Dan, there are more induction users who would go back to gas than you think. I'd guess around 5%. Some people like to look at and feel the heat from the flames, and want to adjust the temperature by flame size rather than knob position. I always used knob position when I had gas, and only looked at flame size for confirmation, but some people feel that interacting with the controller more gets between them and the cooking. There are also those who prefer it for the look, and the simplicity and low techness of it. Gas isn't bad. BTW, my folks have a 20-year-old best available at the top replacement coil cooktop (GE?) for their top of the line 1960's coil (Thermador?). My mother has been known to complain that it isn't as good. When I cook in her kitchen, however, I am always pleased with how much better it is than the apartment coil ranges I used to suffer with. I don't know if the current GE is the same one, but if it's is, it's not all that bad. Looking at the offerings at AJMadison, however, I see your dismay. GE is the high end of what's on offer, and I haven't heard a lot of praise of their ovens. Probably adequate. Certainly none are made by higher end makers. If you have the budget but still want coil, you might consider getting a really good oven and a separate cooktop.

judo_and_peppers -- Assuming that the "different part of the kitchen" has 208/240v outlets, a pair of 2500 watt induction burners (standard, single phase 240v) would work very well. They would be about 25% faster at boiling the water-bath kettle than the big coil burner and would give you more even heating across the base of your sauce-cooking pans (which I'm assuming are probably 10" diameter 8-to-12 qt. stockpots). Also will give you a lot more flexibility in arranging your workspace and much easier to clean (and keep clean) than the top and burner wells of a coil burner stove. That Caso portable induction that you linked to --- well, it is probably too wimpy for your production work. Its effective power for waterbath canning will like be about 60% - 70% of an 8" diameter burner on a coil-burner stove. If you went for a higher-powered 120v unit (say, an 1800 watt Max Burton), you'd be closer to the effective power of a coil burner, but still slower. Also, almost all of the residential/portable induction burners have induction coils of 7" diameter or less, which is slightly smaller in diameter than the standard large coil burners (normally 8" in diameter.) Might or might not be an issue when cooking your sauce. (Do realize that comparing wattage ratings for coil burners and induction hobs is more than simply looking at the wattage ratings. The rule of thumb is that starts with the U.S. DOE ratings for efficiency in how much of the burner's energy goes into a pot. DOE says it is about 85% for induction burners and 60% to 70% for coil burners. Mutliply those factors by the rated burner wattage and you'll get some numbers for a rough comparison. Thus, in theory you get 1750 watts going into a pot on an 8" 2500-watt coil burner and 1275 from that Caso 1500 watt induction burner. In contrast, a 2500 watt induction burner will yield 2125 watts. Again, this is just a rule of thumb, but it may help think through what you want to do.) Following up on what hollysprings said about restaurant units, some commercial/restaurant induction equipment uses standard 120v, some models use standard (single phase) 208/240v, some use 3-phase 240v, and some use 3 phase 400v. The 3-phase equipment is massive --- 8000 watt stock-pot ranges for 20 gallon pots, rangetops with six 3500 watt burners, etc. For anybody who might be interested, check out the Cooktek product page on the Dvorson's web site and see the whole gamut of products. The link is below. For what judo_and_peppers wants to do, however, the monster three-phase units are way beyond overkill, but the 2500 watt units would be very serviceable. There are significantly less expensive units, too. First, Consider that a good coil burner range can be had for about $500 --- much less if you buy a used one --- although it would be worth spending another $70 to upgrade the 8" burners to canning elements (much beefier supports for handling big kettles). The least expensive, 2500-watt semi-pro portable induction burners that I know anything about are Eurodib (found at Katom.com) and Sunpentown (at AJ MAdison) which run around $400 each. They are NSF rated and so are acceptable for use in commercial kitchens. The potential concern with these units is that they are not really designed to be serviced if anything wears out or breaks, and may not be up to the wear and tear of production cooking the NSF rating, notwithstanding. However, I've read of people using them in commercial settings. There was a recent posting on Chowhound discussing the Eurodib units being used in a chocolate business by the poster's son. (IIRC, the poster's screen name was Swissair if you want to search for it.) Sunpentown has been around for a relatively long time and Chowhound has postings going back the better part of a decade. (Also, maybe egullet.com "Kitchen Consumer" forum might have info on them, as well.) Fully commercial-rated, 2500-watt induction burners from the recognized commercial brands (Cooktek, Garland, Vollrath) will run about $1k per burner. I am only familiar with the Cooktek units, having used one for a while a decade or so ago. Very durable, very precise. Made in Chicago and built to allow service and repair (which is available via mail-in), the Cooktek units likely will hold up better with pots even larger than water-bath canning kettles. IIRC, the induction coils were something like 9 inches in diameter, so well-suited to larger stockpots for making the hot sauce if heating the bases evenly matters. There are two lines: "Heritage" ($$ with 25 heat settings or temperature settings and a rotary knob control interface) and "Apogee" ($$$ with 100 steps or temps and all touchpad interface). I believe www.Websterauntstore.com carries a brand called Avantco which has a 2500 watt unit for something like $180. I know nothing about this brand or the unit. Might we worth checking into. Here is a link that might be useful: examples of commercial induction This post was edited by JWVideo on Mon, Aug 11, 14 at 18:49

>>>"I like the look of the smooth top better but * * * is more subject to scratching? "<<< Can be. But if you are renting-out your unit as furnished with the pans you provide, you may be able to mitigate that somewhat with smooth pans. The sugary-syrup spills mentioned above can be removed with a razor scraper and stovetop cleaner. However, when left long enough, the sugary spill may etch or pit the ceran surface. Top is not necessarily "hosed" but can be unsightly. Another concern would be spilled salt. It can act as an abrasive when pans are slid over salt the on the glass surface surface. Ceran is actually pretty durable, though scratches and pitting may diminish "the look" that you like better. >>>"Also, safety wise, are people more likely to get burned by the smooth top?" <<< Haven't seen any rigorous statistical data on this, but probably not any more likely,. Maybe a little less likely if the smoothtop model has hot surface warning lights (as long as the renters pay attention to them.) Unless having a smoothtop would increase the rentals, however, a simpler and possibly more durable coil range would still be my preference for frequent rentals.

Update on our range. I have had this for over 6 months. I’ve never gotten used to the steps on the induction cooktop. There really needs to be a step in between the current 2 and 3, 3 and 4 and maybe 4 and 5. Our bigger issue is that I have had trouble with the convection fan. After a period of time, it warps and begins to hit the side of the oven. I’ve had the fan replaced twice. Two of the service calls resulted in a new fan. The third service call resulted in the repair person hooking up the range to the computer, and telling me nothing was wrong. The reason this was an issue was because the problem is often intermittent and during this service call, the fan was playing nicely. I am glad I purchased an extended warranty, as I will probably have to use it.