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Vast improvement over many other similar induction hotplates. A Best Buy!!!
Color: Silver
Style: Cooktop
I owned a Tramontina induction hot plate for several years before it recently stopped working. It was excellent for searing meat especially steaks, and good for only a few other tasks because the temperature control was crude. This DUX unit, by comparison, is fantastic. What a great improvement! It s
eems all these less expensive induction hot plates, including this one, control cooking temperature by cycling the power on and off as opposed to controlling the induction coil current. Most of them offer a pan surface that alternates between too hot and too cold . This DUX unit has somehow overcome this problem by using much finer control of the duty cycle. The result is vastly improved temperature control and an induction hot plate that is useful for more than just boiling water or searing meat. The Dux is well designed and very nice looking. This is without any question a best buy. I got a "used" one in a box that had been opened at a nice discount. Could not tell it from a brand new one. Unless you need a 220V unit for use with much larger pots and pans, get this one. Remarkably it will control well all the way from blazing hot to warm at approx. 125 deg F. It has a useful timer that goes up to 10 hours and shuts the unit off when the time is up. This DUX unit is far more useful than competing induction hot plates because of its good temperature control, very wide range of settings and timer. It could be the heat source for a fine crockpot substitute. Of course, as with all of these less expensive induction hot plates, you will want to learn to control the temperature indirectly using the numeric settings that control the duty cycle. This one goes from 0.5 to 10 in 0.5 increments giving you a total of twenty settings. The Dux can be made to read out temperature directly but the reading will only be approximate, and may be quite inaccurate in some situations. This in no way affects the usefulness of the Dux however. If temperature is critical, use an "instant" read thermometer. One of the big surprises is that you can make Hollandaise sauce directly without a double boiler if you have the right utensil.. For example, the 12 cm Barrizonni belly shaped milk pot with heavy wire handle is perfect for this purpose. Its base is only 9 cm which is wide enough to let the DUX top know there is a pot on it, so it won't shut itself off, but small enough to fit mostly within the central circle of the Dux. To make a one egg yolk Hollandaise, for example -- something not easy to do directly on a gas or electric range without using a double boiler-- put one cold yolk and 4-5 Tbs of cold butter in chunks into the pot all at the same time! The butter can even be frozen! Put the pot dead center on the Duxtop and set it to a low setting "1". You can tinker with the heat a little by moving the pot slightly off center and then back to center as needed, or lifting it, something you can't do with most competing units without having to reset the controls. Whisk until the butter is incorporated and then season the sauce in the usual way. This goes very fast, about a minute or two. This is the easiest anyone is ever going to make a perfect hollandaise sauce. Since reviewing this duxtop, I had a chance to use the beautifully sleek induction cooktop sold by IKEA. The IKEA unit is about half the price, however it lacks fine control of cooking temperature (10 settings versus 20 available on the Duxtop Model 96xx) resulting in significantly more coarse temperature control and a very noticeable cycling between on and off. Furthermore the IKEA unit, as do most other brands, shuts of quickly if the cooking utensil is lifted from the surface and stays off until manually reset, whereas the Duxtop, while it also shuts off to protect the unit, will restart without changing its settings when the cookware is placed back in contact with the surface within a minute or less. Quite often one needs to lift a pan to flip its contents, or for even finer heat control. Having used this Duxtop for a while now, I can't say enough good things about it, it is truly a remarkably well designed and extremely functional induction hot plate for home use.. I noticed another review mentioned that they like another brand of induction hotplate better because it boiled water, by their test, 20 seconds faster than the Duxtop. I need not point out how absurd this is. Twenty seconds difference over 4 minutes will result from small differences in the amount of water or the precise positioning of the pan. There is no statistical difference between the time to boil water between these two hot plates. You'd have to repeat this test many times under careful control to have any chance of detecting any real difference in the time to boil water. Incidentally, none of these 1800 watt induction hot plates will boil substantial amounts of water significantly faster than many conventional, natural gas stoves. That's not where an induction cooktop has an edge over a good gas range. The Duxtop is better at controlling both time and temperature than a gas stove and it both heats and cools the surface of a pan far more rapidly. All induction cooktops, even the lousy ones, will get a pan surface blazing hot very fast on their top setting and are superior for searing meat, but do this outdoors unless you have efficient kitchen stove ventilation, because there is going to be smoke, and lots of it. The only place where the top setting should ever be needed is in bringing water to a boil quickly. The high heat of vaporization of water gives some protection to the cooking unit. If you want to shorten the life of the induction hotplate, use it at the top setting (10) on a dry pan for extended periods! In searing meat a setting above 8 is not needed. This is undoubtedly why when one selects the boil function on the Duxtop it automatically sets the power level to 10 and automatically sets the timer to 10 minutes; yet another wise protective feature of the Duxtop that competing units do not have. Another big advantage induction cooktops have over any range with an open flame is that a paper towel can safely substitute as a pan lid to trap splatters of moisture and fat while letting steam escape. This arrangement can be used in combination with a lid, which will trap both splatters and steam. Many meats nowadays come pumped full of salt solutions,e.g., most bacon brands. These meats, when fried in an open pan, will create a mess of fat spatters. If a lid is used, steamed rather than browned meat results. Induction cooking solves these problems. Bacon, for example, is as easily prepared, and without creating a mess, on the Duxtop as it is in a microwave by substituting a paper towel for a pan lid. Nothing browns meat faster or more conveniently than an induction cooktop, and there is no mess to clean up!. All in all this is a remarkably good induction hot plate, and is perhaps the first inexpensive induction hot plate for home use to give highly satisfactory temperature control over a very wide range. It brings an inexpensive, portable home unit very close to the control one previously had to pay far more to achieve. In this sense, this appears to be an appliance that breaks new ground that all other home-use induction hotplates will be forced to emulate. We can think of the Duxtop as bringing to the serious home cook what was previously available only in professional or high-end home kitchens. Like the iconic Kitchenaid Mixer that brought professional orbital mixing action to home cooks, this 96xx series of Duxtops appears to me to be the first inexpensive induction cooktop to give professional quality induction temperature control. The only difference you are likely to experience between this unit and one costing far more is the size of the pans and the volume of liquids that it can handle. In most cases this duxtop unit will be sufficient for cooking four to six servings using most standard sized pots and pans. You can successfully use somewhat larger pans up to the width of the unit if you use a lower power setting and allow more time for conduction to even out the pan surface temperature. The only possible improvement I would like to see would be one still lower power setting of say 0.25. That could be even more useful for fermentations such as making of creme fraiche in a bain marie. The present model goes down to a still amazing and very useful 0.5. Yes, you can melt chocolate at the 0.5 lowest setting, but keep your eye on it and stir. After using this thing almost daily for a few months, I am still amazed at what it can do and how well it does it! edit 2020: After daily use for 9 months haven't changed my mind. A beautifully engineered product. Will be the standard against which all competitors must compete. And the price remains amazingly low for this kind of quality and function. One of the best products for the money I have ever purchased. edit sept. 2020: Oh my goodness, is this thing ever great! Now I hardly ever use my otherwise great Bosch range's gas cook top. For those in the Southern part of the U.S. that make gumbo regularly, this duxtop is a fantastic roux maker because of its great temperature control. It will make it possible for even an amateur chef to achieve an almost black roux without burning it. Look up Chef Paul Prudhomme's method in his cookbook. Use an enameled, cast iron, dutch oven. Edit: After 19 Months of daily use, still perfect in every way. Edit: I continue to be impressed with the spectacular engineering that went into this product. I use it daily, seldom using my Bosch gas stove top. Beware of imposters that look similar but do not offer the all-important 20 levels of heat control, a 10-hour timer and also permit a pan to be lifted from the surface with the unit operating without having to reset the controls (very useful feature!). I have learned that the Duxtop has a number of circuit and heat protection features that are only evident after much use. What a great induction cooktop this is! Edit Mar 2023: Approaching four years now of daily use. Still functions like brand new and looks almost brand new.
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Reviewed in the United States on September 13, 2019 by Creig
Color: Silver
Style: Cooktop
I purchased this cooktop because it got the highest recommendation from New York Time's Wirecutter, which has been testing induction cooktops for years, and because it seemed like a good way to dip my toe into the induction cooking pool for not a lot of money. It also provided a quick and easy way to
reduce the use of my gas stove. Cooking with gas can have a detrimental effect on indoor air quality and indeed personal health, something most of us have not taken as seriously as we should. And as the electricity grid becomes increasingly powered by renewables like wind and solar, phasing out all use of fossil fuels in favor of electric appliances will become increasingly desirable. Thus I wanted to get a glimpse of what my cooking future might look like a few years from now, given that I've long believed that gas provides the best cooking experience. It's interesting how admirable qualities in an appliance can be swamped by irritations -- something every product designer should take seriously. For me the biggest irritation by far is that the unit beeps continuously whenever it's turned on but without an appropriate (ie., ferrous) pot or skillet positioned on the cooktop. The beep is not loud, but it is insistent, and few things irritate me more than being nagged by my machines, especially when it's so needless. (I turn off the sound on my microwave for this very reason. I'll remove my food when I FEEL LIKE IT, thank you very much.) And having become sensitized, I have an increasingly negative reaction every time the beeping happens. That's not the kind of relationship you want with your cooktop. Perhaps I should get some counseling. The nagging happens every morning when I make my coffee. I heat my water kettle on the cooktop, and remove the kettle to slowly pour hot water over my ground coffee. The cooktop starts its hissy-fit the instant the kettle is removed. No pot! It beeps. And beeps. And beeps. Oh, the horror of not having a pot in place. The idea for me is to pour some hot water over the grounds, then return the kettle to the cooktop while the coffee drips, then come back to pour some more water, and so forth. But during the pouring the cooktop is having its mini-nervous breakdown about the missing pot. There's a palpably emotional insistence in both of us, the cooktop and me, to HURRY with the pouring and get that kettle pack onto the thing, to make the thing stop beeping. This is all so unnecessary. Part of the rationale for beeping might be to remind the novice user of what kind of cookware will and will not work. Glass cookware, for example, won't work. Non-magnetic stainless won't work either. Cookware to which a magnet will stick does work. The cooktop detects whether induction-capable cookware is in position, and notifies the user when it is not. On the LCD display, for example, which flashes Pot! when one is missing. The novice will soon learn what cookware is compatible with his unit. Even without the beeping, a good clue about incompatible cookware is that the cookware does not get hot. The blinking display is another reasonable clue. The incessant beeping is not. Once the user has figured out what cookware does and doesn't work, the beeping and even the flashing display serves no useful purpose, other than to tell the user what he can plainly see for himself by glancing at the cooktop and noticing the absence of a pot. No pot? I know, you idiot machine, I'm holding that pot RIGHT NOW while I make my coffee. It's important to understand that the absence of a pot poses no safety issues whatsoever. The cooktop itself does not get hot in any case, because induction only produces heat IN THE METAL STRUCTURE OF THE PAN, not on the surface of the cooktop. And anyway, the cooktop won't energize the induction mechanism without an appropriate pot being in place, so literally nothing is going on in the absence of a pot. Everything is cool, literally and metaphorically. In that respect an induction stove is safer than either gas or conventional electric. Did I mention that I very much dislike gratuitous beeping? But to be clear, a discreet for the purpose of auditory feedback during the operation of the controls, such as when adjusting the cooking level, is fine. What else? Well, the actual active induction zone seems smaller than I thought it would be. It appears to be about 6 inches in diameter. You can readily see this by placing an inch or so of water in a large diameter skillet and bringing it to a boil. A tight circle of boiling water develops about 6 inches across in the center of the pan, with not much happening outside that circle. If all you're doing is boiling a liquid, such as when I make my coffee, this is not a problem, because convective forces keep the liquid mixed and at a uniform temperature. But it might be a problem for other kinds of cooking. The effect is interesting to observe. While I certainly didn't expect uniform edge-to-edge heating on a 12-inch skillet, this smallish induction zone came as a bit of a surprise. And it demonstrates how tightly concentrated is the induced energy, so much so that it can somewhat overwhelm the ability of even a high quality skillet to evenly distribute the heat outside that induction zone. By contrast, a gas burner has a flame that spreads out over the entire bottom of the pan and can even go up the sides, which results in a larger area of uniformity for more even heat across the entire pan. For that reason the gas burner will almost certainly cook more evenly, even though the induction element is more energy efficient because all the energy used to produce heat is induced in the pan itself. A couple of further comments on this. First, this is a PORTABLE cooktop. I have no experience with the capabilities of built-in induction cooktops. They might do a much better job of handling a variety of pan sizes. Something to investigate. And it might be argued that a portable cooktop is really only intended to be used with smaller pans anyway. All that said, it seems to me that a somewhat larger induction zone -- say, 8 inches -- would be a big improvement, and would be more suited to most of the cookware I use. Another thing that surprised me a little is that energy output (ie, heat control) is produced by pulsing the induction element. One thing that's said about induction stoves is that the temperature change is instantaneous, similar to gas. And it is. Maybe even more so, since with gas the heat must be conducted from outside the pan. But the heating output of this cooktop is controlled by in effect turning the induction element on and off over appropriate intervals to maintain the desired temperature or heat level. You can hear that happening when you're boiling water at reduced power: The boiling sound starts and stops, starts and stops, starts and stops. I would have thought that the induction element would run continuously, with its power output continuously adjusted according to the desired cooking temperature. This isn't necessarily a criticism. At least, I don't think so. And speaking of sound, this unit is somewhat noisy. That's because it has an internal fan to cool its own electronics while it's running, and presumably also to remove the small amount of heat that is conducted into the cooktop from the bottom of a hot pan. The NYT review warns of this, and also points out that the sound level from the cooktop is no louder than running a kitchen exhaust fan -- which you really should be doing if you're cooking with gas. All this reads like a list of negatives, although I really didn't set out to write a scathing critique. Better maybe to call this product a collection of mostly reasonable tradeoffs, except for the gratuitous beeping, which is an outright design flaw. The build quality certainly seems good. It's really easy to wipe clean. The unit is compact enough to not take up an inordinate amount of counter space, and is easy enough to relocate or put away when it does. It makes it easy to augment your current cooking setup. It's priced low enough to make for a low-risk purchase, and if you find you like the product you might view it as a bargain. It does draw a lot of power, which is a consideration given that it plugs into a standard wall outlet. That means there really oughtn't be too much else on the same electrical circuit while the cooktop is operating. Otherwise you'll find yourself blowing breakers. This unit will use all the capacity of a 15 amp circuit, and three fourths the capacity of a 20 amp circuit. So, then. Do I wish a few things were different? Yeah. Would I buy it again? I think so. Would my rating be higher than 3 stars without the stupid beeping? Absolutely.
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Reviewed in the United States on February 16, 2023 by Mike Brennan
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Exact temperature control for all types of foods
Color: Silver
Style: Cooktop
Being unsure of transitioning to an induction cooktop in our kitchen remodel (still happening), I ordered this to test induction cooking. I read lots of reviews and blogs on portable induction cooktops, and I am so sold on this little appliance I took it with me on a recent road trip along with a Hex
clad pot to use in hotels for my meals. I still have a perfectly functioning electric stove but I prefer to use this and it's a mainstay in my kitchen. The LCD sensor touch is responsive, intuitive and quick. The booklet manual and instructions were very thorough, as one goes through a learning curve going to induction from gas or electric. If you are patient at first and do your reading, the payoff is quicker cooking and easy clean-up. I've cooked fried foods, stir-fry, regular sauced foods, sauteed and simmered foods, as well as just reheated leftovers. I have found the response to increased or decreased temperatures IMMEDIATE. I love the KEEP WARM feature. The BOIL button will put you at power 10 and within a minute your water will be boiling. I've used the LOCK feature once; not a prime feature to me but it did work. Take advantage of the power levels/temperature conversion charts in the included book. If your recipe calls for say, 325*, the chart will tell you just where to set the power level. If your recipe says to use medium heat, just a glance to the chart will tell you where to set the power. In my experience the 5.0 power that is the default when you power on and hit MENU is the highest I've ever had to use. Induction is so efficient and quick that foods rarely need a higher power, even browning meat. It could be my Hexclad pans but I've also used just stainless steel pots/pans that are magnetized for induction. All it takes is a soapy dishrag to clean the cooktop. I give it a swipe, then a rinse swipe, and dry it with a dish towel. I've never had to scrub like I did on my smooth electric cooktop. Another thing I'll mention is that it hasn't been scratched like my old cooktop. I am gentle on my things, though, and after now fully three months of daily use, it still looks brand new. Keep the handy box with the handle it comes in. You'll want to take it with you like I did -- camping, traveling, to an event as an extra heat source. For the price point of this portable cooktop and the features it offers this purchase was one of the best I've made for the kitchen.
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Reviewed in the United States on July 6, 2023 by Sunnygirl
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Fast Boiling; Precise Temp Control
Color: Silver
Style: Cooktop
We've had this for awhile, rehearsing for when we replace our range (eventually, not soon) with one that has an induction top. I bought a set of induction-friendly non-stick granite frying pans from Amazon, and picked up 2 different-sized stainless saucepans from TJ Max, or Marshall's. I originally u
sed it for boiling water, which it does 5X as fast as our gas/propane-powered stovetop. (We live rurally, and propane has fewer BTU's than natural gas.) You have to watch it closely though, as it comes to a boil surprisingly fast. Even though the largest frying pan isn't the ideal size for the little cooktop, it's still workable. I love the precise nature of the temp controls, and the "keep warm" feature. One more thing I really love though, is that my new pans (I've had them for a few months) aren't getting brown on the bottom as they do on our gas/propane-powered stove. I even bought a wall rack to hang them on, something I was always reluctant to do with previous pans, as they looked so cruddy. Works for me, and I can see a way forward with this method of cooking, though I will miss charring tortillas with a live flame. Maybe it's time to get a butane torch!
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Reviewed in the United States on September 2, 2023 by dragonflyeye
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One of the nicest induction burners I've used.
Color: Silver
Style: Cooktop
My first induction burner was a Max Burton from when induction burners first hit the market. I had the thing for years, but rarely used it because the heat controls were too coarse. I have a commercial induction burner as well. It works great, has 100 heat level settings, but it really needs large co
okware to be effective. This duxtop, now that I've used it a few times, has excellent heat control. I've used it to cook brown rice using the stove top directions that you see on the package and it comes out perfectly. To be fair, it didn't perform so well the first couple of times, but that was just me trying to figure out what heat level would work best. Basically, water and 1/4 cup rice into a 1 quart pot, bring to a boil, cover, and set the heat to 0.5 for 45 minutes. One feature this unit has that the old unit did not have is 20 heat level settings, starting from 0.5 to 10.0 in 0.5 increments. I think this is a really nice compromise between making a unit that's inexpensive yet useful. I'm sure to use this daily during the summer months because it puts very little excess heat into the kitchen. For anyone wondering, I can't justify purchasing a rice cooker. My kitchen is too small for uni-task appliances.
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Reviewed in the United States on August 17, 2023 by Amazon Customer
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Finally, a way to keep my gas cooktop clean. Stop using it and use this instead!
Color: Silver
Style: Cooktop
I’ll admit I’m a sucker for kitchen gadgets and small appliances. But it must have been a well-placed ad that got to me late one evening, when, within the space of half an hour, I went from never having heard of a standalone induction hub to having one in my cart to be delivered the next morning. Tha
t order went in a week ago today. In that time, I have used my gas cook top only for conducting comparison tests to see how much time, if any, the induction would save me over the gas. My kitchen is not a certified laboratory, but the results were pretty much as expected, with one surprise. I used 5 different pans for testing. All All-Clad and Tramontina vessels are tri-ply. For the first test I boiled 2 cups of water in the following pans with these results: 5” All-Clad saucepan: Induction (I): 3 minutes; Gas (G): 6.75 minutes NOTE: Part of the difference is no doubt due to having to use the smallest burner on the gas stove for this small pan. All-Clad saucepan: I: 3 minutes; G: 5.25 minutes All-Clad Dutch oven size: I: 3 minutes; G: 4 minutes Le Creuset 2-1/4 quart saucier pan: I: 3.2 minutes; G 4.5 minutes For the second test, I boiled 5 quarts of water in one pot: Tramontina pasta pot: I: 22 minutes; G: 22.5 minutes WHOA. That last one was a surprise and disappointing one at that. I repeated it somewhat in the All-Clad Dutch oven with 4 quarts of water, and the results were similarly similar. Is the hob working right? Has anybody else had the same results? Still, if it is working right, it’s not a deal killer. I’m used to planning for water to take this long to boil, and I’d much rather be doing it on a heating source that is not polluting my household with deadly gasses for that much time. In addition to the boiling-water tests, I cooked vegetarian chili in the Dutch oven (see photo), made oat-milk chocolate pudding in the Le Creuset, fried eggs in a black steel /carbon steel frying pan, warmed up left overs, heated soup for lunches; and I was happy with all results. As to usability, I was concerned that the interface might be tricky, but I picked it up quickly. Not bad for a seriously senior senior citizen. The pan does have a tendency to slide if you're stirring vigorously. My handles and lids did not get hot; however, so can can quickly keep a pot from getting too far away without burning myself to stop it. I like its look and the design with a controls at a slant. As a shorty, every little detail like that is helpful. It is lightweight, but a bit bulky. I definitely read the size specs before buying it but was probably hoping it wouldn’t really be that big. As a compulsive wiper-upper I found myself accidentally changing settings whenever I automatically swiped whatever I had managed to splatter on it. At least things it cleans up easily, unlike that gas monster. My biggest concern is that when I plug it in, the electricity arcs. What does that mean? Something wrong with my wiring, the unit, nothing to worry about it? I’d like to store it on its side but haven’t found any documentation about that yet. And, finally, regarding the noise it makes. The fan seems a bit loud for such a small device, but it is waaaay less noisy than the exhaust fan above my cooktop that seems to just send the stinky gas fumes to a vent above the microwave and shoot it back into the room. I have only heard the other noise, kind of a hissing noise, a few times. It hasn't been very loud. If I move the pan a little bit, sometimes it goes away. I consider myself pretty sensitive to sounds, and it hasn't bothered me. Fortunately, my floor plan is pretty open. If I was in a closed off kitchen where noise had no place to go, it might be more of a problem. I have a modest-sized kitchen that has no vacant countertop space begging to be filled. If I add something, it most likely means, something else has got to be relocated. For that to happen I have must have a great need or desire for the new product. This is undoubtedly worth it. It saves time in most cases, doesn’t harm the atmosphere, and it takes the pressure off replacing the old gas beast and paying for new wiring to get a new stove. If I had a tad-bit more space, I’d probably get the double-burner version. As it is, I’ll keep using this and add another single burner if I want to later.
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Reviewed in the United States on March 14, 2022 by D. Booth D. Booth
Color: Black
Style: Cooktop
When I first bought this I worried a little that it wouldn't be worth it, or that it would break. Now that I've used it for 4 years, I wouldn't use anything else, and I used to be a huge fan of gas cookers. I can control the temperature of everything I cook and have it down so well. It heats fast for
induction compatible cookware. I originally bought it to use in my travel trailer because I couldn't stand the flimsy propane stove that came with it. Now that I'm no longer in that, I use this instead of the electric cooktop in my flat, could also be used in motels. I don't even have to take it above five to boil. Most of my cookware is all clad or similar which instructs never to take it above medium heat. It would be nice if it would default on 1 upon turning on instead of the middle setting of 5. The only downside is power outages, and that's where gas is better.
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Reviewed in the United States on August 25, 2023 by Transatlantique
Color: Black
Style: Cooktop
The media could not be loaded. I have a very small kitchen. I bought a countertop oven which I use 99.9% of the time. My regular oven is now a cabinet for pots and pans. I then realized that I never use more than one burner at a time on my stovetop. So I moved the countertop oven on top of the stovet
op and placed this Duxtop induction burner next to it. I freed up precious counter space by doing so. The Duxtop took some getting used to. The more I learn about how to use it, the more I like it. Only one cheap frying pan didn’t work on it. I replaced it with an inexpensive one made for induction. My enameled Dutch ovens, cast iron cookware, and other frying pans work well. Water about an inch or so deep in a 10-inch frying pan boiled in about 1 minute. A 3.8 quart enameled Dutch oven that I use to boil bagels, filled with about 3 quarts of very hot tap water, took 10 minutes to boil. One issue I had was the unit just turning off. Very frustrating when you’re in the middle of boiling bagels. Totally an operator error. You must set the time past the default. The default timer for the boil function is 10 minutes. To get around this, push the timer button. The “00” for minutes flashes first. You can set this up to 59 minutes. If you want an hour or more, wait for the “00” to stop flashing and the “0” to start flashing. Now you can set the timer for up to 10 hours. Pressing the minutes past 59 minutes does not jump to hours. Took me way too long to figure this out. It gets hot fast. Learning to control the temperature takes time. If you want to simmer something, for example, it may take some experimentation to figure out what setting works best. You have to go through this with any new stovetop. I successfully simmered down a 3.8 quart Dutch oven filled with chili Colorado for about 2-3 hours with no problems. I occasionally had to adjust the temperature up or down. I’ve had to do this with any stovetop. I absolutely love this induction burner. It’s easy to clean too. Highly recommended.
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Reviewed in the United States on August 12, 2023 by Aviva Gittle Publishing Aviva Gittle Publishing
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Actual reviewer of use after 3 days
Color: Silver
Style: Cooktop
SEE UPDATE BELOW: I got this despite that it has the fewest reviews on Amazon, and it looks like most of them are fake/paid for reviews anyways. I picked it though because the duxtop brand has good reviews and this model has the most temperature settings among the cheaper options, and it has a lower
temp range too. I read a few people saying with other ones the lowest setting was still too hot. I figured if I was truly going to replace my stove top I wanted the one with the most flexibility and was willing to pay $30 more for it. It moves up in 20 degree increments or .5 power levels. I've only used it a handful of times, and I'm still just getting used to induction cooking in general. The negatives I've had with it apply to all induction burners in general. The cycling heat on and off to maintain temp really threw me off so I tried to compensate by adjusting temps, which I learned I shouldn't do, just let it do it's thing. And when on full power pretty much all of my pans emit this high pitched ringing noise that really sucks. It seems to only be really bad at full power and acceptable at even some of the higher powers just under full. But boy howdy does that thing heat! Water boils so fast you can't believe it. And you do have really quick control of temperatures. I think I'm going to love it once I figure it out. It'd have to be truly terrible for me to use the electric range though. I recommend giving it a shot. This model has the cleanest interface, no special buttons for sauteing or grilling or whatever they say it's for. That stuff would change from pan to pan and dish to dish, anyways and wouldn't be accurate. The 9600 has a boil button which is always accurate, and a keep warm button which will probably work in most situations. At $100 it was worth it to me, but units at half that price have about 95% of the functionality that you could probably get away with and still be good to go, so it's really up to you. It has the same 6.75" diameter coil set underneath the glass, I checked using a high powered flashlight pointed at it with the lights turned off. I did a test of the lowest temperature of 100 degrees, as that is one feature that sets it apart from others. I put 1 cup of water into a 6 inch cast iron enameled pot at 74.6F and set it on 100 degrees. About 15 minutes later the water was at 77.3F. At a half hour in the water dropped to 76.8F. At 45 minutes I concluded the testing and it came in at 75.7F. I then turned the burner off and just let it sit for 15 more minutes, which brought it to 75.3 degrees. To me, this is a mostly good result in that while not accurate, the unit does have the ability to go to an ultra low temperature and keep it some what consistent to a few degrees, although I did not like the trending downward temps. But since this was the lowest setting, I believe higher powers/temps might achieve a more consistent level. My main concern was to find out if the lowest level was going to be too hot, which it most certainly is not! So I think it could be good for those looking to melt chocolate. (See below edit, I was wrong, not good for chocolate!) In conclusion, if I were just rating this unit compared to others in it's price range, I think I'd give it 5 stars. It's more expensive, but I like the user interface more than other options and the low temp abilities sets it apart. But since I'm rating the unit not only against it's peers but also in it's own right just as an induction burner, it gets 4 stars as I have yet to determine if I can live with the high pitch painful noise at the highest setting, and the temperature regulation of constantly turning on and off and on and off is annoying so far. I hope I will learn to love it though. I'll update in a few months when I really get a chance to delve into it. Oh, and the other guy who rated it 1 star and said you have to mess with the lock button to start it is smoking crack. You hold your finger on the power button (wet or dry, I intentionally tested that) for 3 seconds, the blue screen turns on and then you press the menu button. The unit automatically starts at power level 5. You just have to match sure the pan is on the burner before you start it. UPDATE: I figured out that reading the instructions is a good thing! The temperature mode and the power setting mode do function differently. I was thinking it was just two ways to look at the same heat level, but not true. The temperature mode tries to keep the pan at the temp setting you chose (keep in mind the pan temp will be different than the food temp in the pan!). It sucks at this. This is why I was having so many issues with the power cycling. I redid my before water test, this time at 120F degree setting, and the water immediately spiked to 150F and then throughout the course of 30 minutes would drop to a low of 105F. If you took an average of it's temp over that time it actually might have been pretty dang close to 120F or maybe 130F, but with those highs and lows it would be terrible for any chocolate work or anything you needed even temps for. Now, since I am using the power mode things are waaaay better with the power cycling. It just doesn't do it. I did the water test again, this time with 2 cups of water and I used the ".5" power setting which is the lowest. Over the course of 45 minutes the water ranged from 134F to 138F with fluctuations in between throughout. The first half hour it was usually closest to 135F, but near the end was reading consistently 137F. For this pot that I was using, this means the lowest effective and reliable temperature this cooktop can do is about 135F Degrees. This might still be better than other units out there, but I was hoping for less. But I am fairly happy now that I know the power cycling is mostly an issue with the temp settings and not the power settings. I'm almost certainly only going to be using the power settings from here on out, unless I'm doing a long simmering chili or something with a lot of mass in it to help even the fluctuations.
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Reviewed in the United States on October 20, 2016 by Jordan Jordan
Color: Black
Style: Cooktop
Very pleased with this purchase. As a renter with a gas stove, this countertop induction burner let me shift my cooking when I don't have a way to replace my whole stove top. I now do all my stovetop cooking on it. It took my a bit to adjust to using induction after only using gas for a few decades,
but you adapt (and that's not unique to this model). It works well, heats up fast, and the fan isn't too noisy (although I run a kitchen fan anyway when cooking, for air quality). Most of it is easy to clean, although there is a crevice between the book surface and the control panel that tends to get stuff stuck in it. I keep it out on top of my gas stove top, with a large cutting board below to give it a flat surface. It is large enough to cover (block) more than one of the gas burners, but I could still access two other burners if I wanted to use them at the same time.
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Reviewed in the United States on August 4, 2023 by tektite
Color: Black
Style: Cooktop
Plus: very responsive temperature/power control, good size but still easy enough to store. Only downside is it seems to heat about a 6" donut, so make sure your pan has a good heat spreader. My cast iron works great, my steel skillet less great. It's easy to clean after use also. I bought this to see
if I like the concept of an induction cooktop for when I renovate my kitchen. This seems to be the perfect price and feature point for that use. Note: This is a high power appliance, be sure you have a properly wired outlet and don't run anything else on the circuit while using this.
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Reviewed in the United States on August 27, 2023 by Kenneth Ryan
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Much better than my last one
Color: Black
Style: Cooktop
I ruined my last one which I purchased 09/20, but it still works. I let a pot of pasta boilover, and the fan underneath sucked up the water. Ever since that happened it stinks like nobody's business when I cook on it, but I suffered through the stink to test the two to see if the Duxtop is as good as
everyone says. The old one was a Rosewill, and it cost around $60 I think. I looked it up in my previous order list, but it is no longer for sale here. I took 2 cups of water and checked the size of the element in each unit by the boiling ring. The Duxtop's ring was 6 inches in diameter, and the Rosewill's was only 4 inches. The pan heated much more evenly with the Duxtop, and reached a boil much faster too. Don't waste your money on the cheaper units. Just pony up the couple extra bucks for the best, and you will be happier in the long run.
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Reviewed in the United States on July 23, 2023 by Michael
Color: Silver
Style: Cooktop
We have a gas stove that has some issues, so we bought this unit to dip our toes in the induction cooktop waters. We love it and have used it for over 90% of the stovetop cooking in our kitchen. It's fast and it regulates well, and it's easy to get used to. We're going to eventually get a range with
an induction cooktop, and we'll keep this unit as an extra for occasional use.
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Reviewed in the United States on August 31, 2023 by HaminaHamina
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We use it several time a week
Color: Silver
Style: Cooktop
other than the heating area is smallish and you need ferrous metal pans. this portable heater makes perfect eggs and anything else you want. good temperature control for perfect grill cheese sandwiches . faster than our cooktop. would buy again if it ever stopped working.
Reviewed in the United States on September 7, 2023 by Happycamper 79
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Quick Temps, Great Customer Service after Failure
Color: Black
Style: Cooktop
Portable stove used for one year, mostly outside during summer (stored year round inside). Attains high heat quickly, excellent temp control. Modifying temp takes just a little getting used to/trial and error. Easy cleanup. Very happy cooking with product; purchased after reading NYT_Wirecutter revie
w. Unit broke after one year (heard a pop while cooking then would not re-power). But, Duxtop / Secura Company has generous two year warranty. After emailing and providing info to customer service, their response was incredibly prompt and courteous. Broke on a Monday, recooking with new unit on Thursday.
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Reviewed in the United States on August 11, 2023 by R&C in Vacaville
