Induction will heat faster than propane.

Induction will simmer lower and change to that setting much quicker than propane.

Induction is much safer than propane.

Induction is much easier to clean than propane.

Induction stinks up your house less than propane.

You won't be able to use induction hobs during a power outage. You will be able to use propane burners in a power outage, but not the propane oven in a range.

Induction cooktops have electronics, propane cooktops do not. Parts for propane cooktops will be more widely available and cheaper than parts for induction cooktops.

Propane is compatible with more cookware than induction.

The electric oven in an induction range will have more modes, heat up your house less, and cook more evenly than the gas oven in a propane range.

I used to think gas was the best way to cook. After having an all electric kitchen for several years now with both radiant and induction hobs, I would never have gas again.

I would highly recommend searching the forum. You can find answers to your questions and more. On Google:

site:ths.gardenweb.com your search terms

This post was edited by hvtech42 on Sat, Jan 24, 15 at 13:20

There are some (Maytag for one) gas range cooktops that will not function if a power failure occurs. Be very certain of what you are buying.
An induction kitchen range and an outdoor propane BBQ would seem to be the most cost effective way to cope with Mother Nature induced power failures.

I don't know your area, but we had our propane tank filled today, as it happens. It was $2.45/gallon. The company will not fill tanks beyond 80%, something to keep in mind should you decide to install a tank and need to determine size.

What what hvtech said plus the following additional responses:

1. "Are induction cooktops hard to use?"

Nah. I say this casually, but it really is very simple to run induction. I'm guessing that you've never seen anybody use an induction burner? Get thee to a demo if possible. That will tell you more than any speeches here.

Biggest difference from the gas appliances you are used to? (a) No flames, so you have to watch the pan to judge the heat; and (b) numeric (digital) settings with a keypad rather than turning a knob. You'll have to figure out that the number more or less represents a percentage of power, like a throttle setting, and figure out how that relates to your cooking on your new appliance.

Frankly, you'll probably have to do pretty much the same thing with a new gas cooktop or range, too. What was the perfect heat on the old stove with the control knob turned to the 8 o'clock position might be say, a 5:30 o'clock knob position on the new one just as you'll find (by simply paying attention to the pan) that the setting on the new induction burner may be 2 or 2.5.

Easy. Unless you are one of those folks who feels induction (and anything without visible flames) is so "soul-less" that it is impossible to cook well without watching flames. (Scanned through the longer induction threads on chowhound.com? You'll see the folks to whom I refer.)

Folks here sometimes recommend trying out induction at home by getting one of the relatively inexpensive portable induction cooktops like the Max Burton 6400 or a Duxtop (retail around $100 to $130). These can help understand how simple induction really is but the portable units have some peculiarities. For a recent discussion of this subject, check out this recent thread:

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/appl/msg0922402023045.html?44

Oh, some induction cooktops have functions you never thought about when cooking with gas. Bridge-burners, flex zones, burner timers, etc. You don't have to use them if you don't want to but, obviously, there can be a bit of a learning curve for figuring out the new stuff if you want to pay for it and want to use it.

But, that's about it. Nothing hard, at all.

2. One thing to check on induction cooktops and ranges is the number of burner settings. Some have only 10 settings/steps. A few have 15 or 16. Some have 19. A few have more. While some folks are happy with only ten settings, I find ten to be too crude for me ; 19-20 gives fine enough gradations for my cooking. This information will be in the user manuals so it is worth checking them out when shopping. (Virtually all are downloadable.)

3. Are your New England summers long, humid and rather hot in the evenings? You will find an induction cooktop puts a lot less heat into your kitchen at those times. OTOH, induction won't warm your kitchen in the winter the way cooking with NG or propane will.

4. Your question about propane conversions resulting in a 25% loss in burner output is pretty much the worse case scenario. With many ranges and cooktops, it will be more like 10%.

5. Repairs/repairability: A reasonably handy homeowner can fix almost anything that goes wrong with a gas/propane cooktop and, as hvtech says, the parts will be relatively inexpensive and special tools probably will not be needed.

This is much less the case with induction cooktops and wall ovens (both gas and electric) because they all rely on electronic controls with the consequences stated by hvtech.

6. The prospect of possible future problems with replacement cooktops and ovens because of variations in cooktop sizes; would a range be a better bet?

Maybe. Sort of. Kinda.

It is a sad fact of life that every cooktop model/brand seems to have slightly different cut-out specs than every other. This seems to be just as true for gas/propane units as for induction. Also true of wall ovens, too. Whatever replacement you get (that isn't the exact same thing you had before) will turn out to require a cut-out that is a little different in one or more dimensions. Sometimes you can fix this with simple carpentry, maybe making a collar to fit in a too-large cut-out. Sometimes not to easy -- particularly if you have stone or tile counterops and a cut-out that needs enlarging.

OTOH, the standard cut-out for slide-in and freestanding ranges in North America is 30 1/8" inches and most range bodies are 29 7/8" wide. That includes induction ranges as well as other electric and the gas ranges. A few, mostly pro-style ranges, are skoonch closer to a true 30" width but will still fit a standard cut-out (assuming it was not cut narrower as they sometimes are.) Trouble is, there is no standardized, universally agreed-upon placement for electrical and gas service outlets/connections -- sometimes different ranges may need these things placed in positions different than those you had for the previous range.

You are correct that there are currently no 36" induction ranges on the market in North America but, if there were, they would be priced at the top-end of what you called "professional grade" appliances. BTW, you might want to call them "pro-style" lest you get a call from GM lawyers who claim to have trademarked "professional grade" as an advertising slogan for their pickups. :>).

7. As for brands of appliances -- hvtech is right about there being lots of recent discussion here about brands and models of induction ranges and cooktops and electric wall ovens. Much discussion of pros, cons, likes and dislikes about particular units and easily found with searches. So much so that your quesion may garner a lot of responses that say little more than "I love my induction cooktop/range and do not want to go back to gas/propane." While waiting for fulsome responses, I second his suggestion to do a google search with "gardenweb" and "induction" in the search string.

For propane appliances, though, there seems to be much less discussion here about specific makes, conversions and models. A quick search with the string "propane +ranges + cooktops + gardenweb" turned up only three threads for me. As they might be useful if you have not already seen them, hre are the links.

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/cooking/msg0111343022686.html

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/appl/msg0111291227222.html

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/appl/msg0322432818075.html

Maybe some further posters can expand those horizons?

Rather than waxing poetic on my love of cooking on induction (which you've probably already seen in another thread), I'll speak to the replacement problem.

You can design your own "induction range" to fit into the decor of your kitchen. Make the rest of the cabinetry as you usually would, and leave a generous space for nominally 36" range. Have a separate cabinet made or adapted to fit your cooktop and oven, and install it separately. You can wrap it in stainless if you want the look of a real range, or you can paint it a contrasting color, or make it match the cabinets. Add feet for a range look, or just a regular toe kick for a more integrated look. Build up the top so that it's flush with your counters, and scribe it in so there's very little crack. If you're doing stone, you can make the top from scraps, but you could do stainless, copper, or any kind of laminate around plywood, too, or you could use tiles, or really anything that's appropriate for a stove. Even wood would be fine since you wouldn't have exposed flames.

If you have to replace an appliance to exactly match a hole cut in a slab of stone, you can have limitations. If by the time you need to replace, there's a 36" range you like on the market, you can just swap it in. If you just need a whole different set of cutouts, if it doesn't work with what you've got, you can just have that one cabinet remade.

I spent a year cooking on propane. It was fine. Except when the tanks went dry because the service was on strike, or it was an extended holiday, or a leak, or...

If you prefer knob controls:

Viking has some really cool looking induction cooktops with knob controls. Normally the advice here is to stay away from Viking, but since the guts of all induction cooktops are externally sourced anyway, I think it's safe to say even they couldn't screw this one up. People who have gotten their 30" induction range really seem to like it.

Bertazzoni also has knob control induction cooktops, which I haven't heard any owner feedback about. We tend to hear more about their gas ranges here.

Gaggenau has a neat "knob controlled" induction cooktop, but not in the traditional sense. Instead of a knob for each hob, you have a single magnetic knob which you push in the direction of the hob you want to turn on and then turn to the desired setting. You can also pull the knob off for cleaning or to prevent accidental activation (cooktop won't turn on unless it detects the magnetic knob present).

If you end up going with a 30" range, Miele, Frigidaire, Viking, and Samsung are the ones with knob controls.

You might consider what kind of cooking you do while you make your decision. Induction cooking is fast and responsive as is gas cooking. Differences, in my opinion, are that induction will be easier to get to a low temperature for delicate items such as crepes compared to gas. Also, milk doesn't burn on induction as easily as it can on gas. Gas may have a advantage, though, if you do a lot of wok cooking.

For either type of cooktop, touch hobs are easier than knobs. Think of a pot of pasta boiling over. It takes a quick touch to "simmer" to stop it, instead of the coordination necessary to turn the knob down (you can tell immediately that I have no athletic ability . . . ). Induction also has a built-in safety factor. It's much easier for a little one to turn on a gas burner and get burnt than an induction hob (without a pot on it).

You can tell I'm an induction devotee. Nearly two years after my "conversion", I wouldn't consider anything else. You'll love it.