Definitely induction over electric - particularly moving from gas. There are several threads here discussing the advantages of induction over gas. I have had to cook on electric cooktops recently and it drove me nuts with the non-responsiveness of adjusting temps up/down and the mess of cleaning up a ceramic electric top. Cleaning an induction is a breeze. As far as brands - I was advised to stick with Wolf/Bosch/Thermador/Miele I have the Wolf 36" and it compares favorably in price with the samsung and comes with a 3 year warranty if Wolf certified installers do the install. Bosch benchmark is also a popular top. Miele is somewhat pricier but feature rich and great customer service. I suggest finding a showroom with live tops and spend some time test driving. The ones mentioned above all have different layouts so you need to see what you like based on how your cook. I looked at pot recognition - putting a small pot in particular on all the different hobs to see which ones were less picky about pot size. I also looked at how the user interfaces work, and how intuitive they were to use. You need to look at the different features and decide which ones are useful for you. One item to also consider is when you go to boost on a hob what happens to the other hob in that zone. Most tops have multiple zones with one or more hobs in that zone. The wolf for example if you are at power level 10 on the front hob and start a pot on boost on the back hob - the front hob moves to level 8. I moved from 30" to 36" and enjoy the extra space on the top and the extra element. Induction is great at keeping sauces/food warm so you might end up needing that extra hob more than you think.

I also switched from gas to induction and from 30" to 36"

I love induction and will never willingly have anything else. I can't say we "need" 36 inches, but it is nice to have to just spread pans out and to pick the proper size for each. If the extra 6" seriously compromised something else, we'd be fine without it, but our project was new construction, so we had the space.

A 30" is fine, especially if you get the kind with one offset large double ring or similarly large flex zone. Look for either power levels with half steps (1-9 plus stops between numbers, for 17 total levels, plus whatever special buttons) or graduated steps (usually 1-10 without half steps) where the power amounts are closer together in the lower numbers and bigger jumps in the higher ones. I haven't used the latter, but I've been told it's okay. 1-10 without the graduated steps is miserable. You can never find the number you're looking for and end up circling it, up and down and up and down.

Using induction is more like using gas, minus the heat. Coil electric is okay, but doesn't have great lows and highs. Glass top electric is the pits. Glass is an insulator, so it's stupid as well. It doesn't transmit the heat efficiently and has to get hotter to do so, and that fuses spills to it. With induction, the glass doesn't obstruct the transmission of the field to the pot, so it's efficient, and the cooktop only gets hot from waste heat, which isn't much, and for which there are cooling fans, and mostly from the heat of the pot sitting on it. Totally different thing. You can pick up the pot and wipe up the spill while you're cooking and even if you don't, you don't get the same kind of baked on horror.

You will find some differences in your cooking and pan choice as you transition over. My favorite pot on gas is flared so the rising heat alongside the pan, heats the sides. It cooks wonderfully. The smaller base this implies makes it a dud on induction. It works, but it takes longer to heat up because less surface is exposed to the induction field, and more heat has to be passed up through the metal to heat the sides. Instead, my previous least favorite pot on gas, a saucepan with a broad bottom and straight sides, is my go-to on induction. There are other differences as well, though that's the most dramatic. Well, that, and on gas, I'd start a pot to heat then start prepping. With induction, I prep, and when I'm just about done, I turn on the pot.

Go for it. A small percentage like gas better, but no one I've heard of likes radiant electric better, except sometimes for the price.

Bosch and 36”.

Thank you all for your feedback. I will check out bosch. I already considered it but was not sure about customer service availability and reliability.

Thank you again

With respect to hurricane preparedness in FL, I might chose gas over electric.

I live in Florida and have outside gas burners if need be for post hurricane cooking. To be honest - if you don't have power here the last thing you want to do in heat and humidity is cook hot food :-) Just went through that with Irma.

Do look at Bosch- I think their track record is very strong.

Inductuon is a breeze. After a week of using it, you'll have figured out the controls. Just remember to TOUCH, not press, the control. I couldn't figure out why it was so tempermental about turning on until I finally realized what I was doing - lol

If you tend to use 12" skillets or sautes most of the time, you'll like the room a 36" will give you. I can make it work on my 30" and I preferred the extra inches of prep space. I cooked for 5 most nights and didn't regret the size I chose.

Well.. I got the message. I am going for bosch.. you all helped me with that. Thanks.

So what is a good hood to pair with a bosch induction cooktop?

I don't know what would be good. What I can say is that you don't need as strong a hood with induction as you do with gas :-)

You may want to Google" induction hood gardenweb" to find previous discussions here. The search function on GW is not as good as on Google.

I have never used induction, but in looking at different layouts in current models, the 36" layouts are usually far better than the 30" IMO.

andersons21

I have never used induction, but in looking at different layouts in current models, the 36" layouts are usually far better than the 30" IMO.

You'd think so, but I didn't find that to be the case. I went from a 36" radiant to a 30" induction without regret. And, I cooked a lot. I used all 4 hobs on my 30" on very rare occasions. Usually it was the 11" plus 9" and/or one 6". I had plenty of room to work while actually enjoyed myself. Nothing wrong with more room if you have the available space on the sides for prep and landing ;) Just that it should be a deal-breaker.

Man, I miss my appliances!

I was torn between the Bosch benchmark and Samsung chef series, after checking out both carefully, I eventually chose the Samsung which had more features and was more highly rated. So far so good!