The unit is visually stunning in a kitchen! It has all the looks of a kitchen of the future – sleek black glass with no knobs or buttons – just this smooth sheet of glass!
Talk about easy to clean, too! It is simple and easy to wipe up and kinds of spills and these days, there are some excellent cleaning aids that are made to clean glass of hard to remove food stains, without damage to the glass top. What's not to love?
It all comes with a bit of a cost. With my old stovetop, I just turned a dial and the element just started to heat up the number I dialled in. Simple and done. With this new, beautiful top, it's a bit different. First, turn the unit on. As in the whole cooktop. It's easy, but you need to touch this specific control first. And for three seconds. You will get a "beep", telling you that you have indeed, turned the unit on. Now you need to press a different control to select just where you want the heat to go – one of the four different cooktops. Now, with that done, you need to select the power to that cooktop. Press the "+" key, and you start counting up from number one, whereas pressing the "-" key, you will start at number nine, and count down. Take more than 30 (thirty) second to decide how much heat you want to start with, the unit will shut off, and you are back to the "press the of button for three seconds".
Ok. That's a lot of words in that section, but I wanted to illustrate that it takes more "actions" than a more traditional stovetop unit down. And that's fine – taking more steps. But it does show that sometimes, simple actions from the past aren't so bad after all!
The child lock feature is terrific. We don't have small ones here anymore, but it's still an excellent idea, and should probably be included in all such appliances in the future. In addition, there is also a feature that will turn a burner off after a preset time that you set. (up to 99 minutes)
The unit also incorporates a "over-heat" protection feature, that will automatically shut off the entire unit, should it detect an over heat issue. There is also a "auto shutdown" feature that will – again – turn off the unit if you forget to shut off the unit. After a preset time, the top will simply turn off. Two great safety features!
I find the power layout interesting. Bottom left is 1200 watts, as is the top right. The top left is 1800 watts, as is the bottom right. It's a criss-cross pattern. In addition, the lower wattage zones are a bit smaller than the higher wattage zones.
I love the fact that you can use just about any kind of cookware on the surface. The only caution is to not shake or drag a vessel across the glass, for fear of scratching the surface.
Installation is straightforward. Dimensions are given for the cutout, Topwish has even included a some gasket material to go under the lip of the unit, as it rests on a counter top.
There are a few key restrictions as to just where the unit should be installed, and if you have any doubts, it would be best to hire a qualified installer who is also licensed for working with 220-240V.
Interestingly, the top warning printed onto the top of the unit, are only written in one language, and that is French. My French is pretty rusty, but I rather like that. It gives the unit a bit of an international flair!
Bottom Line – No doubt about it, the unit is stunning. Very modern in looks, easy care, reasonably fast to heat up and with a lot of power!