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. Stellar describes these as ‘electric heating coils beneath each ring, enclosed in a sealed metal plate’.
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)The 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) this pageThe 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
- A round hotplate: a circle with a filled dot in the middle, sometimes with a second ring inside it. Fackelmann draws it flat in a square. Stellar draws a disc seen at an angle, in a circle. Küchen Kotten says the electric mark is usually a circle with a dot or lines.
- Other names
- electric hob symbol; solid plate symbol; hotplate symbol; electric stove symbol; circle with a dot on a pan
What it does not promise
It does not cover glass-top hobs. Ceramic and induction hobs have their own icons, and only the coil says a pan works on induction: Fackelmann says induction, unlike gas, electric and ceramic hobs, takes only pans with a ferromagnetic base. The icon does not tell you how flat or thick the base is either. For solid hotplates, Stellar advises flat-based pans with thick bases that conduct heat well, for the best heat transfer.
Where makers differ
Fackelmann labels its icon ‘Elektroherd’ and Stellar labels its icon ‘Electric’, but both draw a plate, and Stellar’s own hob guide calls this hob a ‘Solid hotplate’. A ceramic hob is electric too, so makers give it a separate icon. Fackelmann says glass-ceramic hobs have replaced the older electric cookers with cast-iron plates (‘Massekochfeldern aus Gusseisen’).
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 ‘Electric’ as a flat disc seen at an angle, in a circle. Its hob guide calls this hob a ‘Solid hotplate’: ‘electric heating coils beneath each ring, enclosed in a sealed metal plate’; ‘Use flat-based pans with thick, high-conductivity bases for the best heat transfer.’ Checked 2026-10-09.
- Fackelmann : Herdarten: Der Richtige für deine Küche (stove types guide, German) — Its ‘Herdarten Symbole’ picture labels an ‘Elektroherd’ icon: a circle with a filled dot in the centre, in a square. The text says ‘Anders als beim Gas-, Elektro- und Cerankochfeld’ only pans with a ferromagnetic base work on induction, and that glass-ceramic hobs replaced the older electric cookers with cast-iron plates. 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.
Written in our own words; quotations are the sources’ wording.