Having modules costs more but it doesn't have to be a sacrifice in function unless you're comparing to more powerful units. I missed answering the sear question above, but a hot pan is a hot pan. It doesn't make sense that induction would boil faster but not sear well. In order to get a good sear, you need to have a pan that remains above 300 degrees after you put your cool meat in it--that is, that starts enough above 300 that the cooling from the meat doesn't reduce the pan below sear temperature. The trick is to have your meat dry so that it caramelizes right away (i.e., sears). It also helps to have a larger or denser pan, so that the mass of the pan has a chance against the mass of the meat. Unless, that is, you mean "char". I'm just learning that that's what some people mean when they say "sear". Searing makes the meat caramelized and brown. It does not actually "seal in the juices", though that is a phrase that you hear regularly. It actually dries out the surface that is being seared, which is what makes the interior seem juicy by comparison. The surface sugars transform and become firm, yummy and appealing. Charring is where the outside blackens, and carbonizes. Some people adore the crusty, crunchy char flavor, even though it is essentially brunt. I don't char, but have no trouble searing on induction. The assertion that the origin of the heat matters is absurd, though, as Deeageaux mentioned, there are some gas ranges/rangetops available for residential use that have greater thermal output than is available on most induction. That same thermal output is what makes your water boil. The efficiency of induction probably adds to the water boiling time, but it's usually power boost (throwing extra power at a single element for ten minutes) that creates the magic instaboil whizzbang demonstrations. According to the conversion on The Induction Site, 3000W induction is equivalent to approximately 21,500 BTU. 4000W is equivalent to over 28K BTU. Usually, on residential induction units, you only find 4000W as a rating on a large double ring with boost. You have to have a large enough pan to trigger the outer ring, and even though they call it 4000W, I think that may be additive, and I don't know enough physics to know if the combined number is really equivalent to having a single ring that's 4000W. It still develops plenty of heat, though. The thing to remember, is that the combination you've specified doesn't have nearly the output of one of the gas ranges that Deeageaux mentioned. That's where you get that amount of output on all burners, and all of them are large enough for the largest pots. The Wolf modules each have medium hob and a small one, with associated power. In this case, the larger induction element has considerably more available power on boost, but quite a bit less on standard, than the larger burner on the Wolf gas. You can't really measure cooking performance by comparing numbers however. You can sear on an old fashioned residential range. You just might have to employ more tricks. What I can say, is that the Wolf two element modules will give you good, but not blast furnace, power. The Miele 15" wok burner gives you as much BTU as I've seen for residential use. The 12" is plenty. But the 12" double gas has significantly less power than the Wolf. The Wolf multi-function (wok) is about equivalent to the 12" Miele. The two burner Gaggenau 15" gas are equal output, about halfway between the two Wolf. The 12" Gaggenau gas is similar to the 12" Miele with fairly low power output (one at standard residential outbut, one significantly less). The Gaggenau 15" induction has a goodly medium element and a lesser, small one. The Gaggenau 15" single induction has a double ring, which is a medium inside of a large. It can only take one pot at a time. If you don't need the larger ring, it isn't all that much added power, but it does have the wok attachment. The 15" Gaggenaus have the knobs on the front of the cabinet, which means they don't play well with others. As I said, I have both gas and induction, for similar reasons that you state. I almost never choose to use gas over induction unless I'm toasting. My induction elements are more powerful than my gas ones, so I use them when I sear rather than going for the gas. Most people with griddles on their ranges here report that they'd be fine with a stovetop griddle. This is a bit problematic with the Wolf gas because of the different sized, offset burners. You'd be better off with two pans. If you have a large induction element you can get a round griddle for it. Theoretically you can span two induction elements with a long griddle if you're careful (you don't want to overheat the unit), but you'll still have the differing heat issue. If you can get to a Miele Gallery, and a Gaggenau installation (e.g., Purcell Murray in California) and try these out, you'll have a better idea of what you're getting, but having thought it through in detail, above, I'm getting the feeling that Deeageaux had the right of it when he referred you to a top power rangetop, like Bluestar or Capital, with griddle. Or do something like Gizmonike did, which is a gas range with a Gaggenau single induction on one side and teppanyaki on the other.

Heating aluminum foil in an induction field occurs because the foil has electrical conductivity, and the alternating induction field induces a current in it. The more difficult question is why the sensor that is supposed to be present would "detect" that an proper pan was above it when only foil was above it. Aluminum is slightly diamagnetic, but this shouldn't be sensed by a magnet. If the unit detected the foil another way, such as from a reaction field, then it is not designed well, because there are good reasons for not allowing aluminum pans to be heated. However, if a proper pan is present, and someone puts it on aluminum foil, or allows aluminum foil to nestle up next to the pan, then the fault lies with the cook. kas This post was edited by kaseki on Tue, Oct 22, 13 at 11:08

Bobby, I'm sure you will have a great time with Cathy on Tuesday. Kevin and I are thinking about a trip to Florida ourselves because he has a friend in Tampa he went to graduate school with, and she has been begging us to visit and stay at her house. I think it would be a nice trip, but as Gina noted before, there aren't good flights between L.A. and Tampa, and so we thought we might fly to Orlando, rent a car there, and then drive to Tampa. I have no idea when we will get around to this. I have to say that I am extremely careful about pot placement on my induction cooker, and so it is always centered in place. The PC pots are exactly the right size for this burner, and so I have not been concerned about the control buttons, but I will keep that in mind. I do love the timer, and yesterday I cooked a bunch of potatoes with some onion plus one cup of water. I closed the lid, set the cooker to #10 (highest heat) for two minutes and then turned it down to 250 degrees on the temp scale and set the timer for 10 minutes and let it go. I was waiting for sausages in the smoker, and when they were done, so were the potatoes, and oddly enough, there was no water left. I think it escaped as steam when I opened the steam valve. That was a new experience for me! So we only had potatoes and sausage last night, but we also smoked a large boneless turkey breast that I will use for sandwiches, etc. We also assembled our Big Green Egg (much more of an ordeal than we expected, partly due to insufficient/faulty instructions) and put up lights in the pergola. I can see that we will be spending a lot more time in the pergola, now that it is properly lit. I'm looking forward to cooking more things in the PC! I really like the conbination with the induction cooker, since it will turn off from the timer, and so I can sort of forget about it once it is set. Lars

OMG!!! I think he is just stunning!! It was 5 years ago and Tyler was appearing at a local Book and the Cook fair in a nearby city. I was a complete mess at the time. My father was very ill in the hospital and on his final days and I was SICK with a nasty flu bug and truth be told I did not want to go but Frank got me the tix so we went....He made some sort of salmon from his cook book and if you bought the book at the show you could meet him so while I was watching the show (barely able to stand mind you) Frank went off and bought the book and stood in line for me so that when the show was over I would get to meet him and he could get me home. I have to say maybe it was the flu or the drugs or something because I am a very social person able to drum up a conversation with a rock and all that would come out of my mouth was "I really like your show". Thats it! I did get a picture where I look like I'd been run over by a bus but we still laugh about it to this day!! I've met a few chefs and never have I had the jitters like I did with Tyler!! Cheers! Susie