Swweeeeet. I was told the Gaggenau version probably wasn't going to make it to the states. This is pretty awesome news! Here is a link that might be useful: Thermador Induction Article From Engadget

p111og writes: "The three ball feet is exactly what Demeyere use for their induction wok, and what the Gaggenau wok ring does. I'm sure your pans work on the same principle. What kind of pans are they? I've never seen any like that except for the D wok. The excitation goes up the feet into the sides and spreads both directions from there, instead of all having to spread up from the bottom. The bottom of the bowl is close enough to heat on its own, as well." Our two pots with the three feet each are Nambutetsu (cast iron of a type made exclusively in the region near Morioka, Japan that formerly was ruled by the Nambu clan); ours were made by Iwachu. The feet are not ball-shaped, but are more or less triangular. The magnetic field of the induction cooktop interacts with the bowl-shaped pot directly; no significant portion of the magnetic field gets transmitted through the feet. I am sure that the pots would heat as evenly if the feet were made of wood or some other nonmagnetic material as they do with the cast iron feet. The link below shows a pot identical to one of the two pots to which I alluded. (We purchased ours in Japan, but the product is the same.) Nambutetsu -- from any of the many casters -- is, and has been for 400 years, the best cast iron cookware in the world. There are many small artisan casters of Nambutetsu (Iwachu, however, is more industrial in size), and several of the artisan makers are officially designated by the government of Japan as "living national treasures." Here is a link that might be useful: So-called tempura pot from Iwachu

When I looked at both of these, I was really drawn to the Thermador b/c it had a lot of the nice interface options that also exist with Gaggenau and it's got higher wattage than Gaggenau. However, I ended up with the Gagg b/c I wanted it flush mounted in the counter, and you can't flush mount any of the Thermador induction cooktops. Mine hasn't been installed yet, so I can't speak to cooking quality. I tried both of these out at a showroom, and they both cooked wonderfully -- I didn't notice any real difference there (not surprising b/c they're both part of the same parent company, so I'd suspect the guts are the same or very similar). One other thing to realize with both of these cooktops is that they're split left to right -- in other words, you can't have a pan span the midline of the cooktop. So you can have odd size pans, but they need to be on the right side or the left side.

If you are OK with the additional cleaning required for not going larger on the hood, that’s a personal lifestyle decision. A home kitchen doesn’t produce the same amount of effluent on a continual basis that a restaurant does. Your home kitchen might take two weeks to produce as much grease and steam to clean as a restaurant kitchen would produce in a day. It depends on what you cook, and how frequently, as well as the BTU of the burners doing the cooking. More always requires more. But make no mistake that going the same size hood on ventilation does increase your cleaning needs. It’s unavoidable. It’s physics. Grease and time is the enemy for modern cabinet finishes, even conversion varnishes. That is why finishes degrade first around handles. It’s the hand oils making contact with the cabinet surfaces. Scrubbing with water and Murphy’s isn’t the answer to that either. Yes, you need to clean and degrease the kitchen surfaces. But water and chemicals are also the enemy of cabinet finishes. Murphy’s needs to have a world wide ban. It’s gummed up more floors and cabinets than the grease deposits have. Anything oil based needs to be banned from your home. A simple gentle degreasing detergent like Dawn with clean white rags should do the job if you do it frequently enough. ALWAYS rinse detergents! Cleaning product residues and excessive water are also bad for your cabinets. Grease hardens into a sticky shell that’s virtually unremovable if cleaning isn’t done frequently enough. That’s how your cast iron pan gets seasoned. You want that in a skillet. Not on your cabinet doors next to the range. Be mindful of ALL of the downstream consequences of even “minor” kitchen design decisions. They aren’t so minor. They impact your behavior and enjoyment of your space for a very long time. Sometimes it’s difficult to even gather all of the information needed to understand the consequences of seeming to you trivial choices. Sometimes you don’t know enough to even know what to ask. It’s always more complex than you think when dealing with codes, background science, and human behavior. It’s always best to enlist people with more experience and knowledge to help you with the hundreds of decisions like this.