What's 90 cm wide, makes use of two of the Western World's favorite forms of energy, and neatly trimmed out in brushed stainless steel? If you answered Franke's Opera Series combination cooktop, you get the prize-how about a meal of seared bacon-wrapped tenderloin, fingerling pommes frites, and chocolate crème brul©e? If you were so lucky as to own the aforementioned dual-function appliance, you could prepare each of the elements of this grand repast with a gourmand's precision, with the fine-tuned finesse of the world's finest chefs.

Opera Series Combination cooktop. Designed by Franke.

Known the world over for their super-stylish stainless steel sinks, the Verona-based manufacturer aspires to "technological excellence and production quality, aimed at design and innovation." The combo cooktop shares names with the Opera OPS 600 series sinks, whose clean lines and highly-functional prep tray are a fixture in many an aesthete's cucina. I'll take that as a hint that the complementary products are fated to join forces.

For its part, the Opera cooktop joins its own forces of electric and gas, perhaps diffusing a burgeoning conflict between the two methods. I've addressed this issue some with recent products like LG's LCE Induction Cooktop and Gaggenau's BL 235, but up to now, I've always characterized the conversation as somewhat controversial (full disclosure, I'm a gas man all the way), so it's refreshing to encounter a product that attempts to meet everyone’s great expectations.

The Opera Cooktop features a space-savvy design incorporating four gas burners around a compact radiant ceramic cooking zone. Other features include the convenience of electric ignition, the joy of easy-to-clean individual cast iron grates, and the marvelous moxie of rapid 3.3 KW burners.

Via Appliancist.