A built-in cooking appliance is a kitchen appliance installed on a cabinet. That is, the built-in cooking appliance is associated with kitchen furniture so that a user can conveniently use the same. The built-in cooking appliance makes the interior of the kitchen beautiful.
In recent years, a built-in cooking appliance having a top plate, which can cook the food using heat transmitted to the food through the top plate, has been developed. Such a built-in cooking appliance having the top plate is called a hot plate, a hob, a range, or a cook-top. Regardless of the name, a concept of the present invention may be applied to any cooking appliances having the top plate. In the following description, a terminology “cooking appliance” means a cooker having the top plate.
In order to operate components of the cooker under a thermally-stable state, a typical cooking appliance is designed such that air flows in and out of the cooking appliance. To realize this, the top plate is mounted protruding above the top surface of the top plate by a predetermined height. In this case, it is difficult to clean a portion around the top plate and an outer appearance is deteriorated.
In the typical cooking appliance, water may flow into a main body of the cooking appliance through an air passage hole formed on the top plate or a portion around the top plate. The water flowing into the main body of the cooking appliance may cause a short circuit or malfunction of the cooking appliance. This problem must be most considered in designing the cooking appliance as the cooking appliance is used in the kitchen where the water is frequently used.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds