I think what happens is that you just won't get the portable out to boil water. We lived for about 6 months without the kitchen. Our el-cheapo portable induction was a life saver and I thought I would use it to boil water and cook stuff in summer. I have yet to get it out of the drawer where it lives (18 months so far). I did get an outdoor stove with two 30k btu burners that I am really liking and using a lot - even in this heat wave. I like cooking outside. Somehow, its ok to tote all the food outside but to get the induction gizmo out of a drawer. I have no experience with the Capital, but the burner designs resemble each other somewhat. I am not claiming equivalence in any way but a lot of heat, straight up from a lot of small jets. I never turn it all the way up, even to boil water - it sounds like a jet engine when I do that. At medium, its more than twice as fast as the POC range in my kitchen at doing anything. If I got to re-choose with money as no object, I think I would get a induction top and a solid plate or Teppanyaki style griddle - those would cover about 90% of my cooktop needs. Small funny story - I didn't realize that it was even possible to get a pan hot enough to spontaneously ignite oil - but guess what, I can! lmao. Also, my cutting board that fits over the prep sink just fits over a burner :)

It's like moving my Wedgewood--while protecting the floor. I do agree somewhat with Weissman in that the gunk down the sides hardens and just becomes part of the sides until you scrape it off. I don't know about modern ranges, but our Wedgewood has a front bottom panel that pulls off for sweeping under. Again, no insect problems that wouldn't be caused by poor housekeeping elsewhere anyway. (And if you have that, you fire your cleaning service and get another, right? :) Where I'm really coming from is that keeping all surfaces of a range and the space it occupies is a lot more work, and if I were buying now I'd insist on a flange, easy movement across the floor, and any other easier-clean features some might have. That way it's not big deal and I wouldn't find myself one of those who don't keep it up, find themselves putting off finally tackling what's become a big job, then start thinking about it in the middle of the night, i.e., the critical mass "coming alive" and forcing me to take on an unnecessarily lengthy and tiring project because the grime had hardened up so much. And I'm talking a couple months, not 30 years. 30 years would actually be better; my experience is that in just a few months food will begin fossilizing. But since I already own mine, all this is the reason standing it alone on a wall seems quite workable. Done this before, and I wouldn't be afraid of keeping it up in my old age. In fact, I like the idea.

Thank you everyone. We are taking the plunge and getting the luce di luna quartz on the island with the Miele induction cooktop in black. Our island cabinets are a very dark stained cherry and our permimeter will be white with a dark green granite countertop. All of your kitchens are so beautiful and so different. Ice, your contemporary look is great. Although it's not the traditional one that I'm doing it all fits together and I'm trying to have faith that my vision of a traditional kitchen will look as pulled together as your contemporary one. Redroze, I can't believe your lanterns---they are almost exactly what I have picked for my kitchen---two and not three as everyone recommends. The two just seemed right in my space. lsandler, your kitchen is so cozy looking even though the space looks big and I like the way the cooktop looks on your granite. All of the advice has been encouraging and now I'll just hold my breath until it's all put together. Pictures someday but I'm afraid all the subs will be on party time until January. Thanks again.

I see two granite fabrication solutions beyond doing nothing more: (a) Have a competent granite fabricator cut out another quarter of an inch. This would require sealing off the kitchen, sealing every aperture, door edge, refrigerator cooling air path etc. against dust, and any exposed drawer sliders and door hinges below the cooktop taped off. Then a major kitchen cleaning to remove all dust. (b) Remove the cooktop and use a set of diamond drills (not as expensive as they might be perceived to be) to relieve some of the granite where the screw heads are. Because this involves water, the dust might be contained, but the water flying about will have to be contained and the cabinet surfaces underneath protected. Nether of these approaches is particularly appealing. Depending on the function of the screws, a lower profile screw might be used to replace the ones that scrape on the granite. Overall, however, the stress on the granite may be slight, given that the unit slid in relatively easily, and the susceptibility of the granite to cracking will greatly depend on whether the granite is already structurally fragile (Piracema white comes to mind) or very tightly bonded (NH granite typically used for curbing).