All of them are nonsense and a sidebar to just plain cooking on the darn thing. You won’t use any of that 99% of the time. You are getting lost in the trees and not seeing the forest.

The true-bridge burners sound great. I wouldn't worry about the timer feature, unless you already have it and use it a ton. I can't imagine leaving pots unattended for more than a few minutes. Even with induction.

Wolf now has something similar. Per the Wolf user manual:

Zone Timer
A zone timer automatically reduces the power level to 1 when the timer is complete

1. Touch [timer symbol] for the desired element.

2. Set time

3. Touch [check mark symbol].

I like appliance bells & whistles, but cooktop shut off timers are something I cook without easily. Love my oven's auto start/turn off & remote operation, but don't want it for my cooktop.

Don't have the timer and I can't imagine that being of value. I do have bridge burners and have never used the bridge feature in seven years. AutoChef sounds like a gimmick. Get the right pans and be done with it.

"I can't imagine leaving pots unattended for more than a few minutes. Even with induction."

Especially with induction, until you are so familiar with pans, contents and hobs to be confident you won't get a boil-over -- not to mention your coefficient of distraction. The reason is that the power put into a pan can be much more than you might imagine if your experience is limited to electric coil or gas cooking.

All of them are nonsense and a sidebar to just plain cooking on the darn thing. You won’t use any of that 99% of the time. You are getting lost in the trees and not seeing the forest.

I use the timer all the time. I made rice tonight. I started it with a boil, turned it down to 2 to simmer, left DH in the house and went out and walked the dog around the block. Came back, had fifteen more minutes and prepared dinner. Once dinner was done, the rice was ready too and shut off itself.

I use it for when cooking pasta, oatmeal and anything else that is timed.

I personally see no reason to have the bridge burners. That I'd probably have used once in the 5 years I've had my Bosch 800.

What is the auto chef feature?

I also use timers all the time. always for rice and quinoa. Sometimes pasta. often when i’m almost done cooking and when want to leave the room and will burn it otherwise. daily to dry cast iron skillets. steaming artichokes. every time i use the pressure cooker. no idea why you would leave out this feature - its gotta be easy/cheap to implement. i guess people don’t know what they are missing if they have never had it. and many are used to gas which you can’t walk away from like induction. the number of people who by rice cookers and instapots really should indicate a love of timed shut off though…

When it comes to cooking on the stove, top, rice is one of the only things that I actually need to time accurately. The rest of the times that I use timers are for baking. But no matter what your needs are, and you may actually have needs to do more timing of dishes, why not rely on the sophisticated timers that exist in your smart phone. Our smart phones are some of the most expensive pieces of electronics we own, and they come with standard built in digital timers and you May likely always have it in your pocket or with you no matter where you are in your house. The $1250 iPhone that I purchased works just fine for timing things and it is always within earshot. And I have not even investigated, potential culinary apps for my phone, which might include timers. so, you can certainly take advantage of state of the art technology, without having it embedded into the appliance, and any apps in your phone, that you use for timing dishes cooking times will likely be more reliable than anything that has been inserted into a cooktop or range. After all, they have enough high-tech bells, and whistles to make servicing them complicated enough as it is.

And I have not even investigated, potential culinary apps for my phone, which might include timers. so, you can certainly take advantage of state of the art technology, without having it embedded into the appliance, and any apps in your phone, that you use for timing dishes cooking times will likely be more reliable than anything that has been inserted into a cooktop or range.

The timer on the cooktop shuts off the hob when it's done. If I'm busy doing something else, I don't have to think about running back into the room to shut off the hob as I would if I use my smart phone. Especially good for things like rice, oatmeal, quinoa, etc.

And it is actually very reliable.

As much as i love my 1100 phone, when i set a timer then ask it to set another timer it says there’s already a timer going do you want to cancel it? I find it very unreasonable! i’m sure there are a million more competent timer apps but it’s not uncommon i need more than one which is why the hob timers are super helpful. i’m sure hob timers are not quite as good as a rice cooker but i don’t cook rice all that often - certainly not worth the space to own one in a smaller kitchen. pressure cooker we use a couple times a week though.

Miele has the timed cooking feature under Safety Shut-Off in the installation manual on A J Madison.

The Bosch Benchmark NITP668SUC ($2600) and NITP668UC ($2600), and Bosch Benchmark NITP660SUC ($3250) are nearly identical. Interestingly it's only the cheaper models that have a shut-off timer for each induction element.

My cooktop, oven, microwave, & phone have timers, & I still have an old fashioned timer in a kitchen drawer. I am awash with digital clocks. There's nothing that I cook on the cooktop where time is critical that I would leave unattended. Even drying cast iron because I want to gauge how much smoke is coming off a reoiled pan (heat to smoke point). Rice? Usually there are other foods that need cooking too, so I'm right there. I can still multitask well enough at age 68 that I can juggle it all. Probably good exercise for my aging brain.

I'm enjoying the bridge. A cast iron griddle on the induction bridge is better than my old electric skillet: temp control, crisping, cooking area. I don't find the "cool" spot in the middle bothersome: it's still hot enough to cook food. I like the bridge for making gravy in a roaster, cooking a large fish. The griddle works for oven or grill use too, so props for versatility. Wish I had two bridges like some of the 36 in cooktops have for making breakfasts for our grandkids.

Okay full transparency - I have Zojirushi for rice and an electric griddle which may contribute to the fact I wouldn't need the shut off timer and don't use the bridge feature. I have very few specialized small appliances or gadgets but I would never be without a rice cooker. Not Asian but DH lived in Japan for a while and when he came home he had to have a rice cooker. They weren't very common at the time and the only place we could get one was at a small Asian grocery store.

I would not find a timer useful. I use a small Instant Pot for all of the rice and grains, including steel cut oats. Even risotto can be done in an instant pot. I can put that all in, activate start, and walk away. Not doing those on the stovetop has freed up a lot of time to do more intricate recipes for the other things.

A dedicated griddle is something that I thought I would use constantly. But, I have only used it once or twice. I doubt if a bridge element would ever get used.

When I made my purchase just the other day, reliability, the bridge element and size of burners were the most important features. I'm switching from gas and I doubt that I would use the timer shut off. You don't miss something that you have never had. I have an instapot for rice. I'll probably continue to use that because it's a habit pattern. You don't miss what you never had.

I’ve have the timer feature on my Bosch induction and have never used it in the 8 years I’ve had it.

I use the Bosch Benchmark cook-timer (automatic shut-off) feature all the time! I would really miss it now that I've been spoiled.

I never use the auto chef feature because reducing the heat on the hob seems easier than sliding the pan to another location on the bridge.

I use the flex-bridge often for mid-sized pans. Heating one end of the flex leaves cold spots in a mid-sized round pan, so I am forced to turn on the entire flex to get even coverage throughout the pan. I don't have a long pan that would cover the entire flex--I just can't justify the cost of such a pan.

Thank you all for the valuable input!

@theresa21 , do you wish you'd gotten the 500/800 instead, with traditional burners? What diameter were the midsized pans?

@westofhouse I do not wish I had gotten the 800 because the 800 has two small hobs at the front. I use the one small burner on the Benchmark frequently, but would have very little use for two small burners at the front. The attached photo shows the hob placement for the 800, with two small hobs at the front and medium and large sized hobs at the back. I'm fine with the rear placement of the largest hob, because I don't use that burner all that much except for boiling, a task that doesn't require much hands-on cooking attention. Every once in a while I cook with a massive-size cast iron pan, but that's not too often, so I can tolerate the inconvineince of having the largest hob at the somewhat rear location (it's not as far back as the medium-sized hob on the 800).

If I am frying an egg in a medium-sized fry pan I want it at the front. The medium sized pans that I use on the flex are about 8" on the bottom. I always have to turn on the flex when using a medium sized pan to get even coverage of heat for the full diameter of the pan.

@westofhouse for comparison sake, attached is the hob arrangement for the industrial style Bosch range. None of the hobs appear to be as large as the Benchmark's or 800's largest hob. Only you can decide which of the induction Bosch ranges will suit your lifestyle best.

"I discovered that they dropped the cook timer feature (shutdown burner after a set time) in the current model."

The Bosch Benchmark NITP668SUC and Bosch Benchmark NITP668UC still offer that feature. Other brands offer timers for each induction element but do not turn off the element. The LG Studio CBIS3618B, for example, beeps and pops up a dialog box that asks the cook whether he wants to turn off the element or not.

@wdccruise, isn't NITP668UC an older version of the NITP660UC? I didn't realize it was still available anywhere.

"isn't NITP668UC an older version of the NITP660UC?"

Several sites show its discontinued but if it has the features you want and you can get it from Appliances Connection, I'd see whether you can get one there.

I might be the minority here but I use the timer on my Thermador induction cooktop alot. I cook mostly Asian dishes with the timer, from Cantonese style broth, to stew, and for the easiest 3 minutes broccoli. Although I never cook white rice with it since I use my rice cooker for that but I do make cast iron version of "clay pot rice" which I do use the timer function. It's really a personal preference/function and you decide what fits your cooking style.

"I might be the minority here... I cook mostly Asian dishes..."

Tee-hee.

Late to the party here, but have you made a decision yet? I am also shopping for a new induction cooktop, coming from a Miele that did have turn off timers for each burner. I used that feature all the time, and am frustrated that few new models have it. I am leaning hard towards another Miele, they have a nice hob layout, good power, and I'm intrigued by the bridge burner. I am, however, very concerned about recent reports of reliability being sketchy. Just about to post a dedicated question about that.

"I used that feature all the time, and am frustrated that few new models have it."

Why not see if you can grab a Bosch Benchmark NITP668SUC or Bosch Benchmark NITP668UC from appliancesconnection.com whose webpages claim they're available.

I use the individual hob timers all the time on my Bosch Benchmark Induction Range! I especially enjoy using the cook timer (automatic turn off) for rice, oatmeal, quinoa and soft-boil eggs. I think the auto chef is a gimmic.

Spoke with a Thermador rep who says that all manufacturers are required to drop turn off timers from their feature set for "safety reasons" due to new government regulations. I'm disgusted, but wanted to share the info on this discussion.

In other news, after laying hands on a Thermador Freedom cooktop, I now have to put it on my list of cooktops to consider. It's a pretty awesome cooktop. Pricey, but...YOLO, right? :-)

@cj47 we used to be a dedicated Miele household but their customer service has deteriorated SO much in the last few years I'd be very wary of them

Also I know nothing about Wolf but did hear their cooktop turns the power down to 1 at the end of the countdown timer. I guess that's their way of getting around the new regulation, which, imo is stupid. We have a de dietrich hob and I use that feature ALL the time.

Thank you, @loves2cook46--I've been seeing a lot of that sort of thing, along with reports of unreliability and early failure. Much as I loved my cooktop, my next one will not be a Miele. I'm currently looking hard at the Thermador Freedom, despite the price. I'm not hearing much about those, which may be a good thing, actually. Thank you for the comment.

According to their respective user manuals, the following 36" induction cooktops have induction-element timers that will turn off each element at the end of the associated timer's countdown:

• Forte F36NDC4505B36 Inch Induction Smoothtop Cooktop ($577)
• Equator BIC365 36 Inch Induction Smoothtop Cooktop ($700)
• SHARP SDH3652DB 36 Inch Induction Smoothtop Cooktop ($1300)