, the observer is engulfed in an almost real illusion of movement. The burners don’t have to be round! Squares or rectangles on the panel look no worse.

When a manufacturer seeks to indicate the connection between a burner and the button that controls it, it appears as if the panel has a tree painted on it. Only it doesn’t look like the real thing.

The possibility of placing the hob in a corner led to the idea of changing the shape, away from the usual stereotype that the panel must be rectangular. The German brand Gaggenau designs a hexagonal-shaped appliance.

And don’t forget the frame…

We’ve already mentioned that modern cooktops can look like a painting. This effect is especially noticeable when the panel is enclosed in a frame. The frame can be on all four sides of the appliance or only on two sides. Stainless steel is used most often for the frame, it is polished and has a matte finish.

Vitrified ceramic itself is a very beautiful and, one might say, self-contained material. So it makes sense not to hide it in a frame. The edge of the panel can be simply beveled, as if going into the table. There can be only one beveled edge, which logically supports the control panel located there.

The panel under the gas

Gas cooktop hobs look more bulky at first glance. Above their surface, the burners protrude. Their appearance has changed little in recent years. Designers are experimenting more with grids for dishes. They can be elegant with curved lines, strictly proportional with square cells, fancy, reminiscent of propellers, or ironic, with details of unusual shape unnoticeable at first.

The position of burners on the panel does not always obey the law of symmetry. Although, here too, there are innovations that catch the eye. The cross-shaped position of the burners on the Ariston panel can be played with different-looking grids in different ways. Independence and lightness are the freestanding grids for each burner. They either look like a spider suspended on its long legs, or seem almost weightless and invisible, or deliberately large, proving their importance by their size.

The grids are most often made of enameled metal, which easily takes the necessary shapes.

The surface of the hob can be glass ceramic, enamel or made of stainless steel. Why don’t all parts of the panel be made of steel?? An example is the Chengdu model, with exaggeratedly large controls and a thick grille. Such an appliance has a finished, logical and self-confident look.

Control buttons go to the right

The control panel is located directly on the hob we are talking about independent hobs . The design of the appearance of the device is based on the assumption that it will be used by the average person. This person is right-handed. That’s why the keys or controls are so often located along or near the right edge of the panel. Many housewives prefer to choose models with the control panel arranged along the front side. Its symmetrical layout seems optimal. But you can also find appliances with the panel closer to the right or left edge.

Fiberglass is completely flat, it blends smoothly with the control panel, limiting it only by an outlined contour or without it at all. To make the control area stand out, Gaggenau designers raised it above the surface, affirming its dominant position.

Gas cooktops are controlled by mechanical regulators. They take different forms, and the control panel itself can be separated from the device, for this purpose it is lifted or lowered into a special recess, placed on the front, towering on the front or side. Regulators can be independent, simply placed on the surface of the panel in pairs or quadruple.