I ended up talking to the electrician after all. (He teaches my daughter's Sunday school class so it wasn't hard to do). He said my house already has the wire for the 50 amp and so it would be a matter of switching the breaker. Total cost would be about $75. However, in his opinion he didn't think I would need to do that. He says he's dealt with quite a few that have called for 50 but have never had problems on a 40amp breaker but he was willing to come and switch it if I wanted (I would do this just in case). However, with further inspection of the install sheets, the wall outlet is not in the correct position. It would need to be shifted to the right 4-6 inches. I'm hoping that the wires have enough extra length to stretch that much farther unless outlet placement is really not a big issue. I've been debating between the GE induction and the elctrolux induction (both freestanding) but now am also considering the ELectrolux slide-in (since I like the burner configuration than on the freestanding version) Does anyone know if the outlet issue is really a big deal with either of the elctrolux inductions units (freestanding or slide-in)?

Greg - Rollouts inside a cabinet is double motion and you have to make sure both cabinet doors are fully open.. a pain in my humble opinion. With drawers, you can have both hands busy stirring, etc. and open them with your toes and look down for what you need! Can't do that with two doors to open and then a pullout. I put drawers on all my lower cabinets, except for two cabinets - one was for vertical storage (cookie sheets, etc.), the other was for my tall appliances like mixer, blenders, etc. And I LOVE them! Would never go back to base cabinets that are not drawers. So much easier to find things.

The biggest reason you don't see larger induction ranges is that the 30" ones are already at the limit of most American electrical systems as they exist. 40-50 amp circuits are all that exist currently in most homes in a range location and most American homes only have 200 amp services. If a larger range with larger needs for power were introduced, it would for sure require rewiring as a condition of it's use. And in the typical home, 200 amps of service is already pushing the limit on usage with all of the TVs, computers, and other eletronic gadgetry that are in a modern home. (It's the same reason why you seldom see a retrofit for an electric tankless water heater.) Commercial installations that use large induction hobs typically have access to 3 phase power and MUCH larger service runs. You only have to look at the different electrical requirements between a typical 1970 home and a 2010 home to see how many more circuits are now needed. Start adding in a power hungry range that needs a 70 amp circuit, and you start talking a LOT of money to rewire the run from the pole, a new panel, and the new run for the range. It's just not economically feasable for any maker to introduce something like that at this time. Youd need a paradigm shift in new home construction to make it happen. This post was edited by GreenDesigns on Fri, May 24, 13 at 9:49

If the induction cooktop vents underneath the counter as the Cooktek does, and the GE above appears to do, but the Electrolux and Kenmore don't, then more space is needed to allow air to circulate without getting too hot and potentially harming the electronics or causing the electronics to self protect by cutting power. The other issue is chassis construction and what UL might demand for spacing from combustibles. My guess (while awaiting word from the GE engineer response noted above) is that there may be a fear that electronics failures of certain types could cause hot spots or melt-throughs in the bottom cover, or sparks from the vent slots. An arc current below the 50A breaker limit might cause some serious metal erosion before it burned out. My choice was to use wire pull-out drawers and store pots and pans in that space. kas