Induction is not really a work in progress, just in this country. It's been popular in Europe for some time. You'll still need a vent hood for induction, you still need to capture the effluent some way. May need less CFM requirements since there's no heat from the burners themselves.

Before the experts get in here, may I clear up one point for all of us. You said:

Lately, I've been looking mostly at gas ranges.

Did you mean gas cooktops?? If not, we have the issue of where is this range going!

On the hood issue: we didn't put one in because we thought it would block the view. It's lack doesn't seem to make a big mess although frying does require some cleanup. We do have a popup downdraft and it sort of works and I usually don't use it except when frying or we've burned something and the smoke alarm is ready to go on.

Re induction wiring: if you have an exposed basement or crawl space, then running a new electrical circuit isn't really that big a deal; well certainly not compared with the induction cost! There have been plenty of threads here on how much people love their induction units. However, you are on propane and that suggests you are in the country like we are. We have plenty of small power outages and barely missed being out for two or more days and likely would have appreciated our gas supply.

sorry, gas COOKTOP! And you are right, we are in the country. Maybe that will make the difference for staying with gas. We do have a crawl space under the kitchen so wouldn't be too bad of a project but definitely an extra cost.

Glad someone else goes without a hood! In online conversations lots of people think it's crazy to go without one. We have high ceilings and the main problem is gunk on the pendant lights over the island. And when something is smoking. But then we just have one of the kids open the back door and swing the broom around a bit.

Thanks again! Any more thoughts one what style or brands?

No kids here so we have to open the back door by ourselves. Actually, we have a ceiling fan that happens to be near the smoke alarm and solves most issues. Our ceilings are nine foot and we have three pendants over the island. They don't seem to get grungy. But again, we do have the downdraft but only use it in unusual circumstances.

You mentioned a glasstop gas unit. We had a KA glasstop and I was completely unhappy. First, it was actually harder (and then impossible) to clean than an inexpensive classic white unit like we have now. The glass retains heat stains. In our KA, the burners were bolted on, perhaps for electrical contact thru the glass for the ignitors. Those bolts froze on which eventually prevented cleaning and then made it difficult to get under the glasstop to repair semi continual ignitor issues. I actually got lucky and sopped that issue, but in attempting to remove the bolts to prevent future issues and improve cleaning, I broke the glasstop and had to throw it away. Really bad design!!!

Thanks! That does sound like a bad design. I didn't mean to mention glass. Maybe an autocorrect? Just looking at regular gas tops. Although I do think black might help keep it looking cleaner. Some people mentioned having grease all over their cabinets without a hood but we haven't had much problem. Maybe the high ceilings have helped.

Re glasstop: oops, I guess I had just read another poster considering a new cooktop with possibility of glass and got it mixed up with yours. My aunt has a black cooktop and it still looks good after many years of use.

Re gas/propane and burner control: I now have experience with my glasstop KA unit and an inexpensive Whirlpool new unit. It appears that the common sealed unit burners are designed for use with natural gas, and propane is an afterthought that requires compromise. My KA had great adjustable simmer control but high settings were reached even before a 'medium' setting on all burners. The new cooktop will not even allow appropriately low settings on any burner but provides a range of settings that allow high flame to be reached around a 3/4 of the full valve range. I assume that the bad simmer settings may be the reason for its low sales price.