Nancy, if they're looking for reasonably-priced but not low-end (although obviously that's a relative term) appliances, I highly recommend Bosch. In the last several years we've had to replace my double ovens, dishwasher, and cooktop, and I've bought Bosch for all of them. Except for one thing about the oven lights (which I've ranted about previously here), they are awesome. And I've found the best prices (and usually with free shipping) at online sources like usappliance.com.
And FWIW, I had electric cooktops until a year ago, when my GE smooth cooktop cracked (3rd one to do it)

. I'd always wanted gas but assumed it would be too expensive to have a propane tank installed, etc. To my surprise, it cost less than $900 for the tank, installation, electricity and plumbing work, and about the same for the Bosch cooktop. Best $1800 we ever spent (as far as I'm concerned, anyway!).
Emilie