Product review (4 stars): Love Induction
For several years I had read about induction cooktops and thought I'd love to have one - if we ever remodeled, knowing that we wouldn't do that!!!!  Well, my husband surprised me with a kitchen remodel - pretty much going with anything I wanted.  I DO love to cook and always have.  I studied and researched induction cooktops, and am thrilled to have one.  Even my husband loves cooking with it - it is a HUGE learning curve.  I have used both gas and electric in the past.

Yes, I did need to get new pans (I'd really never had new pans in our 40 years of marriage, but rather a hodge-podge of things given to us.  It worked.  Well, we went with the Demire Atlantis line (yes, luxury) and at my husband's suggestion got them while the kitchen was being remodeled and I was cooking on a single hot plate.  Let me tell you, those pans are incredible - even on a cheap hot plate!!!  And . .yes, they're great on the induction cooktop.  I realize much of this paragraph is on the pans, but . .in that you must have magnetic pans, I thought I'd just address that issue here, too.)

When we were looking to buy the cooktop, my husband really encouraged me to buy the 5 burner cooktop.  I insisted "no" - I'd never needed 5 burners in all my years of cooking, even for larage crowds; what I always ran out of was oven space! (and yes, we did get two full-size wallovens.  So . . we got the 4 burner - and now I wish I'd gotten the 5 burner, only because on the induction cooktop you must more accurately match your pan size than on other types of cooking surfaces that I've used.  I've always worked hard to match size of pan to the burner as closely as possible.

As stated in the first paragraph, for me/us, other than for boiling water (which is incredible!), the cooking learning curve was HUGE.  I'd never bothced an omelette, but . . did my first time on the induction cooktop; it was edible but not a "looker" at all!!. But . . keep at it - you'll get it!!!!  I did!  For me, I needed to use numbers higher than expected.

I LOVE that I can put things on the cooktop - such as the food dishes w/all the ingredients for a recipe - and not worry about hot burners, pot holder catching fire, etc. (only heat on the cooktop is from a pan that has been on the stove and transferred heat to the cooktop.  Recently I had a big dinner, and immediately after I used the cooktop, I put a woven cloth rug over the top and used the cooktop for buffet serving.  It worked great and looked fine, too!

I do wish the unit had knobs vs. touch-pad for the controls.  It's SOOOO much easier to turn a knob to exactly where you want than to keep touching and pressing a button to get where you want to go with it.

Also, both my husband and I wish the "burners" were not sooo hard to see (hence the 4 star rating, not 5).  We have to turn the hood light on and undercabinet lighting on, also, so that we can see where the burner is (as you must place your pan on the burner - not partially off, etc.  Certainly it could have been made so that each burner was more easily seen/identified.  I am guessing they are done as they are so that the unit has a sleeker, less "stove-top" look.  I'd rather not have to get at just the right angle to find my burner - it's a stove, so . . I don't mind it looking like one!

Overall - it's great and am excited we ventured out and tried something so new!!!!