CLKW, you can make your own danged matzah balls! Texas is a big place, so I don't know if this is hundreds of miles away from you, but they had Kenny & Ziggy's in Houston on TV. E-mail me if you need a recipe. I think you really need to research more on the manufacturers' websites. Read through the operating manuals and get to know the appliances before you make a decision. The portable unit Dan linked looks like a a good unit. When I landed here induction wasn't very popular in the U.S. so I wanted to try it and got the cheapest one I could get on Amazon (Mr. Induction). It was enough to convince me. Commercial units like Dan's have different kinds of controllers than home units do. This one has thermostatic control, whereas home units have levels numbered from 1-9 (some with half stops). Cooktek (also commercial) has 1-100. Zoneless, as has been said, is also different, though the controllers are similar. I forgot to answer up topic about the self-import. If you do that, talk to your insurance first about it not being UL listed and get a letter for your file (kept at your agent's office) that says it's okay with the company. Talk to your electrician about wiring. And talk to your local servicemen. I wouldn't go with the De Dietrich. People were self importing these all over the place a couple of years ago, but when things went wrong they had orphan appliances. Instead, if you find an AEG, for instance, that you like, talk to the local Electrolux service and see if they'll take care of you. There likely won't be a warranty, but if you need a fix make sure someone can fix it. And know that the timers won't work right because they use the frequency of the electricity to mark time and they're different here and there. My serviceman said to just make a conversion chart. Re steamers, the in counter is more like a using a bamboo steamer in a wok. The combi-steam oven is an oven which also has steam. Very different. The steam is the same, but the mode of cooking is different. You'd have to ask someone more familiar than I with the in counter steamer, but I'm not sure all leftovers will fit. They'd have to be shaped correctly. Plus, people have said that you can just put a plate of dinner for a straggler in the combi-steam to refresh, which you can't in a counter steamer. It's not a bad appliance--just be aware of what the different ones do and don't do. You can't stack three different brands of ovens three high. I think you're getting a little star struck. Okay, for getting a crisp crust on bread in a normal, electric oven, use a pan of water. For steaming vegetables, use a steamer basket in a pan of water on the stove. I suppose you could use the oven, but getting it right would be hard. You can also use a plastic steamer basket in a microwave, in a corningware pot of water, or a bamboo steamer basket in a wok of water. There are other ways too. In a Gagg combi-steam, put in perforated pan in oven. Oh! You might want to look into the KitchenAid Steam Assist oven. That's a full sized oven with some steam. Not as fancy, not as expensive, but a full sized oven with a trick up its sleeve. I don't understand this sentence: Can I get steam oven results by sticking a pan of water in the combi oven and using microwave and oven to cook my leftovers? Have you tried that? I haven't tried any of it because they're just finishing my kitchen now. The combi- doesn't need a pan of water, so I think there's a typo somewhere. I haven't used the pan of water with leftovers. If it's just for myself, I'm more likely to zap it if I want it hot (and often would rather have cold). If it's for more, I'll redecorate it and put it in the oven. If you want more info on reheating and refreshing with the combi-steam, search on Gizmonike. Re prices, I don't think the Gaggenau convection oven is all that much different from the Miele, especially since you're already at the top of the scale. The Gaggenau combi-steam is more double the currently available Miele steam oven because the latter is steam only. For the same price as the latter, you could get the KA. I don't know much about the KA, but it's an oven with some steam, not a steam appliance. You'd have to find out more, but I don't think you can just put stuff like veg or rice in to steam only. But I don't think you can probably stack it with the Miele either. A lot of it depends on what you want to do and how you want to do it. It's very hard to know when you're not all that used to cooking well. It'll be more fun and easier in your new kitchen, but maybe you should start trying these things now. Put a custard cup or ramkin or whatever you have with water in your oven and see what happens. Steam some stuff on the stove. Etc. Fancy tools make life easier, but everything you do is much easier when you know the basics behind them. In school we had to calculate cube roots and natural logs even though we had calculators and there were tables in the back of the math book. Same with kitchen tools, before you use a food processor, learn to use a knife. Before you use a dough hook, learn to knead. Before you use a steamer, learn to steam on the stove. That way you'll learn what things are supposed to look and feel and taste and sound like, and won't be relying on machines to tell you what to eat.

I just got back from looking at the 30" model. It was hooked up, so I saw the burners in action, but there was no hood so I couldn't actually try it out to cook anything. I have attached a link to some pics of the burners, drip pans/tray, etc. My initial thoughts, in no specific order... 1. As with all the American Range ranges, it is very well put together. Seams and corners are finished nicely. Understated look, less industrial by far than bluestar but not overly softened...just really straightforward pro-look. 2. The approach is a little different than bluestar, there is both a drip tray under everything and also separate drip pans under/around each set of two burners. More like the Bluestar drop-in cooktop, less like the range. Reminded me a bit of the Jade residential open burner ranges. 3. The drip pans are black enameled steel, and are very deep - seems like the likelihood of things actually making it to the drip tray is pretty slim. They also, however, don't seem to have any obvious way to get a grip on them to remove them...it was a bit fussy when I did it. 4. All the burners click when you ignite any single burner. 5. The center area on the 30" is a removable stainless steel piece...I don't know if they are going to offer an optional grate, but it seems like it would be really simple to get something to work even if they don't. 6. Unlike the other American Range ranges, the grates are free-floating...there are no "dents' for the feet to rest in and hold them in place. AS a result, the grates move around a bit more, and are noisier...this is especially noticeable because of the other "moving parts" (i.e., the drip pans and tray)...its a little "clanky." 7. My big reservation...the grates are really, really high. Pots are going to end up really far above the flames, which kind of seems to defeat the purpose of having super-powerful burners. I would be concerned that in the real world a lot less heat would be transferred to the pan on this than on, say, a bluestar (or probably a culinarian, but I haven't actually seen one of those in person yet). I may be wrong about this, but it worries me...I hope somebody does do some real world comparison testing soon. That's it for my iniitial thoughts. If anybody has any specific questions, feel free to ask and if I can answer it based on my look today I will. Here is a link that might be useful: pics

I have a CC but I'm sure they're all very similar. It takes about a minute for it to light and come up to broiling temps. Basically as long as it takes for the glow plug to get hot. I usually fire up mine as I'm preparing the food for the broiler so it's ready when I'm ready. I think one time I fired it up as an afterthought, and I waited a couple of minutes anyways to let it get good and hot. I didn't actively monitor it. I just turned away to do something else and came back to it. But it was ready so it was a non-issue for me. My range vents out the back, so smoke from broiling has not been issue. I'm sure the Wolf and Viking are similar in this regard. One thing an IR broiler does not do well is blackening. For that, you'll still have to use cast iron and deal with the smoke.

kellycares I currently have Dacor sealed burner cooktop with an 18K BTU burner, but it does not seem to get quite hot enough to do a good sear on meats. So, the Capital cooktop has one 20K burner, so I was hoping it might be a good choice. You are only adding a little over 10% more heat, but get yourself a cast iron pan and it will hold much more heat than most other types of skillets. I can get it smoking with my 16K burner and a 12 inch skillet. Oil the meat not the skillet. If you want something in the 22-23K range also consider Bluestar. It also has open burners. But then i read about on this forum about how open burners actually get hotter than the sealed burners. They don't get hotter but the heat goes more to the center of the pan. Open burners flare a little more. The difference is greater as you increase the heat but I have never found it to be an issue. It might be an issue if you need to have very high heat for a pan less than 7 inches. I'm not sure what you would cook that way but I'm sure someone would need to cook that way. It would also be useful if you stirfry a lot. I could consider this but am worried about the clean-up. Are they a pain to keep clean? Cleaning is a matter of preference. There are videos of the cleaning processes on youtube so you can make up your own mind. Sealed is a snap-just a quick wipe. If I have anything that would require elbow grease, I just put a hot soapy rag over it and let it soak while I am doing something else. I had a Dacor ER36D with a black enamel top and it never got clean but the range I have now with black enamel is easy to clean. I am not sure why that is. Look at the Bluestar as well and the videos about cleaning it to compare as some think it is easier than the CC. I also like the features of the Capital Maestro Double wall oven. It has the moist heating feature and the ribbon infrared broiler, along with the convection. It seems like a good alternative to the Wolf oven which also has the moist heat, but costs about $3000 more. Wolf has a steam oven. Capital specifically states theirs is not a steam oven. Capital's New Dual Fuel Series Engineered for Best of Electric & Gas Options Why do you want moist heat? Capital seems to think it will make your roasts moist but this is myth. You a actually want dry heat for roasting to provide crispiness. This is why you have convection, which is drying, the opposite of moist heat. This quote is from the website. "Capital's latest innovation, combines the best of stable electric heat and the moisture of a convection oven." This astounding to read this on their website. What the..? They do not have a convection roast mode, which brings more heat from the top to aid in browning. Adding moisture for roasting will also decrease browning. I don't understand the concept as most people want browning and crispiness in their food as it adds flavor. Interesting on their website they say it is an electric oven that behaves like gas. I have no idea what that means. But my big question about these products is do they work as advertised and how is the reliability? Reliability is unknown. Since you don't know that, I would look at customer service for whatever brand you want to buy. There is a lot written about many brands on this forum. Search the brand on the forum by scrolling to the bottom of appliance "messages" page. I am personally very leery of ovens controlled by electronics that have no track record. Consider two single ovens instead of one double. dodge59 has an Electrolux Icon oven and Electrolux Icon speed oven I think. Maybe he will comment. If you want moisture for some reason, you can easily add a pan of water with much more control of the amount of steam than a fixed amount added to a small chamber.