Half steps! How many steps are there? My old induction cooktop has a total of 10 settings per hob and I've never thought I needed more. Do I need more?

(Apparently the spouse wants induction again so we're doing that instead of gas like we're supposed to. But there are so many additional features now!)

LOL! Fori, it depends on what kind of cooking you're doing. I used to make a lot of roux based sauces, and I guess I use that as my standard for control. If you cruise The Induction Site you'll see that a lot of cooktops have 17 power levels or something. That's plenty.

The listing for the Miele is 12 for the 36" and 9 for the 30". That sounds a little scant in comparison, but that's because you have to program the half steps, whereas others come with them directly. My hypothesis is that Miele wanted to add half steps and found it easier (or cheaper) to make a "program" called "extended power levels" than recalibrate the main board. So the 12 levels are really 23, and the 9 are 17.

But the Diva's 9 is 9. No half steps. Bummer. :(

Do you need 'em? Probably not. You've been happy with what you had. I could see a demonstrable difference using the half steps, which I'd definitely notice making a sauce, where just the right amount of bubbling is crucial. Also, frying an egg on Mr. Induction, which has 9 levels, I find I'm constantly adjusting the temperature. It needs a half step between 4 and 5.

Lots of the induction cooktops nowadays have a plenty of power levels, and if you get one it should be a good compromise--you have all the clean fun of induction, with greater control, more like gas.

(BTW, I'm getting both, in 48". Two gas burners, and 3-4 induction.)

Hmm. I guess I've never done anything that required more control than making candy in a too-small pot.

Maybe I'll just reinstall the old one and deal with cooktop selection when this one breaks. The new ones don't look 25 years more modern relative to the 80s version as you'd expect, either!

True! I would love it if the 80's Fagor induction tiles were still available. They're so cool!

you're a genius, I'll have to look in my manual and figure it out; last night,
I could have used 1.5 , the 2 setting was too much bubbling and the food stuck. The very low simmer is what I'm having a hard time figuring out, with my new all clad pots.

Mine isn't remotely cool.

I'm just a little disappointed that the new ones aren't! Didja see the lift and knobs on the Viking? Styling straight out of the 80s!

Maybe mine doesn't need all the gradations because there's not much difference between 1 and 10. The old "this one goes to 11" issue...

Well, for cool there's De Dietrich...but the cool ones aren't available in the U.S., even from Salon Blue Ridge. They and AEG have zoneless. I don't know if they work just right yet, but they're cool! AEG has an induction teppan yaki as well, which is tres cool.

Mitchdesj, please let us know how it goes!

Maybe I should wait for the new ones. I mean, this looks GOOD. But if I take out my Nagel pink countertop, will it still be as spiffy as a Meile?

One of the downsides of the Miele? They work very hard to make sure the black surface is really really black! They work so hard to keep any white flecks out. So I'm thinking it must show every scratch. Many posters here talk about getting speckled to prevent that.

I think your cooktop looks good, Fori! And the lines probably help it hide usage marks. Love those controls! I think it's plenty spiffy.

In fact, I like the looks a lot better than many I've seen recently. Sometimes I really wonder about whoever designs these things. Your cooktop looks distinctive, and at this point, unique. Why not keep it?! Replace it when you find something that thrills you.

I'm getting the Miele for availability, function, easy installation requirements, service reputation and price. But I would rather have had the Monogram with the silvery surface, and even more the Diva with the white surface, if I was just going on looks.

For me: Miele is 2+ inches wider (minus), has half stop power levels (plus), is made for and sold in U.S. (plus), has true timers (plus), is solid black (minus minus), is moderately priced (Half the price of the Gagg single "wok" module, $500 more than the Monogram, so plus + minus = neutral), and only requires the same amount of clearance underneath as the Wolf gas module I'm putting beside it, whereas most (including Monogram) require a lot more (plus plus plus). The clearance was the deciding factor.

What I really want is zoneless, white, 24 inches wide. Doesn't even exist, though De Dietrich makes both 24" zoneless in black and traditional in white. For England. Sigh. Diva makes white but not anymore in 24", and their 24" doesn't have enough levels.

Miele wins! Maybe they'll come out with a zoneless I can pop into the same place and I can switch some years along.

We liked the Miele. We liked the Wolf (appearance and layout). We didn't get to try anything and I'm not sure we would have been able to decide based on that.

Can we call it a green remodel if we reuse old stuff? Haha...this cooktop was one of the reasons we thought we had to remodel in the first place!

Someone here a year or two ago had had this model but it eventually failed because the controls are under a squishy plastic instead of glass and some water got in there. I'm sure that will kill ours eventually, but fortunately we don't wash that part very often. :) The trim is scuffy and the paint on the control panel is scratched, but it IS nice to not have to worry about, well, anything. So I can go ahead and scratch it. Big deal, ya know? Except it doesn't really scratch...

I think we'll go Miele. Or at least be sure it will fit into the hole carved out for the old one. It can't keep going. Twenty-five + years old. I appreciate your reasoning behind the selection. I think you've convinced me. There. That was easy. We couldn't decide! Thanks!

You're welcome! I'm glad my obsession with detail was useful to someone else! Gotta admit, squishy plastic doesn't sound so good--so welcome to Miele!

I wonder how Mitchdesj's programming is going.

I don't think I like it!

Do you have to go beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep to get it to "6"? You can't just pick a hob, then pick a power setting? Or am I misunderstanding? I haven't gotten to play with one...obviously I'm used to beep(on) beep(6).

You can turn the beep off and hear nothing.... You leave your finger on the button you do not have to keep hitting the button. I think it may take 3-4 secs depends if you have set 1/2 steps or not.

Fori, The 36" Miele model looks like it might have a program you can turn on that starts everything at 5. I'm not sure I read that right, however. You might want to take a look at Diva de Provence. They have a very good reputation, no half levels or true-timers, but in addition to the +/- thing they have low, medium and high controls, which you can go up or down from.

I think Monogram does, as well, but they're the ones who require a lot of cabinet space underneath. (Like...what's the point of having a separate cooktop if it takes up the whole cabinet????)

Didn't the Viking have knobs? Most of the others have up down touch pads, and many of them require you choose which burner to control before you touch the controls. Like I'm really gonna think that through when my sauce is about to scorch. Yeah, right.

I think yours is the only one I've seen that has a number range you can just pick from. Cooktek professional ones have either knobs or slide your finger along a touchpad controls, depending on model. These also require a lot of empty cabinet space and are reputedly very loud.

So, can you get the plastic covers replaced and keep your old unit?

I forgot to mention--you can adjust how fast the sensor reacts to your finger on the Miele. Normal is 300 milliseconds. There's one setting slower and one faster. And it's faster if you learn to keep your finger on it, rather than tapping.

Thanks for the input, y'all.

The Viking does have knobs. It also looks...well, you saw it. I need to find a Wolf plugged in and see how the heck that thing works. Doesn't seem to have timers though. Seems overpriced. It looks sort of like a slider. And the spouse is very interested in the Gaggenau floating knob, but will have to take some time off work to check it out at one of THOSE showrooms.

But I guess they are all probably fine--just need to get used to them? It seems like you'd lose some of the instant responsiveness if you can't turn down the boiling-over pot in one tap. I'm overthinking it. Being a Luddite. All that.

My squishy plastic is in good shape--it's supposed to be that way! We just might keep it. This remodel keeps getting cheaper. I mean we're being green.

LOL!! Go green!! Actually, Mr. Induction has press the level you want too, and that's my only induction experience currently, other than the little demo in the Miele showroom.

The manuals for most of these are available online. From what I've seen in the manual, the Wolf works the same way as the others. You push the plus and the minus to change the temperature. The difference is they have a graphic rather than a number to show temperature. There are separate controls for simmer and things, like other brands have l/m/h.

Since I hadn't looked at the 36" Gagg, it being too big for my kitchen, I looked at the manual to see how the knob works. (Okay, one for your husband--the knob is cool!) If I understand right, you have to turn to the burner you want to turn on then click the knob around to make the temperature go up or down. So twist instead of sensor, but you still have to select the burner first. It does have the half steps, however, and a LOT of power.

I think the individual controls on the Miele, et al., might work better for me, though the knob is a lot more intuitive than press here then press there. OTOH, there's a three burner one that they sell in England. I'd much rather have a 24" than 31" and while the controls seem overly complex, the Gagg has the true timers and other features. There are Gaggenau repair people here, so importing would be less of scare than getting De Dietrich (they're all Fagor underneath from what I can tell, but if there's something proprietary in the electronics I want to deal with someone who can get the part). So now I'm set to start making calls tomorrow to find out if this is actually an option!

Thanks, Fori!!!

BTW, you could always go back to the gas idea, being a Luddite and all ;)

I prefer gas, but we're slobs and are learning to accept it. And in a small kitchen, a flat cooktop is a good work area, too (I like to chop onions under the hood).

Gaggenau is more fun to say than Miele.

ROTFLOL!!!! I'll remember that when it comes time to gag on the price!!!!

Chopping onions under the hood! What a concept. Thanks for the tip! :)

So, turns out Miele has one too!

I had one scorch mark until after 10 cleaning sessions I finally got it out. Since that incident, I always use SilPat (DeMarle) silicone thin sheets to cook on and never have scratch or scorch marks on my induction cooktop. No doubt the scorch mark occured because I accidentally got some food underneath the pan and kept cooking on high for a good bit of time.

Anyway, I love the octagonal SilPat model which fits almost perfectly on the induction cooking circles. But you can also get the larger rectangles from Amazon.com and they work just as well.

Greg

I think having to use a SilPat all the time would defeat the easy-to-clean attributes of the cooktop, wouldn't it? And does it really look better than a few scuffs? Or do you take it off after each use?

The one reason I'm willing to do induction again instead of gas is that it's no effort to maintain and use. All this talk about SilPats makes me nervous! :)

Fori - Wow, haven't seen one of those in a while! That's the exact cooktop that sold me on induction.. had it in an apartment in college.

I've been using the 36" for about 1 1/2 months and with the very expensive Demeyere pans that came with my cooktop, there is a considerable buzz or hum coming from the pan on any setting over 7. (Tops out at 12) I have no noise with my cast iron. Staub and Lodge. I would think that the Demeyere would've been quieter, but they aren't. Although, with the exhaust vent on, you hear nothing. No fan noise to speak of. Getting the hang of the controls: I reprogrammed it for the 23 or 24 settings and have it come on at 5, although I may change that. I usually cook on 7-8, and if you want to heat the pan to temp quickly, it has an auto heat setting which is activated when you hit the '-' key. So when I turn it on, I hit '-', then '+' a couple of times to get to auto-heat and go to 7. Otherwise, very easy to clean up, very responsive and looks great.