Congratulations on an amazing website! What a great resource. Unfortunately, we can’t directly benefit from the information you are sharing as we were about a year ahead of you in the process. We bought our property at the beginning of 2007, and moved in to our rebuilt contemporary home early summer 2009. We are still working out the final details – landscaping, furniture, lighting fixtures, etc. That being said, I am really enjoying reading your posts and relieving our own experiences. I could go on and on about the things we learned in the process and the angst we suffered but may I pass along my thoughts on the appliances?

1) INDUCTION. We went with a 36 inch Bosch induction cooktop. It was a tough decision between gas and induction, but I am thrilled with the choice we made. You already know about the speed – it is amazing!. But the other big benefit for us was that we could get a range hood that handled fewer CFMs. If you go with the 5 burner gas cooktop, you will need some serious ventilation because of the natural gas. (Choosing a good quiet range hood deserves a separate long discussion.) People also express anxiety about the fact that they will need to get new cookware. I didn’t find this that big a deal. Maybe my standards for cookware are too low, but I just headed out to our nearest Winners (I think the US equivalent is TJ Maxx?). I checked to see whether the magnet on my blackberry holder would stick to the bottom of the pans and pots. A surprising amount of the pots and pants were magnetic. I spent less than $200 to replace all my cookware. You can spend a lot more if you want, but my point is that you don’t have to spend a lot.

We wanted to use induction, but were worried we might not like it, so we also had them rough in the gas for a gas cooktop as well, so we always have the ability to swap out if we want to – but I can’t see us doing that. That being said, for the risk averse (like me), installing a fallback is a good option.

I’m not an electrician so I may not be explaining this very well, but you also need a lot of power for the induction cooktops. We needed 50 amperes for ours – so your electrician needs to put in the appropriate wiring in advance, so it’s not a decision that can be made on the fly.

I love my Bosch cooktop (they also manufacturer the Thermador induction cooktops and Thermador has a really slick looking silver model that cost too much for me to justify). I do wonder if I should have ponied up for the Miele cooktop. I believe that one has a shut-off timer – i.e. you can decide you want to simmer something for 15 minutes, set the shut-off timer, and then it will turn itself off. My cooktop only has a countdown timer. My recollection was that the Miele would have cost about $1,000 more – and it wasn’t worth the extra to me.

2) DISHWASHER – Please make sure you know how the filter for the dishwasher you are looking at is removed and that it’s easy to use. We narrowed it down to Bosch and Miele and were going to buy Bosch, but then at the appliance store, I asked the sales person about how the filters were cleaned out. The sales person showed me how to take out the filters for Bosch and the Miele dishwashers. The Bosch system was kind of finicky and difficult to use. The Miele filter is incredibly easy to remove and reinsert. This was our first European dishwasher. Our previous ones were all North American style (i.e. they had grinders not filters). I will say that occasionally washing out a filter is a small price to pay for the quiet operation. I read somewhere that the Miele produces 61 decibels and the Bosch produce 60 decibels and that 60 decibels is the level of a conversational voice. Our Miele is so quiet, I can’t barely tell that it’s on. I will also note that these new efficient dishwashers have incredibly long wash cycles. We’re talking 90 minutes plus for the normal cycle. The long wash cycle is a bit annoying, but all in all, I love my Miele. We went with the basic “Inspira” Miele model. No delay timer – it’s so quiet, I don’t need to use the delay timer to have it operate at night.

3) LEAD TIMES – The logistics of timing the appliance delivery can get a bit tricky. I ordered my appliances about a year before I actually needed them – I could have waited to see what new things hit the market, but I got really good pricing guaranteed, and despite a recession, during the 2 plus years we worked on our project, high end appliance prices moved up, not down. Just remember that the appliance supplier does not want to keep any extra inventory on hand. You may have ordered the appliances (and paid a deposit), but it’s likely that the appliance supplier will wait until the last possible moment to actually order the stuff from the manufacturer. You need to find out exactly what the process is at the retailer in terms of timing and arranging for delivery. In our case, we needed to let them know about 4 weeks before we actually needed delivery. But even then, there were some complications with securing items on the desired timeline. (What do you mean the fridge drawers aren’t here? I ordered them a year ago!) You don’t want the stuff delivered too early (theft is unfortunately a bit problem on sites), but you don’t want your project or move in date delayed unnecessarily.

Thanks again for letting me relive the fun through your website!

It took a little bit of getting used to for us, because it cooked everything so much faster than the ceramic stove we had at the old place, but once we became adjusted to the instantly-heated pans we started to really love it.

It’s the easiest to clean, easiest to use (principally), and most energy-efficient way of cooking. If/when I go for a house of my own, induction is definitely the way for me.

After a year of use, there is not a scratch on it. I boiled an enamel kettle dry once on it, but the heat and enamel didn’t mark the surface. I work at home, so we cook on it three times a day. It is far far easier to clean than a gas hob.

It is extremely fast to boil water and very controllable once you get the hang of it. Some new models in Japan can even automatically detect and hold a set temperature for deep frying etc. With the model we have, its possible to use two rings simultaneously for a large oval Le Creuset type pot or a roasting tin when making gravy.

We can’t use crock pots or the fondue pan we have, but have a table top single burner that uses small gas canisters for such occasions.

If you like cooking with a wok, forget domestic appliances and get a proper industrial strength burner.