We have a Breville single hotplate at my work just for the teapot to sit on, there's definitely a safety issue with the temperature knob getting easily knocked up to high. I did lots of looking around to find a double hotplate for my apartment and bought an Award HP2252. If you go to the Award site you can look up which retailers stock it (in NZ). I had a small electrical shop order one in for me, $110NZD. It's not usually in any of the bigger chains, more likely in specialty kitchen shops. I'm happy with it. With a solid top it takes longer to heat up and cool down than a kitchen stovetop, but I just set it on low to begin with and be patient while it heats up.

Not sure if this was a bad batch but I bought this a few weeks ago have used it a little but what it does is heats up after reaches high heat then the light goes out and turns off for about a minute then back on again not sure if it has a thermostat or something but it just doesn't stay on, so I don't like this one.

Ok I sent this one back and they replaced it within a few weeks so far this new one seems be working not turning off and back on, very happy 19/9/14

It turns off then back on.

I recently bought a Breville BHP150 Portable Electric Hot Plate Cooktop
when my new stove broke.I needed something portable to tide me over whilst my cooktop was in the process of being replaced.I bought it on sale for $48.
It is quick to heat,very compact,simple to use & just plugs into a socket.Just what I needed.
Granted,it takes a while to figure which heat setting is ideal & I fiddle a bit with the setting,sometimes having to adjust a few times because it gets too hot or too cold.
inexpensive;quick to heat;good for an emergency