My Elux slide-in induction range, built in June 2010, seems less troublesome than warmfridge's range (same model, but originally built in March 2010, as I recall). We know there have been modifications to the control board of this model, because of how its timer display changed in ranges built over those months. We don't actually know if these or other changes have mitigated the problems warmfridge suffered with, but I haven't heard other reports of problems as severe with ranges built after May 2010. Although this idea may be at least partly wishful thinking on my part, it hasn't been ruled out by reports on this forum, as yet. Note that Elux's freestanding induction range, a companion to the slide-in model, came out about a year after the slide-in model. This may also be wishful thinking on my part, but presumably any fixes to the early slide-ins were incorporated in the freestanding model's design.

dsgulbas, are you arguing that Wolf is a commercial quality range??? I hope you understand that the Wolf commercial range company is NOT the one you are advocating. The Wolf brand name was purchased by a refrigeration company that has never produced a commercial range. The original Wolf stove company operates out of California and produces commercial stoves but has no relationship whatsoever to SubZero. Here is their website: http://www.wolfequipment.com/Wolf/Products/subcat.aspx?brand=Wolf&cid=1&scid=38 SubZero/Wolf gas stoves are not commercial quality and don't even have open burners, they are very good stoves but first and foremost are prime examples of kitchen jewelery. SubZero/Wolf ranges may be heavy but they are not long lasting. Try to get a Wolf gas range porcelain oven interior fixed after the warranty expires and you'll soon find out they are essentially disposable items. Been there done that. I will never defend Samsung as I've had bad experiences with them too but I don't see Wolf being any more (or even as) reliable than GE, Electrolux, Bosch and a few others that are sold in less exclusive stores.

Just an FYI for those buying induction for the first time: you may need new cookware. I’ve only ever had induction once and everything took FOREVER to cook/boil when we first started using it. It was so frustrating I did a bunch of research and learned that induction only works well if your cookware has a perfectly flat bottom so the full pan bottom is in contact with the burner. Went to bed bath and beyond and started taking pans out of all the boxes and placing them on the floor to see if they fully made contact. It was surprising how few did! Finally bought the flattest bottomed pans I could find. Problem solved after that. Note this was in 2009-2010 so maybe newer models have resolved this issue. But I have no interested in trying again - gas for me all the way. Hated cleaning it (thought it would so easy but mine wasn’t) and even though I figured out the pan issue I always felt it wasn’t as good as gas.

@r, I thought I would chime in here to just say that I don’t think you are “obsessing“ at all regarding the use of knobs in this case. One of the most crucial variables in any kind of industrial design is the way we interface or interact with whatever the product is. Most of us utilize capacitive touch controls or infrared type touch controls on a constant basis with everything from iPads, smart phones, as well as any number of house appliances. But I would suggest that your instinct regarding cooktop or rangetop controls makes a lot of sense. Consider the difference in using a wall oven versus a cooktop. Most cooks in the kitchen can get the opportunity to wipe their hands in order to use touch capacitive controls on a wall oven. Of course, the case could be made that turning a simple dial, can be more intuitive, then going through a series of menus to get to where you want to go, since in the end, the mission of the wall oven has not really changed very much since our grandparents time which is essentially to bake the cake or roast the chicken. The reason I suspect that cook tops and range tops, as well as ranges are a particularly good candidate for knobs is due to the fact that the controls are often placed on a horizontal plane. Many people, especially those who are new to induction appliances for example, have learned a hard lesson as the very sensitive touch controls do not always take kindly to steam, water, droplets, and oil or gravy splatters. It is not hard to imagine why this is problematic because if you put any of these liquids on top of your smart phone screen, you would discover that the touch controls that works so beautifully such as the ones I’m using right now on my iPhone to create this post do not take kindly to having these substances on top of them. There are lots of examples of folks who have touch capacitive controls on these horizontal locations where the entire appliance is either shut down or thrown off its game. Of course, the majority of modern products that have knobs do not use the analog/mechanical controls of knobs of the past, but are in fact, “knobs“ that interface with micro control boards behind them. Still, there is an entire field of design that studies user interaction, and I do think that, at least, in some instances, such as with cooktops, knobs actually, do make a lot of sense. One can certainly debate where the best location for those knobs would be to avoid getting splatters on them since Cleaning knobs is not exactly, a fun time for most folks. Some people would assume that installing Touch Sensitive controls in all sorts of consumer products that once used knobs, levers, and buttons, is simply a design trend, and I’m sure there is truth to that. But a little voice inside also suggests to me, that one of the reasons they have moved away from knobs and especially the electromechanical kinds used in the past, is due to the cost of manufacturing. I do not have a data set to support this theory, but if you consider the labour and the bewildering amount of copper wiring that went into something such as a 1950 electric stove, some of which had lots of extra features, you can begin to imagine the cost savings of having a micro “motherboard“ taking the place of all that complex analogue electrical structure. I truly enjoy all of the benefits and possibilities that I have with my smart phone, laptop, iPads, etc. But I do think your instincts for knobs are not without merit, because sometimes, appliance designers attempt to answer questions that no one ever asked. My two. Cents 🤔.