ya_think i read some of your posts on that other thread ...way to funny. tntw did you check into American Range? try dvorson's restaurant equipment thats where i got my best price. although i went with the 48". we cook for 3 but on holidays it's more like up to 20. it works great. great for making lots of cookes or cupcakes for school. cut DW cooking time in half for parties and holidays. she sometimes caters professionally. great range, looks great, great customer service! not all the bells & whistles to break down. john

Sounds like that hood would work fine over a 30" induction cooktop...

If I recall correctly, and I'll have to provide the reference later, the flow rate of the effluent is proportional to the heat input to the one-third power. So, _if_ gas took twice the BTUs to heat something than induction, (all else being equal, which it usually isn't) the effluent cfm from induction would be 80% of that for gas. I don't recall the induction vs. gas heating efficiency to provide a more exact ratio at the moment. Then there is the velocity of the effluent that has to be captured and not spill out of the hood, and that may change what cfm the hood has to pull. kas

Re: stains It was not clear from your phrasing if the stains came as a result of cooking the pancakes or if the plancha had stains out of the box that just seem unremovable after cooking on them. As I noted above, the first time I used my plancha/griddle, I ran it too hot and got some pretty good burned butter stains. I was able to remove those stains by applying undiluted Dawn dish detergent and scrubbing with a dampened blue ScotchBrite ((non-stick suitable scrubbie) Took a bit of elbow grease but that cleaned off all the stains. There seems to be a Demeyere Non-Abrasive Cleaner and Stainless Steel Polish. User reviews seem very positive about it doing a good job with burned-on oily stains. A google search showed it to be available from the likes of Amazon, BB&B, etc. Also did some checking on using my old stand-by, Bar Keeper's Friend (BKF). The Demeyere instruction booklet does advise against using "abrasive cleansers" but that seems to be about harsh scrubbing with the likes of Comet and Ajax. A google search on BKF + Silvinox turned up recommendations for making a wet paste of BKF and water. Daub it over the stains rather than scrubbing. Let the wet paste sit for an hour or so letting the Oxalic acid do its thing. Then, wash it off or scrub with non-stick-suitable cloth, sponge, etc. OTOH, if the plancha came with the stains out of the box, it can be returned or swapped for a replacement. My shipment even came with a return label in the box in case I wanted to return it. Also, replacement of marred units was discussed in the Chowhound thread. They recommended calling "Susan" at the Zwilling warehouse at 800-777-4308 about returns and replacements.