You and Sparky will both love that new ceramic stovetop. I find they heat up faster, cook faster, less waiting time. The only drawback is if you forget an element is still warm and you slap a plastic breadbag ( or the whole bread) on top or like I did...plopped the micro cover on the hot surface too, they do take longer to cool off. Needless to say you need determination and elbow grease to get that plastic off the stovetop. Would you believe once didn't teach me a lesson...third time for me, I think it will be the last time. The surface is so flat you just tend to lay stuff on it... just be careful so you don't have to clean up something like that. The beauty of it is that once you clean it the stove looks just as new as when they delivered it. I've had mine 6 years now and not a mark on it. The cleaning isn't all that bad...a bit time consuming...