In Austrailia warenty was only 1 year bought 2013 just under 12,000 AUD dollars it never works latest quote to reapair 1600 dollars , over the past year I spent 3160 on diferent reapairs down time nearly 7 months ( lucky I had my $200 plug in fryer ) I'm going to throw my gaggenau cooktop it in the trash & buy a new cook top defenetly not gaggenau . I do have the oven & the steamer they do look good , but for a functioning kichen , a kichen that prepares meals for a family gaggenau is not the product no matter how healthy one is one still what's its products to work

The Wolf repair guy was here. It is a known problem to the manufacturer. He called Wolf Sub Zero. It exploded while on simmer a few minutes after he turned it on. Supposedly they have changed the design on the new ones. So including today's visit it will be a $900 repair. Something is bent and it needs new gaskets from the repair kit. I would switch to the highly rated 5 Burner Samsung but there is a piece that sticks out so it won't fit. New Wolf cooktops are back ordered until the end of April around here. Has anyone in this group explored a class action suit? Wolf Sub Zero prides itself on reliability.

sherri1058: I pretty much agree with you: reliability is key for me, but neither the online reviews nor Consumer Reports always gives one a clear bottom line, at least for me. Negative reviews may overly influence me. But re. the function of appliances these days: I think many digital interfaces are way over-designed with too many layers to go through to set it -- that's what I want to avoid on my oven choice! sjhockeyfan: Thanks for your input -- I appreciate it. Most of the negative comments have been from the Benchmark flex users, I think. I am trying to "gang" purchases as much as reasonably possible, but expect that will still mean 2-3 brands, at minimum (Bosch cooktop and/or side swing oven + DW, for example). htc2015: I was given links some time ago (sorry, did not save) that assured me that there were no significant health risks, except some potential risks to a pacemaker user. I am hypochondriacal and have had cancer, so I took this seriously.

@aspen75, I have that same griddle that I use on mine. I understand and experience what you are saying and it is a bit of a disappointment. However, it has never hindered my cooking abilities on it. I mainly use my griddle for fish, shrimp, or pancakes (DH sometimes uses it for squash and zucchini) and because the heat ends up dispersing throughout the griddle, I never have issues with the food I cook. Sometimes I might have to move my fish or shrimp around as it cooks, but it still cooks. I'm still very pleased with my Wolf and so glad I went with it over gas, which we had before and which definitely had far worse hotspots. I have not tried a cast iron griddle on mine because I like the ease of cleaning the one I do have. Plus, I have a Blackstone on my patio just off my kitchen and I use it a ton in the spring, summer, and fall when I truly need a griddle ;)