I also debated between the Bosch benchmark flex induction and the Wolf. Went with the Wolf 36" CI365C/B for the following: The Wolf does not default to bridging when you turn it on like the Bosch. I found this very annoying and not intuitive to guests that might want to cook in my kitchen. Plus I have to remember to turn it off to use the second element independently which I do quite frequently. The Wolf has better pot recognition in my "testing" than the Bosch. I purchased a small 4 3/4" diameter melting pot as a test. The Bosch did not recognize it on the large Hob, but it did recognize it on the other hobs but not in bridge mode in the middle. The Wolf recognized it on ALL hobs including the large one. It does not recognize it in the bridge modes. Bridge mode was not an expector. I preferred the individual slide controls on the Wolf versus selecting the hob and the level separatly like the Bosch. I could live without the individual timers on the hobs like the Bosch. I have never had this feature so not sure how often I would use it. The Wolf was a much better value - several hundred $$ less. I see the induction technology changing rapidly over the next several years and would consider upgrading to a zoneless cooktop once the price point is in the $2K-$3K range. Hence I did not go with a flush install to keep my opening as small as possible. So far I love the cooktop. I normally cook on levels 1-6 and only use the upper levels when needing to come to a boil slowly - else I use the boost to get a quick boil (and it is fast). Have not used the bridge as I do not yet have pans that require it. Still looking for that great smooth griddle. Cleanup is a breeze over gas or electric. I left pasta unattended and came back to salt water all over my cooktop - nothing "burned" on. Easy clean. Use parchment under cast iron as I am afraid of scratches (only 2 months old so still babying it). Parchment does a great job of catching splatters as well. No regrets here on my selection.

I personally have never used the self clean feature. I'm too worried about the heat from that messing up the electronics (that's what people thought several years ago when I got mine; not sure if opinions have changed). I generally use some kind of pan to catch drips, so only rarely have things drip onto the oven floor, and for things like roasted chicken that may spatter grease all over, it seems to just bake off over the next times I'm using my oven. So, I can't tell you how the self clean works, but I can tell you that I haven't really ever felt the need for it, either.

Question about Induction and Chocolate: Well, interestingly enough, I've also been pursuing this same question recently. So, far the answer I've found on tempering has been a resounding maybe. FWIW, I have had no trouble tempering without a double boiler on my current induction cooktop and I've also run across on-line videos that show tempering as well as melting being done with residential induction cooktops. Also, both of the Bosch ranges and the Miele have a power setting that is below the setting their manuals recommend for melting chocolate. (The Bosch manuals recommend 1.5 for melting chocolate and the Miele manual recommends "1 - 2" as the setting.) What I have not been able to find out yet is whether setting 1 on the Bosch ranges or setting "h" ("keep warm") on the Miele will hold a pan at the tempering temperature of around 90° F (+/- 2°). Touch pads versus knobs: I did not see anything offensive in what you said, but I would add that one might prefer a rotary digital interface (knobs) over touch-pads for reasons other than simple "familiarity." As you might guess from my screen-name, I work in digital media production. I have been using touch-pad and touch-screen devices for decades. I'm fine with touchpads and touch screens. However, while cooking on the stovetop, I just find it more ergonomic to grab a knob when my hands are wet or messy, as they all too often are. (What can I say? I am a messy cook and play with food.) I've also found front-mounted knobs are less subject to interruptions from spills from pans on induction stove tops. Finally, I like the tactile feedback from a knob when adjusting burners while cooking. Of course, those are just personal preferences and there are trade-offs to my preferences, including less ease of cleaning with knobs versus touchpads. That all just goes into the mix of things to weigh and balance in choosing between stoves which all represent different mixes of design and engineering trade-offs.

You have a lot of decisions to make. :-)). Just some brief comments....except on the griddle. Gas Burners What works well for one person might not work at all for another. What type of cooking do you do? Any high heat applications like stir frying? What type of cookware do you use? This could have an impact on the type of burners you choose. There are big differences between Wolf/Monogram’s dual stacked, capped, sealed ring burners and BlueStar uncapped, open tray star burners. The size of your range may be dictated by the size of your kitchen. Search some of the posts by Kasecki to find out about ventilation. I cook for up to 60 and I have a 36” range, 6 burners, plus a couple of induction plates, an Instapot, a small Nesco cooker, a couple of hot plates and I simmer in my oven a lot of the time. I have the Wolf DF which has the burners that are on the Wolf AG range now. I would definitely consider the BS star on my next range. Griddles You can get a griddle in three ways. They each have benefits and vary tremendously in the ways they are made. Built in Griddles These mostly have the benefit of a thermostat so that you can turn the knob on to certain setting and you will get an easily reproducible temperature. There will be a constant variation in that temperature as the burner cycles, maybe +/- 25°F-50°F depending on the thermostat. It is very difficult to find out what those numbers are. They also have a little more stability, compared to an add on griddle. There are a lot of differences in how these are put together. Cooking surface- Wolf and BlueStar have rolled steel, but BS’s is half the thickness of Wolf. This seasons like cast iron and becomes nonstick If you let it. Wolf being thicker will heat more evenly over time but takes longer to heat and turn up or down. Steel heats unevenly so you have areas that are hotter. Wolf refers to this in their manual. Monogram has an aluminum base clad in stainless. The aluminum is to provide more even heating as it has much better heat transfer properties but there was a thread not long ago about how difficult the stainless on it was to clean. There are some griddles that are all aluminum because it conducts heat so well. Some have a surface that is removable to clean. Some have a chromium finish which is sold as making it easy to clean but reviews say it is hard to clean. Heat source- Blue star gas a burner like this. Wolf attempts to have a heat source that provides more even heat so they use an infrared burner. Some built ins use an electric element with an aluminum plate, which might provide the most even heating depending on the thickness of the aluminum. Look at the amount of BTUs. Wolf is about 15K but a few go up to 18K. Add on or overlay griddles You can buy these from a restaurant supply very inexpensively. Some of the advantages with an overlay. -flexibility of using the griddle or the burner. You can take the griddle off to clean and put it away if you want to. -You can get whatever metal you want. Steel will season easily but tend to have zones of hotter and cooler temperatures. Some people like that because they can cook on one part and hold on another. You can adjust the front and back burners to different levels of heat. There are aluminum griddles and some have a nonstick surface. These are great when you need even heat like for grilled sandwiches or pancakes There are 2 burner and 4 burner sizes or you can just use 2 -2 burner griddles if you need more space. I have the bare aluminum griddles because I tend to grill a lot of sandwiches. They do season over time If you don’t scrub the seasoning off. I also have a nonstick one. I thought I would buy a steel 4 burner but when I got to the store, I could hardly lift it. The aluminum weighs less. These se are my faves and I have the 15”x23” in bare aluminum. You can transfer these to the oven too. http://royalindustriesinc.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=4_22_48 A lot of posters like these too. https://www.dvorsons.com/ChefKing/Griddles.htm You can position the griddle wherever you want to on the range top. Sometimes I turn it so it covers two burners on the front. -The 2 burner overlays like the Royal Industries and Chef King in the 15”x23” have almost 50% more cooking area than the 2 burner built ins. It is easy to calculate the usable area of each. -You can have a lot more heat. Even with Wolf’s 15K BTU burners, which is on the low end, you would have 30K BTUs compared to the usual 15-18K. It can go up from there. There is yet another choice, the countertop Griddle. These are usually thermostatically controlled and work pretty well but vary in quality. Of course they are not as “cheffy”. They are usually made of aluminum though. These comments were made above. ”Burner top griddles are fine for some people but they are not even heat across the surface” This depends a lot on what metal the griddle is made of and it’s thickness. Rather than whether it is built in or not. Any that are aluminum have better heat transfer properties of the cooking surface. As mentioned above, you have your choice with an add on. “ nor do they maintain even heat over time.” If you consider how the heat is applied to the griddle, the overlay receives a constant inflow and has a pretty constant loss of heat once you adjust it and it comes to equilibrium. The thermostatically controlled griddle has a swing like an oven, so I would disagree with that. You do have to adjust the heat in the beginning but it is like cooking with a pan. Not sure if it is even significant in cooking unless you had too big of a swing with the thermostat. I’ve seen some electric skillets like that. Steam oven- Do you mean a dedicated steam oven or a combi oven that fully functions as a convection oven and also as a steam oven? Have you looked at Miele? We have a poste here “M” that can speak to the combi ovens, also called CSOs(Convection Steam Ovens) Wall oven- This is a whole discussion by itself. What are you thinking here? Gas range oven- If you do cook for large groups, it would be a good thing to have an oven that holds a full sized commercial tray. Even if you don’t use the full size, it is nice to be able to use twok half sheets side by side.. Wolf is not big enough for that even in the 36” oven. BS, Monogram and some others are.