4 Burner Built-in Gas & Glass-Ceramic Stove

The ceramic zone is the reason to pick this one over an all-gas hob. It holds a low steady heat without a flame, which suits a sauce or a pot of milk, and it keeps cooking on the evening the gas cylinder runs out.

A flame-failure device is fitted, so the gas is shut off if a ring goes out. Ignition is a mains pulse, so the hob wants a socket behind it. It measures 600 × 520 × 115 mm and takes either LPG or natural gas. It drops into a 555 × 470 mm worktop cut-out.

• Three Gas Rings and a Ceramic Plate

  Gas at 3.3, 1.75 and 1.0 kW for everything that wants a flame, plus a 1.2 kW electric ceramic zone for anything that wants a steady low heat.

• Flame Failure Device Fitted

  If a ring goes out — a draught, a boil-over — the gas to that burner is shut off instead of being left running.

• Cooks When the Gas Runs Out

  The ceramic zone is electric, so there is still a working hotplate in the kitchen on the evening the cylinder empties.

• 7 mm Tempered Glass Top

  A thick black glass surface that wipes flat between the burners, with no seam or raised trim to catch grease.

• Cast Iron Pan Supports

  Heavy trivets that hold a full pot steady and take the heat without warping. They lift straight off to be cleaned.

• Mains Pulse Ignition

  Ignition runs off the mains rather than a battery, so there is no cell to change. The hob needs a socket behind it, which the ceramic plate needs anyway.

• Cuts Into 555 × 470 mm

  The hob itself measures 600 × 520 mm and overlaps a 555 × 470 mm opening in the worktop — the same aperture its four-burner sibling uses.