Took me quite some time to figure out how everything works. Couldn't activate the burners and thought it was defective, so I used my microwave to cook our meal. Found out that a simple touch on start does not activate; you must linger on it for awhile! My biggest complaint is that when I am using a burner, it continually beeps at me if I get too close to the control panel and often it will shut down completely and I lose the heat on what I was cooking. Very frustrating way to cook.....