I have the 36" Bertazzoni cooktop. I'm very happy with it. I've never used 6 at a time, but have used 5. I originally planned to get a Dacor 5 burner, but found the Bertazzoni was about $500 cheaper. I have that huge Le Creuset dutch oven right now on the simmer burner. It does take up a lot of room, but I can use the burners around it with smaller pans - I couldn't use my seriously huge Le Creuset frying pan next to it, for example. I tend to move pots around from burner to burner: do the initial cooking on the front, then move a pot to the back to finish, while I work on the next thing, for example, and for that I really love the continuous grids. I have had no trouble stir-frying on the left hand burner, but I'm only cooking small quantities (if I cook a Chinese meal, I make lots of small dishes to share, not one huge one). I got a second simmer ring to use on the inner ring of the double burner, because I make a lot of sauces and often use both simmer burners. (I emailed Bertazzoni in Italy to ask about it and they sent it to me for free, which was great customer support!) I'm running it on propane and am very happy with the results. It's incredibly easy to clean - really, just a 'light duty' white scrubby sponge, water, and polish it off with a microfibre cloth. I like the knobs at the side, because I was concerned about pans of boiling water catching on them and scalding me. Over-reaction perhaps, but I'm pretty safety-minded. I know some people prefer all 6 rings to be equal in power, but it hasn't been an issue for me - in reality, most cooking is done at lower temperatures anyway, unless you fry a lot. That's about all I can think of right now, but if you have further questions post again and I'll try and address them. I really think, dollar for dollar, the Bertazzoni is a very good price with great performance. We cook everything from scratch, every day, so it's been well used. 2 years old now.

trove: My Miele odor comment was intended as a zinger directed at Miele due to various complaints on this forum about dishwasher odor (probably not confined just to Miele). Some who have looked into this in depth have recently blamed it on humidity acting on microscopic food particles not flushed by the dishwashing process, and on dirty liquid in the dishwasher plumbing left over after operation. I know I have had odor problems at times with my Optima, but due to onset of winter have to wait until summer to try to verify whether either cause of blame is consistent with my observations. Miele has to conform to European laws relating to energy efficiency, and this also affects water usage. It may be that old style American dishwashers remained more sanitary in humid conditions after their drying cycle. I don't recall odor from childhood dishwashers, but I think my family's dishwasher was run more often than my Miele. kas

Yes! We got it sorred out. So it turned out to be a loose circuit breaker. It was the new sub panel put in for our kitchen reno. We had some electrical work done and hired an electrician tonadd some recessed lighting. He ran it back to the new subpanel and he comes up from the basement nd asks if we were having problems with the stove. I said yes. He said he noticed the breaker wasnt seated properly. It was making a connection but just barely. He popped it out and popped it back in and sure enough I went and ran that oven at 500 for an hour with no issues. The cause imo was the weak current was causing the computer to think there was a fan issue. An anomaly. Want to say we have since moved and it was a relief to be able to have that taken care of. I will buy Thermdor again! They did send us a new range (after repeated service calls). So would so donit again

I saw the newest Wolf induction cooktop and I was impressed with its versatility. Specifically, I am speaking of model CI365T/S. I really like the burner layout with the four burners that can be bridged on one side and a larger oval burner on the other side. It offers what seems to be the most flexible layout. There are other induction cooktops with "flexible" zones but they are in a layout that is less versatile, most commonly with a large round hob in the center and the flexible zones on either side. My building does not have gas so when I upgrade, I will be looking at induction. As of now, I think the Wolf is my favorite but I am a year or two out and something new may change my thinking.