Presto 23" Electric Griddle
This handy device was designed as a cooking surface for grilling food, but works perfectly as a less-expensive hot plate option for the encaustic studio. You can use it to heat small containers of individual wax colors or melt wax directly onto the surface for use as a hot palette. The dark non-stick surface makes it a little tougher to see the true colors of any encaustic paint on the surface, and the temperature is a little harder to control than the art studio version but if your budget is a priority, this is a great option (and as usual there are always a few tricks to work around the issues).