I just recently switched from a Fisher & Paykel gas cooktop to the Wolf induction. That was really the only one I could use as I have a Kitchenaid convection oven underneath it. I love it. No clicking burners trying to ignite, simple easy cleanup, no discolored stainless, and as fast as gas.

Thanks for your feedback! Score one for induction :)
Anyone else who can help persuade me with your switch experiences?

You mentioned reading previous threads here, so you've probably already seen much of what could be said on the subject. So, adding to what cit3 said, let me offer these four thoughts for your specific situation.

First, you mentioned having young children. Induction controls can be locked. Can't do that with "gourmet" gas rangetops.

Second, induction poses no risk of igniting sleeves, pot-holders, towels, etc. Also, if there is no pan on an induction burner, nothing will happen
when the burner is turned on even if the controls are not locked. No risk of kids turning on the stove to look at the flames. No risk of leaving a flame going after removing a pot or pan, either.

Third, wIthout open flames, induction also makes for a much cooler kitchen during the hot parts of the year. FWIW, I have an induction cooktop alongside one of those "more gourmet" looking pro-style gas ranges. You can probably guess which appliance I'm mostly using during our July heat waves.

Fourth, as for "the look" of a "more gourmet" kitchen, how more gourmet can you get than the induction-equipped kitchens of highest of high-end restaurants such as Alinea, Noma and the erstwhile El Bulli (the originating temple of molecular gastronomy)?

Of course, there are some "ultra-gourmet" things you can't do with induction. Say, toasting the marshmallows for your ultra-gourmet s-mores. Is that crucial to your decision? And do you want to have that capability before the kids get older? :>)

Finally, a couple of points for clarification: Are you looking for an induction rangetop as opposed to a cooktop
or are you thinking that rangetops will only be a gas appliances? Also, are you looking for a 30" wide, four burner/cooking zone unit or a
larger one?

I'm looking at 36" and know that the Thermador Freedom is only 4 burner which is fine. I would love an induction rangetop but don't see them as being available.

I found this thread which is great: https://www.houzz.com/discussions/should-i-choose-a-gas-or-induction-cooktop-for-our-new-kitchen-dsvw-vd~793701

M Miller --

I agree that the majority of the posters here who have induction appliances have been very pleased with them, but I do not see your view as a"dissenting" opinion. Seems to me that every cooktop/rangetop/range will be a mix of design, budgetary, and engineering compromises. Different mixes will suit different people differently. Cory might find this long-running thread interesting on that subject: http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/2339367/does-anyone-here-who-went-induction-regret-your-choice

That thread includes some comments from me about how I set out to buy an induction range and wound up slightly preferring a particular pro-style gas range, instead, at least at the time and place I was shopping.

I would qualify the point about a pan stopping cooking "the second you move the pan away from the induction cooktop . . . annoying when sautéing if you like to flip the pan's contents." I found that has been an oft-reported problem for folks using less expensive prortable induction cooktops. It isn't that the heat stops when you lift a pan --- the problem is that many of the cheaper units just plain shut off almost immediately when a pan was removed for more than second or two. Better built units (including the ones that Cory is considering) give you a lot more time to put the pan back down without having to restart the burner. On the better built induction units (such as isntalled cooktops), with regular fry pans and saute pans which have plenty of heat rentention capacity, I've had no more problem with saute-flip maneuvers on induction than I had on gas burners.

Now, it would be a different story if my preferences ran to having near-instant extreme high-heat in very-thin thin, round bottom carbon steel woks. Those pans gain and lose heat quickly but do not work so well with flat induction surfaces. Using them on a flat induction hob can be problematic when near instant lead-meltingly high heat is desired to vaporize oil and
start a flambe from the gas flames.

Different strokes for different folks.

One point that has not been discussed much in the cited threads (but has come up elsewhere here): how to deal with uncertainty over the durability/longevity of the controller electronics in induction appliances?

The proliferation of electronics in all appliances can be a pervasive concern with all kinds of appliances, not just induction stoves. The uncertainty can be worse with induction appliances because of the
amount of electronics they use -- more to fail, at least theoretically. We know that the electronics in some units in every product line will fail out of the box. Posters here have reported such failures. Those failures are covered by warranties and/or are exchanged for something else. We know that some units will fail in the first few years of ownership. Posters have reported such failures. That uncertainty can be addressed by buying extended warranties which will cover for five years, which you might do because of the very high cost of replacement electronic boards. We know that some units will fail in the five to seven year range and some will last longer, maybe a lot longer. Posters have so reported here, as well. What we do not have is hard numbers. No way to know the relative percentages. No way to realistically reckon the odds.

OTOH, most range tops are pretty simple appliances with minimal electronics. Basically just the ignitor control module for electronics. Maybe a need to periodically replace the ignitors much as you have replace spark plugs in a vehicle. Maybe an occasional need to disassemble the burners and clean the ports in the event of a gunk build up or if you get water in them when cleaning. Reasonably handy homeowners may be able handle routine maintenance and repairs themselves. Much less true with complex electronics in induction. It may be like our cars: new ones with lots of electronics requiring minimal maintenance but very hard for owners to repair themselves when something eventually break versus older cars which are relatively easy to work on but need more frequent attention. I see this as one more trade off.

Cory:

On induction rangetops, I just wanted to make sure you weren't looking for them so I didn't have to talk you out of them. All the ones I've seen have been boutique brands with limited numbers of burner heat settings whose limitations offset the advantages of moving the controls off the cooking surface and having knob controls (aka "rotary digital control interfaces .)

The reason I asked about cooktop sizing was precisely because I was thinking about of the "4-pot" limitation of the Thermador Freedom cooktops. If you want a 36" wide cooktop, you might have a look at the new Benchmark cooktops from Bosch, Thermador's corporate stablemate. The newest benchmark model -- NITP666SUC, I think --- basically divides the Thermador freedom zoneless into a right and left half and puts a large central burner in the middle for big pots. Seems like it could provide more usable flexibility at about 40% less cost.

I don't know that I have much to add to that other than, as you may have seen in other threads, I have induction and gas, both high end, and almost always use the induction. It's that good. It's a different mindset, however. One is raw open flames and you can feel the heat. The other is a magic counter that makes the pots into the heat source.

On looks, however, define "gourmet". Currently, food lovers are embracing new technologies like induction, steam and sous vide cooking, and blast chillers, anti-griddles and liquid nitrogen for freezing. BUT if you like the look that a range top gives your kitchen, you can make a similar housing out of plywood and sheet steel, and put your induction cooktop in it. If you want the big knobs and have big money to spend, you can get the Gaggenau Vario 400 dominoes, either all induction, or a couple of induction and a gas, or some of each of those and a teppanyaki...

Thanks all for your comments. Sounds like the majority of folks that have moved to induction have little regrets. I think I just need to go to the store and pick something and move on :)

I'd say that 1/2 the high end houses in my neighborhood being built are now putting in induction cooktops. Go with the induction. Especially with two kids. Much safer both in terms of them not burning fingers, and without having them breathe in the gas effluence.

After a lot of research and soul searching, we went with an open burner 48" rangetop and a 15" induction hob. We wanted the rangetop for the griddle and the high BTU burners we could use the wok on. We got the hob for boiling water an the like.

Gas cooking is my preference but I have a lot of respect for the benefits and superior aspects of induction. If you are looking for another interesting induction option, Bluestar just introduced what they claim is a 'commercial grade' 36" induction-cooktop with a interesting 5 hob config. And like with other Bluestar range items, it can be customized with '190 color knobs/colors and 10 metal finishes'.

https://www.bluestarcooking.com/cooking/cooktops/36-induction-cooktop/

Yeah, it came out just after I got my Wolf. Well, I wouldn't want the first one anyway (sour grapes spoken here).

The Bluestar only has 12 heat settings vs something like the Bosch with 17 heat settings

Cpartist, from what I can tell, it's actually 1-9, with a few specialty buttons. UGH! Like all Bluestar, masses of power. A power junkie's dream, really, but without half steps, and with all that power, it's sure to be miserable to cook on.

Sure to be miserable to cook on? Well, yes, for you, 3katz4me, myself and others here who who have posted in this forum and who know from experience that we want/need finer increments at the lower end of an induction power scale for our cooking. An induction unit with few power settings seems to result in big jumps between each setting. So, for me, that kind of set-up will not compete with gas on fine control. The extent to which fine control matters can be a personal preference, of course.

Apparently, there are plenty of folks who do not share our preferences. Heck, maybe Blue Star, Whirlpool and others have market research that says to ignore thee and me?

Or, maybe Blue Star (aka Prizer-Painter) is just jumping on a bandwagon? Maybe sourcing its induction components from Whirlpool from whom it is already sourcing the components for its fridges?

Speculation aside, the number and spacing of induction-burner power settings is something else for Cory to consider in deciding between gas and induction cooktops and in choosing a model to buy.

But all that power!! Dragon's breath induction!

JWV, you're right that some people just aren't cognizant, but if you're buying Blue Star, you're either a decorator and want it for the pretty colors, you intend to actually cook, or you're a power junkie. I'd think at least half really want to cook on it! You may be right about the Whirlpool parts, but isn't it just about refining the control board? Or are there other parts involved in getting the half steps?

Another induction convert. I think it was the nicest "surprise" of my new kitchen. I mean, I've been using gas for 20 years, researched induction, and was surprised at how much I like it. One of the biggest differences that I notice is the control. I know you have great control with gas, but you have to "eyeball" the flame. It's not the same each time. With my induction, when I am cooking oatmeal for example, I know what setting I want and how long I need it to cook. I set it, forget it, have my shower and come back to perfectly cooked every time. That didn't happen with my gas cooktop.

I will also mention that I can take a pan off my Miele cooktop and have about 4 minutes to return the pan to the cooktop before it shuts down.

My Bosch works like sherri1048's and I love it. I will never use gas again. The cleanup alone is a nightmare. My KD tells me they almost never put gas into their higher end homes now -- it is all lean, sleek induction in the $1M and above market. In the midrange, about 50/50. But she says a lot of folks insisting on gas want the stove for "the look," and don't actually cook. Dunno if that's true. But I know I will never go back to gas.

I am also an induction convert from gas. I agree about the control/ease of clean up etc discussed above in other posts. The one element that I really like is that I can cook at low temps equally across all the hobs. My former mid range gas cooktop seemed to always be too hot on the larger burners even at the lowest settings. I am sure if I stepped up to a high end gas cooktop or rangetop I may have been able to solve that issue. I have had the wolf induction cooktop for 2 years and am very pleased with it. Even though it has 9 levels plus boost - the levels are NOT linearly spaced but logarithmic There was a post a couple of years ago that I cannot locate from someone at Wolf/Sub Zero that explained their logic behind the 9 levels. I have found the 9 more than adequate and have never thought - gee if I could just do a "half step". I mainly use levels 1-5 once I have my pan heated. I would certainly contact BlueStar and see how they have calibrated their levels. It does look like a nice layout and a good price point. Cannot speak to the quality or longevity.

Hi Cory. We struggled with the same decision for our beach house. We are all avid cooks and initially considered a 36" Bluestar range top. Gas has advantages over induction in a few ways. You can still cook during a power outage, you can see how high or low your flame is and as said before, there is something intrinsically fun about cooking with fire. We chose induction for one reason; it's the beach. Our current gas cooktop throws off a lot of heat and the kitchen gets too warm, even at Thanksgiving. I wish I could tell you already that we're happy with the decision we made, but I won't know until next summer. My suggestion to you is to invest in a portable induction cooktop and give it a whirl or go to some appliance stores and try it there.

The Thermador Freedom wasn't even in the running because we wanted 5 hobs.

I switched from a gas range top three years ago to induction. I feared that I would miss gas so I got a 30" Wolf induction along with one of their gas modules, the wok burner, which I almost never use now. I would love to get a range someday with an induction top, but I haven't found one that has everything I want or need. We also got a combi steam oven, and I love that! I rarely use my larger oven now; the combi steam heats quickly and has three or four modes that I use regularly. So my dream range would have five induction burners, a combi steam oven and either a speed oven or a traditional convection. No gas burners.

The Chair Affair LLC - Instead of a range, why not a wall oven? That way you can have the best cooktop (induction) and the best oven. (I have a Bluestar). The advantages of a wall oven are no bending over and the doors take up less space when open. And no gas fumes. The wall oven I have holds a full size baking sheet, so size isn't an issue. There's a broiler that's only one step short of being a salamander, and a temperature controlled pizza stone. Anyway, something to think about.

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Thanks for the info. I don't know much about BlueStar wall ovens, but I do like the French doors. I'll definitely check them out.