You can use the 50A stove receptacle for the cooktop. They make covers for the box you can replace the receptacle with a fitting for the cable whip coming from the cooktop.

200 service may not be a bad idea depending on whatever else you have (clothes dryers, electric heat pump/emergency heat, a/C) but not strictly required. C-H (well Eaton now) makes tandem breakers that you could move some of your 15 or 20A singles to and free up a slot for a two pole 30a.

I know that you probably don't want another big project right now, but I'll throw it out there anyway. You could consider changing the dryer or HWH over to gas.

Thanks for all the advice everyeno. Converting the dryer or hwh to gas might be cheaper than going to 200 amp service. All this stuff is in an unfinished basement so at least it is easily accessible.

1.The only way to know if you need a bigger service is by doing a load calculation, anything else is just a guess.

2. If you post up the model number of that service panel we can tell you if it accepts tandems, and how many. The part of the model number we are looking for will be something like "4040 or 3040 or 2040" etc.

Accessibility is good news. A gas dryer should be easy and will save you a lot in the long run if you don't use a solar-powered clothes dryer.

A simple HWH heater will require a chimney which might be difficult. If you can invest in a high efficiency water heater, it might save you in the long run and you don't have to go above the roof. You'll have to run the numbers to decide if the lifetime costs merit it. You have forced air heat?

I would like to move to induction. I have a plug-in hob that I use a lot. It saves me considerably in cooling costs in my hot-humid climate near the Gulf of Mexico. When I have time to do a kitchen remodel, I'd like to put in 2-3 induction hobs and one gas hob for the few things that induction will not work well for.

joefixit2 - I couldn;t find the model number but here is a link to a pick I took of the large sticker on the inside of the door - http://tinypic.com/a/2v7ds/1. I think if you click on the image and then click on view raw image you should be able to zoom in enough so that you can read the text.

While the code does allow you to tap an existing 50A circuit for both a cooktop and an oven, the problem is that these induction cooktops tend to require a 50A circuit of their own. It usually says so in the installation instructions which makes it mandatory. Even if it doesn't, it's ill advised. If you fire up a few hobs on the induction and try to use the oven at the same time the breaker will trip.

Agreed - the one I am looking at requires a 40 amp dedicated circuit and the oven is 30 amp. I wouldn't want to hook both of these to one 50 amp circuit.