CookingRAK hides the induction hob inside the porcelain countertop — Red Dot BoB 2024

As working kitchens become kitchen-diners, people want large, seamless worktops without visible appliances. Induction's magnetic fields heat only the cookware, not the countertop — which means a formally designed hob is no longer physically necessary.

Induction heats only the pot, never the surface — so hide the hob beneath a porcelain countertop that cooks, serves and hosts with no appliance visible.

CookingRAK integrates an induction system invisibly beneath Maximus porcelain slabs only 6 or 14 mm thick, in formats up to 144 × 305 cm. Cooking is controlled via a side display or an app, and the surface comes in over 50 finishes, from marble and granite looks to concrete and rusted metal.

The invisible-hob countertop won Red Dot: Best of the Best 2024, the top award in Red Dot Product Design; the jury praised an elegant cooking environment with no visible electrical appliances that doubles as a communal dining platform.

Kitchens have been drifting from closed workspaces into open kitchen-diners, and with them the demand for large, seamless worktops with everything flush-mounted. RAK Ceramics, the ceramics manufacturer from Ras Al Khaimah, UAE, took the trend one step further with CookingRAK: an induction hob hidden invisibly beneath the porcelain countertop itself.

The design works because induction heats only the cookware and its contents through magnetic fields, never the countertop — so a formally designed, visible hob is no longer necessary. The surface that was just used for cooking can immediately serve as a dining table or a place to set down a glass.

The slabs are made from RAK's Maximus porcelain, only 6 mm or 14 mm thick despite dimensions up to 144 × 305 cm, and resist heat, UV light, moisture, stains and scratches. Cooking is controlled through a side display or an app, and buyers can choose from over 50 finishes, including marble, granite, concrete and rusted-metal looks.

The Red Dot jury awarded CookingRAK the Best of the Best distinction in Product Design 2024, calling it an astonishing solution: an elegant cooking environment with no visible electrical appliances and a generous, versatile platform for communal use.

It converts a physical property of induction — the surface stays cold — into the freedom to remove the appliance altogether.

The same slab serves cooking, dining and daily life, matching how open-plan kitchens are actually used.

Porcelain's hardness lets the countertop stay 6–14 mm thin while remaining heat- and scratch-resistant, so minimalism costs no durability.

It shows a building-materials company can out-design appliance makers by rethinking where the appliance lives.

When a technology quietly removes one of its own constraints — induction never heats the surface — the boldest design move is to delete the visible object entirely.

CookingRAK became a flagship line for RAK Ceramics, marketed through a dedicated product site as a hidden-induction cooktop for modern kitchens, and remains the company's reference case for moving from surfaces into functional kitchen systems.