The cited paper is interesting but hardly adds anything. I mean, who bake things onto a stove top surface at 750 degrees and leaves undiluted ammonia cleanser and or Formula 409 on a surface under a watch glass for 72 hours on their stove top? Seems to me that porcelain and steel each have advantages and disadvantages and you pick the trade off that is most acceptable to you. It may well be an aesthetic choice as Jadeite points out. Personally, I've never found stainless stoves hard to clean, contrary to that report. The issue I've seen is frequency of cleaning. You just clean them more frequently because everything (finger prints, grease, whatever)is so much more obvious. Obvious so much more quickly than it is with a white porcelain surface (not sure about black; seems like it might be just as bad). Mind, I am not suggesting that this "obviousness" is not big deal to some folks. It is. Burner drip pans are a whole 'nother story. Personally, I hate all light colored drip/liner pans. Whether stainless or porcelain-coated, they stain, scratch, mar and etc. within weeks to the point that they can no longer be scrubbed to look anything close to new. I prefer a matte black or cast iron pan. Same thing with burner grates. Of course, stainless surfaces scratch more easily than porcelain but I do not think that says much. If keeping your stove looking show-room pristine is important, most appliance stainless surface scratches can be buffed out. Unless you really gouge it by, say, dropping a really heavy cast iron pan edge-on from several feet above the stove. Do that with porcelain and you may knock a chip off the surface. With porcelain, you have to fill the chip using a little jar of enamel that looks like one of the old bottles of white-out. Some repairs work well, some may look funky. So, which funky is less offensive to you? I've never seen a stain on an actual stainless steel residential stove that could not be buffed out with a little Barkeeper's Friend. Same thing with my stainless cookware and my stainless kitchen sink. They call it "stainless" for a reason. Now, I have seen some staining and discoloration with restaurant equipment, but that is a different ballpark with way, way more heat and abuse than you get in home kitchen. And, also, a completely different kitchen aesthetic. So, having said all of that in defense of stainless, what do I prefer to have in my home? Porcelain. If the stainless LG 3097 stove has features you think your really want and cannot get on the porcelain 3095 version, get what you want. Oh, and one other thing. It will be a very good idea to actually see the stove. There seem to be new stainless-like finishes which are not really stainless steel. The cited article mentions some porcelain-based stainless look-alikes. I did not notice anything on this when skimming the specs for these stoves, but it may be hard to tell without actually seeing the stove.

Ease of cleanup has absolutely no relationship the whether or not the pan will perform the cooking job better. I buy my pans based on how well they cook, not how easy they are to clean. Always buy high quality cookware suited to the task and buy for life. I've found properly seasoned cast iron to be superior for frying, deep frying, hearth cooking, searing meat, cooking cornbread, eggs and a number of other foods. Nothing sears better than cast iron. Cast iron's limitations are few but include reacting with highly acidic foods like tomato bases and lemons and accelerating the oxidative degradation of cooking oils at high temperature. This is remedied by using high quality enameled cast iron. Seasoned cast iron cookware gets better with time, unlike chemical non-stick coatings. For precise temperature control required in sauce making, candy making etc, stainless-lined solid copper cookware such as Falk Culinare is superior. Very few companies produce copper cookware worth buying - Falk is in my opinion the best and their bimetal process is actually used by the other major manufactures of quality copper cookware. Stoneware for baking is wonderful material and should be used more often. Same goes for clay cookery. It is always more important to have a wonderful, healthy meal than it is to save a few extra minutes doing dishes. Sleepyhollow

I discovered enameled CI here on the forum Mom had a small enameled saucepan as did my MIL. I wasn't enamored. After being here for awhile, I began to jones for my own CI soup pot Happlly someone here on the CF alerted me to a sale on Mario Batali's CI Dutch Ovens and I adore them! They are available on Amazon and at Crate & Barrel. Recently I yearned for a few more pieces. There was nothing more I wanted in that line. Each time I went into a kitchen store I'd look at the LC and hm and haw. Finally DH went a bit overboard when we were in LC outlet store. I now have a couple of saucpans, a small skillet and a brasier. I love the brasier and use it quite often, the small skillet is also very handy. Both clean up easily too! For my well used MB pots I use a weak clorox solution which brings back a whiter finish. I also have a lovely little Staub Dutch oven that was a gift from Sheshebop, a former poster. Although my Mario Batali pots are at least 5 yrs old, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them to you. If the quality is at least as good as it was 5 yrs ago, they're a much cheaper, well made alternative!

I agree with folks who are saying that you need to look at all the options out there. More importantly you need to TOUCH the options out there. To me a sink is a very tactile item. Something you use every day. If the feel of it bugs you, then the sink is not the right one for you. I went to several places to see and touch the sinks. I hated the stainless options right away. I love some of the versions of them..like the Kohler Stages Chef sink...but hate the feel & look of the stainless. I tried Silgranite and those just felt "plasticky" to me. I finally went to a Kohler store and saw the enameled cast iron and knew I'd found my sinks. They even had the Smart Divide option on display and I loved it right away. I made the decision to use a Kohler Cast Iron sink early on in the design process and never looked back. I also got a coordinating prep sink. I like the feel of it, the many different color options and the fact that it doesn't get all scratched or spotty looking like the stainless ones. They were more expensive than some of the stainless options but I'm really glad I spent the money. I wound up getting the Biscuit color and it blends very nicely with my light granite. I liked Cane Sugar too but it was more expensive. The Kohler store gave me little samples of the sink colors to take to the granite places.... Oh yeah, and I loved the Kohler Duostrainer as well. I about died at the price but in the end it was worth it too. I still really liked the functionality of the Stages Chef sink so everything is a trade-off. Good luck to you.