Thanks for the kind words. Lalitha! The induction is three elements. It's 2/3 of the 36" unit you can see in the stores (or was last year...). From the planning guide "Three cooking zones: One induction cooking zone ø 15 cm (1400 W, with booster 1800 W) [small ring]. One induction cooking zone ø 21 cm (2200 W, with booster 3300 W) [medium ring]. One induction cooking zoneø 18 cm (1800 W, with booster 2500 W) [center ring of large element] addition increases cooking zone to ø 28 cm (3600 W, with super booster function 4400 W) [outer ring plus center ring = large element]" The Wolf gas is "One medium 12,000 Btu/hr sealed burner with 800 Btu/hr delivered at simmer. One small 9,200 Btu/hr sealed burner with 300 Btu/hr delivered at simmer." The small, front one is about 9" square, and the medium, rear one is about 10"x13" I find this configuration very adaptable. Sometimes I'm trying to make a one pot quickie, which is often on the large induction element. Or I'll do a pot and a pan, with one on the large element, and one on the front medium element. These are things like pasta with vegetables, or a saute and a sauce. A few weeks ago I was making burritos to freeze. I had already made the meat in the oven and shredded it. I had the rice simmering in a large shallow pot (Le Creuset "braiser"), on the large induction element, and my Le Creuset small, square grill plate on the small gas burner for toasting the tortillas. It actually does work on the induction, and would have meant less fiddling with the heat, but it just seems wrong. Standing between the two really drove home how hot the gas is. It was on low-medium and my left side was hot, and my right side, stirring the rice, wasn't! For Passover Seder, I had the matzah balls on the back burner, the chicken soup on the large induction burner, smaller things off and on on the smaller induction burners, and the teakettle on the small gas. I did the large pot of tzimmis (roots and fruits) early and was holding it in the warming drawer. I would have done the same thing even if I twice the number of burners. Heating up the chicken broth is nothing. I wanted anything I needed to pay attention to over by that point. Meats in the ovens, and casseroles in the Advantium on oven setting. I just bought some chicken to make meatballs out of, and some red peppers for the sauce. I'll char the peppers on the gas (I even have a little mesh style barbecue grill that sits on the grate), and cook the chicken balls in a braiser on the large induction element. I'll probably make the mother sauce on the medium induction element, though if I do a saute as well, I'll do that there, and the sauce on the small gas. Most people rarely use more than three burners at once. As I said, even when I could need five or six, I'd rather use the warming drawer and three or four. And I have an electric kettle which I could use if I needed to free a hob. There are a few things which I make, which theoretically have half a dozen different pots all hot at once and combined only at plating, but even those can be done in shifts given a warming drawer or hot plate. I wanted the 24" induction because I wanted the big, powerful element and didn't want to devote the money or space to two Gaggenau dominoes to accomplish the same thing. For less than a quarter of what the two pieces would have cost me, I got the same function in 6" less counter, and a couple inches less vertical depth. The drawer underneath and the hood are both 48" wide. As you can see, I gained a couple of precious counter inches in the corner, and several on the right, which is my secondary prep area (by the clean-up sink). And I got the cool magnet knob. :)

adh673 - I went from gas to induction in a heart-beat! My house dates from 1913. The previous update to the kitchen was done in 1983 (not by me) to a white formica kitchen, which was extremely well designed and very hard to improve on :) Anyway, I really wanted induction for several reasons: I had cooked on gas for 20+ years, and never felt comfortable with the open flames. I worried about pot holders catching fire since I had to hold the pot handles with the pot holder to stir things (as mentioned by others, with gas, pot sides and handles get very hot). I really liked the idea of not heating up the kitchen while cooking. The smooth top also functions as added counter space. And the clean up couldn't be easier. As someone else said higher up in the thread, you can put a silicone mat under pots. You can also spread paper towels to catch oil splatters and just throw them away after cooking, with no risk of fire! The only thing my DD misses is toasting marshmallows over the gas flame :) I've now used my Kenmore induction range since August, and really love it (and my new kitchen, too). I have the Kenmore range, a Frigidaire refrigerator, an Electrolux DW, and GE Profile MW. All are SS/black, so blend in (an added bonus, which I didn't realize when I bought these appliances, is that with the exception of the GE, all are made by Electrolux). My brother gave me a new set of induction-capable pots (from Costco) for a recent big birthday, and I've bought a few more from Home Goods at reasonable prices. I love the speed things heat up at, as well as the really really low simmer for such things as melting chocolate. Here's a photo:

In Canada, Costco sells the Bluestars for just over $2000 ($Can). On this side of the border, it is the NXR (the one that Nunyabiz has) that Costco sells for a little under $2000 ($US). The choice between gas and induction is something that has been (and, here, it still is) being discussed. To me, it comes down to picking trade-offs. I see the advantages of both the NXR/BlueStars and induction ranges, and go back and forth on all of them. For me, picking a stove comes down to a mix of trade-offs, one of them being budgetary. The induction stove that most appeals to me is the Viking induction range. (You've seen Luv2putt's long thread on his racing red induction rnage?) I really like the set-up, the ability to get it with colors, the knob controls down front, the wide-open cooking surface. But, the cost strikes me as absurd. I likewise find the Wolf AG & DF stoves very appealing but the price puts my wallet into constricting budgetary spasm. Nunyabiz makes an interesting point about energy costs. I can say that the energy savings trade-off is variable by region as well as by how much cooking and what kind of cooking you do. Right now, and for the next few years, at least, natural gas prices are low. That may or may not translate into operating cost saving. If you feel like you have not yet done enough research, yet-- ;>) --- check out the link below. When I say that the savings are highly variable, I am speaking about direct experience in my small mountain community. I live in town where utlities are supplied by a regional corporate utility of some size. I do a lot of cooking, so gas will have some cost advantage for me. Using the calculator from the linked site below, with electrical rates here being are a little over $0.10//kwh, I guestimated that a gas stove would save me about $60 per year over an electrical one. Folks a couple of miles away in the county, served by a rural electrical coop (which is economically raped by deregulation and Enron type manipulations that our legislature foolishly thought would be "competition") have been suffering with in the $0.27 to $0.49/kwh range. They will have an entirely different persepctive on the gas vs electricity thing. I like the Bluestar/NXR type of stove's wide-open cook-space on top and the ability to put an array of big pots and being able to put any pot anywhere. (I do six large events here plus holiday dinners for crowds so I find the wide space appealing and useful where it might not matter to others.) You can get something like that with the induction slide-ins (specifically the GE that alkvdb is considering and the Electrolux/Kenmores that stuck-out too far), but the cook-tops project out on the sides. This can make for issues of fitting and supporting the edges, and may add to the expense of putting in a new stove. (How's that for looping back to the original question?) All of the foregoing being said, I'm still very interested in induction. The paper-trick mentioned by herring_maven is a minor but appealing aspect of the easier clean up of induction. For me, the "cleaning" appeal of induction is not so much stove-top cleaning but that gas produces more vaporous goo which means more and more frequent cleaning of the range hood, the walls, cabinets and etc. Another appealing factor for me, living and cooking at an altitude of 6000 feet, is that electrical stoves are not affected by altitude the way gas stoves are. All of the considerations go into a mix that can make one's head trying to sort out all the choices. A friend of mine said she was thinking of just buying buy a Vita-Mix blender, making smooties out of raw food, and just skipping "the whole stove thing." Here is a link that might be useful: Info on guestimating electrical vs. gas appliance operating costs

FINAL UPDATE: Cash is being wired into my account per escrow agent so we are done! Hooray! We sold for $1.23M and the winning buyers threw in an additional $2,000 credit toward our closing costs. As mentioned earlier, we received 15 bids (all of which were above list price) and we countered 5 of the strongest bids. The final top two bids were both for $1.23M without any contingencies and in as-is condition. Ultimately, the winning bidders (first-time home buyers who fell in love with the house!) threw in an additional $2K in closing credits and also had a substantial down payment (about 50%) so we knew appraisal wouldn't be an issue. Thank goodness for the larger than standard down payment, as the house appraised for $30K less (only $1.2M). On a related note, I also found out the final sales price of the 2 pocket sales by the same builder in the neighborhood (but they are located on a thoroughfare, not in a cul de sac). One sold for $1.14M (this was in the worst location, right on the corner next to the 4 lane main street). The other one (on the same street but further into the neighborhood) fell out of escrow (its list price per Zillow was $1.1M). The second house is back on the market now at $1.06M. We'll see what happens there. Thanks again for everyone who gave advice and those who followed along!