Cooking appliance

A cooking appliance comprising;

• a cooking plate (10);
• at least one radiant electric heater (2) located behind the cooking plate, the heater having:
• multiple heating zones (12, 14, 16) arranged substantially side-by-side and each provided with at least one electric heating element (18, 20, 22), a first heating zone (12) being arranged to be energised alone and together with one or more further zones (14, 16) of the multiple heating zones, and
• a temperature sensing assembly (34) for sensing a temperature of the cooking plate and incorporating an electrical component (42) located in a position confined within the first heating zone (12) and having an electrical parameter which changes as a function of temperature;
• and
• electronic control apparatus (30) for the at least one heater (2) and is connected to the electrical component (42) by means of electrical leads (44), wherein the electronic control apparatus is adapted to detect the number of heating zones of the at least one heater that are energised and to control energisation of the heater in dependence upon the detected electrical parameter of the electrical component and upon predicted temperature of the cooking plate covering that area of the cooking plate occupied by the heater.