Made up issue from people who dont have induction. Don’t expect to cook at a super high heat with a giant pan on a small hob, because that just doesn't work no matter what the fuel or method the range is. Don't put a 12” on a 6”. There.

It matters more when you are frying an egg or flipping pancakes, because the parts of the food item that is not directly over the hob will either not cook or cook significantly slower. If you are boiling or simmering a liquid, it won't matter as much, because liquid moves around inside the pan.

It is a non issue, Enjoy your new range/cooktop!

As others have posted, there will be variants depending on what is being cooked as well as the actual pan.

If you are cooking with liquid e.g. braising (or canning) the conductivity of the pan and its heat retention matter less because it is the liquid that is providing the cooking heat. If you are searing you are relying on the surface of the pan to provide the cooking heat.

If you are using good pans that retain heat and provide even heat, then your results will be better but that is true of cooking with any type of fuel. If you put a very large pot on a gas flame the outet surface of the pan is not going to be heated to the same degree as the portion directly over the flames and will rely to some extent on the heat being conducted as well as the heat being retained - e.g. why cast iron is considered such a good medium as it conducts and retains heat well. Or why a true stir fry needs intense professional wok burners - the surface of a wok is small but the sides are heated by the intense flames and heat in a professional Chinese restaurant kitchen.

My Bosch has two burners which are linked so that they can be used by oversized pots. The Thermador is however obviously a step up. When I was buying appliances the Gaggenau had that feature where the whole surface could be used and it was quite tempting but about $7000 more than my Bosch :-)

The 36 in. Wolf induction cooktop lets you bridge all four 8 inch burners for pots & pans that are 12 inches or larger.

https://www.subzero-wolf.com/wolf/cooktops-and-rangetops/induction-cooktops/36-inch-contemporary-induction-cooktop

The thing about the Wolf though is that it's not real bridging--there's no heat in the areas between the linked burners. So with a large pan over all 4, you get a weird pattern of hot and cold areas. We have that cooktop, and we regularly use a 15" carbon steel pan on the large burner, and it works great. Much better than my attempts to use the same pan on the 4 smaller burners.

mcarroll16, that is (currently) my preferred cooktop, and I knew that about the 4 way bridging, so I’m glad to hear you can and do use a large pan on the large burner. One other question about the Wolf, if you don’t mind: when you do bridge 2 rather than all 4, is that real bridging? If it is, does it bridge both horizontally and vertically?

The flexinduction on the Bosch is solid, no cold and hots spots that I can detect.

Life's tough in the US for Miele fans. They've had full surface induction in different width cooktops for over two years in Europe and other 50hz locations. The 7000 series units can be seen on the UK or German websites. Same price as other Miele offering. When will we get them? No one knows.

I trust your experience with your 36 in Wolf, mcarroll! Still, I think the 4 bridged burners might be good for a large water bath canner where the boiling water churns the heat. Hot spots are of less importance in that case.

Agree, it would probably work well for that. Not sure you would even need the bridge. We boil water in an 11" stockpot on the small burners, and it works fine.