Wolf induction is under $3000 too.

One thing to keep in mind while shopping ranges is if you are looking at Induction, only certain kinds of cookware will work.
Induction cooking works by creating a magnetic field between the pot and the magnetic coils beneath the cooking surface. The energy created in the electromagnetic field heats the contents of the pot. In order for cookware to perform on induction cooktops it must contain ferromagnetic materials. In other words, it contains iron or has a layer with magnetic properties.
Most cookware will clearly state if it is compatible.
Good Luck and Best Wishes.
Danielle Wills

simstress - I think the Wolf ranges are over $6k so out of the budge, and after checking, they require a 50A breaker and I only have a double 40A for the range.

pillog - never thought about the controls being different. I have large dials on my electric and there are not any set clicks for different settings, just more like a rheostat I assume. I think from a visual standpoint, it may come down to ranges that have knobs and those that do not, as it looks like a lot of them do not.

I'm also shopping for a refrigerator and I am staring to think, after reading tons of reviews, that every brand has it's issues. It seams like you do not have to look hard to find complaints about a product.

Have had a 36” Bosch for 3 years and totally love it. Had a lot of cast iron, but did have to replace a few pans, which was negligible relative to the cost of a new house. I hope to never have anything other than induction again, and Zi had cooked on gas for the previous 30 years. I use the large hob in the center more than any of the others and it is placed well for capture by the hood.

Kenstl,

Yes, there's no such thing as an appliance company that has zero complaints. Even if every single feature were tested in the factory (which is impractical--I think most use robot diagnostics) things come apart during shipping and installation, and sometimes a service call is required. Not to mention, one of those shipping faults might not even appear until a couple years down the line when you go to use a feature you never tried before.

Some companies, though, along with the complaint will have raves for the quality customer service, or at least say that CS provided a satisfactory resolution. Then there are the companies that have scads of horror stories, not just for failing units but for non-existant and worse CS. Some brands expect you to go through your dealer for complaints rather than straight to them, while others expect you to call on them right away. There's little way of knowing which is which, save for Miele who have an 800 number in big bold type on the back of the manual. :)

The trick is to sort out the brands where most people with a similar usage to yours are enjoying the use of the appliance (making store bought cookie dough and a scratch souffle are two different things). Also, take into consideration absolute numbers. For all the scads and scads of horror stories about Samsung fridges, they still probably aren't much more in percentage of units sold to any of the high end, low volume brands.

All appliances have their quirks. If you pay more money you get fewer quirks. But for basic usability, for the unit to do what it's supposed to do, you can usually tell which ones to stay away from from reading the reviews.

Re induction, a very few have a continuous control with a line you can push back and forth, but I think that's just a visual metaphor. There are probably set power levels within that. You should be able to tell by reading the manual. There are a few with knobs. People like knobs. Having adequate power levels is far more important than having knobs, however, so make sure you're getting that as well.

After 7 years, I’m still in love with our De Dietrich induction hob. I only wish I’d picked one with one extra large ring.

Kenstl, on ranges that have knobs and those that do not, are you aware that the knob-controls are just stepped digital interfaces for the induction ranges on the brands you are looking at? (The only exception that I know of was the Viking induction ranges which have been priced at about three times your budget.)

For models under $3k,the only knob controlled induction models in the brands you listed would be the two Samsung induction slide-in models. Not much posted here on either of them, they have only nine power settings per burner, and most of the posts were from a few early adopters who received and returned lemons. GE has just released a knob-controlled GE Cafe version of its GE Profile slide-in, but that model has only been on the market for a couple of week and is still priced above $3k. There are some other brands of knob-controlled induction ranges out there, but I'm assuming you already knew that and are not considering them.

Beyond that, I would second plllog's posts above.

Oops. I was thinking cooktop only. Yes, the ranges cost more.

Are you sure you need knob control? If you were to move to a new house with a fantastic induction range without knobs, would you be able to learn to deal with it? How long do you think it would take you to adjust (no pun intended ;-) Three day, four a week? Is it worth limiting your very good options because of this small inconvenience?

Non knob ranges are not ruled out, I just happen to like the look of ones that have it, mostly because that is what I have been used to using. I'll be watching the sales this month. If I go induction, the only other option I like is the warming drawer which many seem to have. Thank you for all of your input

I think I have my Viking sold, so now I have to get a replacement. I would really like to go with and induction range, but the poor reviews of all of the models make me wonder if I am just better off with the old style electric burners. Budget is up to $3k or so. I have viewed. I will only list the negatives reviews that I seem to find consistent on each model:

Bosch - seems to be a lot of complaints about the oven blower fan noise,

Kitchenaid - a lot of complaints on the self cleaning or lack there of, the clicking noises of the induction range, and the cooktop shutting off if anything is set on top of the range while cooking.

Samsung - a lot of great reviews and many very bad reviews. "double" single oven gets a lot of knocks, oven won't hold a temperature and it isn't accurate, also some humming noises from some

Jenn Air - I suppose this is just a rebadged kitchenaid?

Are there any other brands I should check out? I like certain features of each of the ranges, but not one has all of of the features. Items I like:

1. glass top extending outside of the range to lay over the counter is nice, but not a deal breaker. I do only want a slide in style.

2. I would HATE to have constance clicking noises or a hum while using the cooktop. This rates up in #1 or #2

3. baking is important, so would really like to have an accurate oven. Our current Viking is always off about 50 deg.

4. warming drawer

I am not an extended warranty guy, but it sounds like one might be of importance on these ranges. Are there any other induction ranges that I am nothing thinking of? I know I left off GE, but are there any others or one of the above that you would choose because of a specific feature or quality? Having never used induction I am a little in left field here.

If I were making this decision I would choose the Bosch. Fan noise is not a significant complaint in my book considering all the other possible issues. Bosch makes an excellent induction cooktop and their ovens are highly regarded.

Having said that, there will always be people who have problems with their appliances and they will be vocal about airing those grievances. There are complaints about the tippy top brands all the way down to the bargain basement ones.

My second choice would be the KA. There is a thread here on GW with many happy customers of the range that came out last year.

Like you, I have never been an extended warranty kind of person- until now- with all these electronics in kitchen appliances, I think it's a worthwhile investment.

Good luck with your choice. You are going to love induction!

I have an LG induction range -- no one seems to mention them, but I absolutely love mine. I also wanted knobs, which put it high on my options list, and I think it's a very good looking slide in range. I haven't had it long (they haven't been available for long), but so far I've had no problems -- no clicking, no cycling, no rattling of pans. The oven is good, but it's an oven - other than even heat and convection mode, I don't ask a lot out of it (it seems a lot of posters on GW don't use convection in their oven, but I use it frequently).

The LG induction range is relatively new on the market, but LG has a long history of producing good quality ranges, so hopefully I can post an update next year and the year after saying it's still terrific.

I like the look of the range!

You need to carefully evaluate whether 40amp is sufficient for whichever range you choose. I got a pretty basic Electrolux and the specs gave conflicting info about whether it required 40 or 50. After consulting with an electrician friend I upgraded the breaker to 50 which in my case required a wiring upgrade as well. My understanding was that the more functions you use at once, the greater the risk you’d trip a 40amp breaker. I didn’t want to be limited so I made the change.

I have noticed a couple of ranges are listed st 50A. I have a double breaker 40A so I will be limited to only ranges that state 40A as my wire run length would be a long one.

Re your comment about oven fan noise in the Bosch induction ranges: that was a problem for some some of early adopters of the first release of the previous Bosch model, the HIIP054u. As demonstrated in this long thread on those ranges, Bosch developed a fix for that problem and it went away a couple of years ago. That problem has not re-emerged on the current Bosch models (the HIIP055u and HII8055u). The threads here say there have been no such fan noise problems with them. See this thread.

On the subject of "pulsing," be aware that there are two very different kinds of things that get lumped in this category. "Loud clicking" (meaning switching noise) was a problem five years ago mainly some of the previous generation of Whirlpool-made induction products. (FWIW, both KitchenAid and JennAir are Whirlpool brands or "badges" as you called them.)

The other "pulsing" problem that gets raised is a burner's inability to hold a steady low simmer instead of pulsing briefly up to a near boil and then going back to completely still for bit, then pulsing back up, then down, etc. Again, that was seen several years ago with some Whirlpool products but these days is mostly seen with the less expensive models of portable induction cookers rather than the ranges you are looking at. Less expensive portables use fairly crude "pulse width modulation" of cycling heat on and off for seconds at a time, and that makes their pulsing very noticeable. Most current ranges and cooktops use a much finer cycling --- many short pulses per second which will not be any more noticeable than on microwave ovens (which mostly use the same high-frequency "PWM" technique to generate lower heat levels.)

A couple of additional points on the subject of oven temps being off by 50° or so.

First thing is that every electric oven I've used in the last three decades has had a means of easily re-calibrating the control settings. The process will be buried somewhere in the user guide/owner's manual. Basically, buy a relatively accurate oven thermometer. (Lots of online recommendations from the likes of America's Test Kitchen.) Preheat your oven for half an hour or more to get a stable temperature. Following the instructions in the manual, you then adjust the display temp to match the reading on the oven thermometer.

Second thing is to avoid being misled by the oven's preheat signals. Lots of threads here explaining how marketeers have gamed those settings for bragging rights in advertising. Basically, those signals only measure the air temperatures. If you try to measure oven temps right after the preheat signal goes off, you will find varying -- sometimes wildly varying -- temps. Most baking and roasting cooking is actually done with radiant heat from the walls of the oven. It takes at least 25 to 35 minutes for the walls to full preheat on residential ovens and to stabliize at heat. If you want the technical engineering explanations for this, you could check out Myhrvold's explanations on the Modernist Cuisine site (or the books) for more than you thought anybody might want know about this subject.)

Regarding you comment about maybe looking to radiant electric stoves to avoid the poor reviews like you've found on induction ranges, my reaction is good luck on finding those without bad reviews. I'll just refer back to what plllog said so eloquently above about this subject.

You asked about other brands, I would look at Kenmore-made by Frigidaire, Frigidaire's own line including the very sleek new Frigidaire Pro and Electrolux. They all have multiple heat steps- more than the 10 steps of some others, and all self clean quite well. They also all work just fine on 40 amps minimum. I have an Electrolux. With any induction I would advise the longest extended warranty you can buy since like most modern appliances there are electronic circuit boards which could fail. Induction is so fast to bring your pasta pot to a boil, yes faster than gas Wolf, Bluestar et al. and cool kitchen-almost all the heat goes into your cookware, easy cleanup-nothing burns on the cooktop, and you can simmer so low -no scorching.

Thanks Venmar. I do like the look of the Frigidaire range but I have seen a number of complaints that the front trim area is plastic and people have melted portions of it when they accidently touched it with a hot pot. I’ll have to go view one. At Thai point I am leaning towards:

GE - induction with double oven

Bosch induction

Bertazzoni Induction (lower priced model)

LG - really like the look, concerned about reviews

I think I can get a great price on a Kitchenaid refrigerator, so I don’t want to rule out the KA or Jenn Air, but I feel like the above units have more features.

My budget is in the $2500-$3500 for the range. I really like the look of the Samsung, (and it’s cheaper) but then I have the issue of trying to match the handles to the refrigerator. I’m limited on the refrigerator as I have been five one requirement of NO water or ice on the door lol. Need to finalize a decision this week though. Thanks