We have the Wolf 36 inch rangetop with charbroiler. It does take some getting used to but we love it. We have tried all of the foods that John above mentioned. Key to steaks and fish (salmon steaks) for us has been the brief searing on the grill and finishing in the oven, as he mentioned. Restaurant style, for a reason. We had a real epiphany recently when we did a whole slew of vegetables including Vidalia onions, asparagus, and red peppers. They were beyond fabulous, easy to do, limited smoke/mess. My daughter is planning to grill fuit--we have not tried that yet. We turn on the vent hood (Broan) before the grill, leave the hood running about 20 minutes after finishing, and it pulls out all the fumes. No next-day reminder of the salmon dinner. I don't know about grills other than this one, which every sales person discouraged us from buying. We are happy that we got it. Wolf does wonderful (and free) demonstration dinners at distributor showrooms. Worth seeking out if you live near one, as we do. Good luck!

I have a CC but I'm sure they're all very similar. It takes about a minute for it to light and come up to broiling temps. Basically as long as it takes for the glow plug to get hot. I usually fire up mine as I'm preparing the food for the broiler so it's ready when I'm ready. I think one time I fired it up as an afterthought, and I waited a couple of minutes anyways to let it get good and hot. I didn't actively monitor it. I just turned away to do something else and came back to it. But it was ready so it was a non-issue for me. My range vents out the back, so smoke from broiling has not been issue. I'm sure the Wolf and Viking are similar in this regard. One thing an IR broiler does not do well is blackening. For that, you'll still have to use cast iron and deal with the smoke.

I do have to share one additional experience with the IR broiler. I once broiled some salmon and left it in just a little too long and it looked burnt. The marinade/cure for the fish did have a fair amount of sugar in it, but was wiped off before hitting the broiler. I took a nibble of the crust and it didn't taste burnt so I served it, because the rest of the fish was really moist. Afterwards, my wife commented that the best part of the fish was that "burnt" crust. I had to agree because that crust was like eating a toasted fish "cracker" or "chip." I didn't use a dry rub, so that crust was all fish.

bmorepanic- I know... I had it in the back of my mind that I needed to report back to you when I started cooking on it! I love my range!!! Last night I cooked fish on the stovetop and roasted potatoes in the oven... wonderful. The burners are great: stacked so the lower third of the dial is top ring only... The simmer is sooooo low, and the heat it throws off on high is amazing. I baked pizza tonight and it was great- heated to 500 super fast, oven is big enough (that's why we didn't get the Bertazzoni- teeny oven!)and really beefy oven racks. Sexy blue enamel interior, too! We had some fumes yesterday, but it doesn't appear to have a ridiculously long burn-in time, because today's pizza baking smelled like pizza, not fume-y heated chemicals. It has convection which I haven't used yet (never used it, gotta learn how.) and an infrared broiler which I also haven't used yet but the gas man said looked great. I can't comment on cleaning yet, either, as I haven't gotten it very dirty! Mine has no center grate, although I have one on order (they became available after I ordered mine.) I do need to get myself a good kitchen timer! I am so used to all the electronic gadgets on my previous electric stoves. One of the reasons we wanted a range like this was that we have had the electronic modules fail on two stoves before -and those had no where near the heating capacity as these better ranges have- we just didn;t think that high-BTU burners and sensitive electronic modules were a very good match. But it's going to take getting used to not having a timer, not having the thing beep at me when it's preheated, etc. (The oven light just blinks off.) But I feel much more comfortable with the simple, straightforward controls. And- stuff that breaks is much simpler, and cheaper, to repair! So far, I am totally thrilled with it. It looks great, and it cooks waaaay better than any stove I have ever owned! Plus, the price was fantastic. Yay!