Lift off the TwistPad magnetic control dial before cleaning the glass and put it somewhere deliberate, because it is small, black and easily lost. Then clean the surface as any induction glass: ceramic scraper at a shallow angle, cream cleaner, buffed off dry.
Neff hobs are BSH engineering with one distinctive control, and it is the control rather than the surface that causes the trouble. The general method for glass and gas surfaces is on our cooktop cleaning guide.
The TwistPad, and where it goes
Many Neff induction hobs are controlled by a TwistPad: a single magnetic dial that sits on the glass, is turned to select a zone and a power level, and lifts straight off.
It is a good control and it removes the usual problem of touch panels, which is that they lock out when wet. It creates a different one. The dial is small, matte black, and it detaches completely, so it gets put down on a benchtop mid-clean, swept into a drawer with the crumbs, or dropped in a bin under a tea towel.
Replacements are available and they are not cheap, and a hob without its TwistPad is difficult to operate on the models that have no backup touch controls.
So the rule when cleaning a Neff hob is simply: lift the TwistPad off first and put it somewhere deliberate rather than somewhere convenient. Wipe it separately with a damp cloth and dry it. Do not soak it, because there are electronics inside.
With it removed, the glass beneath it is genuinely accessible, which is one of the reasons the design is good: there is no fixed control panel with a grease line around it.
FlexInduction
Neff shares zone bridging with Bosch, where two coils combine into one continuous cooking area. That means the printed circles understate the area that actually gets hot, so residue in an apparent gap between zones will bond the next time a large pan goes down. Clean the whole strip rather than the circles.
The gas models
Where a Neff is gas, it takes the standard approach: photograph the layout, lift trivets, caps and crowns, soak the enamelled parts flat in a non-caustic degreaser, clear ports with a wooden toothpick rather than metal.
The ring where the TwistPad sits
Because the TwistPad is magnetic and sits directly on the glass, it holds a small area of the surface under light constant pressure, and fine residue works its way underneath it.
Over time that produces a faint circular mark exactly where the dial lives, which owners occasionally mistake for a scratch or for wear in the glass. It is neither. It is residue that has been pressed rather than baked, and a cream cooktop cleaner takes it off in one pass once the dial is lifted away.
The reason it surprises people is that it is the one part of the surface never exposed during ordinary cleaning: the dial goes back on before anyone looks. Lifting it off first, every time, prevents the mark from forming at all.
What actually goes wrong
A lost TwistPad. The most common Neff hob problem by a distance and entirely avoidable.
A soaked TwistPad, which has electronics in it.
Residue bonded between bridged zones, left because it was not on a printed circle.
Scratches from grit, where someone scraped without wiping loose material away first.
Should you do it yourself?
Do it yourself, wiping the glass warm after cooking, which is the whole routine.
Get someone in if a sugar spill has cooled hard or if you are booking the oven anyway. book a clean online or see our service areas page.