Items on a stove, left in pots, heat poorly (3,6)

'pots heat poorly' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.

'items on a stove left' is the wordplay.
'items' becomes 'plates' (I have seen 'Items of crockery ' mean 'plates' so perhaps 'items' could also mean 'plates').
'on' says to put letters next to each other.
'a stove left' becomes 'hot' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'plates' after 'hot' is 'HOT PLATES'.

'in' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?