What Questions Should You Ask When Buying a New Hob?

This is the first question because it may answer several others for you. If you only have a gas supply, a gas hob is the obvious starting point. If you only have electricity, any electric hob type is open to you. If you have both, you have full choice.

Electric hobs above 3kW require a dedicated 32A or 40A circuit. If your kitchen does not have a cooker circuit, having one installed costs £150 to £400 and needs a qualified electrician. The exception is CATA’s plug-in induction hob (CATINDE60HF), which runs on a standard 13A socket — the only current CATA induction model that does not require a dedicated circuit.

Most worktops have a cut-out from the previous hob. Standard cut-outs are 560mm x 490mm for 60cm hobs and 750mm x 490mm for 75–77cm hobs. If you are replacing a like-for-like hob, the cut-out dimensions are your starting point. If you are willing to enlarge the cut-out, you have more flexibility — but cutting worktop is specialist work and irreversible.

Also check the undercounter depth. Integrated hobs need clearance below for ventilation — typically 15 to 25mm for electric hobs, more for vented induction. If there is a drawer directly beneath the hob position, its depth may limit your options.

The honest answer: induction is the best all-round choice for most households. Faster than gas, safer than ceramic, easier to clean than both, and more energy-efficient than either. The trade-off is that it requires magnetic cookware and a dedicated circuit for most models.

Gas suits experienced cooks who prefer tactile, visible heat control — particularly for wok cooking or charring. It requires a gas supply, more involved cleaning, and produces indoor air pollutants during combustion.

Ceramic is the lowest-cost electric option. It works with any pan material but is slower than induction, stays hot after use (burn risk), and uses more energy per cooking session. The right choice if budget is the primary constraint.

Count the number of pans you typically have on the go simultaneously at your busiest cooking session — not the average, the busiest. That is the minimum zone count. Add one for flexibility.

A two-zone hob suits solo or low-volume cooking. Four zones is the standard for most households and covers virtually all everyday cooking. Five or six zones suits large families or households who regularly cook for groups. Flex zones and bridge zones on induction hobs allow adjacent zones to combine for griddle pans and large fish kettles, which can partly substitute for an additional zone.

If you are planning an island kitchen or a peninsula layout where an overhead hood would be obtrusive or impractical, a vented induction hob handles both cooking and extraction in a single appliance. CATA’s CATDD60CHF and CATDD77CHF are the two current options, with 630 m³/h extraction and regenerative carbon filters.

If the hob is against a wall with a hood already in place, a standard hob is usually the simpler and more economical answer. The vented hob’s advantage is most compelling when overhead extraction is genuinely difficult or visually incompatible with the kitchen design.

If you are switching to induction, check your existing pans before buying. Press a fridge magnet firmly to the base of each pan. If it sticks, the pan works on induction. Cast iron, carbon steel, and magnetic stainless steel all transfer directly. Pure aluminium and copper pans do not.

Most households find that their cast iron and heavier stainless pans transfer fine. The pans most likely to need replacing are lightweight aluminium non-stick pans — generally the least expensive in any collection. Factor this into the overall switching cost rather than discovering it after the hob is installed.

Boost function is worth having on any induction hob — it is used every time you want to bring water to the boil quickly. Timer and zone-off functions are genuinely useful for unattended cooking. Child lock is worth having if there are young children in the household.

Flex zones and bridge zones add real versatility if you cook with large-format cookware (griddles, fish kettles, oval casseroles). Power management features that prevent multiple zones from overloading the circuit are a practical benefit for models that allow all zones to run simultaneously at high settings.

Touch controls are easier to clean than rotary knobs. Panel lock prevents accidental activation while wiping the surface.

Induction converts around 85 to 90 percent of electrical energy into heat in the pan. Gas converts 40 to 55 percent. Ceramic converts 55 to 65 percent. The efficiency difference is real and compounds with every cooking session over years of use.

At current UK electricity rates (around 25p per kWh), induction is more expensive per unit of energy than gas, but uses fewer units for the same cooking task. In most households the running cost difference between induction and gas over a year of regular cooking is modest — far less significant than the efficiency difference implies, because hobs are used in short bursts rather than continuously. Cleaning time and energy savings from not preheating a full oven (by using the hob efficiently) often outweigh the per-unit energy cost difference.

For a built-in appliance expected to last ten or more years, the warranty period is a meaningful buying consideration. One or two years is standard from many brands; CATA offers five years parts and two years labour on the standard range, and three years labour on the CATA 700 range.

Pay attention to the parts-versus-labour distinction. A five-year parts guarantee with one-year labour still leaves you paying engineer call-out costs from year two onwards. Both figures matter — particularly for built-in hobs where the labour cost of accessing and replacing a component is significant.

A gas hob must be installed by a Gas Safe registered engineer. An electric hob above 3kW must be connected to a dedicated circuit by a qualified electrician — this is notifiable work under Part P of the Building Regulations. The plug-in CATINDE60HF is the exception: it connects to a standard socket with no specialist electrical work required.

Budget: gas installation typically costs £80 to £150 for a like-for-like replacement. A new electric circuit where none exists is £150 to £400. If you are also capping a gas supply to switch to electric, add £80 to £150 for a Gas Safe engineer. These are one-time costs, but they are part of the real total cost of any hob purchase.