Clean the whole glass surface rather than the printed circles, because MaxiSense bridges zones and the area that actually gets hot is wider than the markings imply. If the hob drives the hood through Hob2Hood, that hood is running far more than a manual one and its filters load faster.
Two AEG features change how the hob should be cleaned, and neither is obvious from looking at it. The general method for glass and gas surfaces is on our cooktop cleaning guide.
MaxiSense means the markings are not the hot area
On a conventional induction hob the printed circles show where the coils are and everything between them is dead space. AEG's MaxiSense combines coils so a large pan, a roasting dish or a fish kettle can sit anywhere across a wide strip and be heated along its whole base.
The consequence for cleaning is that there is far less dead space than the markings suggest. Residue sitting in what looks like a safe gap between two zones is not in a safe gap, and it will get hot the next time something large goes down. Clean the whole strip rather than the circles, and be particularly careful with anything sugary that has landed off-centre, because a spill you consciously left because it was not on a zone is exactly the one that bonds.
It also explains a common complaint. People report that an AEG marks more easily than the hob it replaced. Usually it does not: it simply has a larger area that actually gets hot.
Hob2Hood is quietly working the rangehood
Some AEG hobs drive an AEG rangehood directly by infrared, starting it, changing its speed and switching it off in response to what you are cooking.
It is genuinely good extraction and it removes the thing that normally prompts people to clean a hood, which is reaching up to switch it on and noticing it looks grim. A Hob2Hood pairing runs far more than a manual hood and loads its filters correspondingly faster, so put the filter soak in the diary rather than waiting to notice. See how to clean an AEG rangehood.
The gas models
Where an AEG is gas rather than induction, it carries cast iron trivets over enamelled burner bases, and the method is the standard one: photograph the layout, lift the trivets, caps and crowns, soak the trivets and enamelled caps flat in a non-caustic degreaser, clear the ports with a wooden toothpick rather than metal.
The frame, on the models that have one
Framed AEG hobs sit in a stainless surround with a seal line where the glass meets the metal. It is narrow, slightly recessed and never part of anyone's cleaning routine, and every boil-over in the appliance's life has run into it. Left long enough it stains, and stainless does not simply wipe clean once it has.
Run a damp cloth around it whenever you do the glass, and if it has already darkened, soften it with a warm damp cloth laid along it for ten minutes before working it with a soft brush. Nothing sharp, because the silicone bead underneath keeps water out of the cabinetry.
What actually goes wrong
A spill left in an apparent gap between zones, which then bonds under a large pan.
Hob2Hood filters months overdue, because the hood never asked.
Worn control markings, from a scourer used near the touch panel.
A hob that has locked itself out, which is moisture on the controls protecting the appliance rather than a fault, and clears once the area is properly dry.
Should you do it yourself?
Do it yourself for the glass, wiping it warm after cooking, which is genuinely the whole routine.
Get someone in if a sugar spill has cooled hard, if the hob is part of a Hob2Hood pairing whose hood has never been opened, or if you are booking the oven anyway.
Covered by our cooktop cleaning service. Prices are on our pricing page, or book a clean online.