Thanks so much sail-away for taking the time to check the Wolf recommendation for staining & cleaning. I proceeded cautiously with the Penny Brite to make sure I wasn't headed down the wrong path & then kept my fingers crossed as I continued. LOL I'm also interested if other stainless gas ranges or cooktops have similar issues over time. The cooking store where I purchased the Penny Brite seemed to think the 3 years of usage was a short period of time to experience the discoloration on a cooktop. Of course, it seems for this model there is a known issue. My memory from the applicance manual the cleaning recommendations are fairly innocuous & mostly useless -- vinegar to clean water spots, wipe with a soapy cloth. I mostly use the soapy cloth/sponge & a Windex or Pledge multi-surface wipe, then at times finish with a SS wipe. You shouldn't have a problem for a while. I'm so relieved to find the Penney Brite. I hope all will be well with using it. It looked so bad I was willing to take the risk. It has been about a month since I cleaned the cooktop & the stains haven't returned. Hopefully I'll only need to use it once or twice a year . . .

The cited paper is interesting but hardly adds anything. I mean, who bake things onto a stove top surface at 750 degrees and leaves undiluted ammonia cleanser and or Formula 409 on a surface under a watch glass for 72 hours on their stove top? Seems to me that porcelain and steel each have advantages and disadvantages and you pick the trade off that is most acceptable to you. It may well be an aesthetic choice as Jadeite points out. Personally, I've never found stainless stoves hard to clean, contrary to that report. The issue I've seen is frequency of cleaning. You just clean them more frequently because everything (finger prints, grease, whatever)is so much more obvious. Obvious so much more quickly than it is with a white porcelain surface (not sure about black; seems like it might be just as bad). Mind, I am not suggesting that this "obviousness" is not big deal to some folks. It is. Burner drip pans are a whole 'nother story. Personally, I hate all light colored drip/liner pans. Whether stainless or porcelain-coated, they stain, scratch, mar and etc. within weeks to the point that they can no longer be scrubbed to look anything close to new. I prefer a matte black or cast iron pan. Same thing with burner grates. Of course, stainless surfaces scratch more easily than porcelain but I do not think that says much. If keeping your stove looking show-room pristine is important, most appliance stainless surface scratches can be buffed out. Unless you really gouge it by, say, dropping a really heavy cast iron pan edge-on from several feet above the stove. Do that with porcelain and you may knock a chip off the surface. With porcelain, you have to fill the chip using a little jar of enamel that looks like one of the old bottles of white-out. Some repairs work well, some may look funky. So, which funky is less offensive to you? I've never seen a stain on an actual stainless steel residential stove that could not be buffed out with a little Barkeeper's Friend. Same thing with my stainless cookware and my stainless kitchen sink. They call it "stainless" for a reason. Now, I have seen some staining and discoloration with restaurant equipment, but that is a different ballpark with way, way more heat and abuse than you get in home kitchen. And, also, a completely different kitchen aesthetic. So, having said all of that in defense of stainless, what do I prefer to have in my home? Porcelain. If the stainless LG 3097 stove has features you think your really want and cannot get on the porcelain 3095 version, get what you want. Oh, and one other thing. It will be a very good idea to actually see the stove. There seem to be new stainless-like finishes which are not really stainless steel. The cited article mentions some porcelain-based stainless look-alikes. I did not notice anything on this when skimming the specs for these stoves, but it may be hard to tell without actually seeing the stove.

XO, Neither. If you want low maintenance you should look at induction.

That cooktop is not bad at all for the money. Nice design, good btu's, etc. Yes DCS/FP service is not the best out there, but a gas cooktop should be a low incident machine. I prefer the Wolf or Viking gas cooktops myself. Both of those are a couple hundred dollars more though. Anthony Appliance Buyer's Guide