The only issue I would raise is the Thermador cooktop - Thermador simulates a low simmer by cycling the burner on and off and it clicks every time it cycles - some people are bothered by this, others aren't. Other brands, like Wolf and DCS have dual burners with a separate simmer ring so that you get a consistent simmer without cycling the burner.

Yeah, we did see this at a dealer and the distributor, I think we can live with the clicking. My one question about that is whether the normal low simmer (not the XLO simmer) is low enough for most of our simmering needs (the only thing I can think of now is making rice). We don't currently make delicate sauces or melt chocolate on paper plates (the demo at the distributor), so I don't expect this to be an issue for us.

All of your appliances except your ventilation are from the same company. Do you have a reason for doing this? I guess there is no real harm but I like to vary my appliance selection among brands so that I am not stuck always dealing with one company whom I may have a bad experience with or dealing with some type of poor technical design that may run through an entire companies line.

As I mentioned in my original post, we had not gone into our hunt looking for one brand/line, but the more we've looked (DCS, Dacor, Capital, Monogram, Sub-Zero, Wolf, etc.), we keep coming back to Thermador. While I can see your point, if Thermador has a general problem, either quality or service, then I'm in trouble. That's why I'm here asking! But I can also argue that by spreading the choices out among several companies, the odds of having major troubles with one are greatly increased.

Going with one company does have some perks, matching styles (although not a high priority for us, it is nice), one place to go for service (as long as ther service is OK!), and Thermador always seems to have some rebate program for buying several items from them (currently this is about $900 for us which nearly covers the dishwasher and takes some of the sting off the sticker shock).

58" vent hood? Seems overkill to me. You might also be interested in a thread someone started regarding their heavy regrets regarding their 7 month old VAH (although there are many, many fans of VAH on GW.) Personally, I bought and have yet to use a Prestige VAH for my 48" 8 burner gas rangetop.

About that rangetop - I personally decided against a grill or griddle (against strong opposition from my DH) and opted for 8 burners. Why? B/C I currently have a 5 burner range and find that I can't use all burners at once b/c the bottoms of the pans won't fit. I also find that I often want to slide pots and pans around, placing one nearer to me than another for a bit, and having all burners seemed to make that movement more fluid and safe. Last, I only use a griddle pan once or twice a week and love being able to pick up my lovely All-clad non-stick griddle pan and wash it in the sink and put it away. I found while we looked for our new house (which we gutted and are renovating and hoping to move into in April) the houses bith kitchens that smelled greasy and not quite clean, wer the houses with grills and griddles. I'm sure the owners tried diligently, but just couldn't completely get all the grease cleaned up with wiping. So, since you asked for comments, my comment would be that you might consider all burners and no grill or griddle pan, and just buy a grill/griddle pan that you can wash and put away. Here's a link to one that caught my eye in a catalog - $98.

Here is a link that might be useful: Napa Style griddle/grill pan

Oh, and did you check out the Liebherr refrigerators? They are very reasonbable vs. SubZero, and are extremely engergy efficient. I really struggled with this decision b/c the Biofresh drawers really seemed nice, but DH won out and we went w/a Sub Zero. (I still think we would have been better w/the Liebherr...)

Here is a link that might be useful: Liebherr 48

My only comment was to the vent a hood size also. Why did you decide to go with the 58"? 54" will get you the recommended 3" per side overage.

With a griddle I would be more concerned with depth and would look at 27" rather than 24".

I have had several conversations with various appliance stores recently and they said the biggest problem they see are the beautifully designed hoods that are too shallow to do the job.

I can't comment on your other items because I haven't looked at Thermador.

Acually, now that I think about it . . . did you mean to type 54 and instead blended with your range at 48???

best of luck

Thanks all...

Oops... darn keyboards... yeah I meant a 54" hood! And I've been watching the thread regarding problems with the VAH. That's the most negative I've read though, but I'm interested to see the outcome.... And yes, with the griddle/grill we will definitely go with a 27" deep hood.

I think we'll use the griddle/grill more than 2 extra burners, especially since they are now interchangeable, but it is an option we are still weighing. Thanks for the link to the porcelain coated griddle/grill I hadn't see one like that before. We currently have an aluminum non-stick reversible, but I'm always afraid to overheat it and always hate "turning up the flame" on the underside. I wonder how the porcelain holds up to direct flame?

I looked briefly at Liebherr but forget why I discounted it; I'll take another look.

I looked at the same appliances. I LOVE the look of the Thermador Pro Grand range, but decided against it given the stainless base on the cooktop and the staining that will take place over time, it became very unappealing. It is something to consider...

I was going to do the Thermador 48" cook top but now need to think about a 48" range and am considering the 48" Wolf, Epicure Dacor 48" or the 48" DCS. Any thoughts, pros cons. I need to do this because of Kitchen size so instead of double ovens I would get a single oven like the Miele Master Chef.