I'll second that!!

Trish

I'll second #2, but am not totally with you on #1.

After having used my De Dietrich 308XE1 for three months (including the replacement unit I just received and installed), I have discovered some shortcomings to the unit that need to be mentioned. These may or may not be an issue, depending on your cooking style, and all comments pertain to the 308XE1 4-burner 30" wide unit:

1. Power sharing limited to 3,600W, not the claimed 7,200W. While the total cooktop is rated at 7200W, you might think that you can use any burner at any level as long as you don't exceed the cooktops 7,200W rating -- this is NOT the case. The cooktop is divided into two 3,600W power zones, each containing a large and small burner. The left and top middle burners belong to one 3,600W power zone, and the bottom middle and right burners belong to the second power zone. If you are using both burners on the same power zone, their combined wattage cannot exceed 3,600W -- and considering the large burner can use up to 3,200W on high, that doesn't leave much to go around. If you need a large and small pot to run effectively on high without power sharing or cycling (see below), you must put the 2nd pot on one of the burners in the other power zone -- and if those are taken, then you are out of luck. This is a good thing if you appreciate redundancy, but a bad thing if you'd rather be cooking than thinking about where you're putting your pots.

• If you are reducing a sauce on the back middle burner, let's say level 12, and you turn up the left burner to 13 to seer a steak, your sauce will go from a roiling boil to a simmer even though the indicators show the same power level. This is because the two burners are now cycling power between each other to keep the total power under 3,600W. So while your sauce was previously boiling at 12, it's now only simmering at 12 because the cooktop is pulsing power to the small burner (on/off/on/off) to give you the power you need on the large burner while keeping the combined wattage under 3,600W. Power level 12 now cooks like level 6.

Overheating issues. If you run one burner on boost for a long time, or use two burners on the same power zone at level 12 for 20-30 minutes (not unusual), you will notice a lot of hot air coming out of your cooktop's vents. The counter top in front of the cooktop, as well as the glass on the front of the cooktop itself, start getting very, very warm -- to the point where you think twice before touching the controls. At this juncture the cooktop will start limiting power as well, to protect itself from overheating, and you won't be able to cook adequately unless you switch your pots to the opposite burners on the other power zone (assuming they are available).After using the De Dietrich 308XE1 for three months, I find that the reality of induction has not kept pace with the promises. De Dietrich's claims of total power output is misleading because of how that power is divided among burners, and their claim of a "no...

I just did some more testing. Yes, I'm obsessive and perhaps I need some happy pills to fix that, but that's a whole other topic... :P

Almost everyone has had universally positive experiences with their De Dietrich, so I'm trying to figure out why I'm having these issues with the two cooktops I've used. I boiled two pots of water today, one on the large burner and one on its mated smaller burner. Let me share my experience as it relates to my above post:

1. You actually can run two burners in the same power zone on high (level 15), it just takes longer to achieve the same level of heat because the power is pulsing between the two burners instead of providing a steady stream when you use just one burner. The visible manifestation of this is if you have a rolling boil on one burner and then turn up the adjacent burner, the rolling boil becomes a simmer because the power now starts pulsing. BUT the rolling boil will eventually return -- it just takes longer. Saying that 12 effectively becomes 6 wasn't exactly correct -- more specifically, you are still getting 12 but in fast intervals of what sounded like 4 or 5 times per second. You can hear it pulsing. This has the effect of initially reducing your cooking power, but in 10-15 seconds your pot will seemingly return to the same level of cooking. Switching any burner to boost limits the other burner in the same power zone to a maximum power of 8.
2. What seems like overheating may not be. After cooking for some time, the internals heat up and hot air starts spewing out the front vent -- this is how it is supposed to work. When it gets hot, however, switching from a lower to a higher power level takes 10-15 seconds longer than it does when the unit is cold. When it's cold, power changes are instantaneous. When the unit has heated up and is venting hot air, power changes take by 10-15 seconds as the unit "ramps up" the power. Why this happens is anyone's guess, I suppose it has to do with making sure the electronics are safeguarded when they are already quite warm. This behavior is consistent across zones and across multiple cooktops, so it seems to be normal behavior. My old unit had a lot more trouble ramping up to full power than my new unit -- sometimes it would never increase the power at all, no matter how long you waited.

So, I may have mistook several visible indicators and drawn some false conclusions. I'm one of those people who has to figure out how the darn thing works and why it does what it does! In short, my experience with induction isn't as much disappointing as it is confusing. There seem to be some quirks, and once you understand those quirks you can get on with cooking. Despite comparisons to gas, it is not like gas in that you can't just do what you want to do on any burner and expect it to react accordingly and swiftly -- there are limitations that become quite obvious once you start using induction. It's not universally as fast as gas -- it is when it's cold, but when the...

Sorry that you are dissapointed. You are right about the Viking, after a year no such problems.

Excellent write-up, sshrivastava!

We originally wired up for the 36" Viking (60 amp breakers, #6 wire) for just that reason (it's the only one we found that doesn't share power).

Then we decided to go with the Sears (E'lux) so we could try out the concept but spend $2K less in the process.

The 36" power sharing units all seem to have THREE separate zones... which allows independent power settings for up to three pans simultaneously.

So far that's been ok for us... but then we're not real heavy duty users either.

The other thing we "like" about the Sears unit (aesthetics not withstanding) is that itÂs vents are ABOVE the countertop so clearance required below the countertop is pretty minimal (particularly compared with the Viking!)

Perhaps induction is not for your cooking style. I found that owning a steam/convection Gaggenau combi oven, much of what I used to do on the hob moved to the steam oven (rice, steamed veggies, stews and any slow cook dish). I also like really high heat cooking for meat, and use my Gag convection oven there. My hob is primarily pasta, wok, pancakes/french toast and, of course, my Italian grill--though now a Le Cruset smooth bottom version--for grilled anything when using the outdoors is unlikely/too cold.

Nothing I cook on a hob takes prolonged (more than 15 minutes, and that is rare) high heat. Although I loved my 5 burner Miele gas hob (for one thing, it really looked terrific--not a particularly function based reaction), it was overkill for my style once I understood the benefits of my Gaggenau ovens. I love the small, effective and efficient footprint of our induction hob. I hope you find the induction can work for you, as it is now a sunk cost. But if it simply denies you the pleasure of cooking, there always is Craig's list and then you can move on only nicked financially, not emotionally enraged every time you stand at the hob. You sound like you enjoy cooking; hope this sorts out well for you in the end!

Just as info, Thermador 36" induction (CIT365DS) has no vents on top, no overheating problems and three zones where you can powerboost one hob on each at the same time with no power problems at all. 50 amp service required.

Viking is the way to go. I have the 6 burner, 36" model. All burners operate independently, so you can use each one on as high a heat or as low a heat as you wish and it does not interfere with any other burner. No problem with heat build up whatsover. AND, it is not digital, meaning you can manually control it to an infinite amount of settings, so you can probably get the lowest simmer of any unit out there, either traditional electric, gas or induction. Response is instantaneous too. AND it meets North American manufacturing and safety standards!!!

Viking gas on the other hand is a whole different story:(((

Thanks sshrivastava. I find your prolific posts to be very analytical and informative. Continue to post in the future!

With regards to power sharing, the Windcrest units claim to not power-share and apparently are quite thin - 2"? I have not seen any posts on practical expeience with the vendor but there are posts that say the Windcrest numbers don't add up.

WOW.... After thinking I made my decision to purchase the DeDietrich, now I may need to rethink my choice. Viking vs Kenmore vs Thermador.........maybe Wolf? This is getting so draining!!

WOW.... After thinking I made my decision to purchase the DeDietrich, now I may need to rethink my choice. Viking vs Kenmore vs Thermador.........maybe Wolf? This is getting so draining!!

I have an old GE electric stove with 4 coils. It's rated at 10,000 watts, but I can't get 10,000 watts out of a single coil. Could it be broken? Or is it 'power-sharing'?