We already own an inductive cook-top range, as well as a separate single commercial cook-top very similar to this that I spent a good deal more on, so that's my bias.
This one is very well made made, with excellent finishing and details at least equal to my more costly alternative. I do like the installed legs on this particular device more, along with the fact that even with the same size effective cooking area, this stores in a smaller space, plus it takes up less room when deployed. The solid surfaces have always been a huge bonus for me because I grew up working in kitchens with gas fired stoves, and they are an unmitigated pain in the rear to really clean, and the chefs that I worked under were not the "I know it's late, that's good enough" types. That said, induction cooking does take some getting used to, but IMNSHO you do not sacrifice anything in terms of temperature control when matriculating from gas. And then there's the residual kitchen heat..We cook a LOT at our house, as in every day. The old family joke is that our range hasn't cooled completely off since we bought it over a decade ago, and that's not really hyperbole. We grow and raise our own food on site, and that requires a huge amount of work in the fall when harvesting and trying to preserve enough of everything to keep us and our extended family eating well (and inexpensively) for the rest of the year. With that we do a huge amount of canning for example, as in the equivalent of about a pallet of Mason jars worth every late summer and fall. Dear wife makes, among many recipes, a bread and butter pickle that folks swear contains crack, they're that addictive, but so too are the dills. Anyway, the point it that canning and processing all of that food requires endless large pots of boiling and heating water, and we have solar power, so propane is anathema to me, especially now that the energy pirates are ruling our world, but my induction cook=tops like their sun power just fine.
No dangerous Carbon monoxide, no open flames, and no dragging empty jugs to and fro, just plug it in, set it and watch it boil. And yes, these heat fast enough that you can watch a pot boil. Seriously, a kettle on for tea is about two minutes, which our commercial grade microwave can't match. And the precision of the heat is precision plus, once you get acclimated to each of your cookware's proclivities (they're all a little different). We have a mixture of All-Clad G5 graphite, cast iron and carbon steel cookware, all of which perform flawlessly on induction cook-tops. One very nice consideration that the makers of this unit included was a refrigerator magnet that folks can use to check which of their pots and pans are compatible. Just be forewarned that dragging cast iron on a glass top is a hard no, as it will scratch your glass, or worse. And obviously you don't slam pots or pans onto the surface, but the most amazing fact for most people is that the top doesn't really retain or emanate and residual heat. Nearly every electron that it consumes is put directly into the food and not the surrounding kitchen. That is especially appreciated here when we have two large pots, a giant pot, and two pressure cookers all humming away at once.
And speaking of humming, my wife has extremely sensitive hearing, and the high frequency noise from some of these makes her teeth hurt it's so pronounced, but she experienced no such issues with this unit. And for those who have a favorite pot or pan that is not induction friendly, you can buy a kind of adapter plate that works as an in betweener, where it absorbs the induction energy and transfers it on to say an aluminum or non-magnetic stainless steel vessel. You probably sacrifice about 20% of the energy consumed through that transfer, and the plate will stay scorching hot for a good while afterwards, but its a workaround for those who don't want to abandon that favorite pot or pan.
On really hot days we can pick this up and easily walk it right out the door and onto the deck so that additional sides can be cooked or warmed while we're grilling. And when we load up the motor home to try and escape the madness (we're less than 90 minutes from D.C.) this short-legged compact beauty is now my new favorite travel cooker that can run very efficiently even when we're off grid, so its portability is A+. From crab boils to stir frying, canning to deep frying, the versatility of this cook-top is hard to match.
And value per dollar-wise, well if not for the variously not smart influences currently impacting all consumer goods, and the inflation that somebody keeps calling fake news and a hoax, I would expect this to be anywhere from 20-25% less than its current offering price, so hopefully smarter grown ups will soon right the ship and we can get back to what passes for normal.
