I purchased a wolf dual fuel 48" 9 months ago and after several service calls, Wolf did a buy back on the range. It was kind of strange, I would have been ok with another range but they did not want to switch it out. They were very nice, tried to service it but never really looks at the internals, instead would send a chef out here to cook in it and troubleshoot it. My issue was mainly the convection. Cook on one rack, no issues, cook on all of them like cookies and extremely uneven cooking from top to bottom and back to front. Not satisfied. Hated the lack of rolling racks, I find the racks hard to pull out. Had the double griddle. Fantastic to cook on but the grease catcher does not catch grease, instead it fills up, overflows underneath and makes quite the mess, even when the catcher is not full....they even mentioned that it is a design flaw. The actual service help after was good in most respects, would I buy another wolf? maybe some day, but not that range for sure. Also, took forever to heat up and boiling a pot of water took too long for such a beautiful unit. I am now purchasing a capital culinarian...hoping for much better results.....

Hey Shaotung Mommy, It's a great idea to the get the big blower -- I have a 1400 CFM blower mounted on my roof and it works great. With the blower on it will not heat up your kitchen. Remember to make sure the construction crew avoid sharp turns or too many turns in the blower ductwork. I think I used 10" round duct. If you have upper cabinets make sure they are set back 3" from the sides of the cooktop, so you will have 36 + 3 + 3 = 42" between your upper cabinets, and your range hood should be 42" wide to catch smoke billowing up from the woks. Also make sure the range hood has adequate depth to catch the smoke and heat from the front burners (woks on the front burner probably will extend past the front edge of the cooktop). Most stock range hoods are too shallow for these powerful cooktops. The hood height above the floor and cooktop... I used a piece of foamboard to determine how high I wanted mine. Obviously you want it as close to the cooktop as possible but it needs to be high enough to keep you from banging your head. I've had only one person bump their head on the hood. It didn't draw blood but they didn't do it a second time! The last issue is the make-up air. With a 1400 CFM blower the air has to come from somewhere or it won't be very effective. I was not able to come up with a good make-up air solution so I need to open windows when I turn on the vent fan/blower. It is cold in the winter here near DC, but it will depend on where you are located. I hope you have a window or two in your kitchen, or a doorway to another room where you can open windows. Enjoy! Billy

Working regularly on the Wolf open and sealed burner rangetops, I've encountered a variety of cleaning "situations". First, as ZMMN mentioned, the griddle is unbelievably easy to "clean". The key is not to strip the seasoning off. The seasoning, much like a cast iron skillet, is what makes the surface resilient to sticking and easy to cook on. Simply scrape with a dough cutter (a few bucks from L&T or rest. supply) and steam with a wet paper towel while the griddle is still hot. Maybe 2 times a year I'll strip it down some, but with the stainless cover or optional butcher block insert you really don't need to make it "shiney". Side note, the sealed is a little cleaner because the trip tray is top side and can be taken out to clean. On the other hand, the open burner griddle can get residue in the corners of the drip area. Next, the Wolf "open" is actually semi-sealed so you won't have much drop down (except with the griddle). I think that makes it easier to clean for food spills. Conversely, with the single burner cap on the sealed rangetop, I think this unit does better with liquid boil-overs. Either way, if you'll wipe off the residue and then rinse or quick wash it before cooking on it again you'll be in good shape.

Our rangetop has the same power on all burners, so I'm not limited by the number of BTUs I want...Only by what else I'm using on the stove at the time, and what I'm cooking. If there's nothing else, and the food is not spattery, I might run it side to side on the front half. When I do steaks on the grill side of the pan, I like to run it back to front or keep it on the back burners. If I'm using other burners, it depends on the size of the other pans, how many, and how much attention the food in them needs where I place everything. The things that need the most attention...additions, stirring, flipping, etc....get the easiest to reach locations. Things that spatter stay at the back when possible, so I don't have to wash the floor! Hope that makes sense.