Heat sources
A 
Cooking Pot or a placed 
Skillet only cooks while something hot is under it. Put it right
on top of a heat source, or put a 
Hopper in between. That’s the whole rule, but a few details
decide whether your kitchen works.
What heats a pot
Section titled “What heats a pot”The pot is heated when a heat source is right below it, or two blocks below with a hopper in between. Heat never travels sideways, never through other blocks, and never more than two blocks. Campfires and the Stove only count while they are lit.
These 8 blocks give heat:
| Block | Must be lit | Tray | |
|---|---|---|---|
|  Stove | yes | — |
 |  Campfire | yes | yes |
 | Fire | — | yes |
| Lava | — | yes | |
 | Lava Cauldron | — | — |
| Magma Block | — | — |
 | Soul Campfire | yes | yes |
 | Soul Fire | — | yes |
The Stove is the tidy choice: it is placed already lit and works at once. Put it out with a shovel or a
water bucket and the pot cools down (see Stove). Everything without a “yes” works all the time. Light
level doesn’t matter.
Passing heat through a hopper
Section titled “Passing heat through a hopper”Only the hopper passes heat up (and the Chute from Create, if you play with that mod). Put it between the heat source and the pot and it does two jobs at once: it carries the heat, and it pulls finished meals out of the pot.
That makes the hopper the base of every automatic kitchen; see Cooking Pot automation.
On fire, lava or a campfire, a pot or skillet stands on a small metal tray. The tray is
only looks: heating works the same with or without it. On Stove, Lava Cauldron or Magma Block there is no tray, and a hanging pot never gets one.
The hand-held skillet
Section titled “The hand-held skillet”Cooking with a Skillet in your hand is more forgiving. You only need to be close to heat: any heat source in
the 3×3×3 blocks around you, or being on fire yourself. Here an unlit campfire or Stove counts too, and
hoppers play no part. See Skillet.
Good to know
Section titled “Good to know”- Losing heat isn’t a disaster. Without heat, a pot or placed skillet loses progress, twice as fast as it built up, instead of starting over.
- Only blocks count. A burning mob or a lava bucket in your hand never heats a pot. The hand-held skillet is the one exception: it counts you as heat while you are on fire.
- Modpacks can add heat sources. If a pack adds its own, they follow the same rules, including “must be lit” for anything that can be lit.