What's the diameter of your largest burner? I have a KitchenAid freestanding double oven range with 11" diameter largest burner. I have a square/rectangular cast iron skillet. I've never been able to use it on my old coil range. Thiks pan's base measurements are 10" across the width. Diagonally from corner to corner the measurement is 11.5" The same measurements measuring the top the respective measurements are 11" and 13.5" What's important is the measurement of widest point of this pan's base.

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Your pan is induction friendly right? Cast iron or stainless steel?

You usually have an optimal margin of 1" larger than the size of the base of your pan. Bigger will work but it may not heat as evenly and will probably take longer for the sides to get hot. The main thing would be to remember while sautéing to push the vegetables in from the edge, and the same when searing the meat--stay away from the edges.

Or, if you routinely sear first, remove the meat, then sauté the veg, you could use a smaller pan to do the stove work, and remove to the 15" pan you intend to braise in, instead of using a dish. The 15" pan should be fine on the induction for reducing afterwards.

I haven't purchased the unit yet. I am trying to determine whether the need to have exact pot sizes outweighs the obvious benefits of induction over standard electric cooktop - gas is not an option in my high rise condo.

• I have been reading specifications and manuals for the various models I am considering - Bosch, GE and perhaps the very inexpensive Frigidaire except that I think that having to click up and down to get the appropriate power level would drive me crazy so I think that's a non-starter.
• The Bosch Benchmark has the flexmation system but that appears to be more geared towards roasting pans and/or oval pans.
• I realize that the size is measured by the bottom and many skillets have flared sides. I am specifically wondering about my saute pans which have large bottoms (no flared sides) and whether they would work on the hob that isn't as wide.

alex9179 Thanks for clarifying. Since liquid will be conducting the heat in a braise rather than relying on the heat conductivity of the actual pan being heated by connection to the element, I think it will be fine.

• I understand that items which actually rely on heat from the surface like searing meat should be done in a pan that aligns to the size of the element.
• That type of cooking isn't really an issue. I was thinking of the capacity of some items I braise. Although protein might be seared first, it would be easy I think to keep the protein centered in the part of the pan that was completely on the hob.
• I was worried literally about the pan being absolutely unable to get the hob to heat.

This is one of those things that folks make a BIG DEAL out of, but it really isn't.

A gas flame will spread out underneath a pan by it's very nature. Electric does not. But induction is NO DIFFERENT than a coil top or radiant. If you've been happy with your pan's performance on a 11" coil top, you'll be happy with 11" induction.

weedmeister: Thanks for clarifying even further. I understand the "science" of cooking but in reading posts and specs and manuals, I was not sure whether literally the hob would actually turn on with a larger pan - or would somehow damage the cooktop if too much of the pan's bottom was outside of the actual hob element :-)

As long as the hob works and I will not be damaging it, I am fine with the conductivity for a braise - by its very nature liquid is more of the conductor than the actual bottom of the pot unless one is dealing with cast iron type of cookware where the sides heat slowly but retain heat.

Helen: We have the 30" Bosch Benchmark with FlexInduction zone/bridge. To clarify, one can absolutely place to 2 pots/pans simultaneously within the rectangular 'zone'; that area can be used for more than roasting pans. HTH.

Ah... You mean to braise on the cooktop; is that it? I thought you'd be transferring to the oven. I think you'd be fine on a 13" element, but maybe less so on an 11". It'll work if the pan isn't covering controls or anything like that. It just might have notable hot spots and cold spots.

pillog: There are some braises that I would finish in an oven - typically those with beef as a protein. However (without going into specific recipes :-)), there are some recipes which I will call a "braise" which are entirely stove top - sear protein; remove protein; saute aromatics, add back protein, liquid and then some form of grain - i.e. barley, rice. The quantity of food with the liquid, the grains, the protein, the vegetables is high and rather than a high pot, I use a large saute pan so that the protein is all on one level although really being cooked/heated by the liquid more than the bottom.

javiwa: Not sure if I am understanding. What happens if the perimeter of the pot falls outside the circles in your picture?

• At this point, I am strongly leaning towards the Bosch Benchmark because of the Flexinduction Bridge as well as the direct controls - I think it would drive me batty to have to control heat by punching up and down continually. I have that feature on my counter toaster/convection oven and I invariably have to run the sequence a few times because I over hit it if I am not super focused.
• I am not sure I would ever use the Autochef feature but who knows? I would probably invest in one of the pans just for the geek quality.
• And the timing which actually turns off the elements seems like it might come in handy since I rely on timers for stuff that has no margin of error like rice and I have been known to forget to set a timer.

Helen: Here's a very good discussion from 2011 regarding Induction Cooktop: Burner & Pot Size Matching? that might answer some of your questions. We love the numeric controls (one of the reasons we went with this brand/line), and the individual hob timer-shutoff has been very helpful for us (yes, rice!).

SpeedBoost is the best! :)

I don't think cooktop comes with AutoChef, but our Bosch speed oven has 10 AC modes. Perhaps I haven't given this capability enough of a chance, but I find AC is too much of a one-size-fits-all, set-it-and-forget-it way to cook that doesn't yield optimal results. (I 'test roasted' a chicken using AC settings, and the chicken was very overcooked.)