I THINK you should be able to get a Kenmore 30" induction for around that price when Sears has one of their sales. I had electric smooth top (and had always cooked on electric), but now have LP gas in our hew house. Induction was my dream, because even though the smoothtop wasn't horrible to clean up, I thought induction would be so much nicer with the burners that aren't hot, meaning no cool down time, and nothing getting burned on. (I had my share of the kids melting veggie or bread bags onto still-hot burners, and, of course, food burning on.) I saw an induction cooktop boil a pot of water amazingly fast (a couple minutes, I think?), then cool right down, then bring it back to a boil again. We do a lot of stir fry and wanted to sear meat, so I thought it'd be a big cooking plus over the regular electric.

If you haven't had a radiant smoothtop before, I recommend getting one that's speckled or has some kind of variation/texture to it over solid black glass. The solid black is very hard to keep looking nice, but the white on black GE speckled one we had was good for hiding fingerprints and things waiting to be scrubbed off.

I've always cooked with electric, too, and even though I could get gas in my new kitchen, I'm seriously considering getting an induction cooktop. Sears has a Kenmore Elite 30" induction cooktop that retails for $1800. The salesman told me that all Kenmore appliances will be on sale July 3-5 at 20% off which would bring the price within your range. You might want to get on Sears.com and read user reviews about their induction cooktop.

I'm also considering an induction cooktop from Electrolux Icon as my double ovens are that brand. It is more expensive though.

HTH! Marla

If I ever confirm my layout I am definately going for induction. Many people on the appliance forum who had gas and switched to induction said they'd never go back.

I purchased the Kenmore 36" for just over $1500 a couple months ago when they had a big sale. It's still boxed and sitting in my livingroom but I am looking forward to using it eventually. ; ) One of the big selling points for me comes with the cleanup aspect. I can never get my smooth top clean enough after boil overs and spills. I briefly considered adding an LP tank (we'd add a gas fireplace then too) but I think I'd be nervous cooking over a flame and I know I'd be nervous with my kids using it. I think they'd be a pain to clean too. Of course I've never used gas so I don't really know what I may be missing.

Have you considered a liquid propane gas cooktop/stove? I don't know anything about specifics, but it was the solution to my mother-in-law's need for a gas range. I guess the most important question is whether or not you have a place for the tank outside.

I think with induction, compared to gas and possibly also compared to electric, you can probably get away with a less powerful exhaust system/rangehood because the stove does not get hot. So there's a saving there that you can apply to the higher cost of your range.

I have the 30" GE induction and consider it the best part of our remodel. It was around $1,500 and worth every penny. It doesn't heat the house like gas, is MORE responsive than gas, cleans up in a snap, and safe for my kiddos to cook on. I love love love it.

Buy a portable induction burner and see how you like it (it will come in very handy during your remodel anyway). It won't be nearly as powerful as a built in cooktop, but it will give you a decent idea as to whether it is worth spending money on. I bought a Sunpentown to use during our remodel, and thought it was great. The responsive temperature is great even for mundane things like boiling pasta and rice :). I have a natural gas cooktop and love it, but now that I've used my portable burner, I think I would have been just as happy with induction.

We have had the 30" Sears induction for a couple of years now and love it.

I second the advice to buy a portable and try it out. We have a Cooktek 1800kW and while it's not as powerful as what we'll have when we get our built-in, it's significantly better than the 15000 BTU burners on our DCS range. I use it for everything and love it.

I am not sure that anyone "needs" an induction cooktop, however I got a Viking induction cooktop 2 1/2 years ago, and have been very happy with it. It can boil a gallon of cool water for pasta in 7 minutes, keep sauces warm without sticking/breaking, and it is very responsive to temp changes. I also like the fact that it doesn't throw off extra heat. We did had one problem when we had a power surge after a power outage. Two of the control components burned out to the tune of $1600.00(No joke). Fortunately, this is the one item in our house that we had a warranty on. BUY THE WARRANTY and a whole house surge protector.

2 months ago we decided to move from the PacNW to TX, and my husband commented how nice the kitchen looked in the house we are buying. When there was a lag in my response, he knew that the one thing i am going to do is tear out the 7 year old gas cooktop, and put in an induction cooktop. I figure, I need the extra heat off a gas cooktop in TX like another hole in the head.

Yes, you do. :-)

Thanks for the thoughts! I'd love to actually try one out, so maybe we'll buy the little one and play around with it. I'll also see if any showrooms do demonstrations here.

This is only our five-year house and we're concerned about over-improving, so that's contributing to my hesitation. If this were our forever-home, we'd go induction without question.