Cast iron? No, you want steel. It has a higher thermal conductivity to produce a more uniform temperature. I have these: http://www.katom.com/067-1020450.html http://www.katom.com/067-1020449.html I use them on my 6 burner CC--they are awesome. English muffins, pancakes, bacon, all at the same time.... I haven't seasoned long enough (had them only since Feb), but I'll try eggs soon. I was advised to get 4 burners and a griddle by many smart people, but with these two griddles (2 burner and 4 burner) I feel that I have the best of both worlds. Also, do yourself a favor and get a griddle thermometer and an IR thermometer: http://www.globeequipment.com/Kitchen-Supplies/Food-Safety-Supplies/Thermometers/3210-08 http://www.amazon.com/Raytek-MT6-Non-contact-MiniTemp-Thermometer/dp/B000O80B5M

CLKW, you can make your own danged matzah balls! Texas is a big place, so I don't know if this is hundreds of miles away from you, but they had Kenny & Ziggy's in Houston on TV. E-mail me if you need a recipe. I think you really need to research more on the manufacturers' websites. Read through the operating manuals and get to know the appliances before you make a decision. The portable unit Dan linked looks like a a good unit. When I landed here induction wasn't very popular in the U.S. so I wanted to try it and got the cheapest one I could get on Amazon (Mr. Induction). It was enough to convince me. Commercial units like Dan's have different kinds of controllers than home units do. This one has thermostatic control, whereas home units have levels numbered from 1-9 (some with half stops). Cooktek (also commercial) has 1-100. Zoneless, as has been said, is also different, though the controllers are similar. I forgot to answer up topic about the self-import. If you do that, talk to your insurance first about it not being UL listed and get a letter for your file (kept at your agent's office) that says it's okay with the company. Talk to your electrician about wiring. And talk to your local servicemen. I wouldn't go with the De Dietrich. People were self importing these all over the place a couple of years ago, but when things went wrong they had orphan appliances. Instead, if you find an AEG, for instance, that you like, talk to the local Electrolux service and see if they'll take care of you. There likely won't be a warranty, but if you need a fix make sure someone can fix it. And know that the timers won't work right because they use the frequency of the electricity to mark time and they're different here and there. My serviceman said to just make a conversion chart. Re steamers, the in counter is more like a using a bamboo steamer in a wok. The combi-steam oven is an oven which also has steam. Very different. The steam is the same, but the mode of cooking is different. You'd have to ask someone more familiar than I with the in counter steamer, but I'm not sure all leftovers will fit. They'd have to be shaped correctly. Plus, people have said that you can just put a plate of dinner for a straggler in the combi-steam to refresh, which you can't in a counter steamer. It's not a bad appliance--just be aware of what the different ones do and don't do. You can't stack three different brands of ovens three high. I think you're getting a little star struck. Okay, for getting a crisp crust on bread in a normal, electric oven, use a pan of water. For steaming vegetables, use a steamer basket in a pan of water on the stove. I suppose you could use the oven, but getting it right would be hard. You can also use a plastic steamer basket in a microwave, in a corningware pot of water, or a bamboo steamer basket in a wok of water. There are other ways too. In a Gagg combi-steam, put in perforated pan in oven. Oh! You might want to look into the KitchenAid Steam Assist oven. That's a full sized oven with some steam. Not as fancy, not as expensive, but a full sized oven with a trick up its sleeve. I don't understand this sentence: Can I get steam oven results by sticking a pan of water in the combi oven and using microwave and oven to cook my leftovers? Have you tried that? I haven't tried any of it because they're just finishing my kitchen now. The combi- doesn't need a pan of water, so I think there's a typo somewhere. I haven't used the pan of water with leftovers. If it's just for myself, I'm more likely to zap it if I want it hot (and often would rather have cold). If it's for more, I'll redecorate it and put it in the oven. If you want more info on reheating and refreshing with the combi-steam, search on Gizmonike. Re prices, I don't think the Gaggenau convection oven is all that much different from the Miele, especially since you're already at the top of the scale. The Gaggenau combi-steam is more double the currently available Miele steam oven because the latter is steam only. For the same price as the latter, you could get the KA. I don't know much about the KA, but it's an oven with some steam, not a steam appliance. You'd have to find out more, but I don't think you can just put stuff like veg or rice in to steam only. But I don't think you can probably stack it with the Miele either. A lot of it depends on what you want to do and how you want to do it. It's very hard to know when you're not all that used to cooking well. It'll be more fun and easier in your new kitchen, but maybe you should start trying these things now. Put a custard cup or ramkin or whatever you have with water in your oven and see what happens. Steam some stuff on the stove. Etc. Fancy tools make life easier, but everything you do is much easier when you know the basics behind them. In school we had to calculate cube roots and natural logs even though we had calculators and there were tables in the back of the math book. Same with kitchen tools, before you use a food processor, learn to use a knife. Before you use a dough hook, learn to knead. Before you use a steamer, learn to steam on the stove. That way you'll learn what things are supposed to look and feel and taste and sound like, and won't be relying on machines to tell you what to eat.

Just as a sort of "addendum" to your question and this thread, I recently was deciding between a separate electric griddle or one that is placed across two burners (like what Sfjeff posted). I never wanted a built-in griddle because I felt the clean-up would be a little more difficult than just taking something to the sink, I was worried a built-in's appearance might start to be dingy after a while, and I wanted to keep all my burners freed up. I posted on the Cooking Forum with my question about which (separate) griddle would make better pancakes, since that is mostly what I would cook on a griddle. I'll link the thread. Note, you WILL get hungry if you read it, and start jonesin' big-time for pancakes--just a heads up. Anyway, to summarize, I decided on the separate electric griddle. Someone pointed out that you can put the electric griddle anywhere (sideboard, table, outside, whatever), while a stove-top griddle can only be on the stove. Also, my burners have different btu's, so it might be a pain to keep the griddle at a consistent temp across two burners. I bought the electric griddle and I love it. I've used it almost every weekend since I posted my question, and think it's a wonderful convenience. Here is a link that might be useful: Cooking Forum Thread about Griddles and Pancakes

Just wanted to report that this thread inspired me to order an electric griddle (I've been making Ann T's oatmeal buttermilk pancakes every other weekend since January!). I used the new electric griddle yesterday, and the pancakes were much prettier and more even than the pancakes on my stovetop griddle, and it was much faster start-to finish given the size of the griddle. My gas range has the two different-sized/output burners, so the rectangular griddle pans never heat evenly (low on the high output burner is like high on the regular burner). And a regular griddle on the low output is just too small to do more than 3-4 small pancakes at once. Now I have to decide where to store the griddle in my tiny kitchen!