larsi, I'm sorry, I didn't think to check back on this thread and I did not see your question. I can't see how to send you a PM, so I'll answer here and hope that you see it. To activate the auto-shutoff on a Miele burner, touch the timer button (the one that looks like a stopwatch) TWICE...you will see that a red dot flashes next to the burner that is 'on'. If you have more than one burner on, then keep tapping the timer till the red dot lights up next to the burner you want to set. Then set the timer. You don't have to do anything else, once it's set, it's set. If you want to also set the "regular timer" you can do that as well. It will not clear the original timer setting. If you do want to clear the timer altogether for a burner, push both the + and - buttons simultaneously. Cleanup on this cooktop is a blast, isn't it? I also use microfiber--it does a stellar job of shining things up. Hope this helps, Cj

Maybe. Varies by model and maker's instructions. Some manual/user guides allow burner spanning. Some prohibit it. Some do not mention it (in which case, spanning is probably okay.) No fixed rule so can't answer in the abstract.

My two sided pans with the lips do heat up on the induction, but the instructions say so clearly not to use them that I worry that hot air could build up underneath and crack the glass. Or it might just be that the hot air builds up and becomes a burn safety issue. I don't know, but it's a legitimate concern. There are plenty of grill pans and some griddles that are one sided only and don't have the lip that are great for induction. There are also a lot of large round ones on the market now, which are ideal for making the most of the large elements.

To amplify on what Kas just said: how big are your "big pots of boiling water for pasta and sauce?" Are we talking tall, skinny stockpots (say 9 or 10 inch diameter) or fatter, 13" or 14" kettles that also can be used for water-bath canning? How many 15" skillets will you need to use at the same time with how many of the large stockpots? Will the sauces made in your big stockpots be needing perfectly even heat across the base of the pan (e.g.,as with a very thick ragu/gravy) or will the consistencies be liquid enough that you would be okay cooking them on, say, an 8" coil burner? Rule of thumb is that induction cooktops are assumed to heat fairly evenly out to about 1" larger in pot-base-diameter than the burner size. (And note that it is the diameter of the pot's base that matters for induction heating, not the usually larger nominal width across the top. If you just want to separate one big stockpot from one big skillet, then you need to avoid having the big burner centered in the cooktop. AFAIK, Wolf's CI365 and Electrolux/Frigidaire models are the only currently available 36" induction cooktops which put a large burner at one end leaving you enough space to put another big pot at the other end, albeit over a 7" or 8" diameter burner which might top out at 2500 watts or might boost up to about 3000 watts. That includes the Elux cited by Kas. A row of single or double-burner drop in Cookteks could be interesting but likely a budget buster and also potentially problematic for evenly heating the bases of those 15" skillets. If cast iron, those skillets will likely have a 13" or 14" base. If steel based, then likely to have a 12" to 13" base. The Cooktek drop-in (and countertop) units have 8.5" induction coils. In terms of the Wolf being able to "handle" a 15" skillet, are you asking about evenness of heating across the base? IIRC, the Wolf CI365 has a 10" burner which potentially would be better than the Cookteks but still would not heat evenly all the way to the edges. The outer ring won't be cold but maybe 150°F less hot than the rest of the pan. Depends on the pan construction. Could be more. That basically means you have to stir your stir-frying and sautes. YMMV on whether that would be a big deal. If you live near a Wolf dealer, I'd suggest you take your 15" skillet to the Wolf showroom for a demo to see how well or not-so-well the heat spreads. The Electrolux Icon has, I believe, an 11" diameter large burner, so theoretically better unless Electrolux has "rounded" up the size of the burner for the spec sheets.. Maybe somebody here will have had experience with very big skillets and the Elux "big" burner? Maybe you could find a demo? Alternatively, I suppose you could get a 30" Bosch 500 (with an 11" big burner) or one the new GE models with the 11" burner on one end, and combine it with a single 3500 watt Cooktek drop-in burner next to it for somewhat higher speed boiling for a large stockpot.