Patent ID: 8274020

Claim:
A cooking appliance comprising: a cooktop including a plurality of separately controlled cooking areas, a plurality of heating elements positioned below one of the separately controlled cooking areas, the plurality of heating elements including a first heating element, a second heating element, and a third heating element, and an electronic controller electrically coupled to the plurality of heating elements, the controller comprising (i) a processor, and (ii) a memory device electrically coupled to the processor, the memory device having stored therein a plurality of instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to: (a) energize each of the plurality of heating elements at a maximum power level for a predetermined time interval, (b) maintain the second heating element at the maximum power level after the predetermined time interval has elapsed, and (c) alternately energize the first heating element and the third heating element at the maximum power level after the predetermined time interval has elapsed such that the first heating element and the third heating element are not energized concurrently.