Opinions? I am cooking on electric coil (always have) and have had induction in the back of my mind for a while... but I don't technically NEED a new stove as mine works for what I do. The question is not whether induction is good, but whether this particular induction stove is a wise purchase given the caveats. I am frugal -- doesn't mean I can't spend money (well, usually it does, lol) but I'd rather spend it once on something that will last even if it costs a bit more.

Still... under $700 for an induction range... hard to pass up... ? Plus a few new pots and a hood to replace my white one, of course.

(My favorite cast iron pan is the right size to fit on that strangely huge front burner, by the way...)

Although the price is really outstanding, I guess I would pass particularly if you don't really need a new range at this point. Given your frugality, I would say this range range is a bit of a gamble.

Gary

I took my biggest pot and my biggest skillet (both induction compatible) and they fit with room to spare, and the burner layout actually looks pretty good for me, so I am going to be cautiously optimistic. There is a long lag time for delivery but that is OK (we are going out of town). We shall see.

Gary

No problems, but we also bought the extended warranty. Got a great deal, not as good as yours, but close. It was too hard to pass it up. I think because only two people I've ever met IRL know what is induction.

I've not had any major issues with the burner layout. The only thing that's awkward is the Ikea wok that must go on the little front burner, but I don't use it that often.

Good luck! Hope your experience is as good as ours.

I thought I uploaded a picture from Christmas, but it's not here now.

Also have a LeCreuset grill pan we use a lot.

I am taking note of cookware brands, so thanks for that, gsciencechick. I'll shop around for pots at some point. My 20-y.o. Farberware (still in great condition) and DH's even older Revere won't work. Yes, we both had sets when we got married and we each preferred our own (though they function exactly the same), so we have two full sets of cookware in our little kitchen. ha. It will actually save us space to have to get something new.

Please report back here when you get it installed and have time to work with that Samsung induction stove.

With that large front burner, you might very well be able to do some canning, if your interests go that way. IIRC, that front burner is big enough to easily handle most of the readily available graniteware pressure canning kettles.

I have looked at this stove while searching for an induction range, but mostly on-line. A couple of things gave me pause about buying it for myself.

One is the burner layout. Gsciencechick's photo shows how this layout might work well for some people. But, in my case, during holiday seasons, when I host several large events including holiday dinners, I often have 4 big pans going at once. Gsciencechick's photo shows the Samsung's layout probably would not work for me. It may well work for others. (Thanks for the photo, by the way.)

A second thing is that this stove has the burner control touchpad on the cooktop. Many induction cooktop units (as opposed to ranges) have this kind of layout. Some poeple prefer this layout. Others are fine with it. Others, including me, personally do not care for it. I'm old enough to remember problems with cooktop surface controls on the generation of induction stoves sold in the US back in the 1980s. Cooking spills and hot baking dishes pulled from the oven and set down --- the habit of a lifetime of cooking in small kitchens --- could damage the controls. I do not know if that is still true, but maybe NorthCarolina can see what the manual says about it for the Samsung when it arrives for installation.

There will be things to get used to, I'm sure of that. On the other hand I already have workarounds with my current range... like having to rotate my cookie sheets (front to back) if I want anything resembling even baking, and sauteeing using a burner that sits at a slight tilt (lol).

I posted about mine - we ended up with the GE Profile. Not as low priced as we could have gotten the Samsung from Lowes but still a good deal.

Check out the Cookware Forum and the Home Decorating Forum on the converstion side. We have been having a discussion there about induction cookware.

Good luck, Northcarolina! Roast a chicken on the convection. I got a manual with ours but I didn't get a broiler pan, which is needed for the convection.

This newer model changes the stove top layout to a more conventional look, and the fan noises of the ftq307 are all but gone. The cook top power is a little lower than the FTQ307 but the oven performs about the same, with a few more features added to the oven control pad.

The cook top finger sliding control is gone. I actually liked that feature.

Northcarolina, any updates?

I emailed Samsung today to ask if the pan detection error with the 10" pan and the fan were things that could be fixed -- if not, I'll just have to decide if it matters. I would really like to be able to use my 10" skillet on that front burner (and I can, for a few minutes anyway). There is a dent on the warming drawer that I didn't see in the store (you have to be at the right angle in the right light to see it) so that's another thing I have to think about. Tomorrow I plan to do some actual cooking -- including a chicken, as you suggested! so we'll see how that goes.

I do really like the chirpy sounds the touch pad makes. :)

I don't mean to sound lackluster; I am avoiding an emotional investment until I have all my data in place (i.e. have cooked a full meal and accurately assessed what's going on with the big burner). In other words, I am being, well, a scientific chick. :)

p.s. Does yours cycle on and off on low power settings? This one does -- though I don't really cook the kind of food where it would make a difference.

The water boiling is definitely similar. It's awesome.

Yes, it does cycle on and off on the very low settings like when I am simmering rice. It's great because I can power boost the rice to boil and then take it low immediately.

Good luck with the roasting!

Next up: well, this was to show the beautiful low simmer I got about one second after lowering the heat from a rolling boil. I didn't time the boil (busy with the bacon) but it was probably about 10 min. This tall pot does partially obscure the oven controls, but at least the off-on and temp controls are on the top row so you can get to those.

Last up is more normal usage for me and you can see that there is much less crowding. This was supper: okra, butterbeans, corn. That 10" skillet is my most-used pan, and you can see that a 12" would be more appropriate for the amount of okra (hence the new skillet) but I wanted to test the 10" on that burner. It is very touchy. It stayed on long enough to cook the okra, but changing the power level or moving the pan would cause a detection error (it doesn't do that on any other burner). The shorter pressure cooker pot (holding the corn) does not block the control panel. The only other comment about this is that the butterbeans did not boil over even in the little 2-qt pot (despite years of butterbean-cooking I seem to boil them over more often than not... maybe not with induction, though).

Chicken took longer than I expected to roast on convection so I need to go read up on that... it's probably because my old oven didn't lower the temp for convection like this one does. I had coconut macaroons baking on the other two racks at the same time as the chicken at one point, and cooking was not even, vertically speaking (lowest rack was done first), but front-to-back seemed even and that is good.

The dent in the warming drawer is bigger than I thought, now that I have been down to look at it more closely. It is quite shallow and wide so not noticeable unless the light hits it right, which it does in our kitchen. It annoys me.

Jury is still out. :) I really need to be able to use my 10" skillet on that front burner.

Thanks for the info, gscience. My 10" grill pan was off and on with the big burner yesterday, sometimes fine and sometimes not detected. Wonder if your Le Creuset is a little bigger.