I just joined this forum so I could learn more about this cook top. I have tried to contact some of you directly, but I may not have succeeded. Apologies, if for some this is repetitious. Based on the web-based information, including your collective enthusiasm, this cook top seems to fit our needs. We plan to buy a house whose kitchen we wish to change. The existing stove is an electric glass top with a convection oven. That top is not my first choice, but it is new and I like the idea of a convection oven. We think the adjoining kitchen counter is big enough to accommodate a second cook top, perhaps a 36 incher, but 30" is better. I want a high powered center burner. Centrality is good because the location would diminish spills and splatters from getting on the kitchen counter itself. The Caldera 30" seems uniquely to suit our needs. The major design problem is that a large wok, for instance, might block other burners. And we do not have the space or money for a dedicated wok burner. I do know that our current four burner electric stove in the house from which we are moving would not accommodate a 15" wok in the center without impinging on all the other burners. True if the burners were to be placed closer to the external corners, the problem would diminish, but it would not disappear. Since we do plan to keep the current glass 4 burner that is not a serious drawback, but I am curious to learn about your own experiences. The more serious problem is that Caldera has gone missing. I have tried all their web-based contacts, phone numbers and email address. The email address elicited no reply. The phone numbers have been shut. Their most recent address in Stowe, Vermont, is now the location of an electric lighting company. I did locate a dealer on eBay who is apparently now carrying the top I want for about $840. The salesman who answered the phone did not specialize in Caldera and his colleague who knows more was out for the day. However he thought they had been taken over and moved to NY state, but the confirmation of this must await the return of the specialist colleague. He did think that the warranties were still valid. One of the appeals of the company was that Stowe is only a few hours drive from where I live in western Massachusetts so the manufacturer would be near-by, but now I do not know where they are and if they still exist. By the way I even tried to track down Al Shute - - I believe the customer service Al at Caldera - - and his home phone is also disconnected. So they seem to have done a complete disappearing act. The absence of any updated and corrected information on their website is not reassuring, but websites in general do get notoriously out of date, even for flourishing and growing concerns. So, addressing my questions specifically to trailrunner, tomalyse, mommycooks, raynag, the Caldera owners on this thread, do you know what has become of Caldera? Have the new owners maintained the standards of the old? Do they still in any way exist? And if so, what is their service?

The main differences in the cooktops (besides price) are (1) Wolf has a control layout that I prefer--I like the touchpad on the side, (2) texture vs. slick top, and (3) timers on the Miele actually turn off burners, but not on the Wolf. I only know that from excessive shopping, not actual use. And I know less about ovens, but I wouldn't feel compelled to get matching brands unless the separate units were both what you wanted. Half off sounds nice...But it's OK to go half Wolf and half Miele unless they look really bad together.

Just don't do it with Jenn-Air appliances. I was going to do the exact same thing (36 inch gas cooktop and 30 inch electric oven) until I plugged in the oven and it was very loud. The oven vented out the front and a very loud blower made it sound like a microwave vent was on (nearly the whole time the oven was on bake). The look you wish to accomplish is very clean and custom. I too, had ordered pannels for the sides and it would have made for a very clean, sleak look. It was just not to be for me. I purchased a 40 inch range instead and am pleased with the purchase. I am a DIY and the cooktop/oven option would have taken considerably more time. Do the 30 inch oven and 36 cooktop, it will look great!

I can answer the BS oven door question. My 36" BS RCS was installed two days ago (haven't used it yet, hopefully this weekend). During the burn off of the oven (high temp is 450 F for an hour) I checked how hot the oven door got, as that has been a big issue noted on these boards. On my range, the SS part of the oven door did not get hot, just a bit warm. The glass on the oven door got hotter but not that hot. What did get quite hot were the sides/edges of the oven door. I could touch the side but not for long. Definitely quite hot. Not instant burn/scald though. There are vents (or look like vents) right there so it makes sense that those areas heat up a lot. Your kids would have to press their hands up against the 2" side of the door for several seconds for it to affect them negatively. More likely a kid running around will touch the front of the door and that is not a problem, on my range at least.