Just an FYI for those buying induction for the first time: you may need new cookware. I’ve only ever had induction once and everything took FOREVER to cook/boil when we first started using it. It was so frustrating I did a bunch of research and learned that induction only works well if your cookware has a perfectly flat bottom so the full pan bottom is in contact with the burner. Went to bed bath and beyond and started taking pans out of all the boxes and placing them on the floor to see if they fully made contact. It was surprising how few did! Finally bought the flattest bottomed pans I could find. Problem solved after that. Note this was in 2009-2010 so maybe newer models have resolved this issue. But I have no interested in trying again - gas for me all the way. Hated cleaning it (thought it would so easy but mine wasn’t) and even though I figured out the pan issue I always felt it wasn’t as good as gas.

@lynne3450 Which one did you ultimately get? If you go t the cafe, would you mind sharing your setup, I am curious as to how it looks in a non-showroom kitchen. I think the price difference is because of the material used and smaller production run. @katj461 There is a comprehensive thread on induction range if you search "induction range" that briefly talks about them. I've heard the kitchenaid takes 30 minutes to preheat because of the large oven size and has a weird control.

In terms of seeing appliances in person, I think it really depends because there are some aspects of functionality that really should be viewed in person. I had no particular need to see my Bosch dishwasher in person since I knew what it was going to be like based on the on line descriptions. When I bought my first *real* dishwasher years ago I did want to see dishwashers in person so that I had a better sense of what the different options were like. I have the Bosch Benchmark side opening oven which I really like. I did want to see that in person but I would have been fine to order it on-line. However I was glad to have found it at a place near me and I could check out the telescoping rack. Refrigerators were a completely different issue as there are some many possible variations in terms of how the interior space could be used and refrigerators were actually the most difficult appliance for me to select as all of the others were easy to nail down because they had very specific features within my budget - e.g. Bosch side opening wall oven; Bosch induction cooktop with burner configuration as well as controls that didn't make you cycle through. So I went to view refrigerators repeatedly in person to to get a sense of what it would be like to actually use specific refrigerators. Luckily I was able to find a refrigerator (KA) which had the features I wanted available in person to look at and compare with a good number of other refrigerators. Looking at refrigerators on-line solely (in my experience) is not sufficient. I am really happy with my Bosch Benchmark side opening oven. However when I was researching appliances there seemed to be advice that getting a double oven was not necessarily the wisest choice since failure of one might mean both of the ovens would need to be replaced. I have a microwave drawer as I have limited space but if I had a large kitchen with room for two ovens I would probably go with a second oven that had different functionality like a steam oven.

I'm not finding the long threads from a couple of years ago on the Cafe induction ranges where the OP's question was addressed. Hopefully, we will hear from current owners of the ranges. In the meantime, my recollection is that the Cafe ranges' knob controls are more or less infinitely variable and without digital read outs. (IIRC, the Viking induction ranges are the other residential induction ranges with seemingly infinitely variable burner controls and also lack digital readouts.) On the one floor-model Cafe induction range that I saw in person a year or two ago, the knobs had no perceptible detents. At least, none that I could feel when I twisted the knobs on a stove that was not connected to power.. So, no more "tactile feel" than with gas ranges and old-style electric ranges with full-turn knobs. There is an optional accessory called a "Precision Cooking Probe" which is an in-pot thermo probe that communicates via Bluetooth with the range to try to maintain +/- 1° in the ingredients in one pan over one burner. (Can't recall if that was one burner at a time or that only 1 burner could be designated to work wth a "precision cooking probe." Searching through a current manual/guide for a Cafe range might clear that up.) The probe only works for temps between 85°F and 200°F, however. So, no help with deep-frying or sugar-melting/candymaking tasks. ETA -- just found a Cafe manual which indicates that the Cafe ranges' burners are also able to communicate with the Hestan "Cue" pans, for whatever that ability might be worth to you.