It's an exciting product.

See also more discussions here:

Gardenweb thread from Jan 7th with link to Thermador press release

Long gardenweb thread updated Jan 9th with info on the Thermador

Thread from Jan 11th

Thanks for the links Zartemis!!

Saw it on the Today Show this morning! Really cool.

Here is a link that might be useful: Zoneless induction

Been researching this too, after hearing about it on the forums. Have not seen power specs yet, but did see this reviewer from CES who said that it is limited to 4 pots at a time. Just passing it along as I have seen the question raised but not answered on the forums (or perhaps I just missed it if it has).

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/tag/thermador/

While its not often I use more than 4 burners, there are times when I do need another, and would think that might be especially true when using a large griddle on this cooktop. If the 4 pot limit is true, that may convince me to avoid the hefty price tag and stick with a 36"/5-hob unit if we go induction.

a large griddle counts as one hob.

That makes it much more like the other zoneless units, the numbers limit. Advantages still that you can put the pots wherever you want and move them around.

How great would it be if you could use all the 4" pots with different sauces and keep them warm like on a French top?

Wow, thanks for posting this. I had assumed it would have at least 5 hobs and was crossing fingers for unlimited. Hmmmm, I was planning to get this and now I'm going to rethink it. This was key information! THANKS!!!

I was ogling the gag but way too expensive. Guess it will be 20 years til I get this technology....
Our Wolf will be installed next month.
When I started looking at induction - I asked why individual hobs and the sales guy looked at me like I was from Venus - which of course, I am.
I probably only need 4 pots a boiling at a time but went with the 5 hob to get the 13 inch option...
Hope others get to enjoy this!!!

mtc1 -- yeah, i was thinking it would be a grand piano as well! Definitely a bummer. After I posted this I looked around some more and I saw somewhere that the Gagganeau zoneless in Europe also has a 4 pot limit, which made me think this was indeed correct.

As far as I can tell, the U.S. Thermador full surface is the same appliance as the Gaggenau one in Europe and Australia. Thermador has a lot more name recognition here, and a reputation for innovation. Since it's the first zoneless of any type offered here, it makes sense that they'd use that name for branding.

The manual for the Gaggenau says, "Note: Only 2 cooking positions may be used at the same time on each side of the cooktop." As far as I can tell, you can only move a pot once and have its settings transfer, but I might have misunderstood that part.

Frankly, having read through the manual, I'm not so impressed with this unit. The controls are better than regular zoneless because it seems that you're not restricted to a particular area, but, unlike the lovely knob on the standard Gaggenau unit, the controls are very program driven and not intuitive. One of my bugaboos is Starship Enterprise style control panels on ovens when a couple of knobs would do. This full surface Gaggenau (which is likely the same as the announced Thermador) definitely has that.

I'd probably be tempted if I were in the market, but I felt absolutely no cooktop envy looking at the details...

Tried out the new Thermador Freedom Induction cooktop yesterday at a demo class.

It takes a few seconds for pots to register. It normally did a pretty good job of recognizing the size of the cookware, though it insisted that one 6" sauce pan was oval in shape, no matter where it was put on the surface. Makes me wonder, will there be firmware updates to look forward to?!? ;)

The flicky/swipey interface for changing power & time is a pain IMO. Rather imprecise as you swipe back and forth to get the right level selected. Though you can tap directly on any number you can see in the display (which is like 2 levels in either direction), which helps a bit. I would forever curse Apple for popularizing this kind of interface if I bought this. I prefer the other Thermador/Bosch models where all the numbers are visible on the panel and you can go directly to them. Though I imagine a 6 year old would love the UI on the Freedom. So there's that.

Yes, you can move pots around the surface once they are registered and going, but you have to hit a transfer icon to keep the heat/timer settings when you do. And it again takes a few seconds for it to figure you've moved it when you do.

It seems to be devoid of any of the other features you can find on other BSH products like AutoChef and SensorDome. And it's limited to 4 pots where 5 is standard on their other 36" models. Yes there appear to be really only 4 zones to the cooktop, as you can only have 2 pots going on each side. i.e. you couldn't have three small pots on the right side and one large grill pan on the left.

You can use any size cookware from 3" to 13" in size so that's nice. In fact, that may be the chief benefit to this top, not having to worry so much about pan to burner size matching. Plus you can arrange the cookware layout for what works best for your needs.

So for $5K they are removing some features and capability for a smartphone-like interface and zoneless induction. Not sure I'd pay the extra $2-3K for that, but I'm considering it along with the other BSH models.

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Honestly, I like the layout of the Electrolux Icon, but not having individual burner timers is a non-starter. if Whirpool hadn't screwed up with not allowing cookware smaller than 6 1/2" on their Kitchenaid/Jenn-Air 36" induction top, that's the one I'd probably go with. (I need four 7-inch zones, really??)

Will likely go for the Bosch 800 series.