We’ve been using our new Liberty for five months now. It looks great with its silver mirrored finish. As far as cooking with it goes, it’s been a bit of a mixed bag. The power boost setting is certainly impressive and can boil a pot of water insanely fast. But when you look at the bottom of the pot of water, you can see that the heat is not applied evenly. There are localized spots where the heat is obviously intense and other areas where it is much less so. I also noticed uneven heating when cooking pancakes, both in a circular frying pan, as well as on a rectangular griddle. When I use the griddle, I turn on adjacent burners so the heat can reach as far as possible across the griddle. Still, some pancakes cook much faster than others, depending on where they are on the griddle. Also, settings, one through four are almost indistinguishable. They apply very minimal heat to the pot. If I had a small sauce pan with a couple of cups of warm soup, I would have to set it at least on three to maintain, reasonable warmth. The settings one and two are too low to be of any real use. If I wanted to slowly fry an egg, I would have to use setting number six at least. So most of our cooking uses settings,seven thru nine (the highest setting, except for power boost). All in all, I enjoy using our new cooktop, but I think Thermador should have designed it better, so that the cooktop heats more evenly, and that the lower settings are more useful.

kekramer, I definitely use my CSO more than the M series. While I love the M series convection, the CSO heats up faster and is waaaayyyy more versatile. I am also a bread baker and this oven is a game changer for me (I have broken oven glass in prior ovens by spilling water on the glass trying to introduce steam lol). You can get EXCELLENT results with bread in this oven. There have been multiple threads on Houzz about how to get the best bread baking results with a CSO, and here is my method. I run the steam first for about 10 minutes, making sure that the oven cavity is good and steamy with plenty of condensation on the bottom of the oven. Then I load the bread loaf (or loaves), put it on auto steam bake, and find that the excess water in the oven provides even more spring to the loaf after the beginning steam phase is over and has cut over to higher baking temps. The Wolf CSO has another mode called "Convection Humid" which is great for quick breads. It seals the cavity during Convection so that steam cannot escape, thus making the bread more moist. Muffins and quick breads really shine in this mode. Side note, I use my M series to proof bread. The proof function works really well. If you make jams and jellies, the steam oven can also be used to do the canning step in replacement for a boiling water bath (BWB). The jars can be steamed to sanitize before filling, and then steamed at 210 degrees for 30 minutes. It works great, and best of all, no tip overs and sealing failures.

@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.

@tapattee Whirlpool told me their poorly reviewed combo (released last year) was not on display! I walked the booth and did not see it either... maybe because they told me it was not there. Please post a picture of it. You got lucky spotting any hidden induction. I searched for it with the help of guest services. I even went back today looking. I love the concept and want it so badly but if the big boys are steering clear then its not ready for the masses...that's the way I look at it. LG was on it with the challenge to the GE combo... making it slightly larger, 9 inches shorter and the Frig that changes colors was a slightly better Samsung. The GE combo definitely has a condenser with a 5 year warranty. "Five years From the date of the original purchase. The sealed heat pump drying system (compressor, condenser, evaporator and all connecting tubing) which fails due to a defect in materials or workmanship. During this additional four-year limited warranty, you will be responsible for any labor and related service costs." I would watch this comparison video of the 2 machines before you decide. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCTpDVgQXGI {update Mar 1st} The bad reviews are starting to come in on the LG. The condenser is 1/3 the size of the GE and not drying effectively. I'm refusing delivery on it tomorrow. So disappointed! I guess a dark counter with a Miele induction isn't so bad. Thats what I'll probably go with. But some other interesting ones.