Chef CHI643BA
Verified4 reviews
Great customer service, Decent value for money compared to other induction cooktops – 2 years, 4 months old and it turned off while I was cooking - small issue which was quickly rectified even though it was just out of warranty - working perfectly again. The printed circle does not indicate the actual heating zone eg, the largest is only 210mm... most makes and models seem to follow this convention though. Touch buttons are frustrating - the smallest amount of water or a lightweight object on the button area makes it beep and turns the whole cooktop off - again maybe they are all like this for safety reasons. Fans can be noisy if you run multiple hotplates or put it on max power. Its my first induction cooktop... coming from gas... these things are fast and give you great control. If you use a large diameter pan it needs to have a very heavy flat base to heat evenly. Be very careful with non stick - high heat kills them, gas was a bit more even/gentle - I've changed to heavy stainless and carbon steel pans.
Purchased in at RetraVision for $729.20.
Failed after 2.5 years – Purchased Sept 2018 from was pleased with the cooktop, heats quickly and cooks efficiently. Looks good in our dark grey stone bench top. Warranty is for 2 years, mine failed at 2 years 6 months. Started giving E9 code. Had to replace the Board user interface assembly at $101.95 plus $14.95 shipping and the cost of the electrician. Disappointed given the cost of the cook top would think it would last longer.
Purchased in at The Good Guys for $696.
DO NOT BUY- broke within 5 months – Save yourself the hassle and don’t purchase this stove top or anything CHEF products. This broke within 5 months due to a technical malfunction and was covered within their warranty period. Unfortunately for us it broke 2 weeks before Christmas. Chef offered little help, palmed us off with some phone numbers to call. Understandably no one was able to fix our appliance with most businesses already closed for Christmas or totally booked out. We asked to be sent a new stove top which Chef refused. We asked for some money to be compensated for us to purchase a gasmate camp stove so we were able to feed our family, they refused. It got to the point where they would offer no help other than to send a service person out on the 18th of January. Meaning we would have been without a stove for a minimum of 6 weeks (and that is relying on the fact that the issue was in fact, fixable). They eventually, after spending hours phoning them, offered us a stove credit BUT we had to pay for an electrician to come and disconnect the stove and then we had to drive it back to the store. Feeling as though we had no other choice (as we needed to be able to actually cook to feed our family) we accepted the store credit. We then had to wait until the store opened in the new year and drive an hour. I am so disappointed in the product, and especially in the customer service. We never received an apology, a phone call or an email to support us. Every single call was made by me (even when I was promised someone would call me back). Save yourself the trouble.
Purchased in at Harvey Norman for $800.
Good product by Electrolux – Chef cooktops are made by Electrolux, unlike many other of the cheaper induction cooktops (e.g. Arc, Everture, Bellini etc), which are no-name brand products imported by retailers under brand names unrecognised outside Australia. I installed it myself (I have some training in electrics) and it was a breeze. The unit is noisier than the one it replaced (a high priced German NEFF), but that's because it has fans and switching that the older unit did not have. I got a very good price with an eBay 20% discount from The Good Guys. I'll update this review if I have any problems.
- Date Purchased:
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