We love this range.... & would buy it again! As with every new appliance, there are new things to become familiar with.... the induction cooktop is very straight-forward (and we had used an induction plate prior to buying this range, so induction wasn't a new concept to us), but the oven seems to maintain more humidity than my old one, but I have learned to use convection more since I last posted... so for things that i want a drier or crisper result, I use the convection option, or open the door a bit to let the extra moisture/steam out. I haven't found it takes noticeably longer to preheat than my old self-cleaning oven, but I see others have complained of this. The oven interior is slightly smaller than my old one, but I've gotten used to that, too, now. I recently used the bread-proof setting which worked like a charm. If I had a wish list, I would put a small hob at the front, since I use the small hobs a lot, and if you are stirring or tending the pot, it is nice not to have to reach back quite so far for an extended period of time. There weren't many choices available in my region when I bought this range. It was either this one or a GE cafe induction range. I'm sure there are more to choose from now, but I'm better with fewer choices, otherwise I'd never be able to make up my mind! Wait for the big sales if you can... stores sells these for $1000 - $1500 off the regular price, & I've seen these big appliance sales more than once each year.

Well, I am getting a new range delivered tomorrow. Tech that was here was on the phone the whole time with someone else -- he really didn't have a clue. Finally, he said they want him to start swapping out computer boards and it will take a minimum of 2 1/2 hours. I said "no way -- I want a new range." Went up to Sears and told my saleman -- he said no problem. I tried hard to get them to throw in installation ($149) -- it took us about two hours connect and level the range. The most they would do is split it with us so we said no thanks. I really think it is a hassle to get a new range at this point but I don't want to start off with one that is defective. beachlilly -- actually, I meant do you lockout the cooktop and oven when you are cleaning the control panel? If you don't it beeps at you and tries to start the oven because the controls are so sensitive.

I personally have never used the self clean feature. I'm too worried about the heat from that messing up the electronics (that's what people thought several years ago when I got mine; not sure if opinions have changed). I generally use some kind of pan to catch drips, so only rarely have things drip onto the oven floor, and for things like roasted chicken that may spatter grease all over, it seems to just bake off over the next times I'm using my oven. So, I can't tell you how the self clean works, but I can tell you that I haven't really ever felt the need for it, either.

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.