LOL!! Go green!! Actually, Mr. Induction has press the level you want too, and that's my only induction experience currently, other than the little demo in the Miele showroom. The manuals for most of these are available online. From what I've seen in the manual, the Wolf works the same way as the others. You push the plus and the minus to change the temperature. The difference is they have a graphic rather than a number to show temperature. There are separate controls for simmer and things, like other brands have l/m/h. Since I hadn't looked at the 36" Gagg, it being too big for my kitchen, I looked at the manual to see how the knob works. (Okay, one for your husband--the knob is cool!) If I understand right, you have to turn to the burner you want to turn on then click the knob around to make the temperature go up or down. So twist instead of sensor, but you still have to select the burner first. It does have the half steps, however, and a LOT of power. I think the individual controls on the Miele, et al., might work better for me, though the knob is a lot more intuitive than press here then press there. OTOH, there's a three burner one that they sell in England. I'd much rather have a 24" than 31" and while the controls seem overly complex, the Gagg has the true timers and other features. There are Gaggenau repair people here, so importing would be less of scare than getting De Dietrich (they're all Fagor underneath from what I can tell, but if there's something proprietary in the electronics I want to deal with someone who can get the part). So now I'm set to start making calls tomorrow to find out if this is actually an option! Thanks, Fori!!! BTW, you could always go back to the gas idea, being a Luddite and all ;)

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. --- 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.

@ jchcwh2624 - Thank you for your concern. I am really not that strung out about this...just following a thought through to completion. Even if i end up not Importing maybe someone else will find this info useful. I saw the wolf in person and it is beautiful, the patterning is very nice. I was not live so i could not play with the controls but they look easy enough. Its just, i am seeing this other cooktop right now, and well, she's really cute and we could be getting serious, i don't know, but i want to see where this takes us. As to the actual cookware, if i get true bridging or zoneless i am looking at the Gaggeneau 13" x 21" Teppan Yaki pans. If i don't go that way i guess i am searching for cast. @ a2gemini - i would take a collection of hand selected pans vs complete set of and brand any day. I have a few favorite pans that i will lose to my induction (no matter what model i get). You probably have a few favorites depending on the job, i am envious but also excited to take the same journey. @Anyone importing or thinking about it. So to get the info i needed i talked to the same place that issues permits for electrical work... the person i talked to first did not know and sent my up the line. I was given a list of North American companies that do certifications. I was also given a phone number for one the inspector know was local to my area and had done this sort of thing in the past. I was not able to talk to anyone at Inertek, sort of. Inertek is a multinational and contracts out to many different companies in many countries for testing. I did talk to 3 companies that do certifications on inerteks behalf. Basically certification is $175/hour with a 2 hour minimum... they charge for driving time so you may be better off to bring the items to them, i am. You also pay a $10 fee for each sticker (one per device certified) . You also pay federal tax. I was told they take credit card only (MC or Visa). This is for Canada, but i was told the prices are set by a regulatory board or something, so he price should not very from one company to the next, at least on a per country basis. The test is standardized and it is a pass every part or fail. The bad news is that as part of the testing they upload you serial number in to their system so there are no retakes. Your cooktop either can or can not...there is no try. The good news for me is AEG has products in Canada, and most of the products i looked at are built to use both electrical circuits. This post was edited by Noctua on Thu, Apr 4, 13 at 23:09

smm5525, I have posted some layout plans before, but things have changed over time. Here is a PDF with the layout and my organization sheet which details what kitchen item would go where. It's hard to post a screen shot, because it's too large to capture it all. You can follow the link to see it. NOTE: I am hoping to gain back enough inches to be able to make the base cabinets on each side of the cooktop equal size. Because design was created on a grid the refrigerator cab is drawn as 39" when in reality it'll only require 37.5". And I'm guessing on the Super Susan dimensions. We had a cabinet design guy come measure things today. He took a printout and is creating a "real" plan we can use. He sent me a message today saying that even though it's in Excel it's good and easy to figure things out. He should have it ready by tomorrow. I can't wait. We'll decide on what cabinet brand once we get some estimates. We're leaning towards Plato. Walnut with the grain going horizontally. Islands painted blue, with a more furniture-look to switch things up. We're planning on putting in a much larger window over the sink. You'll in the PDF that I have indicated where the existing window is in a dark green with the expanded window size in a lighter green. Let me know what you think. :)