Saucepan Safety

Hi,

Interested to know if others have similar problems to our use of saucepans on a typical 4 burner gas hob.

As we are getting older, we tend to go for the lighter to handle teflon coated aluminium pans, but do find its quiet easy for them to be knocked off the four fingers of the pan support because there is so little friction between the pans fingers and the supports thin fingers.

Its not too bad if its the back row topple over but for the front two there is a real danger they can completely fall off the worktop and cause a nasty accident.

We recently bought a new set of pans (tefal) which have a lighty machined bottom but find these slip around even more, so much that we are rather worried that its only a matter of time before something nasty happens.

Have looked on the web to see if there are anything like extra pan supports without success .

Did find some web comment about folk with heavy cast iron pans reporting similar problems, but again no clear answer.

Would seem like changing over to a flat topped Ceramic hob would be the practical solution and less likely to topple off ?

Any suggestions or recommendations for Ceramic hobs ?

 

Why not push the boat out and go for an induction hob? I installed one when I did the kitchen, and it’s brilliant. There’s none of that waiting for it to heat up, it’s instant, and it’s so easy to clean. The one slight negative is that they do need decent pans, which are likely to be a bit heavier.

 

I've had ceramic hobs for twenty years and my current Samsung is only three years old. Much faster to heat up than it's predecessors. I did find with this newer hob that I had to change my old stainless steel pans with an ordinary base, as they distorted and wobbled as they heated up. My newer pans have either copper or iron inside the stainless steel base and sit firm, seeming to heat up just as quickly. They are heavier of course but I don't have a problem handling them and they won't topple off as the hob surface is completely flat.

As Freddy says induction hobs are faster still and likely to give you instant heat like a gas hob. Whatever you choose it will take a little time to get used to it but will give you the safety you are looking for and much easier cleaning.

Samsung have really come back to the fore with their appliances in recent years and I'm very happy with the hob.

 

I've had an induction hob for 11 years now. It's big plus is being easy to clean. It works with stainless steel and cast iron pans, and there is even a plaque available which enables you to use your existing aluminium pans. Very practical from the spillage/tipping point of view. You do need to adapt your cooking, though, if you've always been used to gas. There isn't nearly as much 'oomph' with induction.

 

Rather than replacing hob, why not try something like this ...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Stainless-...=gas+hob+safety+support&qid=1607331517&sr=8-4

 

That looks a lot better than the usual cross hair types, though no idea what make yours is ?

Seems Miele and Neff do ones with extra fingers which should also aid stability.

 

Thanks, they are still trading as Belling , but all their hobs have the typical thin cross hair type of pan stands.

Think we will have to make up a hob shield to attach to the front of the worktop so a pan cannot fall off, might not look pretty , but better safe than sorry ...

 

Some input from me.

Its possible to buy what we call "two anded pans." These come in various sizes and materials, and are a lot more stable than the traditional type with the long handle. I personally think that they are a lot more ergonomic and easier to lift as they require, as the name suggests, two hands to lift them.

Regarding induction hobs: We are on our second one now, the first was installed when I did our kitchen in 1998. It finally gave up last year. I would agree with all that @noisette47 said about the first. New ones though will have a "boost" feature, which is a lot faster than any gas hob. At least, its faster than the ones I have used in the UK.

 

Ours is a Smeg. Similarly, it has a ‘P’ (power) option. It boils a kettle worth of water a lot faster than our kettle, and a lot quicker that gas. But, as I’ve said, one needs decent pans.