Replacing the hob
The lack of a fully functioning hob was really beginning to annoy me. I kept going to use my usual ring, and nothing happened! Although I could still cook using the remaining rings, it was clearly far less than ideal so I decided I really needed to do something about it.
This time I decided that I would actually turn up in person at the local electrical appliance store in Ledbury. When I replaced my broken oven, dishwasher and washing machine, I did it all over the phone. The saleswoman at the shop twigged who I was when I gave her my address – realising that she’d spoken to me on the phone several times but hadn’t known what I looked like. She said she thought she had recognised my voice…… I’ve heard that before!
Hob technology has really come on in the last fifteen years or so since we bought the old one. The saleswoman tried to sell me an induction hob, on the grounds that it is very responsive – the closest to gas in that respect. But I’ve no intention of replacing a large number of my pans, so that was a non-starter. The next question was “framed or frameless?” Well, that stumped me – I didn’t know what it meant, and when she explained it to me, I was still none the wiser as to why I should care at all! The next major question was the key one for me: “touch-panel or knobs?” It turns out that most new designs of electric hob these days have an integrated touch panel for the controls, which looks much neater. But it struck me that it was more to go wrong, and was probably prone to being fiddly – especially if you had wet or greasy hands (which is quite likely when I’m cooking). Plus, I really like being able to crane my neck through the hatch in the dining room, and see at a glance whether a ring has been left on, just by looking at the position of the dials. So I said that I definitely wanted knobs. That really cut the choice down – each manufacturer seems to do only a few models with knobs, whereas there’s much more choice if you want touch-panel controls.
The shop didn’t actually have any knobby electric hobs in stock for me to look at, so I took the prices of three reasonable options and went home to look them up on the internet. So I could have done it all over the phone without physically visiting the shop after all! I phoned them back the next day to place the order and arrange for it to be fitted. One of the advantages of dealing with a local store is that they’ll deliver and fit the new appliance, and take the old one away for disposal, all in the overall price. There was initially a bit of uncertainty as to when the manufacturer would be able to deliver the new hob to the shop – apparently the floods Up North recently have caused some serious disruption and backlogs in the supply chain. However, the chap turned up on time first thing this morning to fit the new hob, which certainly looks very sleek and smart. It seemed to be very easy to install, just slotting straight into the hole left by the old one. The fitter was very pleased about that, hoping that it was a good omen for the rest of his day. He said that he often has to enlarge the hole in the worktop, and that it’s particularly awkward if it’s a swish granite top – he has to call out a colleague with a specialist grinder, and apparently the amount of stone dust produced is unbelievable! But there were no such problems with mine, and he was here and gone in well under an hour.
Now of course I have to start getting used to it, as it’s bound to have a very different response to my previous one.
