Neff cooktop - inset or surface-mounted?

I chose to have it installed on top at Granit. The reason for this was that I do not expect to find a suitable cooktop with the exact same dimensions if mine ever breaks. However, with a laminate countertop, this is negligible due to the low price. Nevertheless, I would still choose the on-top installation there because of the moisture.

Thank you all! We will then take a fitted one. Thank you very much for the help.

Coming a bit late, but we recently had this here in the forum: built-in also carries the risk that you won’t find anything suitable if you ever have to replace it, and then you have to replace the entire countertop. Our kitchen studio said they don’t do that with a laminated wood countertop. We would have had to choose a high-quality countertop.

The most important argument IN FAVOR of a built-in cooktop, in my view, is that pots – and everything else – can be slid back and forth on the surface without a step.

I have a stainless steel countertop (with chipboard underneath) and a built-in Miele cooktop. I filled the joint myself with special silicone and except for one – non-dramatic – flaw, it is completely fine. Miele claimed to still have the same cooktop sizes even in many years. Whether that will work, I don’t know. If it turns out differently, I can either choose a larger cooktop and adjust the cutout (I think that should be technically feasible), or place another stainless steel plate on top and either place the new cooktop on it or fit it in. Not "really fancy," but definitely doable.

It’s clear: most of these problems don’t exist with a surface-mounted cooktop. (but then you also don’t get the advantage mentioned in the first sentence of this post)

The most important argument IN FAVOR of a built-in cooktop, in my view, is that pots – and everything else – can be slid back and forth on the surface without any step.

The material of the desired countertop speaks against it.

We chose a wooden board with a concrete look (I think it’s foil-covered, but I’m not sure at the moment).