Head-to-head · Best Compact Induction Cooktops

Duxtop 9100MC Portable Induction Cooktop vs Hamilton Beach 34104 Portable Single Induction Cooktop

Which is the better buy? Side-by-side on rating, price, strengths, and watch-outs — with the published ratings we averaged to get there.

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The short answer

Duxtop 9100MC Portable Induction Cooktop and Hamilton Beach 34104 Portable Single Induction Cooktop score essentially the same (4.4 vs 4.4). Pick the one whose trade-offs match your priorities — the strengths and watch-outs below are where they actually differ.

Ranked #2 in Best Compact Induction Cooktops

Duxtop 9100MC Portable Induction Cooktop

4.4

3 sourcesall derived$84.99

The 9100MC is the plainest cooktop in Duxtop's own lineup and, in the most thorough test available, the best one. Serious Eats ran 17 portable induction burners through boiling, frying, searing and simmering and this model won outright: it boiled a gallon of water fastest at 16 minutes and drifted less than five degrees across an hour of simmering. Its advantage is restraint — physical buttons, no presets to fight, no auto-timers that cut the heat early. The ceiling shows up in deep-frying, where it could hold 375°F oil only by running flat out.

Strengths

— Fastest boil of the 17 cooktops Serious Eats tested — a full gallon of room-temperature water in a 4.5-quart Dutch oven reached a boil in 16 minutes
— Held an hour-long simmer with less than five degrees of fluctuation, the steadiest low-heat behavior in that test group
— Physical push-buttons instead of a touch panel, so you can wipe up oil splatter mid-cook without changing a setting

Watch-outs

— Ran out of headroom deep-frying: Serious Eats had to hold it at maximum power for the entire onion-ring test just to keep the oil at 375°F, and it would not push past that
— No boil or keep-warm shortcut buttons, so routine heat changes take more presses than on cooktops that have them
— The control icons are printed onto the buttons rather than moulded, and Serious Eats flagged that they could wear off over time

$84.99 · Check Price on Amazon Full review →

Ranked #3 in Best Compact Induction Cooktops

Hamilton Beach 34104 Portable Single Induction Cooktop

4.4

1 sourceall derived$79.95

Hamilton Beach's 34104 finished second to the Duxtop 9100MC in Serious Eats' test of 17 portable induction cooktops, and it wins outright on the one job the Duxtop struggles with. It was the fastest and most efficient burner in the group at heating oil, comfortably clearing the 375°F frying mark on full power. The cost is a slower boil — 20.5 minutes for a gallon — and a touch panel sensitive enough that the tester kept triggering a 30-second Boost function she could not find a use for.

Strengths

— Heated frying oil faster and more efficiently than any other burner in Serious Eats' 17-model test, and could push past the 375°F frying target on full heat
— Strong temperature stability across long cooks, which Serious Eats called out specifically alongside its ease of use
— 8.5-inch coil and a stated 4- to 10-inch pan range, the widest cookware tolerance among the affordable picks in that test

Watch-outs

— Took 20.5 minutes to boil a gallon of water, four and a half minutes slower than the Duxtop 9100MC in the same test
— Touch controls are oversensitive — Serious Eats hit the Boost button by accident more than once during testing
— The Boost function itself is close to useless: it runs maximum power for exactly 30 seconds, a duration the tester could not find a purpose for

$79.95 · Check Price on Amazon Full review →

Derived means the reviewer published no score, so one was inferred from their written verdict. Everything else is a number the publisher printed. How we rank.

How they stack up

Duxtop 9100MC Portable Induction Cooktop

The 9100MC and the Duxtop 9600LS split the two best tests in this category: Serious Eats made the 9100MC its overall winner, while Wirecutter made the 9600LS its top pick and demoted the 9100MC to budget pick. The 9100MC is the faster boiler and roughly two-thirds the price; the 9600LS has 20 settings to its 15 and a 10-hour timer. The Hamilton Beach 34104 beats both at heating frying oil, the IKEA TILLREDA is simpler but caps out at a 7.9-inch pan, the Nuwave PIC Gold is down on wattage, and only the Breville Control Freak CMC850 Induction Cooktop has temperature settings you can take at face value.

Hamilton Beach 34104 Portable Single Induction Cooktop

Against the Duxtop 9100MC the trade is explicit: the Duxtop boils faster and holds a steadier simmer, the Hamilton Beach 34104 fries better and takes wider pans. It has the same advantage over the Duxtop 9600LS, which never got oil past 350°F in the same test. The IKEA TILLREDA also cleared the frying target but caps at a 7.9-inch pan; the Nuwave PIC Gold is 300 watts down on all of them; and the Breville Control Freak CMC850 Induction Cooktop is the only unit here bought for precision rather than power.

Specs side-by-side

Spec	Duxtop 9100MC Portable Induction Cooktop	Hamilton Beach 34104 Portable Single Induction Cooktop
Type	Portable countertop	Portable countertop
Burners / Zones	1	1
Total Power	1800W	1800W
Power Levels	15 settings (200–1800W)	10 settings
Temperature Range	140–460°F (15 settings)	175–450°F (15 settings, °C selectable)
Burner Diameter	8 in	8.5 in
Recommended Pan Diameter	5 in minimum	4–10 in
Controls	Physical push-buttons	Touch panel with Boost
Timer	Up to 170 min; 2-hr idle auto-off	Up to 150 min
Cord Length	55 in	45 in
Dimensions	14 × 11.3 × 2.8 in	13.88 D × 11.73 W × 2.68 H in
Weight	6 lb	6.4 lb
Model	9100MC / BT-M20B	34104
Voltage	120V / 60Hz, standard 15A outlet	120V ~ 60Hz
Lock Function	No	—
Warranty	—	1 year limited (US)

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