Well simple answer is the Miele unit is great. the US unit is slightly different than the Canadian version. Burners are slightly different and there is a double boast on the big burner. The install is slightly different. a little more space for the US (likely due to slightly higher output. I have 122 volts on my line in the house so I'm sure I have 240+ volts to the unit so the power rating are normally for 230 Volts. So I have lots of power. Why is it great. All the items you have read about are true, quick have your most stuff prepared in advance. It takes a few mins/secs to heat the pan. Turn down to stop or slow the cooing process is very quick so you have lots of control. The individual timers are great. Example making a sauce and pasta with a vegtable side. Get sauce going and focus and getting most ingrediants in and cooking. Fill pot for water and get it boiling (mins to get going). Place pasta in pot set "timer" for.... 3-4 mins for fresh and 7-8 for dried. Turn down sauce to keep warm set timer for 1-2 mins more than pasta time. Place some water in pot for vegtables (steam quantity) come to a boil 1 min, place vegables into pot close cover and set power and timer for xxxx depending on type of vegtable. Should have 3 mins before all timers are complete....time to pour wine and set table. The first number of times of use will have to get the feel for what power setting give what results but after that it is very predictable. The timer use will come after a few uses and now that you have the capability you will use it. Timing use for rice is great. The ability to add more to the pan/pot and hit the up button and what seems like a few secs get a result and then set it back down is great. Initially I had just the 12 levels programmed. I have sinced added the 1/2 steps to get 23 levels to get that low end control and it is great. If you need to simmer a sauce/soup down over an hour you can set the control till you are happy and set the timer for 60 mins and go work on something else. OK enough I hope you get the point. Try doing that with gas. No offense to the gas people. I'm just describing what I have done and like some things the real thing is better than the dream. I wil not talk about cleanup but imagine cleanup like cleaning/polishing a 2x3 window. (short/sweet)

There was a great thread in January about installing a working a drawer just under a Thermador induction cooktop. I searched and it is gone. I saved it on my computer and have copied it here. Unfortunately the pictures would not copy. RE: Thermador induction cooktop questions Posted by carguy60 (My Page) on Mon, Jan 7, 08 at 16:26 I installed the cooktop on a standard 3 drawer base cabinet. It has a normal shallow drawer on top with two large drawers below for pots and pans. I skirted the issue of the "heat shield" mounted on the bottom of the cooktop, by mounting the heatshield in the shallow drawer pointing up. In that way it comes within 1/16 inch from the bottom of the cooktop. I also put a piece of weather strip on the bottom of the cooktop, that the heatshield rests against when the drawer is closed. By doing this, I was able to have a fully usable drawer and still provide the functionality of the heat shield. So far it has worked fine, and I believe that it was a good solution to this clearance problem. If I had mounted the heat shield on the cooktop, the shallow drawer on top would have been unusable. This was not an option. Good Luck  Posted by minu (My Page) on Mon, Jan 7, 08 at 16:52 Carguy60: Thanks for the detailed description: hopefully my installer will be able to do something similar. The Thermador website does not list the 12" burner in the specifications for the 30" cooktop, but the picture clearly shows a large burner. Could you please confirm that indeed one of the burners is 12". How do the burners perform with pots/pans that are smaller in diameter? Thanks again for all the replies: you all have been extremely helpful. Will probably go for the all-induction one. ________________________________________  Posted by carguy60 (My Page) on Mon, Jan 7, 08 at 17:41 The large burner is 11" across. I do not know where the sensor is that detects that a pan is on the burner. I would suspect that it is near the center. We have not had any difficulty with pans smaller in diameter than the burners, but I doubt we have been much smaller. BTW. I personally believe that the weather strip that I mentioned in my previous post is overkill. If you get the shield within 1/8 inch, I think that it will do it's job OK. I put it on because I am an overkill kind of person. You will love the cooktop. It still amazes me how it will boil a teakettle full of water in less than three minutes. No more tea with microwaves running around in it. Good luck ________________________________________  Posted by tamjo44 (My Page) on Tue, Jan 8, 08 at 1:39 minu-I have the Thermador 36" and we have been using it for 2 weeks now. We love it. It is a breeze to wipe off and the instant control is amazing. We definitely wanted the larger burner in the middle. I've found a variety of cookware that works well on it. I would recommend it. carguy60- can you please elaborate on your heat shield solution? We ended up cutting down the depth of the drawer directly under the cooktop. I can put a knife holder in there or flat items, but not the spatulas, ladles etc that I was planning. Kind of a disappointment. ________________________________________  Posted by carguy60 (My Page) on Tue, Jan 8, 08 at 8:33 1. measure the distance from the bottom of the cooktop to the drawer. 2. cut a piece of wood,(I used cabinet filler wood) to a thickness, that when added to the height of the heat shield, will come within 1/8 to 1/16 of the distance measured in step 1. 3. Measure the distance from the front of the cabinet to the heat shield when mounted on the cooktop. 4. remove the heat shield from the cooktop. 5. fasten the heat shield, with wood strip attached to the inside of the drawer so that the heat shield is at the same distance from the front that it was when mounted to the cooktop. The heat shield will now move with the drawer, and the drawer becomes usable. Post your EMail addr, and I can send you a picture. Good Luck. removed the heat shield from the cooktop, and mountid ________________________________________  Posted by jgirl_2007 (My Page) on Tue, Jan 8, 08 at 8:52 Carguy - Can you please post a picture. I'm in the same boat and would love to have a usable drawer under the cooktop. I'm meeting with the cabinet maker tomorrow so timing is perfect. Thanks. ________________________________________  Posted by minu (My Page) on Tue, Jan 8, 08 at 9:40 Carguy60: please do post a picture. I think I understand the steps you described, but it would help tremendously to have something to show to the installers as well. If you prefer email, please email me through the "My Page" link. Thanks for all your help. ________________________________________  Posted by carguy60 (My Page) on Tue, Jan 8, 08 at 11:16 jgirl, minu I will take some pictures, and post them as soon as I get home from work. ________________________________________ ________________________________________  Posted by carguy60 (My Page) on Tue, Jan 8, 08 at 19:25 As you can see from the first and second pictures, the top drawer is outwardly unmarked, and usable inside. The third picture shows the heat shield mounted on a piece of cabinet filler with it's height set to just clear the underside of the cooktop. This does the job of the heatshield which is to isolate the air intake and exhaust ports on the bottom of the cooktop. I hope this is helpful. Good Luck ________________________________________  Posted by tamjo44 (My Page) on Tue, Jan 8, 08 at 19:44 Thanks Carguy, the photos do say a thousand words. Now, if I can get my drawer back, I will be a very happy person. By the way, did you come up with this brilliant solution yourself? Do you think doing it this way will void any warranty? ________________________________________  Posted by carguy60 (My Page) on Tue, Jan 8, 08 at 20:04 It was my idea. When I realized how intrusive the standard heat shield was, I considered several options before settling on this one. It shouldn't void any warranty, since it is more effective than the standard mounting. It is also easy to remount for any needed warranty service. ________________________________________  Posted by minu (My Page) on Wed, Jan 9, 08 at 12:16 Carguy: Thanks so much for these pictures - they really help. I notice that you have quite a few plastic tools in that drawer. How warm does it get in there when the cooktop is operational? Thermador should include this installation option in their specs:-) ________________________________________  Posted by carguy60 (My Page) on Wed, Jan 9, 08 at 12:48 It does not get warm in the drawer. We do not cook on 4 burners simultaneously very often. (maybe never) But we do cook on 2 burners quite often, and 3 burners sometimes. We use power boost only at startup or to quickly boil something. We believe that we have heard the fan come on 1-2 times in 4 months. I am not worried about too much heat in the drawer. ________________________________________  Posted by rocksinhead (My Page) on Wed, Jan 9, 08 at 22:05 Carguy - What size is the cabinet beneath your cooktop? 33" or 36"? We are planning a 33", with framed cabinetry, and so I wonder if your heatshield trick will work. I am guessing the internal dimension of the drawer will be 28 - 29".

We have a Miele induction cooktop, but I imagine the specs are similar -- you should be able to find the GE specs easily online. We called Miele customer service before finalizing cabinets; they recommend that their induction units have clearance under the cooktop because certain metal utensils, etc, could get hot (even underneath the cooktop, with a wood divider). We elected to go with a similar set-up as tinker. Our GC still thought we should do a really shallow drawer, just for spoons, spatulas, etc., but it would have been too shallow to be of much use so we played it safe.

Can't help on Warming drawer, sorry--but--can tell you about our Electrolux Icon Induction cooktop(4 burner). Of everything I have bought in my 67 years , here on Earth, that cooktop has to ranked close to the top!! Maybe my 2 Dodges on top, but the cooktop is CLOSE. Just an amazing device--an I was an Electronic Engineer, before I retired. It had far exceeded any expections we had. Amazing how fast water boils and quits boiling when you turn it down. Really a "Power House" and that is even with the smaller hubs, I haven't actually fired up the big 11 incher yet, never had a burner that big or powerful--yes I have gas, A real bonfire DCS 2 burner cooktop but it is wimpy compared to the induction---why do I say that, well some idiot hit a telephone pole and knocked out our power---had to heat the tea kettle for the coffee, I amost didnt make it waiting for that kettle to get hot--had a SEVERE case of Hypo Caffeene before it finally heated up. Anyway lot of good info here (Garden Web) as well as elsewhere about Induction Cooking---oops forgot to tell ya about "Cleanup" remove the paper towels from under the pot, You done!!! Gary