Product review (3 stars): Cooks very nice, lots of heat. Difficult to install and very difficult to keep clean.
This review is for the GE Profile Series 30 Downdraft Electric cooktop. I am replacing a Jenn Air downdraft cooktop with this so I cannot choose anything but another downdraft or otherwise completely remodel my kitchen. That limits you to about 4 choices, or less if you want to keep the same size cutout in your countertop. I had thought that the Jenn Air models were from the same company as these and that their guarantee of drop in size compatibility would also mean this would fit. Unfortunately that was not true. It was 3/8 too wide front to back so I epoxied in some strips of steel to being the weight bearing part of the rest to the metal case on the far side otherwise it would have just been resting on the glass which made me nervous. And it was 3/8 too small side to side so off to the hardware store to buy a diamond grinding disk for the angle grinder to make room for a few of the screws that stuck out too far to get it into that sized space.

The cooktop Im replacing required only a 30 amp breaker and 10 gauge wiring. This stove requires a 40 amp breaker and a minimum of 8 gauge wiring. While you could connect it to the old circuit breaker and probably run 3 of the 4 elements before it tripped some day the breaker would fail to trip until your wiring had overheated somewhere and it would burn your house down and kill your family. (breakers DO fail, while installing this I went ahead and tested the other GFCI and arc fault breakers in the panel as I hadnt done that in a while and one of them did not trip, so I had to replace that too. They are not fool proof, test them!) Not to mention that if you ever sold you house in that condition the home inspector would likely find that and they would insist that you had an electrician come in and fix it and they always charge more to fix your hacks than to do the work the right way in the firs place! So while the price of this stove top is very reasonable you have to also count the cost of having a new wire run to your stove and a new breaker in your panel if you cant do that yourself.  I spent a day under the house pulling the new wire which was rather unpleasant but I am qualified to do that. In our house I can turn the entirety of the power off to the electrical panel from the meter so its safe to work in there. If you're thinking of doing this yourself and cannot completely turn off power to your breaker box (not just flip the main breaker at the top) then just don't bother, call someone for help.

Installing the downdraft was a real pain, as others have already noted. If I had designed a blower that would mate with no duct work I had ever seen in any house Ive ever owned or worked in this would be it. A square output requiring an adaptor but mounted so low that there is not going to be room for an adaptor unless you specifically designed your kitchen with this stove top in mind. You or your installer will have to struggle with this but its dooable. Just don't expect to have this connected on the first day without several trips to the hardware store for you or your installer. They could have mounted the blower motor up another 6 inches before it would have hit the underside of the stove and made the plenum that much shorter, that would have made it much easier to get all the ductwork inside, but they didn't and I have no idea why. Once you actually get it connected though the downdraft works better than our previous stove, not as 100% as a hood but Im happy with that after spending an hour making custom tin pieces to make it connect with the pipe.

The stove itself works great, it puts out a ton of heat, boiling water or just heating a pan as fast as the gas stoves I work with at other peoples houses. The actual using of the stove Im completely satisfied with.

Cleaning the top Im very unhappy with. They say that the glass will scratch if you drag pans on it, or do a long list of other things you're not supposed to. They should shorten that to just the glass will scratch as it will. I had visible marks on mine after the very first day of using it and I was being very careful with it. Now I don't even care anymore, just scratch so I don't have to worry about it anymore. Getting it clean is very difficult too. Since its a very dark glossy surface it shows everything on it very clearly. When I clean this I want to give it another whole polishing pass because you cant get off the swirl marks any other way from whatever else you used to clean it. Even using the sample of stuff they sent with it its awful. Yes, I did a first cleaning with the proper stuff as the instructions say before heating it up for the first time and its still awful. Cleaning around the knobs is virtually impossible. Youll be taking them off every single time, they are so close together that you cant wipe between them when they are on and you cant do it either once youve taken them off. That part of the stove will just always look dirty.

So to sum up ;) Stove cooks great, LOTS of heat. Difficult to install, difficult to clean and just accept that the glass will be scratched from literally day one.