The term"cooking hob"shall designate any kind of heating device used on kitchen appliances for heating food, such as electric hot plates or cooking plates, gas cooking units and the like. Conventionally four cooking hobs are arrange in the surface of a stove or a similar cooking unit, with the four cooking hobs being dispose one behind the other in respective pairs so that the center points of the individual cooking hobs can be sub- stantially associated with the corners of a square. Stoves with other cookina hob arrangements are also known. German utility model No G 89 15 836 discloses a cooking surface with two front and outer surfaces which are arrange remotely from each other and two rear cooking surfaces which are arrange close together, so that the center points of the round cooking surfaces substantially form the corner points of a trapezium. German utility model No G 90 10 072 discloses a coking surface in which three round cooking surfaces which are dispose in mutually juxtapose relationship are dispose at the front and an elongate cooking surface is dispose at the rear.

Finally the German patent application DE 43 04 203 A 1 discloses a cooking surface with four substantially mutually juxtapose cooking hobs.

The object of the invention is to provide a cooking surface which permits the cook optimum access to all cooking hobs arrange on the cooking surface.

In accordance with the invention that object is attained in that the cooking surface has a front edge which is concavely curved at least in a portion, and that the cooking hobs are arrange in mutually juxtapose relationship along the concavely curved front edge.

When the cook is positioned in front of the center of the concavely curved front edge of the cooking surface, the lateral portions of the front edge project into a region laterally of the location at which the cook is standing and are directly accessible for the cook by virtue of a slight turning

movement of the body. The cooking hobs which are dispose along the concavely curved front surface are substantially distributed in a portion of a circular ring, which portion corresponds to the gripping region which is directly accessible for the cook, so that the cook has direct access to all cooking implements on the cooking surfaces, without having to stretch out or without having to move from the place where he is standing.

Generally the cooking surface according to the invention is integrated into a kitchen unit whose front surface is concavely curved to correspond to the front edge of the cooking surface. It will be appreciated that the cooking surface can also be arrange on simple legs without a supporting structure therebeneath, or can be fixed at one side to the wall in freely suspende relationship.

Conventional kitchen units are set against a straight wall in the kitchen, in which case the straight rear edge of the cooking surface which is opposite to the front edge bears flush against the wall of the room.

Alternatively a kitchen unit can be intended to be arrange in the cor- ner of a room. In that case the cooking surface is dispose opposite two rear edges which extend at a right angle to each other. The corner formed by the two rear edges where they meet is preferably dispose on the center line of the cooking surface, which also intercepts the center of the curved portion of the front edge.

The operating elements, generally rotary knobs, can be arrange at the front in front of the individual cooking hobs or in the plane of the cooking surface, as in conventional cooking hob arrangements.

Above the cooking hobs there can be an extractor hood which advan- tageously has a vapor intake surface whose front edge and rear edge are curved substantially to correspond to the curxature of the front edge of the cooking surface so that the vapor intake surface extends over all coking hobs of the cooking surface.

The cooking hobs can be formed by all known heating devices, for example electrical heating plates, support surfaces with gas burners, glass

ceramic cooking hobs with heating bodies or induction cooking hobs which pass energy by way of an induction coil into the underneath surface of a cooking pot whereby that surface is heated.

The glass ceramic plates with a concavely curved front edge, which can be equipped with heating bodies and which can be fitted into a kitchen unit, also form the subject-matter of the invention and make it possible to attain the object of the invention. A glass ceramic plate of that kind is subject-matter in independent claim 15, wherein following claims 16 to 18 disclose advantageous configurations of that glass ceramic plate.

If elongate cooking hobs are arrange in the cooking surface, they should be dispose in the lateral regions of the cooking surface and their longitudinal axis should intersect the curved front edge of the cooking surface preferably at a right angle. In that way it is possible to provide that the rear edge of the elongate lateral cooking hobs is dispose substantially on the same straight line as the rear end of the round central cooking hobs.

If the cooking hobs are arrange somewhat below the plane of the cooking surface, they can be covered over with a cover means which can be fitted flush into the cooking surface so that, when the cooking hobs are not in use, a larger surface area is available for carrying out kitchen operations.

The cover means can be hingedly connecte to the cooking surface.

Alternatively it is possible for the cooking hobs to be arrange in a movable portion of the cooking surface, which movable portion can be turned or pushed into a position under the fixed portion, dispose therebe- hind, of the cooking surface. Thus the cooking hobs can be moved from a concealed position under the fixed portion of the cooking surface into an extended position in front of that portion and do not project into the kitchen, to cause a nuisance, when they are not in use. A lifting arrangement, for example a lever structure on the sliding guide means, can provide that the movable portion can be lifted in the extended position and arrestably secured to the fixed portion of the cooking surface so that, in the extended position, the movable portion is dispose substantially in one plane with the fixed portion.

Further features and avantages of the invention are apparent from the appendant claims and from the following specific description. In the drawing: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a kitchen row with the appliance ac- cording to the invention, Figure 2 is a plan view of the kitchen row of Figure 1 without ex- tractor hood, Figure 3 is a front view of the kitchen row of Figure 1, Figure 4 is a plan view of an appliance according to the invention in the form of a corner unit, Figure 5 is a plan view of an appliance according to the invention with extensible cooking surface portion, and Figure 6 is a side view of the appliance shown in Figure 5.

The kitchen row or array shown in Figure 1 inclues a kitchen unit 1 with a cupboard 2 having a roller shutter-type door and a plurality of drawers 3 dispose therebeside. Arrange on that kitchen unit is a multi- function stove 4 which is designed for top-heating, bottom-heating, grill, circulatory-air and microwave modes of operation. Dispose therebeside is a kitchen unit 5 on which a cooking surface 6 according to the invention is arrange. The central portion 8 of the front edge 7 of the cooking surface 6 is concavely and circularly curved. A plurality of coking hobs 9,10 are arrange in mutually juxtapose relationship, following the curvature of that central portion 8. Only circula cooking hobs 9 are shown in Figure 1.

Figure 2 alternatively shows elongate cooking hobs 10 for heating larger pots. The elongate cooking hobs 10 can alternatively be provided with lower levels of heating output, as hobs for keeping food warm.

In particular the elongate cooking hobs 10 can be arrange laterally, in which case their longitudinal axis intersects substantially at a ri-hot angle the curved portion 8 of the front edge 7 of the cooking surface 6. In that way the rear ends of all coking hobs 9,10 are dispose substantially on a straight line (see Figure 5).

The kitchen unit 5 whose surface is formed by the coking surface 6 has a front surface 11 which is concavely curved to correspond to the

curvature of the front edge 7 of the cooking surface 6. That front surface 11 is formed by the front sides of drawers which can be pulled out.

An extractor hood 12 is arrange above the cooking surface 6. It comprises a vapor intake surface 13 which communicates by way of a funnel-shaped flow passage 14 with a tube 15 connecte to a fan (not shown). The vapor intake surface 13 covers over substantially the entire region provided with cooking hobs 9,10, wherein its front edge and its rear edge are curved approximately concentrically and in a configuration corre- sponding to the curvature of the curved portion 8 of the front edge 7 of the coking surface 6.

Figure 4 shows an alternative embodiment of a cooking surface 6'for a kitchen unit to be arrange in the corner of a room. Here, arrange opposite the front edge 7 of the cooking surface 6'are two rear edges 16, 17 which extend towards each other at a right angle and meet on the center line of the cooking surface 6'. In that way the cooking surface 6'with the cooking hobs 9,10 which are arrange substantially on a portion of a circular ring can be dispose in a space-saving fashion in a corner of a room.

Figures 5 and 6 show an appliance according to the invention in <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> which the cooking surface 6"is divided into a movable portion 18 and a fixed portion 19. Arrange under the fixed portion 19 at each lateral end is a sliding guide means 20 out of which can be pulled a support arm 21 to which there is fixed a respective lateral end of the movable portion 18 of the <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> cooking surface 6". Two short pivotal levers 22 are respectively arrange between each support arm 21 and the movable portion 18 of the cooking <BR> <BR> <BR> surface 6". The pivotal levers 22 make it possible for the movable portion to be moved from a lower position between the support arms 21 into an upper position in the plane of the fixed portion 19 (see Figure 6), and arrested there. A holding arrangement of that kind for the cooking hobs 9, 10, which can be pushed under the fixed portion, can be used to avantage in particular when there is a shortage of space, for example in the interior equipment of boats or caravans or trailers.

List of references: kitchen unit 2 cupboard with roller shutter-type door drayer 4 multi-function stove 5 kitchen unit 6,6', 6 coking surface 7 front edge 8 central curved portion 9 cooking hob 10 cooking hob 11 front surface 12 extractor hood 13 vapor intake surface 14 funnel-shaped flow passage 15 tube 16 rear edge 17 rear ed (ye 18 movable portion 19 fixed portion 20 sliding guide means 21 support arm 22 pivotal lever