Hisense HI6443SRWF Infinite Matt Glass Review

More than by its 7,360 W of power, the Hisense HI6443SRWF Infinite Matt Glass induction hob stands apart from the competition through its matt finish and its automatic cooking programmes.

Matt glass is gradually gaining ground on hobs. Since the Electrolux Saphir Matt Serie 700 of 2024, this finish has won over more and more users, who see it as a material that is simpler to maintain than gloss glass and more resistant to fingerprints and the small mishaps of daily life, scratches chief among them.

Hisense had already used matt glass on the HI63218SR and has repeated the experiment on the more sophisticated HI6443SRWF Infinite Matt Glass. This model has a total power of 7,360 W, adjustable across nine steps, and adds a selection of automatic programmes to make life easier in the kitchen across its four zones. The left and right pairs can be bridged to form two large cooking surfaces. It also carries a communication system between hob and compatible extractor, so that the power of one adapts to the power of the other, under the Hob To Hood name, and it can be paired with a smartphone running the ConnectLife app.

The HI6443SRWF Infinite Matt Glass abandons glossy glass for a rather successful matt black. The surface is decorated with white markings intended to help place pans, and Hisense has chosen a set of lines, dotted sections and very small reference points for the purpose. There is no dressing this up: it is clearly not the most practical method, and plain circles remain the clearest guide.

Switch the hob on and the control strip lights up in an attractive amber. Unlike the vast majority of hobs, the power in use is not indicated by a segmented electronic display but by an LED beneath a carefully drawn numeral. Power is changed by pressing the chosen figure or by sliding a finger along the sequence of characters. Good eyesight is sometimes needed to make out the selected level. On the other hand, each induction zone gets its own slider, which is welcome. Responsiveness improves because there is no need to select a zone, make the change, then start again for another one.

Direct access does not extend to the timer. A countdown can be set for the hob as a whole, and a cooking duration can be set for an individual zone, but the latter means touching the clock icon next to that zone's slider and then adjusting the settings using the arrows that light up in the centre of the control panel. It becomes familiar quickly enough, and this option does not demand the same immediacy as changing power.

The most exacting cooks may feel constrained by the small number of power steps on the HI6443SRWF Infinite Matt Glass, when some hobs in the comparison set, the Bosch PIX63SHC1F among them, offer more than 15 levels. For everyday cooking, though, that should not prove too limiting.

One of the defining features of this model is the inclusion of six automatic heating modes: keep warm, melt, simmer, grill, fry and bring to the boil. Moving from one to another simply means touching the A key. The name of the function appears and the hob sets itself to the required power automatically.

Hisense makes a great deal of its automatic pan detection. That system is indeed particularly quick here, but the feature itself is nothing new.

The hob can be paired with a smartphone running the ConnectLife app. Connecting the two poses no real difficulty, but what it offers is very limited. The manufacturer provides recipe downloads, a meal planner, AI recipe creation and a digital user manual. The hob can also be programmed remotely, but cooking cannot be started that way; it will only begin once a key on the hob itself is pressed. Connected features are clearly not the reason to choose this model.

Hisense has not had time to make progress on cooking performance since the HI63218SR. The results from the HI6443SRWF Infinite Matt Glass will not go down in history, then, but should be enough for most households.

The first point to make is that the four cooking zones on this hob are absolutely identical: same size, same power. Versatility suffers as a result, because there is no small burner for gently reducing a sauce and no very large one for the family pasta pot.

That is all the more unfortunate because the Infinite Matt Glass handles low power settings badly. After two hours of operation at the lowest setting, the temperature in the test oil bath reached 80 °C, a long way from the ideal 55 °C, the temperature at which chocolate is easiest for pastry cooks to work with.

Because of their size, the induction zones deliver even heat within the pan. Sauté potatoes should therefore cook uniformly without needing much stirring.

As always, though, using the bridged zones brings notable temperature disparities. They are best reserved for a dish in sauce that can simmer at length; a fish kettle risks producing a trout overcooked at the head and tail but undercooked through the body.

One further behaviour is worth knowing about: the hob operates intermittently to simulate the intermediate power steps. That should have no bearing on everyday cooking, but it is better to be aware of it.

The maximum power reached on the Hisense HI6443SRWF Infinite Matt Glass in testing was 7,410 W. That allows all four zones to run at maximum power, though not in boost mode.

The HI6443SRWF proves fairly frugal. To complete the heat-up test, taking 3 litres of water from 25 °C to 100 °C using boost mode, it needs only 0.34 kWh. The Bosch Serie 6 PIX63SHC1F remains the most economical in this area at 0.29 kWh, but the figures recorded for the Hisense in this exercise are very good.

Induction hobs are generally discreet products and the HI6443SRWF Infinite Matt Glass is no exception. At half power the sound meter reaches 41 dB(A), rising to 51 dB(A) when boost mode is engaged. Nothing to trouble the ears.