I watched the "hybrid" video and am not sure what to make of the noise level. It seemed very pronounced when PB (power boost) was dialed in. It seemed to almost disappear when the presented dialed the setting down below 7.5. I found the humming-buzz really annoying. But, as a professional videographer, I also had to wonder how much of the noise level was an artifact of holding an inexpensive consumer video camera close to the pots with no way to disable the audio auto gain controls (AGC). What puzzles me is that the buzzing seemed to be partially drowned out by the sound of the water boiling. The sound of the water boiling seemed seemed much louder to me than the sound of boiling water that I hear in my own kitchen. Audio AGC ramps up the recording volume when things are really quiet and dials it down as the noise level goes up. It can seriously exaggerate relative sound levels. The presenter did mention that he heard the noise and said (as others have in commenting on the KA induction units) that you don't hear it when the range fan is on. That suggests to me that the induction modules on that Frigidaire cooktop are indeed noisy though perhaps not a noisy as it might have seemed from the video. I've got a portable countertop induction unit (Max Burton 6200) which produces a bit of a ringing-humm when set to high with smaller pans. It is at a frequency that I personally find annoying, but it goes away as the pan heats up and it is nowhere near as loud as the level seemed in that video. I'll be interested to hear what angiebangie reports.

That's horrible Joyce. That has been my experience with Kenmore Elite (washer) and I won't buy it again. The Electrolux I said I ordered above - it was gone. I ended up going an entirely different route and bought a BlueStar range and a BlueStar electric wall oven in navy blue. Way more money (range, wall oven and exhaust hood) than originally planned and way more work (had to buy a wall oven cabinet and hubby had to install it where the pantry was, tile backsplash where the OTR microwave was, etc.), but I'm really happy with the results. I've never cooked with gas before and I like it a lot.

Portable propane stoves work during power failures, too, and you can use them whereever there's ventilation, rather than being stuck under a non-working hood. While gas is about as clean-burning a fuel you can find, it is far dirtier inside your living space than using electricity. It consumes oxygen and produces carbon dioxide and water and small amounts of carbon monoxide and other products of partial burning. Gas is also likely to have unpleasant contaminants that may further react when heated or burned. There is also likely to be small amounts of unburned gas (methane). So ventilation is even more important than for cooking with electricity. Have you cooked with gas? Most people know right off whether they love it for the visible flame and faster response (but it's not instantaneous -- don't try touching a burner after the flame is extinguished or you'll find out the hard way) or whether they are bothered by the odor, heat, or hissing noise associated with it. And even gas lovers frequently prefer electric ovens. If you've tried both and still don't have a preference, save your money and stick with electric, because you'll not only save the cost of putting in the gas pipes but you won't need a pro-style range to get acceptable performance. Keep in mind that induction, which combines nearly all the desirable features of both, is already here, just not yet in an affordable range. Until it is, I'm surprisingly pleased with using a portable unit plugged into a regular household outlet.

Laat: He-he he. Seems appropriate here today because we're getting heavily snowed upon. Elmira Stove Works also makes similarly old-fashioned looking stoves with radiant electric cooktops and electric convection ovens, but they are really pricey and, IIRC, 45" wide rather than 40 inches. Not what Mommycat was looking for, I suspect. Mommycat: Frigidaire does indeed make the Kenmore version for Sears and, AFAK, it is pretty much the same stove. A couple of years ago, a friend of mine looked Into getting one (a Kenmore, as I recall) to replace her vintage 1959 GE 40" range but then found that our local appliance repair service could get the parts to fix her vintage unit for a lot less than the cost of a new range. (If memory serves, she needed a new control unit for the ovens.) I think this Frigidaire model has been around for at least a decade if not more. I recall reading some pretty positive Gardenweb discussions of both the Fridgidaire and Kenmore versions of the dual fuel and all-electric 40" ranges back around 2002 to 2004, I also recall a couple of fairly recent discusions on both vintage and new 40 inch stoves. However, I am having no luck with finding any of those old discussions. Sorry.