This time we are testing the Kitfort KT-152 electric stove. It is compact, concise and ideal for giving, change house or portable kitchen. This hob has 2 burners – one larger, the other smaller. We’ll run a few tests to see how well this model does its job.

Characteristics

Manufacturer	kitfort
Model	KT-152
Type	steel hob
Country of Origin	China
Warranty	1 year
Life time*	2 years
hob type	independent
Control	mechanical
Power	2200-2500 W
Burner material	metal
Number of burners	2
Burner power	1×1350-1500W, 1×850-1000W
Burner diameter	1×∅18.8 cm, 1×∅15.5 cm
Number of heating levels	stepless adjustment, 4 divisions on the rotary regulator
Security features	automatic shutdown function in case of overheating
Packed/Unpacked Weight	4.1/3.6 kg
Dimensions (W×H×D)	535×85×226 mm
Network cable length	1m
Retail offers

* Contrary to common misconception, this is not the period after which the device will definitely break. However, after this period, the manufacturer ceases to bear any responsibility for its performance and has the right to refuse to repair it, even for a fee.

Equipment

Our hob arrived in the typical Kitfort black and purple flat box. It is convenient to transport and carry such a box – it will fit even under the armpit, and it will not take up much space during storage. Unfortunately, there is no provision for carrying.

On the front sides of the box, you can find the brand name, model number and a schematic image of an electric stove. On the sides we see barcodes, instructions for the correct disposal of the packaging and the device itself, conformity marks and handling marks indicating the correct position of the box during transportation.

Top and bottom of the box contains brief information about this model – weight, size, power, service life, article number.

The tile itself sits comfortably inside the box in dense foam inserts located on the sides.

Also in the box was a small plastic bag on a ziplock, inside which we found an instruction manual, a collection magnet, promotional materials and a warranty card.

At first sight

The hob is very narrow (22.6 cm) and looks minimalistic, but stylish and neat.

To control each burner, there are round rotary switches on the sides. They rotate easily, without snapping (but this is rather their minus, since the ability to accurately adjust the heating level is extremely important for the stove).

The lower part of the device is made of galvanized iron. On the surface there are ventilation holes, a label label with information about the product, and 4 plastic legs 1.5 centimeters high are installed in the corners. On the back of the panel, on the right, there is an outlet for the power cord.

Our hob has only two metal burners with a diameter of 18.8 cm and 15.5 cm, it looks miniature, but it is quite functional. Well, let’s check it in action.

Instruction

The instruction manual is a small book of 15 pages. All information in it is divided into sections and is presented in an accessible language.

The first few pages are filled with blocks of security information. Considering that the device potentially poses an increased danger in our country, this is really important.

In addition to the instructions, there was a warranty sheet and promotional offers in the kit.

Control

As we already wrote in the “At a glance” section, our appliance is controlled by just two rotary controls, each of which refers to its own burner.

Heating control is smooth. When you turn the knob and set the desired temperature, the indicator next to this knob lights up. When the desired temperature is reached, heating stops and the indicator goes out.

Exploitation

Before use, the hob must be placed on a flat, solid surface.

The control knobs are intuitive.

It is worth considering that the maximum weight that this tile can withstand is 10 kg.

There are no special requirements for the selection of suitable cookware – the bottom must be flat and in close contact with the surface of the hob. The diameter of the cookware must match the diameter of the heating zone. As our tests have shown, the heat is evenly distributed over the burner area.

The metal surface of the panel and burners does not cool instantly, so you can turn off or reduce the heating of the burner in advance. This feature of the panel can be used to simmer foods – when the appliance is turned off, your dishes will slowly cool down.

When operating, of course, it is worth considering the size of the device. Burners with a diameter of 18.8 cm and 15.5 cm can accommodate fairly large dishes and are not too close to each other, but, for example, simultaneous cooking in two large pans or a frying pan and a wok will be problematic.

The device performed well in almost all stages of cooking. The only inconvenience in the course of cooking that we had was due to the impossibility of finely adjusting the heating power – reducing the heat using the rotary control did not give the desired result, since the handle rotates back and forth without any fixation. That is, for example, to reduce power, you have to randomly turn the wheel until the indicator goes out. At the same time, it is impossible to know in advance how much the stove will heat at the selected power. We will know this only after the burner has cooled down to the set mode. Nevertheless, we coped with such an inconvenient feature of the tile and during the testing process, nothing burned or cooled down.

We also note one unpleasant feature: if we reduce the power when the burner is very hot, the heating indicator light will turn off. The stove will look like it is completely turned off. Such a situation (the absence of a special power indicator) can lead to the fact that the user will leave the device turned on unattended, which, of course, is completely unacceptable.

Care

The manufacturer traditionally recommends disconnecting the cooktop from electricity before cleaning. When cleaning, do not use abrasive or aggressive cleaning agents; if necessary, use wooden or plastic utensils. Do not clean the panel with a steam cleaner.

Light daily soiling can be removed with a damp cloth, sponge or paper towel. Escaped dishes and dried-up dirt can be removed with a spatula, spatula or scraper, but, nevertheless, after them, noticeable traces still remain on the burners.

After cleaning, the panel should be wiped dry. In general, we did not feel any difficulties during cleaning – any contamination was easily removed with a sponge and a gentle agent.

Our measurements

The measured power of the hob burners practically corresponds to the declared one:

• the left burner at 1350-1500 W consumes about 1500 W
• right burner in 850-1000 W – up to 1000 W

At rest, the device consumes 0.3 watts.

Adjustment of the thermal regime is carried out in a typical way for this type of panels – by changing the periods of heating and pause. When operating at the maximum heating mode, the device, after some time after the start of work, starts to make short pauses, and then turns on the heating again. This is a common behavior for hobs (apparently, this is how they protect themselves from overheating).

We carried out a standard test to boil a liter of water with a starting temperature of 20 °C for each of the burners. In both cases, a saucepan with a bottom diameter of 17 cm was used, with the lid closed.

• on a small burner with a power of 1000 W, boiling was recorded after 13 minutes 30 seconds, the appliance consumed 0.224 kWh
• on a large burner with a power of 1500 W, boiling was recorded 10 minutes 30 seconds after turning on the panel, the appliance required 0.258 kWh

During the operation of the hob, no sounds other than clicks when turning the heating on and off were recorded.

practice tests

It was important for us to check how well the KT-152 will cope with maintaining the temperature when boiling, whether it will be convenient to use large dishes on the burner, and also how evenly the frying of our dishes will turn out.

Chicken soup with stars

For the first test, we decided to try making chicken soup, and at the same time test the ability of the stove to maintain a slow boil.

For the soup, we needed simple ingredients: potatoes, carrots, onions, bone-in chicken breast, salt, and fine pasta.

We separated the breast fillet from the bone, set aside 200 grams and the bones for the soup, and removed the rest of the fillet until the next test.

The fillet was cut into small pieces.

Do the same with potatoes and onions. And the carrots were grated on a medium grater.

We put the chicken fillet with bones and potatoes in a saucepan, poured 1.5 liters of water, installed it on a large burner of our stove, detected it for 15 minutes and turned on the maximum power.

In the meantime, a frying pan with a small amount of vegetable oil was installed on a small burner and turned on at maximum power. When the oil is hot, we put the onions and carrots in the pan and fry them for 10 minutes.

After 15 minutes, we began skimming our broth, salted it, then placed the fried and pasta in a pot and boiled the soup for another 25 minutes.

Then they peppered the soup and took out the bones from it.

We got a very tasty, low-fat and fragrant chicken soup.

Result: excellent

Wok with chicken and vegetables

To test how well the stove will handle large dishes, we decided to cook noodles with chicken and vegetables in a large wok.

For this dish, we took dark noodles with chaga, frozen green beans, fresh carrots, garlic, ginger, mushrooms, hot green peppers and an Asian sauce based on soy and sweet chili.

To begin with, we fried the chicken fillet pieces in a small amount of vegetable oil and sauce. After frying, they took out the fillet and proceeded to the vegetables.

First of all, we fried a mixture of finely chopped garlic and ginger in oil.

Next, add carrots, green beans, mushrooms.

Mix all the ingredients well and fry them at maximum power. In the meantime, noodles were put on a small burner to boil.

When the noodles were almost ready, we added hot green peppers to the wok, followed by pre-fried chicken pieces and a lot of sauce.

After a couple of minutes of frying vegetables with chicken, we added noodles to the wok.

We got a huge portion of an amazingly delicious dish on a very small tile.

In 30 minutes, the two hotplates in use consumed a total of 0.901 kWh

Result: excellent

Boiled potatoes

The next test of our tile was a large amount of potatoes.

We peeled about 1.5 kg of potato tubers, placed them in a saucepan, poured them with water and sent them to boil on a large burner for 30 minutes.

Everything worked out, nothing burned. The test went great.

During the specified time, the tile showed an electricity consumption of 0.590 kWh.

Result: excellent

Braised cabbage

For this test, we took half a small head of cabbage and chopped it finely.

To stew cabbage, we chose a small burner and a small frying pan.

For 10 minutes we stewed the cabbage at the maximum setting, but at some point it began to burn. Then we reduced the power almost to a minimum, and it took us another 40 minutes to bring the cabbage to the desired state (of which only 21 minutes were heated).

Also, while cooking cabbage, we noticed that the small burner was not located evenly, but at an angle, and it was not at all in the bottom of the pan and not in the legs of the tile – they stood on the surface evenly. Of course, we didn’t like it very much, but still we were preparing a non-liquid dish, so this feature did not harm our cooking.

Whatever it was, the cabbage turned out wonderful. But the inability to accurately control the temperature of the tile upset us and stretched the cooking process for an extra 10-15 minutes.

Result: good

Sandwich “Blueberry Nights”

In order to check the uniformity of heating of the burners and dishes on them, we decided to cook fried brioche sandwiches.

For this dish, we needed a few brioche toasts, melted cream cheese, camembert cheese, blueberry jam and a little butter for frying (but we could do without it).

We started frying brioche on a large burner. A few thin pieces of butter were placed in the pan.

The toast toasted evenly and very quickly.

In this test, we also really lacked the ability to accurately control the temperature of the burners. At some point, I just had to turn them off so that the brioche would not turn completely black.

After frying on both sides, we distributed a thin layer of melted cheese on two pieces of brioche, and on top we placed blueberry jam on one toast, and thin pieces of Camembert on the second.

We combined two parts of the bread into one juicy sandwich and sent it back to the pan for a couple of minutes so that the cheese melted a little.

We got really tasty and beautiful Blueberry Nights. Let’s reduce the rating except for the lack of precise temperature control.

It took us 9 minutes and 30 seconds to fry 3 full sandwiches. During this time, the tiles consumed 0.217 kWh.

Result: good

findings

The Kitfort KT-152 hob pleased us with its ease of use and simple yet stylish design. On it you can quickly cook any familiar homemade dish. For cooking, you can use dishes made of different materials, including aluminum, as well as containers of completely different dimensions weighing up to 10 kg.

The tile washes without problems, is easily rearranged from place to place and takes up very little space during storage.

The surface of the tile is narrow and looks advantageous in a small kitchen. The device is perfect for giving, a compact kitchen or a change house. For its price category, the device can be called very successful, although not without flaws.

Pros :

• intuitive control
• value for money
• narrow, light, mobile

Cons :

• Rotary power switches do not allow for precise heat control
• not very high energy efficiency
• no power indicator