I had one, fanciest one ever made, Caldera. Was a Nightmare to clean, stuff would get on top of the keypad, which was built right into the cooktop. Unlike Induction, the whole top of a radiant cooktop gets hot and grease and stuff runs right onto the keypad. It's incessant beeping drove the wife nuts, I would scrub for hours till my knuckles were bleeding and it might work again for a while. The "Last Straw" for that succer was when one night it unlocked itself, turned the biggest burner full on. Had I not gone downstairs and went straight to bed it would of run all night, or till the house burned down. With induction, only the area under the pot/pan gets hot. Grease does not run or juices or whatever. If I'm really feeling lazy, I just cover the induction cooktop with paper towels before I do any "Messy cooking"~~~~frying bacon, boiling spaghetti sauce~~~etc~~~~ BUT NEVER DO THIS and leave the cook top unattended, and also don't use Boost or high settings, IE don't do that for Woking. The flame temp of paper is around 550F so you don't wanna set the paper on fire, Do Ya? Anyway, after having both, as well has having a "ranging Inferno" gas cooktop out on the patio, to me, Induction is "The Only Way To Go"!!!! I'm 72, so who says, "You can't teach an old dog new tricks"? The folks at Garden Web did teach me a new trick, (technique),~~ they taught me about induction, and I will be forever thankful for that!!!! Gary

stir-fryi -- Good question. Similar thoughts have occurred to me, as well, especially with the newest Kenmore/Electrolux freestanding induction range (with knob burner controls) being briefly down around $1300/$1400 over Labor Day and the Kenmore Elite slide-in (also made for Sears by Elux) now being down to $2264. While slide-ins are always priced well above the corresponding free-standing versions, Samsung's initial suggested retail price was absurd. Lowe's is still asking way too much for the Samsung but AJ Madison (as Lt.islander points out) is presently asking $2500 for it. That's only about $50 more than what AJ Madison is asking for the GE Slide-in Induction (PHS920). So, for those in the market for an induction slide-in, why indeed not consider the Kenmore Elite slide-in? As with everything, every choice has tradeoffs. The Samsung has a larger usable cooktop surface and a distinctly larger oven which can be split into two separate convection compartments. Also has a knob interface for burner controls which really appeals to some. Maybe not worth an extra $2k to most of us, but maybe enough to persuade some to spend the additional $250 that the Samsung costs at AJM versus the Kenmore Elite. On the other hand, as fauguy noted above, the Samsung owner's manual indicates that the range has only 10 steps for burner heat settings. The Kenmore Elite has half step settings from #3 to # 9 (plus boost) and increments of .2 at the low end between 1 and 2.8 where finer adjustments seem useful. Judging from user comments, some of the Kenmores have failed after a few years and left some buyers pretty ticked at the company's inabiity to fix the ranges. Samsung has had its share of similar posting for its free-standing induction ranges. In both cases, though, not a very large number of postings good and bad. How Samsung will do with the newest model remains to be seen. That's the long answer. The short answer is that somebody must be buying those Sears induction ranges but they don't seem to be posting here in the appliances forum at gardenweb. This post was edited by JWVideo on Thu, Sep 11, 14 at 12:35

Thanks, binsd! I don't hang out on the forums. Just don't have the time and it's a shame really; it's so fun over here. Anyway, I received an email question about how my counters are holding up, so I thought I'd post a quick 3-year report. Cork floors - love 'em. Comfy, good for a klutz like myself, hides dirt well, super easy to clean. Would do it again in a heartbeat. Fisher Paykel Dishdrawers - Awful, awful, awful. Replaced them with an integrated Bosch which works great. JennAir CD fridge - I like it quite a bit, but just last week had to have the touchpad replaced. Not cheap. Fratelli Onofri range - I do love this thing, but it has some issues. First, I should have purchased the large single oven instead of the double. It's been a very rare occurrence that I've needed to use both at different temps. The door seal on the large oven recently broke because it became brittle. Had to order a part from the UK to replace the seal. Additionally, the big oven has been flaky coming up to temp lately. I'm going to try a heavy-duty cleaning to make sure there aren't any blocked sensors or anything. Hopefully that fixes it. Cabs - I went with a cab company who primarily worked with stained cabs. I think it shows that they didn't do a lot of paint jobs. There are a couple of chipped areas and other places where you can tell the paint will be peeling someday. (Like on the underside of the sink cab door ??? weird.) Anyway - I think if you're getting painted cabs, be sure to work with someone who does paint to ensure the wood will be properly prepped and they take steps to make sure the paint hardens well, etc. Countertop - Finally, the info people want. :) I still love this stuff. Yes, it shows wear, but it's a warm, rustic-looking wear which is a-ok by me. If you drag something sharp and pointy across it, it will scratch. If you drag a bowl across it, you're probably fine. If you stand in one spot and do a lot of hand mixing in a bowl, it will probably create "rub" marks. If you drag a dish across it that has "unfinished" edges, it will leave a mark. I don't notice water mark problems around the sink. If water is left to sit and dry on the surface, it will leave a mark. Wipe it down with a dishcloth and the mark goes away. No biggie. I've tried to capture their current condition, but it's tough to photograph. I have only oiled them once since the original photos were posted. This is my most heavily used prep area: Here's another shot of the same area: Here's a scratch that just showed up a few weeks ago. I have no idea where it came from. Here you can see "rub marks" in my baking area where the mixing bowl "spins" on the countertop This is new also. There was a winter squash sitting in this spot. It had a bad spot and started to leak, causing this mark. Weird. I'm sure it will come right out if I oil it. Overall, still loving my kitchen! The layout has worked out fabulously and I love spending time in there. It has completely changed my life. Literally. I overhauled my diet shortly after it was finished and that made a drastic impact on my life. Thanks, Gardenweb friends!

Question about Induction and Chocolate: Well, interestingly enough, I've also been pursuing this same question recently. So, far the answer I've found on tempering has been a resounding maybe. FWIW, I have had no trouble tempering without a double boiler on my current induction cooktop and I've also run across on-line videos that show tempering as well as melting being done with residential induction cooktops. Also, both of the Bosch ranges and the Miele have a power setting that is below the setting their manuals recommend for melting chocolate. (The Bosch manuals recommend 1.5 for melting chocolate and the Miele manual recommends "1 - 2" as the setting.) What I have not been able to find out yet is whether setting 1 on the Bosch ranges or setting "h" ("keep warm") on the Miele will hold a pan at the tempering temperature of around 90° F (+/- 2°). Touch pads versus knobs: I did not see anything offensive in what you said, but I would add that one might prefer a rotary digital interface (knobs) over touch-pads for reasons other than simple "familiarity." As you might guess from my screen-name, I work in digital media production. I have been using touch-pad and touch-screen devices for decades. I'm fine with touchpads and touch screens. However, while cooking on the stovetop, I just find it more ergonomic to grab a knob when my hands are wet or messy, as they all too often are. (What can I say? I am a messy cook and play with food.) I've also found front-mounted knobs are less subject to interruptions from spills from pans on induction stove tops. Finally, I like the tactile feedback from a knob when adjusting burners while cooking. Of course, those are just personal preferences and there are trade-offs to my preferences, including less ease of cleaning with knobs versus touchpads. That all just goes into the mix of things to weigh and balance in choosing between stoves which all represent different mixes of design and engineering trade-offs.