Mine was one year old in July. Not a heavy user but still looks like new, no scratches.

My induction cooktop was 1 year old around Labor Day. Moderately heavy user -I cook dinner most nights, often breakfasts. Not particularly careful with the cooktop. There are some small scratches on the hobs, but I never notice them unless someone on GW asks about scratches and I go look for them. I think it still looks fabulous. I wipe it off with a soapy sponge, then with just a wet paper towel, and it shines. Every so often I actually use cooktop cleaner on it. I had coil before. Even a scratched-up smooth-top is better in every way.

If you can find a way to afford induction, you ought to consider it, or are you really tired of hearing that?

I have had several electric smooth top ranges (different brands) over the years and have never had an issue with them staining, scratching or pitting. They looked pretty much like new after several years and were always easy to clean. You do need to be careful to wipe up sugary type spills as soon as you can or it could cause pitting.

I currently have a Frigidaire smooth top that I am not quite so happy with. It has stains that look like moisture seeped in between the glass or something and no amount of cleaning can remove those stains. They aren't raised stains that you can feel, so can't be removed with the razor blade or ceramabryte cleaner. They replaced the top for me when it was still under warranty and the repairman confirmed that he had never seen anything quite like it before...however the same thing happened to the new stovetop within a couple of months...they refused to replace this one as it is "cosmetic" and doesn't affect the function. I would recommend steering away from Frigidaire, because it seems to be made of slightly different materials or something. I would never go back to a coil range though.

khinmn92, what color is your cooktop? Is it white?

We have a 12 year old Whirlpool, soon to be replaced with a gas GE Cafe. Ours looks fantastic, I would say it is amazing how good it looks. We are NOT careful with it. Everyday clean with soapy sponge. Once or twice a month I use the cooktop cleaner/polish, any brand I've bought has worked fine. I also use a single edge razor blade to scrape around the burners when the build up gets noticeable.

Mine is 8 years old and doesn't have any scratches on it. They told me not to ever touch it with Aluminum Foil, as that will scratch it. It still looks brand new.

My smooth cooktop is white, over 10 years old, and still looks like new. If there are any scratches I can't see them.

I clean it with Barkeepers Friend, which gets everything off easily.

Bonnie

Have had 3 glass downdraft JennAir cooktops at same house over 25 yrs
Have not had problem with scratching but they can become discoulored and depending on what makes the spill can be difficult to clean...my problem has been with glass top getting cracks and breaking...am putting that home which has been rental for 3 yrs on market and have to replace the JennAir because there is cracking in left corner and the large double burner on right sides not working...getting Kitchenaide because it is least expensive that fits dimension of granite cooktop hole...
Swore I would not get another glasstopmelectric when we went house shopping 4 yrs ago and current home has 6!burner gas cooktop...
BUT the vacation house we bought in FL this spring has glass cooktop...going to have cutting board made to protect it so that cutting board sits across glass with its feet on counter top and you have to take that off it use cooktop...

Ours is a black Kenmore and over two years old. Potatoes have boiled over a few times, I just use the cooktop cleaner to remove the burnt-on spill. Takes a bit of elbow grease, but mine still looks like new and I cook all the time.
I will definitely buy another when needed. Much easier to clean than a regular electric cook-top. HTH

No scratches, even though I use a cast iron frying pan every day. But it does have stains on one burner, which came out with baking soda, but soon returned. They don't really bother me, but it probably would bother others.

We're in the process of replacing a white 11-year-old Whirlpool. We never once had problems with scratches on it. We did however find it super difficult to keep clean and have vowed to never own white again. Even though the rest of the kitchen has white appliances, we went black with the cooktop this time.

Writersblock: my stovetop is dark gray with black burners.

Thanks!

My smoothtop is 15 years old and still looks like new. Can't say the same about the knobs though.

Same here - 14 years old and looks like new. It's black and I use the ceramic top cleaner and a razor blade for bad spills that get cooked on/hardened. No scratches, no problems.

Ours is black, 4 years old, and looks perfect from a distance. It's used every day but not too heavily.

There are a couple tiny scratches but you have to get close. We use cast iron pans on it and believe that caused the little scratches.

My biggest problem is not looks, it's canning. Because the burners turn on/off so as not to overheat the glass top, it doesn't get hot enough to use a pressure canner. Won't set the steam off. I have made jam, but canning peaches in a water bath did not work. I think it's not being able to get a consistent high boil for a long time.

As someone mentioned, sugar syrup boiling over on it can be a problem if not cleaned up while it's still warm. Which is tricky. Otherwise it's easy to clean.

The problems are more a heat limitation. They don't want the glass to shatter so the burners tend to pulse.

Wish I'd known that before I got one.

If you don't can it isn't an issue.

Me too, going on 15 years and looks a little lived in but certainly not aged. It will get some little faint gray hair like scratches but they are not really scratches but little fine 1/4 inch or less marks but it just blends in after awhile. No biggie.

Seven year old KE induction cooktop. No scratches on the glass, but a definite "patina" on the stainless steel strips.

Wow. I thought it was normal to look as terrible as mine does. I guess I need to try harder to clean it. I cook a lot, and I'm a messy, distracted cook. Pots frequently boil over and grease and sauce often splatter. I can never seem to get the burnt food stains off. We often use the space as a prep area and landing zone for the OTR MW. It really takes a lot of abuse.

We have a 5 year old black cooktop- it doesn't look too much different now than it did after a few months of use. I like black appliances. The black fridge, DW, and MW are fine, but the cooktop is hard. It's easy to clean up the wet stuff (a million times easier than cleaning coils), but the cooked on stuff is almost impossible. The scratches are minor and dont bother me, but I also use smooth bottomed pans- no cast iron. :(

If you have trouble getting some burned-on residue off the cooktop, try warming that burner up just a little...and I do mean just a LITTLE for several reasons.....then scratch off the stuck-on stuff with either a sharp knife blade or something like that...
and clean with baking soda and just little bit of water...

That's odd biochem, I can on mine all the time and haven't had any problem with the burner turning off. My only problem with it is that the double burner is too hot on low. It's pretty much on high no matter what the knob is set on.

Marti8a, All the brands are different. Which brand do you have? Is it a cooktop then, not a range? They may have made the glass/ceramic different on yours. Maybe it was different 15 years ago?

Do your instructions say to can on a specific burner?
And are you using a water bath or a pressure canner?

Thanks!!! (Mine is GE double oven range, and the instruction book has no info). :)

I'd appreciate details, and it might help the OP.

My 5 year old, white Jenn-Aire still looks great. I have canned on it, used cast iron, and have no scratches. Washed daily with hot, soapy water when I do the dishes. Cleaned occasionally with Barkeepers friend when something spills and burns.

This is my second flat-top cooktop and currently have a GE cafe. I just wipe it down every night with a hot soapy cloth and every once in a while do the razor blade, heavier duty clean up on it. My old one didn't have any scratches on it and this one is two years old and is still looking good.

When I bought my first one the salesman did mention that canning doesn't work on it and if you do a lot of stir-fry it could be an issue as well. I don't can but I do stir-fry and I just learned to work with it. My new one works well for stir-fry but I don;t know about canning.

Thanks for all the responses - it really helped ease my mind. A few mentioned using cast iron and doing stir frys could present a problem which I do on occassion so at least I will be aware. I'm now off to the flooring forum for some feedback. Gotta love this website.

We had a white Whirpool one with gray speckled top. I hated it. It never looked clean. That being said, my MIL has a Kenmore one that is stainless with a black top. Here's never looks as bad as my old one did. NOTHING could get it clean, and it had stains from the first year we used it.

Induction! Nothing ever burns on. It gets a bit of a haze which requires a little buffing with cooktop cleaner every few months, but otherwise a spritz of Windex, a quick wipe, and done!

A magic eraser takes care of any of the boil over stuff : )