A flame height on the Bluestar equivalent to my old range's flame height is probably hotter, but I really don't pay attention to that much. You just adjust the flame to get the level of simmer or saute that you want. The great thing about the Bluestar, though, is that when the recipe calls for high heat (like searing, stirfrying etc) you actually have that high heat! If you want something at a really low simmer, the simmer burner is great. My husband loves to make mashed potatoes, and keep them on that burner--they don't stick or scorch at all. It prompted the comment from him, "that simmer burner is to die for" which is not a sentence I EVER thought would come out of my husband's mouth (cooking is not his passion)!

Lorenza: almost no nominal width cooktop will actually fit inside the corresponding cabinet. For example, a 30" cabinet is 30" wide on the outside edges. But those edges are typically 3/4" thick. So the inside dimensions are of the cabinet and more like 28 & 1/2" wide. See the problem? There is a discussion of this at the Induction Site: http://theinductionsite.com/replace-combos.shtml Also, comparing induction and gas heat, the U.S. Dept. of Energy measures about 84% efficiency for induction burners delivering input energy to the pan while gas burners are usually about 35% to 40% depending on burners, grates and pan size (and it declines with altitude; at 6000 feet, you may be getting only 30% of the rated energy consumption going into the pan.) These means you may get way more heat out of those induction burners than you need and more than might get out of your existing gas burners. Where folks run into issues with induction is when they want that huge amount of heat going into the bottom of a round-bottomed wok. If you absolutely have to use a round bottomed wok and need the equivalent of of 50K-btu-hr burner, then a flat surfaced induction cooktop is not for you. But, as others have pointed out above, using a regular skillet (especially cast iron) you can sear the bejesus out of anything.

You're welcome, Hokies - glad I could help. =) Here are my thoughts: 1. The lids suck. They are very thin and right out of the box, 2 out of the 3 lids were warped - as you can see in the pictures. That is very unacceptable from a brand that's supposed to be very good. On the flip side - who keeps the lids anymore anyways? An option that many people prefer is to get rid of all their lids and get a couple of universal lids that will cover all sized pots/pans. 2. Coming from using the Circulon Commercial, "heavy", straight gauge pan (as shown in the pictures) - I was taken aback by the thin-ness of the 18/10 Stainless body on the Sitram Pro. ALL the reviews and comments I've read on this described the body to be very sturdy, well constructed, etc. - but I'm still trying to get my brain to accept that it's ok and it's not a bad thing. Everyone else describes it as "light but not weak" - and my brain just thinks "weak". I did push on it and everything and it's definitely not weak...it's just not the monster thickness of my straight gauge. So it may be that the thin-ness of the body is nothing bad at all (everyone else says it's a good thing) and my brain just needs to come to terms that not every piece of cookware needs to be a heavy monster to be effective. Now the body construction and thickness of this is exactly the same as the Sitram Catering Line - this is the top of the Sitram line and everyone seems to agree that this cookware performs very well. So I think my whole hang up is based off "straight gauge" mentality vs "disk bottom" mentality. According to the "experts" - you don't cook food on the sides of your pans, so it's not *absolutely necessary* to have completely even heat spread throughout the sides of the pan. But then you have other "experts* like Alton Brown say that it's important to have pans that have even heating all throughout. I think this is like the Mac vs PC debate - personal preference will rule one. My problem is that I've suddenly discovered that I'm apparently a straight gauge girl in the closet - and I have to see if I can convert to accept the disk bottom mentality as well. The problem is finding a straight gauge with no rivets (yes, the "no rivet" is still a high priority). 3. The edges are not finished - not just the bottom edge, even though the bottom edge seems to be the least refined. Now it's not "sharp" like "knife/cut you" sharp - it just catches on your skin when you run your finger along the edge, making you think it's going to cut you. I did push quite hard and didn't get cut (but it did scare me the whole time). You know how when you run your hand against a microfibre cloth, rough skin "catches" against the cloth? It's a feeling very similar to that. I would definitely want to try to buff out these edges to make them more polished and soft to the touch. 4. The 8mm disk on the bottom is a monster. Now if it only extended all the way out to the edge of the pan! The thought process of "disk lovers" is that you don't need it to go all the way to the edge - although, it is an indicator of quality. Many people have reported that that outer edge with no disk will actually burn food - they call it the "ring of fire" or something like that. The "disk lovers" reply that you're not supposed to let your heat source be directly under the uncovered part of the bottom - only directly on the disk...if you do that, you'll be fine. Oh...and they also say to use less heat. If you're using gas - the flames are supposed to heat up that thick bottom disk and spread it out evenly and with great consistency (the thick disk retains great amounts of heat). That disk is also the heaviest part of the pan. Conclusion - I would like the disk better if I didn't have to buff out the "sharp" edge and if it extended all the way out to the very edge of the pan and tapered itself off instead of being such an abrupt stop. But according to the "experts" - it's fine the way it is performance-wise. Ok...so that was my "short" list of what I don't like about the Sitram Pro Set. Now to what I DO like about it: 1. It's beautiful and I absolutely love the welded handle vs rivets. This has definitely reinforced my desire to have no rivets in my cookware. I love the clean interior and can see that it would be very easy to clean and maintain. 2. I love the Chef's Pan. I can see myself using it all the time... 3. Handles are rounded with a hollowed inside - it's completely closed off and so you don't have to worry about it being difficult to clean. Everything looks good on the handle and very comfortable. I did find a couple reports of the welded handle coming off - not sure if this is because of abuse/manf defect/lemon...but I don't see any indication that that would be a problem. Now I did find a company that makes a product I believe meets ALL of my criteria - Demeyere. Their cookware features things like: 1. InductoSeal 2. Or 7-PlyMaterial 3. No Rivets 4. Beautiful Only problem is that each piece of these Demeyere pieces are like $200.00! They are sooooo expensive. =( If only I can find something exactly like Demeyere for less money. Right now it looks like Sitram is as close as I can afford. I don't think it's asking too much for a straight gauge pan with no rivets - is it?

Hello sus, The Cooking forum is quite responsive, thank you so much for the suggestion.