Cooking Appliances

Ways to save when buying appliances

Purchase the right electrical appliances for your home and it could lead to a smaller power account later on. The SmartWays New Appliance Checklist helps you select energy efficient appliances. So if you're building or renovating take your building plans and the checklist with you to make the most energy-efficient (and, in the long run cost effective) choices.

Cooking appliances

Electric cooktops have come a long way in the past decade. You can now choose from space-age electric ceramic, instantaneous halogen or induction cooktops, as well as the traditional fan forced ovens and microwave ovens. These new generation appliances offer unprecedented temperature control, versatility, speed, safety and style.  

Ceramic cooktops

Ceramic cooktops (Ceramic Ribbon Element / Ceramaspeed) are versatile and economic. The heating elements are contained under a plate of ceramic glass, which looks modern and is easy to clean. The flat, uninterrupted surface gives you extra bench space or preparation areas when the cooktop is not in use.

Ceramic cooktops rapidly transfer heat with speed and temperature control. Some ceramic cooktops come with dual circuit elements, so you can save energy by selecting only the inner circle when heating a small pot.

Halogen cooktops

The tungsten lamps in halogen cooktops use the energy of light to transfer heat to the pot or pan. The heat is instant and gives you precise temperature control for faster cooking and better results. On the practical side, halogen cooktops have no corners, grooves or grills, which makes cleaning a breeze. Halogen cooktops can either be fixed (built-in) or portable and are available from all electrical retail stores.

Induction cooktops

These work by electromagnetically heating the metal of a pot or pan. This technology has a distinct safety advantage because the cooktop itself does not become hot – perfect if you have young children. Induction cooktops are faster and more efficient than gas, with super-sensitive controls that can hold the temperature to within 1ºC. Induction cooktops come with stand by, non-operating mode, auto-stop function, automatic scanning functions and small objects detector. They are also available as portable units.

Pots and pans made of iron, enamelled steel, certain stainless steels and types of glass cookware with metal bases can all be used on induction cooktops.

Fan forced ovens

These ovens use energy very efficiently. Temperature is equalised throughout the oven to eliminate hot-spots, which makes your cooking faster and cheaper. An electric fan at the rear of the oven circulates the air inside. Some models can be programmed to calculate the exact time a roast will take to cook.

Microwave ovens

Microwaves can cut cooking time and energy consumption by up to two thirds, which means instant energy savings for you. What's more the most recent models can even crisp and fry. Microwave ovens help to retain much of the food's original flavours and nutritional value, plus there's no time wasted waiting for the oven to heat up.

Advantages of appliances

Key feature	Ceramic		Halogen	Induction
Energy efficiency	Medium		High	Very high
Cooking surface	Flat		Flat	Flat
Ease of cleaning	Easy		Easy	Easy
Scratch resistance	No		No	Yes
Control of heat	Average		Easy	Very easy
Instant heat	Medium		Fast	Very Fast
Retain heat after cooking	Yes		Some	Nil
Pre-programmed setting	No		No	Yes
Flexible touch control	No		No	Yes
Utensils/cookware	All pots / pans		All pots/ pans	Iron, enamel, certain stainless steel pots / pans
Safety devices
Temperature limiter	Yes	Yes		Yes
Hot surface warning	Yes	Yes		No
Stand-by	No	No		Yes
Auto-stop	No	No		Yes
Automatic scanning	No	No		Yes
Small object detector	No	No		Yes
Non-operating mode	No	No		Yes

 In general, the faster the hobs heat up, the shorter the time the appliance needs to operate.

Other Tips for Saving Energy and the Environment

To work out the approximate costs of running various apppliances you can use our Energy Calculator.

For other useful energy saving information go to the following:

Air-conditioning
Top Tips
Energy Smart Homes (Sustainable Energy Development Office website - opens a new window)