Thor Kitchen - 36" Built-in Electric Induction Cooktop - Black

Easy to clean, does a fantastic job!! Better value than its more expensive counterparts!

I replaced a very old, very early 1980s electric coil cooktop with this. You know, the one where the coil sits on top of the cooktop, with those metal trays that get filthy when stuff burns on them, takes forever to heat up, heats unevenly, pans don't sit flat and wobble around until you rotate them "just so", all of that. So, you know, that's where we were coming from. I'd wanted an induction cooktop for a while. Gas would have been great for us too, but I didn't want to mess around with running gas to my kitchen, because it's really not "easily accessible" through the outside of the house. My kitchen is sort of in the middle, with no exterior walls. We ordered this cooktop because, frankly, it was induction, had good reviews (although somewhat sparse), had 5 burners, and touch controls. Also, it's flat, and we wanted to be able to properly clean it. This item was very well packed, and looks far better in person than online. It's far more black than gray. There's nothing to assemble. Install was very simple for us. We have a 240v plug under the cooktop, so I unplugged the old cooktop, removed the 240v connector from its power line, and then hooked up the 240v connector to the new cooktop's power line. The width of our old cooktop was fine, and we were able to accommodate that without issue. However, the depth was less than this new unit. However, this unit comes with a cardboard template for measuring the hole size. I placed the cardboard against the front edge, marked the counter, and busted out my reciprocating saw to cut the 1" or so more depth we needed. Once that was done, this cooktop fit in like a glove. I plugged it into the 240v outlet, and it sung a little song to let us know it was alive. The touch controls are great. Highly responsive. You can just touch the icon for the burner you want to work with, and then the power level (5 is the default). Coming from one of those coil mamajammas, this thing is like a dream. It gets hot FAST. "Power boost" is insane - it'll boil a big pot of water in like 90 seconds. If you're like me, you probably don't know that it's normal for an induction cooktop to "pulse". It's just how they work, and nothing's wrong with your cooktop if it's pulsing. Also, all 5 burners can work at once, no problem. This thing is a beast. A beautiful beast. Safety features is where this thing really kicks it up a notch. It's impossible for you to light some paper towels or whatever on fire with you induction cooktop. If it doesn't detect a pan on the burner, it'll turn itself off after a period of time. If you touch the cooktop literally right after you've been cooking, it'll be warm - maybe even slightly hot, but you aren't going to get a bad 2nd degree burn from it. How do I know? I pretended like I was 2 years old, and I tested it. This is absolutely one of the best upgrades we could have made for our kitchen. I love this, and I see no reason to try another brand when we build out our new house. Thor is awesome.