Well... I've got an approx 11 year old Frigidaire FEC30S6AB, so my reviews on that are all I can offer. Slow adjustment response, which is pretty much everyone's complaint about electric. Don't know if that's improved over the past decade. No issues simmering a single serving of rice in a small pot. Boil times on a gallon of water on par with boil the 23K BTU Capital Culinarian that people are going nuts over. And mine is only 2500 watts, the one you're talking about is 3100W. I'd expect it to scream.

In case you don't have experience with ceramic cooktops, IMO:

- Concern about cleaning, hogwash. I can get my cooktop sparkling within ten minutes max even with a week's worth of burnt on boilovers.
- Concern about scratching, whatever. I slide every pan I've got incl. cast iron and I have nothing more than the faintest superficial scratches to show for it.
- Concern about breaking, yes. Don't start drinking until after you're done cooking. Mine is smashed to hell. But it still works! It breaks but it doesn't scratch, LOL.

Thank you foodonastump. This much I can say for others out there: I put in a Kenmore range with a ceramic cooktop in my rental while we lived there about 7 years ago and I absolutely LOVED it! It was easy to clean. I thought it was very responsive in heating and cooling. I had no issues whatsoever.

This is why I'm not hesitant at all to go ceramic cooktop. I just want to make sure I don't end up with a poor performer.

Thanks again for your input!

There is no possible scientific way that an ordinary ceramic radiant cooktop can provide quick response in heating or cooling that is even remotely comparable to gas or induction. A good experienced cook can anticipate the need to lower and raise temperatures before the need is obvious to others but that is just a way of coping with equipment. A 36" unit does allow burners to be preset low, medium, and high as necessary and the pots shifted among them as needed for quicker response but that is still coping, not cooking.

Not only an irrelevant response (the question wasn't about which technology to go with) but a fairly stupid one at that. Life is full of compromises. For example, with induction you limit your cookware possibilities to something that's magnetic and hopefully doesn't hum. Gas, you turn up the A/C in the summer and deal with the more tedious cleaning.

Believe me, my electric cooktop isn't my first choice, but I cook every night without feeling like poor me is just coping. And even if I did, that wasn't the question.

You imply that the big reason you aren't going induction is cost; if so, what is your budget? It's hard to make a useful recommendation without knowing that...

The tops I'm looking at are anywhere from $700-$1,000.

I'd check mainly for a layout and knob setup (and overall looks of course) and go from there. I've never heard anything bad about any of them, and they are pretty darn common! A few years ago someone here had problems with scratching on a electric range--they really shouldn't scratch much--and was actually able to return it to Sears. If that's a concern, you might want to see reviews for the particular ceramic top makers.

(I've gone from electric to gas to induction and back to electric and can confirm that for ME, induction is much easier to clean. But electric beats gas for cleaning! Also for boiling water.)

Plain electric cooktops are pretty much interchangeable in usability from the $400 to the 2K ones. The only differences are in the control knobs, layouts, and maybe a griddle burner. The actual performance will all be virtually identical.

Induction IS available at your price point. Now you have no excuse to go without. And you can enjoy the quick response of gas with the easy cleanup of a glass top.

Honestly..it's a pretty mature technology, most units are pretty reliable and in that price range are pretty close in power/features. I wouldn't worry too much about anything being subpar..the differences aren't going to be so much in quality/reliability as in the presence of some minor features like bridge burners, multi-size burners, and simmer/keep hot zones, and in aesthetic factors like trim v. no trim, knobs v. touch controls, arrangement of burners, etc. Aesthetics is actually probably the biggest difference between electric smoothtop cooktops, so all else being equal I would actually give that factor pretty heavy weight. For what its worth, looking at features and looks if I was buying an electric smoothtop in that price range I would give serious consideration to LG and Bosch.

I'd also point out that precisely because induction has become the hot ticket, there seems to be a lot of ex-display and overstock high-end electric cooktops floating around...I have seen pretty amazing deals on Gaggenau recently, and a number of the last-generation Fisher + Paykel units for steep discounts.

You've gotten good advice. I had a great Whirlpool smoothtop electric range that boiled a pasta pot very quickly. Now have induction. Love the control, but sad to box away some of my favorite pans, and need to get used to the ticking of some cookware. Electric is a completely reasonable choice! Easy clean, sleek looking, economical, and you have a nice variety to choose from. My teenager did wreck a burner by overheating a pan (melted the copper off of a revere-ware, and now the hob is either high or off) but aside from misuse, you should be fine with what ever you choose. And you've gotta love the bridge for the griddle.