Thank you all for your ideas. I tried to talk DD into induction b/c that is what I have and love. She wants to stick to the electric smoothtop b/c it will be less expensive and she thinks induction is still a niche market. When I chose induction it was for a variety of reasons---DH and I want to age in place and I think the induction has features that make it safer for older folks, the responsiveness of the burners, and the ease of cleanup. The ease of cleanup may be my favorite feature now. DH actually for the first time in over 30 years of marriage will clean up the cooktop without being poked with a sharp stick. Same for DS when he visits. DD likes the induction features but as she doesn't cook much she is fine with electric. Also, it's funny to watch DS and his techie friends play with the induction and think it is just the coolest gadget. DD and friends are sort of "meh" about it. Thus, DD thinks when resale time comes around for her that the extra money spent on induction won't be worth it. What does appeal to her about a slide in is the point xand83 makes about how pots and pans sit on rear burners. She hates how that happens on her current range and thinks that if she had small children she would want to use the rear burners more often but be limited spacewise. She is now thinking that if she pays more for the slide in that would be worth it. Buehl, thanks for the endorsement on the GE Profile. That's is the brand that DD thinks has most of the features she thinks are important. Do you have any trouble keeping the cooktop clean? My only experience with the black glass smoothtop was in a rental we were in for over a year due to the 2005 hurricane season wipeout of our house. I can't remember the brand---maybe a Whirlpool or a Maytag---but I struggled with that thing. Although it was basically brand new it never looked good to me and I'm not OCD but fairly careful about spills and cleaning regularly. Are all smoothtops created equal in cleanability?

I have the 962 and other than the black color, it's great. It could be more powerful, but it's OK. (I'm hoping to get induction someday.) Anyway, the 962 has the extra bridge element (b/w the two 7" elements on the left) that I use for my griddle and it works great! The element in the upper right corner of both is a warming element. The more expensive one has a duplicate of the double-ribbon element and a "Powerboil" option plus a bit more power in the associated ribbons, so that's probably why it's more. To be honest, I very rarely use the 8"/5" burner but use the 7" & 12" ones all the time. The majority of my pots fit on the 7" perfectly. My smallest pot fits on the 6" (part of the 6/9/12), but I use a 7" burner if I'm also using the 12" burner (My 8qt stock pot is about 10.5" wide, so it fits b/w the 9" & 12".) And my pans all fit on the 7" or 12"... I use the warmer mostly in the winter to keep soups, cider, or hot chocolate warm. The bridge is used whenever I make pancakes, grilled cheese, eggs, bacon, etc. To me, the 962 is more useful than the 972. The 7" is a better size than 5" or 6" or even 8" for my pots and the bridge element is great. Two of my requirements for a cooktop/range were that it had (1) a bridge element and (2) a warming zone...and the 962 gave me both! Here's what the GE site says about burners/ribbons. They're all listed there. 962: 5"/8" Dual Heating Element.....1 Ribbon (800/1900W) 6"/9"/12" Tri-Ring Element.....1 Ribbon (1050/1950/3000) 7" Heating Element(s).....2 Ribbon (1800 watt) Bridge Element.....800 Watt (Links 7" Elements) Warming Zone.....1 Ribbon (120 watt) 972: 5"/8" Dual Heating Element .....2 Ribbon (1000/2200W and PowerBoil) 6" Heating Element (s).....1 Ribbon (1200W); 1 Warming Zone (120W) 6"/9"/12" Tri-Ring Element.....1 Ribbon (1050/1950/3000) (The Warming Zone burner is listed w/the 6" Heating Element for the 972.) So, the 962 actually has 6 elements: 7", 7", 5"/8", 6"/9"/12", bridge, warming zone the 962 actually has 5 elements: 6", 5"/8", 5"/8", 6"/9"/12", warming zone Here is a link that might be useful: GE Rebate for GE Profile Appliances (2 or more)

Beckington, I can't speak to the GE range as I have a GE elec wall oven and a gas range top. However, my wall oven has the steam clean function as well as the old fashioned self clean. From my experience, the steam clean is worthless. The regular self clean works very well. The oven keeps even temperatures, it does have WiFi connectivity which I never hooked up. I don't know if you can assume the oven in the range works the same as the wall oven. One might think they are using the same technology but who knows. Maybe a call to GE could answer your question. Inga

@mascibbe Seems like there are four questions here: (1) can any residential range handle a griddle that large; (Answer: not safely. Anything 30" x 30" is much larger than the surface real estate of residential ranges. Basically, 30"-deep griddle is going to be overhanging the front of a residential range by five or six inches.) (2) Does your griddle actually measure 30" x 30" or did you possibly just assume that it is that size because you have a 30" wide stove or cooktop? (I ask because all the four-burner-spanning griddles I've seen have been more like 23" x 23" such as the Chef King model in this link: https://www.amazon.com/Chef-King-Gauge-Steel-Griddle/dp/B001BQTH8I  (3) Assuming you have a griddle that is less deep (like that Chef King), could you use it on an induction range? (Maybe, maybe not. Depends in part on what it is made of. The Chef King is carbon steel which works on induction. Many of the other big griddles I've seen are all-aluminum. That's great for heat spreading over gas but does not work on induction. Also, bear in mind that many induction ranges have differing sized burners and many also have their burner control as touch pads along the front of the cooking surface; a griddle would have to be a less than 20 inches deep --- maybe several inches less --- in order to avoid blocking the control surfaces. ) (4) Do any induction ranges or cooktops allow four-burner spanning bridging with a differently sized and shaped griddle than the one you described? (Maybe. Apart from the Asko cooktop that kevinande found, IIRC, some Wolf 36" induction ranges and and 36" induction cooktops do or did allow allow four-way linking of burners, with some caveats. See this Wolf FAQ page for the company's statements about this: https://www.subzero-wolf.com/assistance/answers/wolf/common/induction-cooktop-bridge.html.)