I don't use the cast iron hotplates on top of the electric small oven.
They are fixed heat level, on or off, no adjustment. That is crap, but I bought it for the oven and it's a very good oven for a benchtop model. Many small ovens have elements that run too hot, so they sort of half-toast-half-bake the food, which means they tend to burn top and bottom surfaces of food. This one has more elements (3 top and 3 bottom) but they run at "barely red" rather than "glowing red" so they warm the air in the oven, not scorch the food. It is more of an oven than a toaster-oven.
They are fixed heat level, on or off, no adjustment. That is crap, but I bought it for the oven and it's a very good oven for a benchtop model. Many small ovens have elements that run too hot, so they sort of half-toast-half-bake the food, which means they tend to burn top and bottom surfaces of food. This one has more elements (3 top and 3 bottom) but they run at "barely red" rather than "glowing red" so they warm the air in the oven, not scorch the food. It is more of an oven than a toaster-oven.