A hob is the appliance you use most and think about least. It's also the one where the wrong choice is hardest to undo — changing hob type after the worktop is cut usually means new worktop, and sometimes new wiring or a new gas run.
This guide covers every type on sale in the UK, what each is genuinely good at, and the practical checks — widths, cut-outs, supply — that decide whether the one you like will actually go in.
Start here: what supply do you have?
Before anything else, this narrows the field faster than any other question.
- Gas available? Then gas, gas-on-glass and mixed fuel are all open to you, as well as every electric option.
- No gas? You're choosing between ceramic and induction. That's not a compromise — induction outperforms gas on speed and control — but it does mean checking your electrical supply properly.
- Gas, but you're thinking of switching to induction? Budget for an electrician and possibly a new circuit. Factor that in before comparing prices.
The five hob types
Gas
Burners on a stainless steel or enamel surface, with cast iron pan supports. Instant heat, instant off, visible flame, and it works with any pan you own including wok bases and warped old favourites.
Good for: cooks who want visual feedback and a wok burner; kitchens where the gas is already there; anyone who doesn't want to replace their pans.
The trade-off: cleaning. Pan supports lift off, but the burner wells and crowns need attention, and steel around the burners takes the brunt of spills. Gas is also the least energy-efficient option — roughly half the heat goes past the pan and into the room.
Examples: the CDA 60cm four burner gas hob with wok burner at £239, or the Bertazzoni P604PROX 60cm at £469.
Gas on glass
The same burners, mounted on a flat glass surface instead of pressed steel. Cosmetically it's a considerable upgrade, particularly in black, and the flat surface wipes down far more easily than a steel top with recessed burner wells.
You still lift the pan supports to clean properly — anyone claiming otherwise hasn't cooked on one — but it's a genuinely easier surface to keep looking good.
Examples: the CDA 60cm gas on glass in black at £239, or the Smeg Classic 75cm five burner at £789.99.
Ceramic
Radiant elements under a smooth glass surface. The element heats the glass, the glass heats the pan. Cheapest electric option, completely flat, and it takes any pan.
The trade-off: it's slow. Slow to come up to heat, and slower still to come down — turning it off doesn't stop the cooking, because the glass stays hot. Spills bake onto that hot glass, which makes cleaning harder than induction despite the identical-looking surface.
Ceramic makes sense on a tight budget or in a second kitchen. If you can stretch to induction, do.
Examples: the CDA 60cm four zone ceramic at £199, or the Montpellier MCH59CK 59cm at £159.
Induction
An electromagnetic field heats the pan directly. The glass only gets warm from the pan sitting on it.
That single difference drives everything people like about induction: it's faster than gas to boil, it responds instantly when you change the setting, roughly 85–90% of the energy reaches the food rather than the room, and spills don't bake on because the surface isn't the heat source. The kitchen stays cooler too, which matters in a small or open-plan room.
The trade-offs: your pans must be ferrous — test with a fridge magnet, and if it sticks firmly to the base, it works. Most stainless and all cast iron are fine; aluminium and copper without a magnetic base are not. Induction also draws real current, which brings us to the supply question below. Some models emit a faint hum or fan noise at high power.
Worth knowing: manufacturers advise that people with pacemakers or similar implanted devices check with their device manufacturer before using induction. It's in every manual and worth a mention before you buy rather than after.
Examples: the CDA 60cm four zone induction at £349, the Smeg Classic 60cm at £519.99, or the Smeg Classic 90cm five zone with slider controls at £1,639.99.
Venting (hood-connect and integrated extractor)
A newer category, and the most interesting development in hobs for years. Two variants:
- Integrated extractor hobs pull steam and grease downwards through a vent in the middle of the hob itself. No hood above, nothing over your eyeline, which is why they've become the default in island installations.
- Hood-connect hobs keep a conventional hood but talk to it — the extractor adjusts its speed automatically as you change the heat.
The trade-offs: integrated extractor hobs cost considerably more than hob-plus-hood bought separately, and they need either external ducting or a recirculation kit with carbon filters that require replacing. They also consume cabinet space beneath the hob, which can rule out a drawer run.
Examples: the CDA 60cm hood connect induction at £449, the Smeg SIM3644MB 60cm with Auto-Vent 2.0 at £999, or the Smeg 83cm induction with integrated extractor at £2,445.
Two specialist formats worth knowing
Mixed fuel puts gas burners and induction zones on one surface — gas for the wok and the visual control, induction for speed and simmering. Genuinely useful if you cook seriously and can't decide, though you pay for both technologies. The Smeg Classic 65cm mixed fuel is £1,319.99.
Domino hobs are 30cm modules you combine — two induction zones here, a teppanyaki plate there — to build a run that suits how you actually cook. Ideal for narrow kitchens and for anyone who wants an unusual combination. The Smeg Classic 30cm induction domino is £499.99.
Sizing: the part that catches people out
Hobs are sold by nominal width — 60cm, 70cm, 90cm — but two other numbers matter more.
Overall width is the actual size of the glass or steel. A "60cm" hob is typically around 590mm. A "90cm" one is often 860–900mm depending on model.
Cut-out size is the hole in your worktop, and it's smaller than the hob — for a 60cm hob, usually somewhere around 560mm, but it varies by model and manufacturer. This is the number your fitter needs, and it is the number to take from the specific model's spec sheet rather than a general rule.
Do not order a replacement hob assuming the cut-out will match your old one. If the new hob's cut-out is larger, that's a worktop job.
As a rough guide to which width you want:
- 30cm domino — narrow kitchens, secondary prep areas, or modular combinations.
- 60cm — the standard. Four zones or burners. Fine for most households.
- 70–80cm — five zones, or four with more space between them. The practical upgrade: it's the gap between pans, not just the count, that makes a hob easier to cook on.
- 90cm — five or six zones, room for a large pan and a stockpot simultaneously. Needs the cabinetry to suit and usually pairs with a 90cm hood.
How many zones do you actually need?
Most households cook on two rings most nights and four at Christmas. The honest answer is that a well-spaced four-zone hob beats a cramped five-zone one for daily cooking.
Where five or six earns its place is if you regularly cook full meals with multiple pans, or if you want a dedicated large zone. Look for flexi zones — two zones that bridge into one long area for a griddle or fish pan — as a more useful feature than raw zone count. The CDA 60cm flexi induction at £419 is an inexpensive way to get that.
Controls
- Knobs (gas, some ceramic) — tactile, usable with wet or floury hands, no learning curve.
- Touch controls — flush, easy to wipe, but they can be temperamental with wet fingers and you're pressing a number repeatedly to climb the range.
- Slider controls — drag along a strip to set power. Considerably better than tapping if you adjust heat often; usually found on mid and upper-range induction.
If you cook daily and adjust constantly, sliders are worth the premium. If you mostly set a level and leave it, standard touch is fine.
Electrical supply: read this before buying induction
This is where induction purchases go wrong.
A full-size induction hob typically needs a dedicated circuit with appropriate cable and breaker rating — not a standard 13A socket. Check your consumer unit before ordering, and have the hob connected by a qualified electrician.
If rewiring isn't practical — a rented flat, a listed building, a kitchen you're not gutting — plug-in induction hobs exist and run from a normal socket. The Montpellier MINH59-13A 59cm plug-in at £198 is the obvious example. The compromise is total power: the hob manages its output across all four zones so it never exceeds what a 13A socket can supply, which means you can't run every zone flat out at once. For most everyday cooking that's a non-issue; for a household that regularly runs four pans hard, it will be.
Gas is simpler on supply but stricter on installation: it must be fitted by a Gas Safe registered engineer. That's a legal requirement.
Matching your hob to your extraction
A rule most people get wrong: your hood should be at least as wide as your hob, and ideally wider. A 60cm hood over a 75cm hob leaves the outer zones venting straight into the room, which is how kitchens end up with greasy ceilings.
On extraction rate, a workable rule of thumb is to take your kitchen's volume in cubic metres and multiply by ten to get the m³/h you want the hood to handle. A 4m × 3m kitchen with a 2.4m ceiling is about 29m³, so you're looking for around 290m³/h as a minimum — more if you cook with a lot of heat or the kitchen is open-plan.
Our cooker hoods guide covers ducting versus recirculation in detail.
Cleaning, honestly
In order, easiest to hardest: induction, ceramic, gas on glass, gas.
Induction wins because the glass never becomes the heat source, so spills stay wet instead of carbonising. Ceramic looks identical but bakes food onto hot glass. Gas on glass is easy underneath and fiddly around the burners. Gas on steel is the most work.
Whatever you choose, a dedicated hob scraper and ceramic cleaner will do more for the surface than any amount of scrubbing. Abrasives will scratch glass permanently.
The quick decision
- Best all-round choice: a 60cm or 75cm induction hob. Fastest, most controllable, easiest to clean, most efficient.
- Best on a tight budget: ceramic if electric-only, or a four-burner gas hob if you have the supply.
- Best if you love cooking on flame: five-burner gas on glass, or mixed fuel if you want induction alongside.
- Best for an island: an induction hob with integrated extraction — expensive, but it removes the hood entirely.
- Best if you can't rewire: a plug-in 13A induction hob.
Frequently asked questions
Can I replace a ceramic hob with induction without changing anything else?
Sometimes, but don't assume it. Check two things: the cut-out dimensions match, and your existing circuit is rated for the new hob's load. Ceramic hobs generally draw less than induction, so the wiring that served the old one may not be adequate. An electrician can confirm in a single visit.
Do I need new pans for induction?
Only the ones that aren't magnetic. Hold a fridge magnet to the base — if it grips firmly, the pan works. Most modern stainless steel, all cast iron and most enamelled pans are fine. Plain aluminium, copper and some glass or ceramic cookware are not.
Is induction cheaper to run than gas?
Per unit of heat delivered to the pan, yes — induction puts roughly 85–90% of its energy into the food against roughly half for gas. Whether that translates to a lower bill depends on the gap between your electricity and gas unit rates, which in the UK has historically favoured gas per kWh. The efficiency advantage narrows the gap considerably but doesn't always erase it.
What's the difference between a 60cm and a 70cm hob in practice?
Space between pans. A 70cm hob doesn't just add a zone — it stops large pans crowding each other, which is the thing that actually irritates people about a hob. If your cabinetry allows it, it's one of the better upgrades available for the money.
Are integrated extractor hobs as effective as a proper hood?
For steam and smoke rising from the pans themselves, yes — they capture at source, before it disperses. They're less effective at catching what escapes sideways from a very hot wok. For most home cooking on an island, they work well; for high-heat cooking against a wall, a good chimney hood still has the edge.
Where to start
Browse the full range in our Hobs collection, or see hobs paired with matching ovens and extraction in Bundles & Complete Sets. If you're replacing an existing hob, our Hoods & Extractors range covers the other half of the job.
Prices correct at September 2026. Not sure a hob will fit your cut-out? Send us the model and your measurements on WhatsApp and we'll check before you order.
