On the point of durability/reliability as a factor: Athough this is good point to consider, I'm not sure how much we can really say about the Bosch slide-in gas range being or not being more long lived than the freestanding Electrolux induction, nor how much longer lived it might be. The hope is that a gas range without much in the way of electronics for the burners will have less to fail and therefore last longer. Still, the big uncertainty is the result of of the prevalence of electronic control systems in all kinds of major brand ranges. All seem prone to some early failure and to reflect susceptibility to issues with high-heat self cleaning cycles. I have to say, that a lot of the discussion that I've seen here about longevity of gas versus induction has been about gas ranges that are premium-priced pro-style ranges and re-conditioned vintage ranges rather than major brand gas stoves. I sometimes see citations to statistics garnered and reported by the National Assocation of Home Builders and Consumer Reports which were indicating 11 year lives for electric ranges and 13 year lives for gas ranges. Turned out, though, that those statistics were about replacement rates rather than appliance life expectancies. Plenty of folks remodel and replace functional ranges for something they regard (or hope) will be better. On the comments, "I can get a slide-in model that I like and I prefer the appearance over a freestanding" and "There is no slide in induction range that I like not to mention the price differential." Choosing any stove is inevitably choosing a mix of compromises of design, engineering, and budget. Induction burners are just one of numbers of factors to consider. How you weight that factor along with all the other considerations may be different than how I or most others else here might weight our own preferences, priorities and/or prejudices when choosing a stove. My own aesthetic preferences run to old-fashioned appliance white with a tolerance for stainless steel and general distaste for black casings. Yours are the opposite. My preferences are not "better." They are just what I prefer. So, I say, have confidence in your own priorities and your own budget. When you are paying as much for a stove as these cost, aesthetics are a valid consideration. Re the comment: "Even more burner/hob control than gas - seems like it would be better at lower heat levels such as simmering." Another set of tradeoffs rather than clear choices of one being intrinsically better than another. I'm not sure that that there is necessarily better low heat "control" with the Elux freestanding. There might be, might not be for you. Depends on what and how you cook, what you cook with, and what your preferences are. While the Elux burners have more low-end stepping than on most induction ranges, the settings are still digitally stepped. The Bosch burners have "analog" adjustments which are theoretically infinite. Do we really need infinite adjustability? Some of us want it. Others of us find there are enough steps in digital controls for what and how they cook. There are a number of OTOH tradeoffs beyond this. With a pan that is matched with burner size, an electric burner will deliver heat more evenly spread across the base of a pan. Spread is one thing. Steadiness is another. Depending on how the power cycling works, the heat may or may not be steady. With induction burners, you will have a small circle in the center of the toroidal induction field which is outside the field and where you depend on the pan construction to spread the heat. On the induction burners on most ranges, including the Elux you are considering, heat cycling is very even and steady, so you won't see power cycling in pan liquids. (Not so much applicable to some Whirlpool ranges and cooktops which reportedly have cruder power cycling rather like that on many portable induction cookers). With the Bosch gas burners being capped rings, you also get a toroidal effect in heat delivery and it can be more pronounced than with induction at very low heat levels. Again, a pan's construction may spread the low heat sufficiently evenly to the edges and to the center. Otherwise, when you put a pan on a small gas burner and turn the heat way down, you may find the low flame concentrates the heat towards a small area in around center. No big deal for simmering liquids but maybe a problem with things like delicate thickened sauces or chocolate where having the flame concentrated towards the center. Depending on your pan's construction and how you want the heat controlled, you might or might-not find yourself wanting a flame tamer plate. Another OTOH is that the Elux digital control make it very easy to exactly repeat heat levels when you figure out the ones you want to use. With gas, you have to eyeball it every time. At least I do with the gas that gets delivered in my town. (We are near production fields but get last choice, so the quality varies.) This is why I prefer my induction burner for my pressure cookers. Are any of these big problems? Maybe. Maybe not. They seem to have been concerns for some posters here. The concerns might or might not matter for your own cooking and interests.

For ovens, I feel the difference between electric and gas is overrated. Yes, they behave a little differently. But in practice, it really doesn't matter much. If you do want a great oven though, you could consider getting an additional combination steam wall oven. The Miele model gets a lot of love here, but it's $$$ For cook surface, the consensus is that you should get induction or a high-end gas stove (e.g. Bluestar RNB). The former is probably easier for many people, and it makes venting requirements less complicated. But the later has unique advantages if you do a lot of stir frying and would love the ability to use a round-bottom wok. It's really a difference of personal cooking style, and ultimately you won't go wrong with either option. Where you will go wrong is, when you get a radiant electric (even glass top) or if you get a builder-grade gas stove.

I'm not sure I followed the explanation you received from the GE rep. Or maybe the rep was giving you an engineer's explanation of "Pulse Width Modulation." PWM is a way of using power in bursts to effect energy transfer equivalent to turning a traditional electric or gas burner up or down. It is kind of like averaging. You cycle the power on and off slowly to simulate lower energy transfer. Cycle it faster and with longer pulses, you get more energy transfer and the effect of turning up the power or gas on a traditional hob. That's how most microwaves work, btw. What we're talking about is how much energy gets transmitted into the cooking vessel. The PWM is just a way of governing the amount of energy being applied to the pan. The net effect is the same as turning power or gas up and down. Maybe somebody else can better explain the theory of the what the rep suggested? On your question about cookware to buy, let me suggest try a new post with links to the cooking and cookware forums here where you can get more direct responses. Also, rather than have me give a cookware 101 lecture (pontificate?), I suggest you try a site like Serious Eats which already has a pretty good discussion of "essential cookware." (Click on the highlght to go to the article.) I think Cook's Illustrated also may have one if you have access to their site. My responses to your specific cookware questions are: 1. I certainly would and do mix pan from different brands and lines. Most folks here would advise you to do so. Nothing necessarily wrong with buying sets, of course, but you may do better by picking and choosing. 2. I have only two Demeyere pans, both labeled as "Demeyere 7 TripleInduc.." Bought them on clearance from the Zwilling website you noted above for the plancha. One of my pans is a ten-inch frying pan. The other is the 21"x13" big brother of the plancha/teppanyaki/griddle you linked above. 3. I have both a roasting pan and a dutch oven. Frankly, if I had neither one, I'd look at the recommendations on Cook's Illustrated and Serious eats for decent dutch ovens and then I would also get a good , sturdy half sheet pan (it is a baking sheet with a short raised rim around the outside.) I'd use the baking sheet to impersonate a roasting pan by plonking in a cooling rack and setting the food on that. Also, if you get that plancha/griddle/teppanyaki, it can do a bang-up job as a shallow roasting pan, too. These days, I use my big roasting pan mainly for very big and juicy birds. YMMV. 4. Re "straight-sided" versus slope-side skillets, there is no "must" for induction. Get the slope-sided pan that you think you will like using better.

I have to say, I grew up with a stove that had no counter on one side and no one was ever burned due to reaching up to it. If you have children that would be likely to put their hands up on the stovetop, though, consider induction: the pans get hot, but the burner itself does not.