bit-tech Shopping: Hotpoint 50cm wide Traditional Gas Cooker

Rating: 2

Time with product: 1 Days

Strengths: looks ok and easy to use

Weaknesses: see below !!!!!

Summary: The cooker itself looks pretty good,seems well built and the rings work well.Thats the GOOD news. I am 53 yrs old,and this cooker has the worst grill I have ever seen or used !!!!! Let me explain--,each time before you start grilling, you have to get out of a cupboard the " deflector plate " that comes with the cooker.This is a thin plate that you have to fit just under the gas knobs, to deflect heat away from them to stop them melting ! This plate sticks out from the cooker about four inches,gets VERY hot,and we are told to let it cool down before you remove it to go back in your cupboard,can you imagine YOUR child touching it when hot without realising it was so hot? Now to the REALLY bad news---- the grill itself--- A very weak flame comes out of the central partition,and heats up 2 thin plates,1 each side to reflect heat onto food.These plates only go half the width of your grill pan!!Anything on the outer edge will not cook !!! The grill pan shelves to adjust height are so far from the flame it's a joke.Even on the highest one it me 20 mins-yes,20 MINS,to cook 2 rashers of bacon !! If you put anything on the lower shelves,forget it, it will stay raw. If you buy one of these after reading this,you're nuts. Hotpoint are best known for washing machines,they should stick to THEM--------