Hmmmm...we purchased our Flex through a local dealer, and he made no mention of an extended warranty (unlike past appliance purchases at Sears, HD, etc. where it's been buy, buy, buy!). Our rep seems pretty thorough, so I doubt it's something that slipped his mind, if they do offer it (and warranty discussions did come up during our visit). Extended warranties can be quite dicey, and even digging deep into all fine print may still leave you surprised what isn't actually covered if repairs are needed. Might also just give a quick call to Bosch and ask their advice. Good luck.

Javiwa have you taken delivery of your flex induction yet? If so do you have any regrets about going with that instead of the 800 series. The extended warranty is through AJ Madison company not Bosch. Usually I don't buy the extended warranty. However I did for our current dishwasher (not bosch) and boy am I glad I did. I would love any insight you have on the flex induction.

I did get an extended warranty. I don't usually but I suspect repair costs are high on it so I did this time.

riker - Our cooktop is being delivered Monday. :) We're in the middle of a kitchen reno/do-over, and new appliances are one piece of the puzzle before all of this gets pulled together. I was convinced by one and all that it would be ludicrous to keep my 23 y/o electric coil cooktop (which is functioning perfectly fine, thank you very much!) while updating everything else; I budged. We chose the (30") Flex over the 800 because we WILL need/use that bridge unit to the left: we do a lot of steamed fish (whatever we bring home from our weekend fishing expeditions!) and needed that elongated burner. Other than that, I would've gone with the 800.

Others who have scrutinized the specs more carefully can chime in (or clarify!), but features the Flex has that the 800 doesn't (and you should decide how important these are to you): 1) each element has its own timer, 2) PreciseSelect - you can directly select the cooking level you need w/o having to scroll through a menu of choices (or, as others have described it, tap-tap-tapping your way up through the levels until you reach the one you want). Again, just depends on what you think annoys you, and how much you're willing to spend to avoid that annoyance. I may not have paid the extra $ for these two features (and simply adjusted to a new normal), but as mentioned, we'd already decided on the Flex anyway.

Javiwa Did you get to see the flex in person? The one local dealer that is a benchmark dealer has all of the other benchmark items on display, but not the cooktop.. I really want the flex & think I am going to go that route. What did you choose for an oven?

That feature set comparison is no longer true. The newest 800 series (NIT8066 and NIT8666, 30" and 36" respectively) has both Precise Select and countdown timers on each element. I looked at these really closely and found that the only material difference was the flex element.

Wow...that's rather odd that they chose not to showcase the Flex. We were fortunate to find a dealer/showroom 15 minutes away; and while they only had the 36 on display ( guess there's no wow factor in a 30!), it was good enough. Had we not been able to see it, I think we would still have made the purchase: the internet is so wonderful with all its high-res pics + GW forum comments/reviews...plus, I'm not super-super picky about how my appliances look (i.e., whether they match each other, etc.).

Wall oven: trying to rile me, eh? ;) Well, this is in line w/ my funk about replacing appliances that function perfectly well. Decided to bite the bullet and replace old built-in microwave and wall oven (since we decided on cooktop + ventilation, and might as well take advantage of the Bosch rebate). We're almost empty nesters, and wouldn't use the large oven daily/weekly. But I bake a ton for friends, family, etc., so needed a basic wall oven (standard 30" stainless steel..with the knobs -- didn't need convection and didn't want to pay extra for telescoping racks). Would have stuck with a basic microwave (and perhaps have looked at Sharp), but a friend explained how a speed oven works (which, up to that point, was an appliance I completely ignored any discussions about). With the speed oven in convection mode, it basically functions as a smaller oven: perfect for our day-to-day use. I figured the energy we'll save NOT firing up a wall oven to bake 2 potatoes will make up for the additional cost down the line. And even if it's not substantial, I'll feel better about using a properly sized oven for smaller dishes.

Thanks for clarifying, alerievay. I just realized that when I originally researched, I must've been looking at the older model 800s (those are less expensive out there in internet land).

I stopped by the dealer today to see if they had decided to put one on display...they didn't and the sales guy said they would not be displaying it. I was bummed I really would like to see one. There are no other benchmark dealers near me

What is it that you're looking for (difference-wise) that might sway you one way or another, that you can't already see in the pics online? Just curious. They're all kinda black and flat, but that's just me. :)

Regarding the warranty, I got one as soon as the original expired. Two different repairmen (working on other appliances in my home) told me they have never worked on an induction before and don't know if there are many local repairmen that do. They recommended a warranty to let the warranty company deal with finding a repair person vs. me having to pay extra to have one fly/drive in from someplace far away. (I live in the San Francisco Bay Area but few people around here seem to know induction.)

Camp Happy where do you get the warranties after the original warranty expires?

I purchased my Bosch induction from Sears and have my warranty through them as well. Sears does not have the best reputation for their repair team but so far I have had good success with them.

In answer to the original question, no, I'm willing to take my chances (same goes for big-screen TV, travel related expenses).

Yea, next time... I never had taken an extended warranty on any appliance, but we purchased an expensive slide in stove and so we took out an extended 3 yr warranty. Oh yea, had a minor problem today when putting the oven on the clean cycle. It pushed icky stuff into the class part of the door. I thought, no problem, we have an extended warranty. OH YEA!! The warranty expired 2 weeks ago... Sounds like when the car warranty wears off and the car takes a crap:/