Well, I just hope you get the CND because I couldn't fit it and it's dead cool. :) Is there any way you can try it out before you make up your mind? Maybe your builder's client will let you come in and make a dinner or two while she's unpacking and tired?

If you do a lot of wok cookery, switching to exclusively teppanyaki might be a lot to give up. If you're used to tossing, and cooling above the flames, etc., making soups and steaming, and otherwise using a wok, will you be happy? That's one thing the induction just isn't going to give you. I do get it that the ability to stir fry on the teppanyaki could make the wok superfluous, and for sure you can make any kind of soup or steamed dish on the induction. But how attached to your wok are you?

If you can try it out a couple of times for stir fry and your reaction is, "Heck, yeah, baby! Where have you been all my life? Wok? Who needs a wok??" then go for it.

Do you have a lot of electrical outages? The long lasting, widespread kind where you have to cook, rather than drive out of the outage area for meals (and risk spoilage by opening the fridge)? If so, do you have a grill or barbecue that you can use?

As to the ovens, you can't go wrong with Gaggenau. I don't personally care for Miele ovens, but that's also a quality product. Last time I looked at Miele induction, I didn't care for the controls. Even so, I've recommended Miele to others who did like them. Full surface isn't as big a leap as it seems at first glace, but it's cool. I can't remember what the controls are like.

Assuming you have the money, you need to get the cooking appliances that suit you best. If you like the the Electrolux, get that! Everyone I know who has a mid-level Miele dishwasher is very satisfied. Dishwashers don't have to be top of the line. Cooking appliances matter, so you're not going crazy. But you might be going crazy compared to the other things you need for your house. Perhaps Gaggenau is worth it to get very plain, cheap tiles or skip the glaze on the cupboards. Or, perhaps, make do with the old kitchen table in the dining room for a couple of years. And if your reaction to that is, "Don't be silly! I won't have to scrimp," then the only reason not to go with the Gaggenau is that you like something else better.

Thanks, Plllog! I was hoping to hear from you! :)

You mention some very good points and that helps me clarify my thinking.

1. Wok: I'm not so much married to the actual wok as I am married to stir fry/padthai/dumplings. Clearly, the dumplings could be perfectly managed in a steam oven, as long as the stir fry could be managed well on the CND. I also use my single griddle almost daily currently for eggs, sandwiches, reheating pizza, toasting buns, pancakes, etc. I cannot imagine not having one! That's why I was so determined to have a bigger one than I have now in the next kitchen. And while the 15" would technically be bigger, I still feel like at least 24" would be well used. Did you by chance cook on one when you were considering it? Just wondering how you liked it.

2. outages: well, we live on the Gulf coast, so outages are more of a probability than a possibility. But, since we can also grill year round, we will have a full outdoor kitchen to carry us through a hurricane. I think we would be covered for that situation. Plus, the outdoor area will have it's own vent system, so perhaps I can get a flames/smoke/wok fix out there if I need it.

3. Miele vs. Gaggenau: Spec'd Miele after the installation of a dw that I LOVE....plus really like the clean look of the Miele. On the downside, I hesitate with all of the preprogrammed menus in the ovens, as I'm not really one to go with preset cooking modes. (I'm also a recipe tweaker...) I don't really love the controls on the induction cooktop, preferring the user interface of both Gagg and Thermador to Miele. However, I stuck with Miele in the current plan because I wanted to install the wok burner/induction/teppanyaki together and aesthetics also matter greatly to me. I do know that I really want a plumbed steam oven, though, so that begins to narrow the field to Gagg and Miele. Thus, my determination of Gagg as the final option.

Perhaps after that we are still looking at a Gagg full surface induction + CND teppanyaki? Anyone thinking I'm going to really miss the gas burner? Any other combinations I'm missing?

I saw a demo of a CND at a home show kind of event, but I never got a chance to actually cook on it. I've seen the videos, but it never got far enough out of the dream stage for me to take it seriously enough to arrange for a trial.

I have no doubt that you'd make great use of it as a griddle. I can't remember, though--does it have a setting where it doesn't go concave? Is that a consideration for you? Will you be happy with it for your non-wokkish griddling?

Something you could try even today is doing a stir fry on your flat griddle. That'll give you some of the sensation of a teppanyaki, though not the full on concave CND version. My own background owes far more to the Near East (and Mexican) than the Far East, and woks don't come naturally to me the way planchas do. I also tend to lose it around the edges, so loved the idea of the concave surface with the warming area around it for the kinds of things I'd want to be making. For me that's more meat dishes than things like eggs. Those come out great on the induction, and it's easier to take the pan to the sink.

Actually, the round teppanyaki pan works great too, and I'm just sorry I didn't get it sooner. You might give good consideration to using a teppanyaki pan and the full surface induction, too. Demeyere (same as my discontinued round) makes a rectangular one 20.9” x 12.8”. Maybe in conjuction with the built-in for when you need more space? Or do you need it to be all one space?

Please forgive me--I'm terrible with names and it's raining--was it with you I was discussing stand alone flat top grills? American Range and one or two others make 24" rangetop flattops for residential use. The CND is much cooler, of course. I'm just throwing that out there for if you want flat. There are also some pretty cool built in planchas. They have more the dimensions you're looking for, but a lot of them have grease wells around them, like the commercial grade models, and that could decrease the fun with stuff falling off.

One thing you can do, while the walls are open, is run a closed gas line to the cooking area as a hedge against wanting to change. :)

So:

1. Just be sure that you're happy with the way a Cook N Dine works before you abandon your wok and griddle. You might find it doesn't suit you for either.

2. Since your outdoor kitchen has a vent, it sounds like it also has a roof, and you're not in Boston! (Poor Boston! My heart goes out...) So you don't need indoor gas for survival. You might want to put in a gonzo wok burner outside. It would be good for seafood boils too. :) And canning, if you ever do. Or turkey frying, maybe?

3. None of these appliances is ugly. Stop worrying about matching. Mixing white and almond or biscuit appliances would look to obnoxious to do on purpose (as opposed to transitioning one appliance at a time, where it's still un-pretty but has a good reason to be that way). For sure, your ovens and Dishwasher need not match in any way. If it bugs you, panel the DW. The current Gaggenau ovens don't even come with handles (there's an indent in the side of the doorframe, plus a button to pop open the door without pulling, though you can order handles if you want them).

High end kitchens very rarely have matching appliances. That's something that builders put in because they get price breaks. If you're used to seeing a lot of newly built houses, then you're used to seeing that, but yours will look like a real home if they don't match. Get the ones you like the best for each function. Function is what counts more in a kitchen. You don't match your water heater to your furnace, do you?

IF you are interested to know, Basco Outlet in Portland, Or (luxury appliance store) currently has one "uncrated" Gaggenau Tappan Yaki Grill available for $888. They say that retail is over $3,100. I noticed it as I'm still trying to find a great deal on a refrigerator. There's a "current inventory" list at Basco-Outlet(dot)com then scroll down to the Gaggenau products.

I do need to do some more investigation about the concave surface; but the idea of a smooth griddle with that large cooking surface sounds delightful! To get a similar surface, I'd have to go with the BS or Wolf. I did look into the AR surface, but it looks like it's part of the range series? Or perhaps I'm misunderstanding you? (And, BTW, I'm not the person who was discussing flat top grills....)

Great suggestion about the gas line; thankfully, it's in the current plan, as the Miele wok hob is gas. So, I am covered in that way, but it would still be extensive work to re-do countertops, etc. if the induction is a fail.

And good reminder about the matching. I am planning on mixing it up, which I never would have really considered prior to this forum. I like things to match. But hey....even old dogs can learn new tricks. :)

Thanks, athomesewing! :)

Don't know if this will be helpful -- I too was worried about going to all induction -- so I hedged my bets and bought a combination unit from Bertazzoni -- 3 gas hobs and 2 induction. I so wish I'd made the jump to all induction. I like it so much more than gas for all the reasons exhaustively discussed over and over on these boards. I love your idea of induction and a teppanyaki unit -- wish I could do it all over...next house!

I am having the same issues, as we discussed in a post last week. I am just concerned about how a 24" griddle only rangetop would look next to an induction cooktop. I want them in one cooking area because I don't want to put in two hoods. Also, the rangehood will be the focal point of the kitchen.

In terms of induction cooktops, I like the Thermador Freedom, but am concerned about the limit of 3 or 4 pans. The Bosch Flexinduction is also appealing, but there are not a lot of reviews yet. I like both of these induction cooktops because of the ability to use a large rectangular griddle. I have an electric griddle now and a stove top griddle and I use both simultaneously quite often. I am planning on installing the Miele teppanyaki as well.

As far as ovens go, I have Miele double ovens now with MasterChef and I never use the pre-programmed settings. I love the ovens though. I think the Masterchef would be very useful in a speed or a steam oven where there is a big learning curve.

Bluestar makes a 24" rangetop that is a griddle only as well. I believe it is BlueStar RGTNB Series RGTNB24GV1.

There isn't a big learning curve with a steam oven (just a small one), though there is with a speed oven.

Keep in mind that Bosch, Thermador and Gaggenau are sister companies under BSH (Siemans), like Cadillac, Buick and Chevrolet under GM. The Thermador Freedom, I believe, is the same cooktop that was marketed in Europe as Gaggenau, where there's more name recognition. The choice between all of them is down to the controls and limits.

I do get the whole looks things. I made a couple of compromises for looks, but, in general, remember that a kitchen is a functional place and utility should trump looks in most decisions.

The real question with a 24" griddle is how much do you need it to accomplish your cooking, and how much is it just something that would be a heck of a lot of fun. The reason I never got to the try it out phase with the CND is that much as I think I'd use it enough to be worth it, I can accomplish the same results on the induction in different ways and I wanted other things in my space more.

Another thing to keep in mind for those who like gas is that you can put a 24" (nominal) griddle (comal, plancha) over four burners.

Just a quick thought (or not so quick 9-)) on the full surface and freedom induction cooktops. They sounded really cool so I tried out both (READ: experimented with boiling water and trying out mult. pan sizes on live units.) Despite being 36 inches, the power is similar to most 30 inch cooktops. While you can cook at most 4 items (whch makes sense since this is usually the limit on 30 inch 7-8kw cooktops), if I understood the documentation correctly, you may be limited to two pans if the pans are suficiently large. The power and space sharing is a bit more subtle than traditional cooktops, but the limits are still there. I really disliked the Gaggenau interface. Even the salesman had trouble getting the controls to consistently respond. My husband didn't believe me until he tried it himself. The thermador interface was painful too (enough to be a deal breaker for me) but better than the Gaggenau. If you are considering one of these, you should try it out first.

From an engineering and user interface perspective, the 36 inch Bosch Benchmark seems much better designed. The two flexinduction regions on either side seem to let you do *almost*everything I could with a freedom or full surface induction and have 7.2 kW between just those two regions if I recall. In addition to this, you have the bonus of an extra dual 12 inch ring in the middle (for a 5th pan or 3rd large pan) in the same 36 space as the full surface induction, but with >10 kW all combined.

At first glance at the flexinduction documentation, I thought the flexinduction was too complex. After a more thorough read, I still think it is complex but logical and mostly explicit whereas the full-surface style has a lot of undocumented rules and restrictions that were very confusing and unexpectedly limiting. I prefer the devil know....8-)

An additional advantage (from my perspective) is that you select heat levels by touching a number (from a large readable display for those of us with aging eyes) rather than scrolling. I am guessing this is also easier/faster/more reliable if your fingers might be a little greasy or wet during cooking.

Disclaimer: I have not tried out the new Bosch cooktop. (I would like to but I have yet to find a live one - if anyone in the Houston area knows where there is one, please let me know). I also mention that I am an engineer with a background in user interface design but I do not work for Bosch, nor in the appliance industry nor in any related industry.

Houztongirl, thanks so much for the suggestion to try each of these units out first. I went back to the local dealer and was able to look at both the Bosch and Thermador. The Bosch was not "live" but the Thermador was. You were right, they cooking zone is too small for my purposes. I agree that the user interface for the Thermador was a bit fussier than I wanted. I may be back to square one.

twobelles -- did you decide what to do?

Well, my husband sat me down after patiently listening for many months about my debating over appliances. He sweetly said that he didn't care what I chose, but he did clarify that whatever it was....it would be staying. ;) Then he asked me again about the Lacanche that I had been originally eyeing, since he had gone with me to the showroom in NYC. I explained that really I abandoned it due to the lack of an in range steamer unit. And wouldn't you know.....just ten days ago I heard from Victoria at Lacanche that they had been UL approved to add the steamer. So, with a couple of lightening quick phone calls to my building foreman and architect, we were able to adapt the existing rough-in to accommodate it. We were literally down to the last day or two to make the change. Long story short, I am going with a Sully 2200, which will include an in-range steamer unit and a configuration of four burners so that I can add the griddle top and have a double griddle. I am SOOOOO excited about it! I will have the beautiful range I wanted, and hopefully the function to go with it!

What did you decide on, jdsb2?

The Sully 2200 is beautiful. I am sure you will be very happy with it. No, I still have not figured out my cook top configuration. My husband is sick of hearing about it, but wants a 24" griddle. So, I am leaning towards the 48" Wolf rangetop flanked by 15" induction hobs. Unfortunately, I can't seem to commit to a decision.

Twobelles, congrats on the alignment of your stars, and the Lacanche!

Twobelles, You will have so much fun cooking on that Sully!! Talk about having it all. :) We love our Lacanche and hope you will too.

I am really looking forward to it! Even though we are still a loooong way from enjoying it. Thanks!

That is great! I really love my griddle even though it's on a middling Frigidaire, the Teppan-Yaki is not a griddle and I think you would've been unhappy trying to use it as one.

I am now leaning towards a 24" Bluestar griddle, a 24" Wolf induction and a 24" Bluestar gas rangetop.