Product review (5 stars): This Cooktop is Fantastic!
Cooking (mainly Italian) is my hobby. My 16 year old GE radiant still worked but the amount of time it took to heat up and, most importantly, the amount of time it took to cool down was frustrating. The heating time could be blamed on older burners but it is typical for radiant cooktops to take quite a while to cool down. When I had something that needed to be heated to boiling and then reduced to a simmer I had taken to turning on two burners -- one on medium or high and the other on low and moving the pan between them.

I would have thought about a gas stove but my kitchen is not plumbed for gas. When I saw the induction concept I was somewhat sceptical at first and bought a single burner induction cooktop to try the concept. I quickly became a convert. The induction cooktop will bring water to a boil in less than half the time of my old radiant cooktop and, more importantly, the temperature can be reduced immediately. And when I say "immediately" I mean immediately. One can go from a rolling boil to no boiling within seconds (see video here - [...]).

I had to have my electrical supply to the cooktop upgraded from 30 to 40 amps for the cost of about $800 and I can truly say that this cost and that of the cooktop has been well worth it.

Since most of my cookware was not induction capable I did need to buy some more but that was a relatively minor cost. Besides, after 30 years of marriage my wife now has new things to give me for presents ;-)

GE has a great product here. The large burner on the right will go to 3200 watts and will bring 4 - 6 quarts of water to a boil in 10 - 15 minutes. The cooktop looks great and functions even better. GE customer support was fantastic. The induction cooktop is supposed to fit right into a cutout for the Profile line but, prior to ordering, I emailed them to get the exact dimensions of the cutout necessary for my old cooktop. It took a few days but they did research it and emailed me the information.

Both GE and Thermador have very useful information and videos on their web sites for anyone interested.

Addendum: 1-22-13

I thought I would update this review after seeing reviews on some other items with comments asking for longer term evaluations. Gosh, has it been almost 5 years? Truly time flies. I still think that this cooktop is one of the best purchases I have ever made. It is still functioning perfectly (I hope that statement doesn't jinx me) and is still a joy to use. It looks as good as ever and I still smile when I use it. What more can I say?