An upgrader hob, the Bosch Serie 4 PUE611BF1B features a standard 13A plug, which connects to a regular power socket. It’s relatively fast when using a single cooking zone, but it starts to power share when multiple zones are engaged at once, making it very slow.
Pros
- Uses 13A plug
- Good value
- Quick when using one zone
Cons
- Very slow for multiple pans
- Controls are too sensitive
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BurnersThis hob has four individual burners. -
PowerThis hob has a standard 13A plug on it.
Introduction
If you have an old gas hob and want to replace it with an induction model without having to install a dedicated 32A circuit, the 60cm Bosch Serie 4 PUE611BF1B could well be for you, since it runs off a standard 13A plug. It’s fast if using a single cooking zone, but its power limitations become evident when you want to use multiple zones at once.
Design and Features
- Uses a 13A plug
- Each zone features its own timer control
- Touch controls are too sensitive
For those who don’t have a 32A circuit, the Bosch Serie 4 PUE611BF1B is a workaround. Coming with a standard 13A plug attached, this hob can be plugged into a normal wall socket. Given that most gas burners require a normal power socket for the ignition, this induction hob offers a quick upgrade.
This model offers a standard four-zone layout. There are two identical-sized zones on the left, then a larger one for bigger pans and small zone for smaller pans.
Each zone has its own set of touch controls. Hitting the Plus button on a control turns on the zone at its maximum setting of 9, although there’s a P (power boost) function to deliver greater power for faster boiling times for each. Hitting the Minus button reduces the zone to heat setting 4.
The Plus and Minus buttons are used to move between power settings, but it’s a laborious and slow job, particularly since each zone has half-settings between full numbers, denominated by a “.” after the number. That’s a total of 17 settings – which, realistically, is too many to use; the standard of nine plus a boost would make more sense.
It’s possible to set a timer for each cooking zone. When the timer runs out, the zone will turn off automatically. Plus, the Bosch Serie 4 PUE611BF1B includes a dedicated timer that isn’t linked to the hob at all. It’s a useful extra – I used it to remind me when to start cooking a specific part of the meal, such as the potatoes.
What’s particularly frustrating about the Bosch Serie 4 PUE611BF1B is that its touch controls are ridiculously sensitive. Place an oven tray, or even a tea towel, over the controls, and the hob will start to beep constantly. It’s extremely annoying.
Bosch uses Schott Ceran glass for its hob, which is super hard-wearing and very easy to keep clean – particularly if I clean up just after cooking.
Performance
- Fast for a single burner
- Slow when using all four
To test the hob, I first used a thermal camera to take a picture of the various cooking zones. As you can see, all have a standard round layout, for even heating of pans. For the best performance, the size of the pan should match the size of the cooking zone.
I started by testing the largest zone on the Bosch Serie 4 PUE611BF1B. By default, the 9 power setting uses 2.2kW, although a power boost brings that up to 3kW, which is the maximum supported by a 13A plug. Boiling 1.5 litres of water in an 18cm Ninja Foodi Zerostick pan, I went from 20ºC to 90ºC in a reasonable 4mins 30secs.
Switching to a 16cm pan on the medium-sized zones (1.8kW on 9 and 3kW on boost), it took 4mins 21secs to bring 1-litre of water to 90ºC.
Using a 16cm pan on the smallest zone (1.4kW on setting 9, 2.2kW on Boost), it took 2mins 11secs to bring 500ml of water to 90ºC. These times are all pretty quick. In fact, you generally have to spend a lot more on an induction hob to find a model that will put more than 3kW of power through a single zone.
So far, so good; but start to engage all of the cooking zones at once, and things go awry. With all of the zones in use, you’ll be unable to engage the Boost setting at all. Setting all of the burners to power 9, the Bosch Serie 4 PUE611BF1B starts to power share. You can hear it clicking as it turns the zones on and off to share the 3kW of total power between them all.
As a result, it took the best part of 30 minutes under these conditions to bring 1.5 litres of water in a 20cm pan to 90ºC.
When cooking with more than two pans, I found that it was best to use the higher setting on each pan at one time; once the food is hot and you move to simmering or keeping warm (between setting 4 and 7, generally), the power-sharing is less of an issue.
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Should you buy it?
If you can’t get a 32A circuit where you need a hob, this is a simple upgrade.
This hob is very slow when multiple zones are in use at one time, and the touch controls are annoying.
Final Thoughts
As an upgrade, the Bosch Serie 4 PUE611BF1B is a well-made induction hob that will work from a standard power socket. It’s quick for a single zone, too. I’d say that it would suit those who will mostly be using one or two cooking zones at a time. Where you can opt for a 32A hob, such as the Samsung NZ64K5747BK, do so, since they offer greater flexibility, achieving faster results using multiple cooking zones at once.
How we test
Unlike other sites, we test every induction hob we review thoroughly over an extended period of time. We use standard tests to compare features properly. We’ll always tell you what we find. We never, ever, accept money to review a product.
Find out more about how we test in our ethics policy.
Used as our main induction hob for the review period
We measure how long it takes to bring 500ml, 1-litre and 1.5-litres of water to 90C using different sized burners.
We test any special cooking programmes to see how they perform
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FAQs
No, it uses a 13A plug.
Five – one for each burner and a standalone unit.
