I'm so glad I found this thread- great info. We were planning on the Miele induction but discovered it's slightly larger than the 36" cabinet we were going to put it in (it needs a 36 1/8" cutout) and the KD was hesitant to cut the sides of the cabinet. I didn't realize there were other options with the auto shut-off timers, a feature I really liked on the Miele. A couple questions- I just wanted to confirm that the Bosch and Therm do have the timers that shut off the hob when done. When I read the manual, it wasn't clear to me. On the Gagg, how does the knob work? Does it lift off the surface? And does the surface show fingerprints much? No stores in my area have the Gagg on display so I would have to buy it sight unseen. Thanks for any additional info any of you can provide! Ok, we read the manuals and played with the thermador in our studio, and found NO auto shutoff timers on those models, nor were there any listed in the bosch units. As to the gaggenau, the knob works similarly to a computer mouse, you push it towards the burner you want, it selects that burner, turn the knob through the 17 power levels to select intensity. if you want, then select timer and turn the knob to the desired time. note, thermador has only one timer on current models, while the gaggenau allows you to set a timer for each burner, with the auto shutoff for each. since the knob is magnetic, you lift it off to lock out the cooktop (child safety) and to polish the glass when cleaning. like all glass tops, salt, sugar, and old style cast iron or glass pots will scratch, so just be careful with that. i have a glass top in my kitchen that is about 4 years old, and we have 3 small scratches in it. home depot has ceramic glass polish that helps keep it waxed and clean.

Thank you all for great info! Wolf's cold spots in the middle is a little bummer. I wouldn't expect this kind of design on 5 way bridge cooktop. The elements suppose to be made by French company Jaeger Hiflux. Their Crescendo model is quite different from what I have ever seen in induction cooktops. Check this out.. http://www.jaeger-sas.com/#!induction-en/cl7w Anyway since Wolf has no flex in bridge mode then we might take another look into 36" GE Cafe model which was #3 on our list. It has only one no flex bridge mode, but it's much cheaper than Wolf or Miele. That model has many positive reviews including #1 on CR rating (99 out of 100). On both GE & Wolf we like simple, clean interface. GE is better with 17 vs 10 levels on Wolf. On GE minus side is power sharing (not quite sure how much problem is that in real use) and only 1 year warranty vs 3 year on Wolf. However much bigger problem on GE Cafe is SS color. My DH says that specific color is clashing with our choice of Silestone Kensho countertop (light gray). I don't see it as bad but we might loose it on that argument. No question the decision between Miele vs Wolf vs GE Cafe is giving us more headaches than any other appliance.

I second looking at the Bosch benchmark. I liked the controls on the Bosch and the Wolf. They both seemed to do a good job recognizing small pots on large burners. I don’t own either but I have tested displays. I really disliked the Thermador Freedom. Reasons are: 1) I had trouble getting controls to react when I pressed them. The gaggenau version was worse. Even the salesmen had trouble. 2) Limited to four pots/pans. Most 36 inch cooktops allow 5. 3) it is not as free as you expect. If I recall, there are limits to how many items you can put on one side. If you turn up the heat on one item, it turns down heat on the other behind your back. Other cooktops have these restrictions also, but they are explicit. Here they are implicit which makes it very confusing whenthings don’t work or you discover 15 minutes later the water you set to boil is only simmering..... I have seen reports of problems with Miele controls but I have not tested them myself. This was several years ago when the 42 inch first came out. I love the idea of a 42 inch induction cooktop but I also think it’s too risky when only one manfacuturer makes one that size. I found the Bosch flexinduction cooktop the most flexible followed by the Wolf. Caveat: I tested these out several years ago. I don’t know what improvements/changes manufacturers have made since then.

Thank you, thanks to the Covid I was able to be onsite every day during the remodel. It was the most fun I have had in a long time and our contractor was amazing, I even DIY’d a central vacuum system since we brought the entire house down to the studs (taking pictures the entire way...which i would highly recommend to anyone as we were able to locate things, verify subs work, plus prove to inspector items were according to code that were now hidden). anyway, that’s off topic to your question. We gravitate toward peace and quiet and find the fan noise loud; part of the annoyance is the pitch is high so best way I can describe it would be: it’s similar to a leaf blower in pitch/tone with volume level slightly below lowest level of a range hood. And the hotter your oven cooking temperature the longer it remains running to cool down, I haven’t actually timed how long it stays on, but as an example if we bake something at 350 the fan runs for probably 15-20min after shutting down. It doesn’t help that our ovens face the dining room and with an open concept kitchen/living and just cased openings to the dining the sound echos a lot so we are considering options such as acoustic panels (https://www.acoustimac.com/acousticart). This is our first foray into high end appliances and had no idea the ovens had this “feature” so it was a bit disappointing when everything else is so nice...but our food comes out so much better and if you run the vent hood motor on medium or high setting it would totally drown out the oven fan, so there’s that solution i suppose, lol! Seriously, though, if we ever do another house I would seriously consider creating an oven alcove that helps reduce the noise and the direction it is thrown. another interesting discovery is there is a secondary fan that runs 24/7 (at least I assume as I have never not felt it running) that you can not hear and only barely feel a breeze when right up against the oven (comes out just between the upper oven and the control panel). It is cool air so it appears Thermador is vigilant about keeping the electronics from over heating even when off. finally, i forgot to mention how interesting the fridge/freezer column are in that you never hear the compressor kick on like a “run of the mill” fridge, just a fan kicks on very infrequently and only for about 30 seconds then quiet...oh and the ice cubes, love the pyramid shaped cubes and the fact they don’t stick/melt together (unless power goes out), but unfortunately almost an entire drawer is gobbled up by the bucket being centrally located and scoop off to one side for easy retrieval...but again we only have the 18” freezer column.