I used induction for over a year (Miele 36" cooktop). I moved to Seattle and the home I am renting (and leaving) has a Kitchen Aid 6 burner gas cooktop. I hate it. I cannot get a true simmer and had to buy an induction hob. No one should be using a round wok to stir fry, so that is not an issue. Check America's Test Kitchen results on using a wok. For me gas totally sucked. It takes forever to boil water - over 10 minutes compared to On gas, I have two size "burners". Smaller flame or wider flame. You have to put it on high to cover your pan for even heating then everything burns, so you have to keep it small. On induction, you just match the pan to the ring size and everything is perfect - very low simmer to fast boiling. Induction also conducts up the sides of the pot and the handles don't get hot. I have to use a pot holder just to stir food with gas. Making Bernaise without a double boiler is a snap. Plus the sauce thickens better getting heat from the sides at the same temperature as the bottom. Maybe other gas ranges are better, compared to this crappy Kitchen Aid (the DW, Wall Ovens, & Fridge also suck). Renting new home in a couple months.

"claimed that it came with a manufacturers warranty" sellers can claim anything. it's called a manufacturer's warranty , and the contract is with the manufacturer - a third party cannot alter the contract without the manuf. written consent which will never happen. storm - let me try and clarify the winds for you. I don't think moja's problem quite meets the vote the free market I was/am talking about. He should not have bought a product from Miele in the first place. By telling people about this he brings the debate forward and can shape the market if he convinces enough people to to not buy Miele gear because they do this or that. Look at the aforementioned Maytag. They used to make superior washers, and no they don't really exist anymore. Enough people vote with their wallets by nit buying their washers because they turned to crap. Re: the Gaggenau / Miele fatherland thing. Gaggenau is highline- high quality - high price everywhere. Miele USA is really a different business than Miele Germany and what I'm saying is they have chosen to position themselves here as ONLY a high quality make. They don't import even half of their offerings to this market, and like I've mentioned to dodge before they are not simply putting a NA plug on their units, shipping them here and jacking up the price over the German/Euro markets. If a product is available both places the prices are very similar after currency variables are considered. Miele simply doesn't offer mid to entry products here. Because they offer a more broad range in Europe their rep. is slightly lower simply because of exclusivity. Benz does the same thing here. You couldn't get a SMART here until they figured out how to distance that brand from MBenz so as not to dilute the mark. They did the same thing with their vans via Freightliner and Dodge. I take exception at your assertion that I bow to the marketing chants or the winds of corp. top floors. I make no bones about being a Miele fan. But I also rec. lots of other makes. It's all dependent on the customer's need/wants. What I really have a problem with is what's moja's complaining about: I tried to save a few bucks by not buying through an authorized distribution channel and now the manuf. won't help me free of charge. The (my) problem is not that he's complaining per se, but that he seems to feel he has no responsibility in this and that it's totally Miele's fault because they are bad or that the system is bad because big government has allowed companies to set prices for their own products and say where they are sold by upholding a decades old practice. My problem with him over the health care thing is his math. Sure an office visit for the flu is cheaper in Canada than walking into the ER here in the USA. No one will rally debate this. ER's are set up for trauma and critical care and that care is very expensive to deliver. My tummy hurts or I have a cough don't really qualify but the public doesn't really feel like waiting because they are soft and or lazy. I saw it in the UK as I worked in an ER for 8 months. Care was no cost out of pocket and people would still come to the ER for sore knees, headaches, whatever instead of making an appointment with their family doctor which was also no cost, simply because they's have to wait several weeks to see him. They wait at the ER too sometimes a whole day while serious stuff like guys that got shot with a nail gun, or wrecked a motorcycle, or broke they arm playing soccer were attended to. Anyway the overall total cost of socialized system is more than a private one and the numbers bear that out. Oh and the CDC doesn't really keep that info, or didn't . It's not in their pervue. If they do now, please point me to the hard data.

Don't bother with the cord for syncing calendar and contacts. You can do this automatically, over the air. I do it with Gmail Contacts and Google Calendar, but I just looked it up for Yahoo, and you can do it with Yahoo, too. I assume you're already getting your Yahoo mail on the iPhone, and I am including a link from Yahoo for how to set up the iPhone to sync with Yahoo Calendar and Contacts. Link to sync to Yahoo Contacts: http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/contacts/basics/contactsbasics-11.html Link to sync to Yahoo Calendar: http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/calendar/yahoocalendar/sync/sync-06.html Once you do this, your calendar and contacts online will stay in sync with the calendar and contacts on your iPhone automatically, within seconds of any change. And then you'll be able to view the online calendar from any computer, at home or elsewhere. Your other sync settings will depend on what how you want to use the iPhone. But here's a quick run-through. Feel free to email me for more information. First of all, make sure you have iTunes installed on your computer. Then connect the iPhone to your computer with the cord that came in the original box. The first thing that pops up is the same dialog box that pops up whenever you connect to any storage device. I only use this dialog box if I have pictures on the iPhone and want to transfer them to my computer. After that, the sync starts automatically. To select your options for sync, you go into iTunes. About halfway down the left-side column is an entry for your device. Click on that. Across the top of the page, you will now see the categories for sync settings, i.e., "summary," "info," "apps," etc. Under "summary", at the bottom of the page, make sure the option for "open iTune when this iPhone is connected" is checked. If you've set up the Yahoo over-the-air sync, then ignore "info." Under "apps," click "sync apps." Also, if you want to change the organization of your apps, you can do it here by drag-and-drop, and the new organization will sync to your iPhone. I don't use special ringtones, but if you do, then go to the "ringtones" second and click to sync. Under "music," you can either choose to have your entire music library sync, or just choose individual playlists. I choose "all," but I don't have that much music. If you want to sync movies, tv shows, and books, choose those settings. (If you're not already doing it, do try some of the ebook reader apps, like iBooks and the Kindle app. And if you have a Netflix account, do get the free Netflix app and try watching a movie on the iPhone, just for the novelty of it!) Here's what I did for "photos." I set it to sync to a folder called "iTunes pictures" that I created on my computer. Then you can fill that file with the pictures you want to keep on your iPhone. That's about it. I hope it's helpful, but feel free email me or write more in this thread.

That's such a hard question to answer. Of course, you are the person who will use the kitchen most and you are the person who has the vision. But you want your family to enjoy it too. You just have to balance that out in your own mind. ....which, of course, is not an answer. Maddening, I know. Are they understanding your vision and rejecting it? Or are they not seeing it in their mind's eye and rejecting what they think it will be? Have you shown them the pictures that sold you on the idea? I had one of those esoteric visions in my head for my kitchen. It's small and narrow and I wanted two different colors -- one on one side and one on the other. And I wanted a different color for the breakfast area and pantry. Every single person to whom I described it said, "Isn't 3 colors too much?". Without exception. The cabinet maker had to do 5 sets of drawings to get it all right and then still was only willing to do one color and door option at a time. My GC confessed to me when it was all over that he thought I was nuts and creating a disaster until he saw it come together. Now that it's done, everyone really likes it. My family is crazy about it. They just couldn't see it when I described it. OTOH, even though my husband was supportive all along and said it was my choice, if it hadn't worked, I would have been miserable knowing I was the only one who wanted it that way. Take pictures of your layout and use tracing paper to draw your modifications. Go get several large-size copies made. Color them in so everyone has a clear idea what you're talking about, what they want, what compromises are possible. It just comes down to the painful process of decisions and consequence. The more concrete you can make abstract ideas now, the more the consequences will be wonderful and comfortable for all. Good luck!