Open Thread: Ambiano Double Hot Plate

Last Updated on July 9, 2023

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In the summer, Aldi starts selling products associated with college life: desks, backpacks, mattresses, and even futons. These products are all about creating a home away from home where a student can sleep, study, hang out, and essentially live, at least until it’s time to pack up and return home for the summer. (It’s worth adding that many of these dorm-themed products can also be put to good use outside of college life, either in the office or at home.)

Part of the college life formula is, of course, eating. Every living setup is different, but sometimes cooking surfaces are inadequate or even nonexistent. In those cases, it’s nice to have a means to do more than just use a microwave.

Enter the hot plate. It’s not quite as robust as a kitchen range, but it can be used to heat things up when you need it. And Aldi sells one. Fair warning, though: not all colleges and locations permit hot plates, so you might want to check with your local institution before hauling one off to your dorm room.

What We Know:

The Ambiano Double Hot Plate is an ALDI Find (Special Buy), which means it’s only in stores for a limited time. In 2019, it cost $24.99, which is higher than it was in 2018 ($19.99). This looks cheaper than most (but not all) double hot plates we’ve seen.

Aldi has been selling hot plates at least since 2014, and in the early years they were sold under the now-defunct Kitchen Living brand. Since 2016, they’ve been sold under the Ambiano label, with a 3-year warranty serviced by Customer Care USA, a frequent Aldi warranty service company. Since 2016, the double hot plate always appears in the Aldi ad sometime in July.

Here are the features as given by Aldi:

• Measures 18.4″ x 9.8″ x 3.2″
• Comes with a stainless steel base
• Two cast iron plates: one is 7″ and one is 6″
• Two independent temperature controls, one for each plate, allowing for the cooking of two types of food simultaneously
• Two separate indicator lights, one for each plate.
• Non-slip rubber feet

What We Don’t Know:

Despite the fact that Aldi has been selling these hot plates for a long time — and apparently selling a similar, if not identical, hot plate the last few years — there are a number of things we don’t know. We don’t know, for example, who manufactures the double hot plate. We haven’t tested it, so we can’t speak to performance, or ease of use, or durability.

Also, we can’t find the manual for any of the Ambiano hot plates; the only one currently on Aldi’s site is the Kitchen Living Double Hot Plate from 2014. Hot plates aren’t terribly complex devices, though, so this probably isn’t a major issue.

Have any experiences with this hot plate? Feel free to let us know in the comments.