A lot of bad info in recent comments... "Speed oven is a type of microwave." No. A speed oven is not at a microwave of any sort. Speed ovens are often combined with a microwave but the speed oven is totally different technology, usually light. Combi Speed/MW have an advantage in being able to use both technologies to produce food that is enjoyable to eat and retains nutritional value. "Microwaves give off radiation, destroys nutrients in food." No. From a purely nutritional standpoint cooking in a microwave is extremely good and preserves nutrients better than most forms of cooking. There are dozens or hundreds of studies on this that you can find online. That said, I don't like the taste and texture of microwaved food. For veggies steaming is nearly equally as good as microwave from a nutritional standpoint but produces more enjoyable food to eat. I also love to roast veggies but roasting does reduce the nutritional value significantly more than steam or MW. ---- From an overall health standpoint, ANY harm from a microwave (and we still don't know if there is or not) is likely far less than that from traditional cooking (induction, gas or electric coil) with a poor range exhaust hood that results in VOC's and Carcinogens spread throughout your house.

@Karen Lee - It's a blessing and a curse. I think of all these things because I usually do a deep dive, and I am a decorator. I notice a lot of little things that probably wouldn't bother anyone but me. I know that Viking had an older model that had black glass and I think that one did have a larger burner. I believe it's been discontinued, but there could be some hanging around. I have not seen that in person in any of the stores I have visited, and I live an hour outside of NYC. The Bluestar also looked nice and did have a large burner. I don't know if that is something you would consider. It also has a bridge function. Retails around $3500. Bluestar has a large following when it comes to their ranges and is made in the USA. I did see this in person and it looked very nice and well made. Could be worth a look if you can find one. The problem I am having with the Viking is the same as you are having. Because of the configuration, the large pot is going to hang over the other burners and also in the front or back. I also had read/heard about some problems with Viking in general (mostly coming from the refrigerators) but I think those are being worked out. It was so bad a few years ago, several of my local stores took them off the floor and stopped selling Viking. They are since back, so hopefully those problems have been fixed. I decided I'm going with Subzero/Wolf for my refrigerator and wall ovens. I also like Wolf's induction, but really wanted the knobs, so I'm leaving $1000 on the table because of that. If I had to get an induction cooktop without the knobs, I would go with the Wolf. It was the easiest to use of all the others I tried. Honestly, this choice is driving me crazy.

Since folks occasionally come across this thread, perhaps it's time for a 2023 update. Bosch Bosch has released a new "Pro" model in their 800 series line. The 800 Series Induction freestanding range (model number HIS8055U has front control knobs, but a rather small oven at 3.9 CuFt. While it does check my boxes for individual burner controls, preferably knobs, there's a few things to note: Oven size is rather small No bridge burner While Bosch themselves don't list out the wattage of each burner, it is a 40A circuit, so it may be a little less power than the Miele, Wolf or Fulgor Milano And this is a rumor and something I heard on a few appliance review videos, but unable to confirm: This product is the Smeg cooktop. If so, the burner power would be two burners at 3,000 W and two at 1,400 W. Which is indeed quite a bit less than the other top choices I had listed in the original post So overall it may look great, has front control knobs for each individual burner, but it may not have the power and/or reliability of the Bosch Benchmark slide-in induction range. Thermador They have been known for their "Freedom Induction Cooktop", especially in the 36" version. There are no truly dedicated burners, but a large "flex zone" on both the left and right side that are each powered by two separate inductors. You can use each zone as two individual burners or as one large cooking zone. You can slide pots and pans around over the entire zone and with several different programming options, it will remember your setting and transfer it to wherever you move the pan. Or you can set it to be in incrementally lower power settings front to back. So it can be on 9 at the front, 7 in the middle, 5 further back, etc.... Sear and just slide it back to lower the power setting. Extremely high tech and super impressive. So now Thermador has released this in a 30" induction range. The Thermador Liberty® Induction Professional Range 30'' Pro Harmony® (that's a mouthful) with model number PRI30LBHU is a sleek looking cooking range, with an impressively capable induction cooktop. What stood out to me: The Liberty or Freedom cooktop is phenomenally flexible, powerful and high tech. A little overwhelmingly high-tech even However, in a 30" range, it seems a little small. While the entire glass cooktop is 22 1/2" deep, a large section in the front is taken up by the controls. Based on some initial measurements, that means the flex zone cooking surface is only about 15 1/2" to 16" deep. I have to find one in person to confirm that, but based on images and scale, that's it came out to. Sounds awfully small to me And, for me, the biggest sticking point is the lack of individual burner control. On the 36" version there is a very sleek looking control panel that is very intuitive with a slider control. On the 30" version, it looks very much like the Bosch controls and hence not my personal favorite. But it may work for you All that being said, it's probably been the most exciting release in the 30" induction range world for the last year. The images attached are the size of the Thermador cooktop and the comparison the controls of the 30" Liberty range vs the 36" Freedom cooktop Other updates Dacor Has completely abandoned and discontinued the 30" induction range Fisher & Paykel Someone did point out that DCS sold the household appliance brand F&P to Haier. Which is a Chinese conglomerate that owns GE Appliances, Hoover, Hotpoint, Sanyo and a few other brands. I have not necessarily heard anything bad about F&P and know several folks have purchased F&P 9 series Classic models since they come in different colors to match your desired interior Fulgor Milano They seem to be more prevalent now than they were when I wrote the original article. And many people are quite impressed and happy with the quality. One re-occurring comment I see is that the oven seems to indicate that the preheat is complete, while the temperature is not fully distributed throughout the oven cavity yet. Especially in simple bake mode. The workaround seems to be to preheat with a convection mode to ensure the entire oven cavity is heated through and then switch back to the preferred baking mode. A bit of a workaround, but it that's the only complaint, I think it remains a strong top contender GE Cafe and Profile No major updates Miele Likewise no significant updates. The induction range is still on version 3 and remains equally impressive as it was when I posted the original article. Wolf Only has released a style update with a different oven door handle. Wait times seem to have gone down, but no feature or other technical updates As far as I know those are the updates I was able to find, so I hope this helps those continuing to shop around

@opaone, well the more I read and visit, the more I learn. I am now considering the BlueStar. They are really a good looking range (not that that is my priority) and the price point is less than I realized. I looked more closely at the open burner and cleaning situation, and I can see how it's an apples and oranges thing compared to a sealed burner. Is there .learning curve on cooking on a BS? I am no professional chef, but I do like to cook and use different techniques. PS the sales guy also showed us a Fulgor Milano, which I thought looked fabulous. But I cannot find enough objective info on them and reliability to feel comfortable getting one.