When you mention smooth top, I'm assuming you mean a glass top? If so, my wife uses a glass top cleaner made to remove those marks and she says the products work just fine. I suspect this would work for a metalic smooth top also. There is some type of pad they sell for this also. As for the pans, stainless steel with flat bottoms are recommendations (shy away from aluminum, I think one of the brands I remember her looking at was Farber Ware). I know this because after she bought the stove, we replaced all her pots and pans. We spent a lot of time looking at pots and pans with perfectly flat bottoms. In my opinion, those stoves look nice but are they really worth the trouble? I don't do the cooking, I cut the grass and split the wood so it's none of my business. If it were me, I would have bought a real stove.

I've used three different brands of Ceramic Stovetop cleaners, and they all work well. I use a sponge that has a nylon net covering, which works better than a straight sponge.
BTW, I prefer cooking with a gas stove, but the glass top makes clean-up a whole lot easier and gives me more counter space when the burners are off.

as recommended, use the glass top cleaners.

if you ahve a cooked on spill, use a razor blade to scrape it off. hold the blade at a slight angle and push it along. it will peel the crud off quickly. then wipe it clean with a sponge and the cleaner.

I had to replace all of my cookware too, and I bought Analon, and LOVE them. They don't scratch my cooktop.

Weissman's is what I use to clean it. It really polishes the glass and seems to protect the surface somewhat. One precaution I take is to make sure and clean the bottom of my pots and pans very carefully when I'm washing. That really makes a difference. I also look at and wipe off the bottom of the pans before sitting them on the glass. Sometimes you may have something on the bottom of the pan that will scratch the surface.
I am a messy cook, and was used to gas, so I've had quite a few boil overs, but have never had to resort to a razor blade (yet).
I do think that the frequent polishing really helps protect the surface. So, I use this stuff a lot! I also found that using something citrusy to clean off.
I agree with both of the above posters -- I can use my cooktop as countertop at times (I have very little of that), and though I preferred my gas stove for cooking, this is much easier to keep clean.

HTH.

Liquid hand soap from the dollar store. Wet the top, one dab of soap, wash with wash rag, polish with towel, dump towel and washcloth by the laundry, done.

Everytime I cook there are brown marks around the burners. I have tried several things to get them off but am not able to get clean. It is a real pain. Any suggestions?