Ceramic hob (glass-top symbol)
The maker says the pan can be used on a ceramic hob, the electric kind with heating elements under one smooth sheet of glass. Stellar calls it ‘another type of electric hob, featuring one smooth surface of ceramic glass which covers the heating elements beneath’.
Market convention
Which hob does this pan work on?
Pans often carry several of these in a row on the base or the pack. Each icon is a separate claim by the maker: find each one on yours and open its page.
Induction (coil symbol)The maker says the pan works on an induction hob.
Gas hob (burner symbol)The maker says the pan can be used on a gas hob.
Ceramic hob (glass-top symbol) this pageThe maker says the pan can be used on a ceramic hob, the electric kind with heating elements under one smooth sheet of glass.
Electric hob (solid hotplate symbol)The maker says the pan can be used on an electric solid-plate hob, the kind with a sealed metal plate over each ring.
This symbol is a market convention: no law or public standard defines the drawing, so each maker draws its own and the meaning is whatever that maker says it is. This page follows 3 makers’ and retailers’ own keys.
- What it looks like
- Rings broken into dashes or zigzags, one inside another, for a heating element glowing under a smooth sheet of glass. Stellar puts the rings in a circle, Fackelmann in a square, and Küchen Kotten describes the mark as wavy lines.
- Other names
- ceramic hob symbol; glass ceramic hob symbol; Ceran symbol; radiant hob symbol; wavy lines symbol on a pan
What it does not promise
It does not mean the pan works on induction, even though the two hobs look alike. Fackelmann says an induction hob is hard to tell from a glass-ceramic one by sight, but only pans with a ferromagnetic base work on induction. Look for the coil, or try a magnet. It does not protect the glass either. Stellar says to lift pans rather than slide them, to avoid damaging the hob surface, and Fackelmann calls glass-ceramic hobs scratch-sensitive (‘kratzempfindlich’).
Where makers differ
Stellar draws dashed, zigzag rings in a circle and labels the icon ‘Ceramic’. Fackelmann draws dashed rings in a square and labels it ‘Ceranherd’; it also calls the glass-ceramic hob a ‘Ceranfeld’. Küchen Kotten describes ‘wellige Linien’ (wavy lines). Stellar’s hob guide also covers halogen hobs, which heat through glass too, but its key has no separate halogen icon.
More oven and hob symbols
Sources
No law defines this symbol, so the meaning is taken from makers’ and retailers’ own pages. Those marked as showing the icon draw or describe it; the others add conditions. Each was fetched and read on the date shown:
- Stellar : Stellar Cookware Buying Guide — the Stellar cookware symbols — Its symbol key shows ‘Ceramic’ as rings of dashes and zigzags in a circle, beside the gas, electric and induction icons. On ceramic hobs it says: ‘Always take care to lift rather than slide pans to avoid damaging the hob surface.’ Checked 2026-10-09.
- Fackelmann : Herdarten: Der Richtige für deine Küche (stove types guide, German) — Its ‘Herdarten Symbole’ picture labels a ‘Ceranherd’ icon: dashed rings, one inside another, in a square. The text says glass-ceramic hobs are ‘kratzempfindlich’ (scratch-sensitive), that an induction hob is ‘optisch … kaum vom Herd mit Glaskeramikkochfeld zu unterscheiden’ (hard to tell from a glass-ceramic hob by sight), and that induction needs pans with a ferromagnetic base. Checked 2026-10-09.
- Küchen Kotten (kitchen retailer, Germany) : Zeichen für Induktionsherd erkennen & deuten (1 August 2025) — Its FAQ answers how the induction mark differs from other hob symbols: ‘Induktion zeigt eine Spirale, Ceran wellige Linien, Gas eine Flamme und Elektro meist einen Kreis mit Punkt oder Strichen’ (induction shows a spiral, ceramic wavy lines, gas a flame and electric usually a circle with a dot or lines). It describes the icons in words and does not draw them. Checked 2026-10-09.
- IKEA Netherlands: Is my pan suitable for my IKEA hob? — Says IKEA puts symbols on all its pans showing whether they suit ‘gas, ceramic, induction or even all three’, and that this is also given on each pan’s product page. The page does not draw the symbols. Checked 2026-10-09.
Written in our own words; quotations are the sources’ wording.