I just bought an energy efficient flattop stove with my bf several months back and we had considered returning it cuz we thought it might be deffective, the burners kept shutting off in the middle of cooking food... We just moved into an appartment recently however and bought a small burner for the appartment and it does the exact same thing, as it turns out it's this new "energy efficient" crap. It heats up until the burner reaches a certain temperature, then shuts off, even if the pan/food is not at a consistant temperature. It took me 30 %#&*$ minutes to cook 12 pieces of bacon and even then they seemed slightly undercooked(and I like my bacon undercooked, just not quite that much).
It may not be related to your stove problem. But flat tops can be finnicky about the type of skillet, pot, etc. Heavy skillets like cast iron or enamelled cast iron can trap the heat causing the burner to shut down. Or if it's not perfectly flat (like a ruffled bottom), it can shut down too. Then again, there is a lot of s*** products being made these days. I used to be a bacon snob and it had to be done in a cast iron skillet. Low & behold, the microwave does a pretty dang good job. I got one of those plastic things where you hang it on a T. About 1 minute / slice.
I have a flat top that does the same thing. It operates with a thermostat so it keeps the heat at the same temp. The Ceramic top holds a lot of heat so it will cycle on and off as needed to maintain the same temp. You have to learn not to pay attention to the burner being on or off. It takes much longer to heat up so you have to be careful not to turn it up too high, be patient and let it heat up. Also, ( and this is what used to get me ) it takes a longer time for it to cool so if you turn down the heat because something is about to burn it will not work well because of the Ceramic top still giving off heat. You have to anticipate or actually lift the pan off the burner a sec to let it cool. There is a lot of Hysteresis in a Ceramic Cook Top , this causes a dynamic lag in the system, once you realize that it will work well for you.
I hate a "cook top". It takes forever to get hot. Temperature changes take forever. The whole stove gets hot. It's also really easy to "overheat" it and have the whole stove shut itself off right in the middle of a meal. And then you are trying to use ice cubes to try to cool down the control panel area in the front long enough to get it going again. Not to mention the trip to the fuse box to flip the breaker off and back on. A gas stove has the most fine control over temperature, but it can quickly get away from you. It's like being on a flying trapeze without a net. Electric is slower to react, but you don't have to worry about the whole stove freaking out on you. I've found that if you need to change from high temp to low temp on electric, your best bet is to move the pan between two burners set at those temperatures. A cook top is like trying to do calligraphy while wearing oven mitts. I've never seen a chef use one. /Self-confessed Foodie
I had the option several years ago to buy me a fancy cooktop to replace my old gas stove. Easy to clean, they said. Safer than gas, they said. What they didn't say was not only do professional chefs NOT use them, but that there are a lot of dissatisfied cooktop owners out there. Pan slightly warped? Too bad. Wrong material for the cooktop? Won't conduct heat. I got me a new gas stove with the heavy grill top (removable for cleaning) and sealed burners. No issues except the flame is so huge on the wide burners that I have to use a big pan on those; not a bad problem though. That said, I use various appliances to make life easier. Bacon and most meats get cooked in my infrared convection oven (the kind with the see-through dome). We use a cheap electric teakettle to boil water super fast (microwave isn't even close). Dinner tonight used every one of the appliances listed, and made it fast and easy. And three cheers for gas flame cooking!
