I looked at this about 6 months ago when I was planning our kitchen, and found exactly the same info. The only importer of AEG that I could find is a Canadian company, and they don't bring over the zoneless model. A shame. I did call them and ask them what they do to the units (do they just ship them and insure them or do they do something to the electronics for the North American market) and AEG makes the models that the Canadian company sells specifically for the North American model with modifications for the electronics. So I decided not to import. I have the GE Monogram 30" induction and love it.

Pots don't have to be round with induction. I've used oval pots, as well as a long rectangular griddle on my cooktop. Works perfectly well. I can't shuffle them from element to element and retain the setting, but that seems like a very small issue to me. The only advantage zoneless seems to have is that you have complete control over spacing of the pots. If I wanted to place 4 pots of 13" diameter or larger on my 36" cooktop, I probably couldn't. I can't test this because I don't own 4 13" pots and probably never will. Cheryl

I have the 36-inch version, but I suspect the electronic configuration is similar. In your case I would expect that two hobs are on one power supply, and the two other hobs are on a second power supply. The actual limitation is that a power supply cannot power both its hobs in boost mode, or one in boost mode and one at setting 9, say. However, both can run at the same time so long as the total power drawn meets some limitation, say boost and setting 8. I don't recall the level the paired hob has to be to run the other on boost. I think both can run at setting 9. Most cooking can be arranged so that the need for paired hobs to be on boost at the same time is avoided.

mrichter54 above raised a point that might be worth addressing further. There should be no electro-magnetic reason for not using an inductive-capable griddle across two hobs with the following caveats: For even temperatures, a griddle with a copper or aluminum layer in the base will be needed. Cast iron has lower thermal conductivity than may be desired. The griddle should not overlap any areas that are used for controls or the electronics supporting the controls. The griddle should be placed on silicone or similar pads to keep the Ceran cooler and make up for the likely lack of perfect flatness of the griddle base over the cooktop surface (so the griddle doesn't rattle). (Cooler Ceran is to avoid heating electronics that might not be adequately insulated between hobs. I recall that my now-replaced Kenmore cooktop -- Electrolux clone similar to the Frigidaire Gallery -- had insulation across the entire area of the hobs.) The two hobs used should have similar power levels, or at least power levels that can be equalized, and should be mostly covered by the griddle. Notwithstanding the above, a portable electric griddle should be a lot easier to deal with for pancakes. Many will have temperature controlled surfaces. For hamburgers, one would want the electric griddle under the hood, so in that case an induction griddle might be easier.