Cheryl, if you look up to my second or third post, you'll find a link to a page where someone has done some of the work. Your mileage may differ, but when I looked at my own numbers (and after speaking with a salesman on the phone), I realised that the cost savings were completely negligeable. Furthermore, regarding efficiency, I am quite surprised to hear such an argument from a physicist. Because the efficiency of the means of cooking should be evaluated not merely with respect to the time and place where the heat is produced, but in the case of transmitted energy, with respect to the time and place where the electricity is produced. Put otherwise, electricity is not an energy source, it is means of transmitting energy, and evaluated on that basis, it is horribly inefficient. As someone with a technical background as well, I would argue that electricity is much too high quality and inefficient to be used for anything that does not *require* electricity, such as electronics, lighting, and of course many industrial processes. My aim, which I have pulled back from slightly, was to have electricity only for lighting and electronics. But the technical difficulties of the gas oven, coupled with the fact that there is no cost savings, have caused me to back away from that plan just slightly. Regarding induction, I've put that on hold for two reasons: (1) I still haven't seen how I can get "wraparound" heat with induction without buying new pans that would have to be even more expensive than the existing copper, and, even if I did, they couldn't, unless I'm missing something, have that same wraparound conductivity because of the non-cuprous metals required for the "sandwich." Having that wraparound heat in a conical sauteuse is something I don't want to give up. (2) There is some mumbling to the effect that there may eventually be induction plates that work with copper and other non-ferrous metals. Which brings me to a third point, namely, (3) Induction is an electronic technology. At my age ;-(, I have by now seen how long it takes for such a technology to mature many times. Microwaves are *still* improving, 40 years after they first appeared. My father in law in Germany had a complete Miele kitchen from the 80's, with a gull-wing microwave that weighed about 10kg (the door) and a first-generation Ceran cooktop that took 50-10 mins to begin to heat up. I'm not saying that induction hasn't matured, but I rather worry that I will be dissatisfied with how my induction tech compares to the standard in 5 years. By contrast, with gas, I know exactly what I'm getting. In fact, I suspect that the top-end Miele burners I get now will be impossible to get in five years, because the quality of mechanical products continues to drop. So, I think I've convinced myself. Induction can be added later, but there is no need to act now.

I just spent a month in an English rental house, with an induction cooktop - definitely NOT high end appliances, just considered standard, basic. However, I found it immensely frustrating to use, compared to gas, because of the controls (which - along with cost - was the reason I didn't want one in my US kitchen). Gas: simple knob: I can watch the flame as I adjust the knob, and know precisely how it's doing. All the induction cooktops I saw, including this rental one, use touch-sensitive controls. For me, they just aren't 'sensitive' enough. They automatically powerered on to '5' (or '9' on some models) and you then have to 'touch' them up or down to wherever you want. So, I have to watch the stupid light display, instead of my cooking. And if I overshoot, I have to fiddle around all over again. I had wondered whether I'd get better at it with practice, but after a month, cooking daily, it was still a pain for me (and my DH) to use. I love the idea of induction, and if I had to go back to electric, I would have one - provided it had knobs (I think the Viking one does). With a gas supply - there's no contest. Gas every time. (Incidentally, natural gas in parts of Europe is fairly cheap. It's because natural gas is found in the North Sea and piped to both the UK and Scandanavia. Not dependent on Eastern Europe at all.)

For more input, at least preliminarily, as I have not had more than 2 months with our new appliances: The major appliances in my old home have not needed any service calls. Seriously! The Wolf oven heats to the programed temp (checked with an interior thermometer regularly) and retains the temp well with little or no heat leakage. I do not experience hots spots. The cooktop burners go from the highest high to the lowest low (and simmers without the annoying clicking sound on other units). My only question for Wolf initially was the long preheat time but we figured out it was because I was leaving a pizza stone in there permanently to even out the temp but found out that it was not necessary and that was actually increasing the necessary time to come to temp so "my bad." I love the Wolf. Vent a hood exhaust is awesome! I love, love, love the Miele dishwasher. It has the best capacity of any washer I have ever used. Service for 16, easy! I thought I would hate the silverware rack but I came to love it. I have NEVER needed a service on this unit. Cleans great. Very quiet. I wish there was a "short cycle" for quick jobs though. I am a strong proponent of the GE Advantium and it's flexibility but understand that newer technology have come to market since that might be superior? I cannot speak to that. Works well as a microwave and a "toaster oven" and does not need preheating or heat up the kitchen. It has a larger capacity than a traditional microwave so it doubles as a second oven. It has never needed a service either. I do like my Miele coffee but understand that the nature of the beast is that the units do not last as long as other appliances. It was necessary to replace our original after 10 years but this new one is even better than the last. The plumbed feature makes everything much easier. I joke with friends that it does almost everything but milk the cow. We had a glitch with the subzero undercounter wine fridge but I was told it was a manufacturing defect for that particular year. All repairs to the compressor in it's early years were covered even after the warranty expired. No trouble since and the 2 zone cooling works great. New kitchen: Viking 5 burner cooktop - flame capacity (High and low) is limited and fluctuates depending on the burner I choose. Location of burners are not as conveniently located (there are larger and smaller plates) and are not organized so that you can actually have 5 pots on at the same time. Viking hood not nearly as powerful Thermador oven: currently operating approx 25 degrees under what it says on the temp indicator. hot spots and some features not working correctly. There is no light and I cannot find where the bulb would be located to replace it. I have not had time to look online or contact Thermador directly. Thermador micro - hot spots and less intuitive programing than the GE. We wind up just using "add 30 sec" feature. I miss the halogen light feature if the Advantium Layout of the Bosch is just dumb! consequently we need to run it more often because it fills up often. Dishes require a lot of pre-cleaning. It is equally as quiet as the Miele however. I'm replacing the Jura Impressa espresso entirely asap. I find it necessary microwave the Latte/cappuccino to make it hot enough. Small water, milk and bean capacity makes it so you can only make 2 coffee's before needing to refill. Features are antiquated but I have been told newer units are better. I haven't decided to do a built in or countertop as of yet. I hope that helps. I will be researching here again when it is time to start from scratch in our new home.

Our Viking cooktop only 6 years old failed. Some burners wouldn't ignite. Some didn't register that they were lit and kept clicking ad nauseum. I found Viking completely uninterested in standing behind their product. They crow on their website that they acknowledge their previous models had issues and have now improved due to Viking being acquired by a new corporation. But when I called to ask what specifically they had done to make it worth my while to invest in a new Viking cooktop no one could tell me anything other than they were now owned by a new corporation, and by gum that meant something! When I asked if they would be willing to offer me a replacement unit, or pay to upgrade the defective electronics, or at least give me a discount on a new model, they declined on all counts. I told them I would be happy to relate my experience with their company online — good or bad — and so that's what I'm doing. I ended up going with a DCS CDV-2365H and I love it — SO much better than the Viking. Build quality is great. High output burners. Incredibly low simmer on all burners. And it was $700 less expensive.