Product review (4 stars): Good quality product but pricey
We bought this unit from Sears when it was on sales. We were struggling between Kitchenaid and Bosch 36" cooktop. We picked Bosch because it uses more surface area effectively.

The next struggle was between Bosch 500 and 800 series. There are only two differences, metal knob and 18000BTU (over 16000BTU) with simmering capability. Yet, the price of 800 is $300 more.

We had suffered the low quality knob of our old GE cooktop and do not want to see any broken knobs in our life time. So, $300 is for the quality of knobs which is mostly metal.

We are happy with the product once it was installed and the price issue was behind us. The grill stand is well designed so that you can clean up the surface by lifting one grill at a time. The optisim feature is nice. I took a picture and posted it here. You can just admire flame itself, which is below the diffuse so that there will not be any direct heating. The center burner is really powerful. The ignition system is nice. I don't know other brands on this. On this Bosch unit, you simply turn the knob and the ignition system will spark until the flame is ignited. It also has an indicator if any one of the burner is in use.

The only issue we have is the distance between the flame and the cookware being higher than our previous cooktop. The heat can heat up the handles of small pots. Therefore, you need to be careful.

Update on 3/15/2001

After owning this cooktop for two months, we have been happy with it. My complaint previously on the distance between the flame and the cookware is offset by the fact it heats the cookware more uniformly and mostly eliminates the spit-over scenarios.

But, the fact that the unit is easy to clean has a side effect. We find ourselves to clean the lower surface every night to keep things nice looking.