You are on the right track by taking pans to the stores and checking out the way everything fits together (or doesn't fit together.) Seems to me that the "crowding" issue is pretty much a problem with almost all kinds of all major brand stoves and cooktops whether they are gas, radiant electric, induction or whatever.

I don't have any of the cooktops you are looking at, but it sometimes helps get a conversation going when your thread lists some responses. So, here's something that hopefully gets this going for you.

I don't know if you've seen these previous discussions of this topic for induction, but, if you haven't, you might find them useful:

Photos of sjhockeyfan's Bosch 500 cooktop with three pans and Storing's storeroom views of a Bosch induction slide-in-range with three pans:

http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/2286039/decision-time-induction
Jebrooks posted about tests he ran with pots and pans to view these concerns in choosing between a GE slide-in and freestanding induction range models:

http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/2307608/induction-range-ge-phs920sfss-vs-elux-ei30if40ls  -- see his July 5, 2014 post in that thread.

Sjhockeyfan has a photo of a Bosch cooktop with 4 pans going---http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/2301657/induction-vs-smooth-top-electric-range

Seems to me that there are a couple of wrinkles in sorting out what will work or not work for you.

First one is that there will be different considerations when using largish pans depending on whether you are needing everything to be evenly heated all across the pan bases on each pan or if, instead, you are mixing fry pans and stock pots. For sautes, sauces and other things for which even heat is required, the rules of thumb prescribe pans with bases that are up to an inch larger in diameter than the induction burner and expect to reliably use pans down 60% or 70% of the burner diameter. For stockpots full of liquid, pretty much any burner will work, even one of the 5" burners..

What also affects placing those together will be whether or not the cooktop is flush into the counterop and whether the cooktop has trim around the edges. (Basically, with a rimless cooktop that sits proud of the countertop, you've got room for pots to overhang a bit, so easier to get more big pots together.)

Another aspect is how sensitive the induction burners are to off-centered pans. I'm not current on this now, but it used to be the case that the induction burners from Whirlpool products (which includes Jen Airr) and Samsung were more "picky" about pan placement than the products from GE and Electrolux (which includes Frigidiare and Kenmore).

Maybe others can chime in here with the current information and cover other brands of induction products, such as Miele?

Gaggenau and Thermador (and likely Bosch - since all same BSH parent co) have an induction cooktop that has individual induction coils that sense the size of the pan and adapt accordingly - large, small, rectangular etc. They support 4 pans (2 max on each "side") but don't have the predefined circles / limitations of the ones that give you the "pan map".

jwvideo, thanks for taking the time with that thorough response

jannicone, despite the price, I always kept the full surface cooktop on my radar because I thought it solved this problem. When in the showroom the other day I realized it only solves the problem of me thinking the 4-6" burner sizes are useless. Apparently, that 36" full induction only has 30" of usable space. That, plus the way the controls are layed out, makes it equally as bad, if not worse, at the pan crowding issue.

The 36-inch Electrolux Icon has two 10-inch, and one each of 8-inch, 7-inch and 6-inch hobs. The Frigidaire has one 10-inch, two 8-inch, and one each of 7-inch and 6-inch hobs.

See also http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/2246536/36-induction-cooktop-with-bridge?n=96

kas

Love, love, love my 36" Miele (the older version). Works great for 3 12" skillets at a time, then the 2 small burners can be used for sauce pots or a small skillet (8" is perfect although a little larger is okay too). We chose it specifically due to your concern - wanting to be able to use large things on them! We somewhat regularly use all 5 burners, and rarely is crowding an issue. Occasionally we will be stuck boiling water in a big pot on a small burner (not a problem in terms of heat output), and the pot will be not centered and hanging off the edge a little bit. Usually everything fits great! Definitely way better than any 30" range I've ever had. The new version scares me because I agree the 2 big burners are way to close together to be useful.

Hey lharpie,

Are you talking about this model?

http://www.mieleusa.com/Product/Details/456

Yep, that's the one! Although the picture is wrong because both front burners are 9" (as it says in the specs) and back burners are both 6 5/16". In the picture the hobs in the right look the same size to me.

I have the Miele 30" (outgoing model). It's very flexible in that even the large "burners" can take much smaller pans. The actual contact surface of my go to non-stick pan is also much smaller than the pan itself so it will even work with the smaller hobs.

Thanks for the reviews of the old Miele. I guess I'll stick with my plan of going back to the store with my pans and making a final decision.

Thanks kimg, I did notice in the showroom that you had to orient the handles correctly on that Wolf cooktop. I really do like that all hobs are 8" or bigger. The multi use bridge setup seemed pretty neat too. Do you have any experience using that yet?

I have used the bridge once with a wide griddle. I went from the 2 way to the all bridge mode. It worked fine for pancakes. There are "dead" zones so if your pan conducts heats well that should be minimized. I would not consider it ideal and if bridging is important I think Miele/Bosch and others may be better. options Bridging for me is a few times a year requirement. I like the way the controls work. You can direct select a level or slide the levels left or right. I preferred this interface over the Bosch. The Bosch also defaults to the bridge mode which I did not find that to be efficient, nor intuitive and user friendly for my guests that like to cook at my house. The new Miele was not out so I was not able to consider that model. I found Wolf had the best pot recognition. As an FYI - you can only boost on the two back burners or the large one.

I was planning on the wolf for our new house, mostly because of the 4 way bridging and using a griddle (griddle link). The thermador and gaggenau full surface seem to get average or below reviews and cost 1/3 more.

What didn't you like about the wolf bridging compared to the miele/bosch? The dead zones? Looking at the specs for miele/bosch the bridge size would be pretty small for a griddle.

In the middle of the 4 way bridge there is an area outside of the hobs. This will not heat you pan with induction. See pic below. I have a very heavy stainless griddle, and I did not notice this area being "dead" when making pancakes as my griddle must conduct the heat well. Depending on what you are cooking and the kind of cookware it may be an issue for you or it may not. I didn't realize this until I read it in the user manual after I used my griddle and the 4 way bridge. As you mention - you will have the same issue if your griddle is wider than you bridge area such as bosch or miele where the bridge area is 9" wide and your (and my) griddle is 14" wide. You will have "dead" space on the sides and likely also on the ends. Only the full surface inductions will heat the entire pan. Hopefully in a few years the full surface induction will advance and be more affordable and offer the same capacity you would expect with a 36" wide cooktop. I very much like my Wolf - I cook mainly at lower temps and it does a great job!

kimg1114: I can't resist noting that your granite is perfect for a messy chocolatier.

Thanks kimg1114. I'll probably still get the wolf then. Unless something new comes out this year when we still have time to order.