Patent ID: 8389905

Claim:
A heating appliance for cooking, which comprises: a housing; a top plate in the form of a plate-like member made of a material having an electrically insulating property and a light transmitting property and mounted atop the housing; a heating unit disposed inside the housing for heating an article to be heated which has been placed on a top surface of the housing; an operating region defined on the top plate and formed by coloring the top plate so as to have a low transmittance of light passing through the top plate; a plurality of conductor detecting units formed of an electrically conductive material on a rear surface of the operating region; a control unit operable to control the heating unit based on a command inputted in response to detection that a surface portion of the top plate proximate to the conductor detecting units has been touched; conductor connectors made of an electrically conductive material and provided on the rear surface of the operating region and connected with outer edges of the conductor detecting units; a connecting terminal held in contact with the conductor connectors and electrically connected with the control unit; a plurality of planar light emitting members disposed below the conductor detecting units in face-to-face relation therewith; and a light source for emitting rays of light that are incident upon the planar light emitting members; wherein each of the conductor detecting units is provided with a frame display, formed by a frame shaped slotted portion, and a command display formed inwardly of the frame display and bearing an alphanumerical character or a pictorial letter in the form of a slotted portion for displaying the command; wherein the control unit is operable to cause the plural planar light emitting members to be lit one at a time; and wherein a light shielding film having an insulating property is formed around the conductor detecting units and the conductor connectors so that when the control unit causes one of the planar light emitting members to emit light, the frame display and the command display thereof are illuminated, and when the control unit causes the one of the planar light emitting members to be blacked out, the frame display and the command display thereof are rendered difficult to see.