Jkom - that T-fal red-dot pan is still being made. T-fal calls it a "Thermo-Spot" now, which I guess sounds more "professional", but it's the same red dot. I have one, just bought recently. The red dot doesn't seem to do much, but the pan is nice and slippery, and the price is great. In any case, all non-stick becomes "stick" after a while, so I'd rather not spend a lot. I made that mistake once, buying a $100 All-Clad non-stick pan, and having it lose its non-stick ability in about a year, so, lesson learned. Having said that, I also have a Scan Pan, and I like its weight better than the T-fal, but didn't want to spend as much as the Scan Pan for my second non-stick. I only have two non-stick pans, which are fry pans, which are all I need for eggs, and fish filets. I use stainless, cast iron or LC for all my other cooking. The OP asked for more "green" pans, but honestly, the reviews aren't so great for them, and I am not sure how truly "green" they are. I think it may be a gimmick. I recommend the OP try the Le Creuset enameled cast iron. It won't be as non-stick as teflon, but will still have non-stick properties, especially if you bring it to the right temperature, and add some butter or oil. You will have to add some butter or oil, but not nearly as much as if you were using stainless. While LC is expensive, you can find great bargains at LC outlets, which I have done, saving 20%-35%, and have been very pleased with my purchases. Plus, if you are concerned with being green, a LC will last a lifetime, while a non-stick pan--"green" or not--will last some years and have to be thrown away. T-Fal Nonstick Thermo-Spot Pan Le Creuset enameled skillet at Amazon 11-3/4 inch but they come in smaller sizes List of Le Creuset Outlet Stores This post was edited by shannonplus2 on Sun, Mar 17, 13 at 13:35

I got my first two cast iron pans! One is 10 inches, the other one 6 inches. Both are clearly marked old Wagner, in great condition, flat, smooth and well seasoned. John, I know I know, I should not buy a small one, but it is so cute. I talked myself to buy it with a "vision" of using it to cook morel mushrooms with butter. I could not find one single cast iron pan in two Goodwill stores, so I went antique mall shopping. Luckily with the help from two customers, both are cast iron cookware collectors, I was able to weed out a few Griswold and Wagner pieces. The price I paid for the two pans is very reasonable, especially considering the time I saved from shopping at garage sales, and money saved from paying hefty shipping charge if buying from eBay. I used both pans cooked dinner tonight. When I saw tiny water beads jumping on the pan, I knew it was a good sign. The dinner turned out so good. It almost makes me believe I am a good cook. I love my pans! All of you are so right! Thank you again for recommending cast Iron pan.

I do not have this unit and am not recalling seeing much about this 36" Viking model here in the last couple of years since this thread was active. You might have better luck attracting responses from current owners and users here if you started a thread of your own and put the model number in your thread title. As for using your large LC pans, I'm not sure I know what you are asking. Have you used induction before? If not, maybe you are not quite understanding how to ask the questions. Let me take a stab at what you might be asking. * Are you asking if the full size Viking induction cooktops like this one have the same problem recognizing LC pans that that the old Viking single-burner portable induction cooktop units (PICs) once had back in the previous decade? The answer to that is that the full size cooktops and the Viking induction ranges have never had that problem. The problem was limited to those old and long discontinued PIC models. * Or, are you asking if there will be a problem operating a burner with a pan larger than a particular induction hob space. Say, your LC pans have 12" diameter bases overtop the 9" square hob spaces of the Viking cooktop? The answer is that your LC pans will all work, but may intrude sufficiently into the adjoining hob spaces that the LC pans don't leave enough space for pans on the other three burners. For example, maybe you want to use a couple of 12" LC frypans --- one on the front right hob and another on the left front hob --- and then want to plant a large LC dutch oven on the middle hob in the back. So, how big are the pans you want to use at the same time on the other three burners? For that matter, how often do you figure you will be using all six burners at the same time and need to be running two or three 12" diameter (or larger) LC pans? Frankly, the best thing to do to find out how the cooktop will or will not work is to take your array of pans to a dealer and see if and how they all fit. If you can't find a showroom example, try using the dimensions shown on the installation instructions to draw a full scale layout with a sharpie or magic marker on a piece of newspaper. * Or, are you asking if a nine-inch square induction hob will evenly heat the entire base of a large LC pot or pan with, say, a 12" diameter (or larger) base. The answer is that you will have the same behavior with LC pans that you will have with any cast iron pan on any burner (gas, electric, or induction). IOW, no problem with braises, soups and stews, where you have liquid to even out the heat, but you will need lengthy pre-heating to get an even spread of heat across any cast-iron base when you want perfectly uniform heating as for searing or browning out to the edges of the base. This is a property of all cast iron, not just LC. If the VIking cooktop had some burners with larger diameter induction fields (large enough to encompass the entire base of your big LC pans) the cast iron would still heat unevenly. Preheating to evenness might take a bit less time with the larger burner, but it still will take quite a while. That's just the nature of cast iron cookware. FWIW, Cook's Illustrated has been recommending that you put cast iron pans in a hot oven for a half hour or longer to preheat CI skillets for stovetop searing like cooking steaks. Then you run the stovetop at lesser heat which is sufficient to maintian the searing temps for the cooking session. Again, the preheating and unevenness will be no big deal for tasks like braising, boiling water, deep fat frying, stocks, soups and stews with a lot of liquid. Probably not a problem, either, for making a very long simmered tomatoey ragu or long-cooking of beans. But where you will need workarounds will be for stir fries or browning where you need every square inch of base surface to be perfectly evenly heated for the meat or bacon or veggies or whatever that you want to brown. Again, you would need the same workarounds with any stove where the burners are not sized for large pans, whether gas or regular electric burners as well as induction.

Wow, you've had almost exactly the experience we did with Samsung and we also switched to the same Electrolux. We had three replacement Samsungs (same model as yours) as various problems could not be either properly diagnosed or fixed over a three year period (all under warranty). The last one had the top explode and at that point we took Samsung to court. They paid and we bought the Electrolux which has been great. Only relatively minor complaints about the Electrolux which by the way has been totally reliable. I'd prefer to be able to directly choose a heat setting rather than turning on to medium and then going up or down. I love the large burner at right front but the right rear is too small to use on anything but a six inch pan when a 12" pan is on the front. Overall we are very happy with the Electrolux. We're going to replace it but only because during a kitchen remodel we opted for a 36" range and nobody makes a 36" so will move to gas. Overall though I'd give 5 stars to our Electrolux experience and about 2 stars to Samsung.