MaxiMatic ESB-301BF Electric Single Buffet Burner

This electric hot plate will be ideal for use in the garage to heat the water I use to sterilize the straw for my mushroom growing. Sufficient to heat the water through without bringing it to a boil and destroying essential nutrients for the growth of the mycelium. Easy to use, easy to clean and it heats up evenly.

I almost tossed this...glad I gave it a second chance. I bought it for cooking while traveling away from home. It seemed to be a good option for that...cooking in hotels or in an unfurnished apartment/home when on an extended stay.The first couple of times I used it it didn't seem to get hot enough to boil the water but in hindsight it seems to work better and get hotter after the first few uses. It kind of seems like it needs to burn off the coating first before it's fully functional, but once it does it works great and is pretty efficient just keep in mind that due to its reduced wattage it may take longer than expected to get hot. Think of the light as a preheat...when it first turns off, it only means that it's ready to start cooking.There is an initial smell that comes from the burner and maybe even a little smoke I'm not so sure about the smoke because I first used it outside and the room that I was in was fairly large and well ventillated not sure if the initial smoke was from what I was cooking or the residue. Whatever coating, residue, or what have you that causes it does eventually burn off and leave you with no smell but it did take quite a few uses (even after initially leaving mine on 1 much longer than the recommended time).There were a few options with the burner tops. Mine is the iron one. It retains some heat after the burner light cuts off. I saw some reviews complaining about this but now after using it I see it as a feature (if efficiency is important to you) because the heat turns off once the desired setting is reached yet the burner is still cooking. The downside is that sometimes you will need to turn the burner off (or down) earlier than you may be used to.At home I have an electric stove and while it does take longer to warm up or cool down compared to a gas stove, the response time is still much closer to a gas stove than it is to this burner. It can take quite awhile for the burner to completely cool down after turning off. A nuisance at first but now that I'm used to it I kind of like it since it does save me a lot of power. I'm on an extended stay now and there is a gas stove here that works great but I find myself using this burner most of the time to save my expense on gas. Recently got the electric bill and it was so much cheaper (a fraction) than the gas which was really great and I was using it the burner a lot.One other downside is that it takes the burner a lot longer than expected to heat up. I have been turning it on early to "preheat" it and this helps a lot to get things cooking. I have even used the burner to cook stock in a large stock pot. It did take longer to get the water boiling and I had to use higher settings but it worked fine otherwise. My only worry was whether the burner could handle the weight. The burner is still new (I've only been using it a couple months so far) so the jury is still out on that.All things considered I'm very happy with my burner and even considering getting another one. It is very efficient, takes very little space, and is great for travel or on the road. A second one will allow me to cook two things at the same time.Edit on March 29, 2023 - One other thing that probably deserves being mentioned. The settings are numbered from 1 to 6 (if I remember right, because my stove is currently packed somewhere since I'm not traveling at the moment). It will take some trial and error to find out which settings work best for your cooking preference. I recommend after the initial burnoff (per the manual), doing a test run first to boil water in your usual pot presetting to 4 first then allowing it to go until the water is boiling and then turning it down to see where you like it set at most for simmering, medium boil, etc. Then do a fry test run frying/sauting something simple (like onions and potatoes or similar) and starting again presetting at around 3.5 and then heating everything up in your preferred pan and seeing what settings you like best here as well for it to cook at the speeds that you prefer.

Who doesn't like the controlable heat of a Gas Stove? Changes instantly and is continuously variable from Low to High. Vietnamese Restaurants invoke huge gas flames, 80,000 BTU's surrounding the sides of a wok to stir fry a meal put together in one or two minutes. Modern Electric portable cooking appliances don't work that way. Temperature is controlled by turning the heat on and off for a duration controlled by the temperature knob. Unlike many electric cookers that have preset temperature settings - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4, this little gem's temp is continuously variable, but still regulates heat via the On - Off method. I was skeptical at first. infra red hot plates turn the heat on and off very quickly. Imagine turning the gas on medium for twenty seconds, then off for 15 seconds. The old-style concentric ring of glowing orange coils worked very well, but I think safety concerns for a portable device that can cause a fire or serious harm to a curious child have taken precedence over old style designs. My main four-burner is an Induction Stove. Flameless. Skeptical, I conducted an experiment. I have a Ceramic Slow-Cooker type Bowl/Pot. Relatively heavy, about 5/16 thick with a glass lid. The Base of this pot just fits the ring of the Elite Hot plate with about 1/16 of an inch to spare. I filled it with 5 1/2 quarts of room temperature water to within an inch of the rim and turned on the heat to MAX; that equates to number 6 on the temperature control knob. Keep in mind the overall weight and thickness of the pot, designed as a slow-cooker. Not like regulation aluminum or stainless steel. Also, there's a lag in heating the cast iron plate of the burner and cooling it down. It took about two hours to heat the water to a raging, furious boil that was splashing over the edge onto the counter top despite the glass lid. The pot is shaped like a flower pot so no water got onto the burner plate. I turned the heat down to 4 1/2 and slowly, the water settled into a nice steady boil, perfect for slow cooking had there been any food in the pot. There was a barely imperceptible surge as the heat turned on and off, hardly even noticeable, that has no practical effect on cooking. The thick cast iron plate acts as a heat sink that disperses the heat evenly when the plate is off. More so the large thick pot full of over a gallon of water retains a lot of heat. The ultimate test, I think. I suppose that for cooking Bacon and Eggs the Elite would work well. I bought it solely for use as a slow cooker since the heating bin for my big pot gave up the ghost with not a whole lot of use. This will do for a replacement. I have a vintage 50's glow orange coil type hot plate that also works to heat this pot. In direct contact with 1100 watts of glowing coils, it heats 5 1/2 quarts in less than half the time of the Elite. I made a 20 amp 110 VAC on/off set-able timer - e.g. 8 hours 30 minutes - out of three dollars worth of parts to be used as an in-line timer. For unattended use - just set it and forget it - I'd prefer to use this Elite hot plate rather that the old glowing coil set up. Cooking time not a problem with a Slow Cooker. It can cook while asleep, or at work; on the back patio - cut the upper two-thirds off a 55 gallon drum and set it inside against the wind... or not. Crude, but effective. Overall, I agree with other reviewers who give it a good rating. I've tried different products of this type that I returned for one reason or another. Used as a portable Fifth Burner, it works well enough to be of good use. For me, it's a keeper.

This unit takes a little bit longer to heat up compared to other burners I've had.... it's neat, compact, gets super hot and stays hot for some time after shutting off, which is good for keeping food in the pan hot until serving. So far it's one great little burner for the cost. Thank you for another awesone product and excellent service.

I’ve been using it for about two months during remodeling. It does the work, but VERY slowly. It’s reliable, easy to use, compact. But for occasional use, rather than something more permanent.