Patent ID: 8344291

Claim:
A cooking appliance comprising: a cooktop including a plurality of separately controlled cooking areas, a first heating element positioned below one of the plurality of separately controlled cooking areas, a second heating element positioned below the same separately controlled cooking area as the first heating element, the second heating element being arranged non-concentrically with the first heating element, and an infinite switch electrically coupled with the first heating element and the second heating element, the infinite switch being operable to energize the first heating element to supply heat to the separately controlled cooking area when the switch is located at a first position, and the infinite switch having (i) a first range of positions in which only the first heating element is energized and (ii) a second range of positions in which both the first heating element and the second heating element are simultaneously energized, wherein (i) the infinite switch has an operational tolerance, and (ii) the first heating element is sized such that the separately controlled cooking area is maintained below a target cooking temperature when the infinite switch is located at the first position and is operating at an upper limit of the operational tolerance, and (iii) the first heating element is energized with electrical power equal to approximately eleven percent of a maximum power rating of the first heating element when the infinite switch is located at the first position and is operating at the upper limit of the operational tolerance.