We have the Thermador 36" induction cooktop, and the non-Icon wave-touch Elux single wall oven, similar to your list. I like this combination very much. I do a lot of high-heat cooking. I sear and stir-fry regularly, I also can and pressure cook. The cooktop handles all of these easily. It also simmers and poaches at steady low heat. I use the timer a lot. The hob layout makes sense to me, and the control panel is very intuitive and user friendly. I get no buzzing or clicking or other strange noises, and I have basic cookware - some stainless, some bare cast iron, some enamelled cast iron, nothing special. I bought the oven mainly because of the good feedback it gets on this forum. In 8 months I've baked, roasted, broiled and dehydrated, and the oven does everything beautifully. I've used the temperature probe and timed bake, but no other program modes. We put a Panasonic convection MW in the cabinet above the oven, where the previous double unit had a MW. I have another countertop MW which I'm going to use until it dies, so the Panasonic hasn't gotten a lot of use. I do like the combination cooking option which makes it like a poor woman's speed oven. The DW is what the house came with, I think it's a Frigidaire. It does a decent job, but honestly I don't notice it much which must mean it's OK. We have our cooktop against a wall, with a Kobe 36" CH-122 SQB vent overhead. The maximum vent rate is 720cfm but I almost never have to use it this high. It's quiet and efficient which is all I want. Cheryl

It's hard to make generalities about over 1 billion people, lol. But I have found that there are many, many Chinese families who don't stir-fry at all, or do it very seldom. Not every American family eats burgers and hot dogs, either, for a local analogy. I guess if others judged American culture by TV ads and billboards, they would think we all lived on a daily diet of McDonald's Big Macs! But in general, many Asian cuisines do have a "triple path". There is home cooking; there is restaurant cooking; and there is banquet, or feast, food. I was talking to my Hong Kong-born Chinese-Portugese DH a few weeks ago, and he (finally) remembered to tell me a story about one of his uncles who died over 15 yrs ago. This uncle was famous in the family for making the Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce, or ho yau gai lan as it used to be spelled (I'm terrible with the new spellings, sorry). I've done this dish, and it seems very simple. Blanch the gai lan, stir-fry it quickly, drizzle it with oyster sauce. What's so hard about it? DH told me his uncle was so meticulous and painstaking about doing this dish, it was intimidating even to just watch him. Every cut had to be a precise size, the water had to be just the right temperature, the timing was down to the second. The wok had to be heated for XX number of minutes with just enough oil but not too much; the tossing and last-minute steaming done always the same way. In six decades of eating, DH says his uncle's gai lan remains the best. And every time, because he was so exacting about it, it was always perfect. But it was a lot of work, done to ensure that nothing was left to chance. He very seldom made it, in fact. Just the news that there was going to be a party and that Uncle had promised to make his gai lan, was enough to make everybody, even reluctant-to-socialize teenagers, show up for dinner! Oh, and outside of the gai lan, hardly anyone in DH's family, all 200+ members in Vancouver BC, stir-fries. Most of them don't even own a wok, which is interesting because otherwise they've kept their HK culture intact very assiduously. Unlike the American relatives, all of whom by the second generation barely remember their Cantonese, all the Canadian relatives speak Cantonese at home, so that even the fourth generation little kids are bi-lingual.

Talk about a coinkidink... this thread came up to the top again, just as the A&E service guy left my house. We got our new GE Profile 30" Induction cooktop installed this weekend. There is a "Control Lock" that disable the controls so that you don't turn on the stove while you're cleaning it, etc. Well, Day #1, and we had trouble with it. I swear, this appliance nightmare is giving me gray hair. First, I couldn't get the control lock ON so that I could clean the grubby fingers prints off after it was installed. After messing with it, I got it ON. I got out my new pots & pans and was ready to cook dinner that night, and I couldn't get the control lock OFF! I fiddled with it, then hubby fiddled with it - and he finally got it off so we could have dinner. After dinner, I had a hard time getting it back ON, so that I could clean up. Long & short of it is, that they had to order a $500 part for our brand new induction cooktop. They'll be out in 10 days to put in the new circuit board. Arggggg..... I am SOoooo over this whole appliance nightmare. Boxie

I have had some SS, some calphalon anodized and some copper clad (calphalons and one mauviel). I would say cooking in SS vs anodized and copper clad made a huge difference in the quality of food that I turned out. One more thing: calphalon copper thickness is so small that it really performs very identical to anodized. If you like the look, you might consider. Mauviel, sure, is a class apart. Much more pricey too. Also, I have pretty thin wrists and therefore, lifting Mauviel is definitely trouble. It scares me to think how I will use it as I get older -- because your bones only get weaker, and I know of people who have fractured their wrists in the process. I also have cast iron wok I once got in an Asian store. It is non-enameled, non-seasoned, and made of very thin cast iron. IMO, for slow cooking over retained heat it cannot be beaten. (e.g stir frying greens). I have never tried Le Creuset, however I imagine that it would be very heavy, just like a mauviel. In terms of types of utensils, I think you should ask yourself which of your current pots/pans you use often and start with that shape/size in materials listed above. Hope this helps! Best of luck in cooking.