Many people on this forum would disagree that closed/sealed burners are easier to clean. I have a sealed burner range, and while it's not hard to clean, it doesn't actually come completely clean. There is permanent burn-on, from things that have spilled over and then baked on because there was no place for the stuff to go. An open burner would have allowed that stuff to fall through. Anyway, people have different opinions on this subject. I'll link a couple of threads.

Thread called Open/Sealed Burners

Thread called Closed burners vs. open burners

Just a note about ease of cleaning. I had a Viking sealed burner that, like so many others in the market, the stainless surface runs right up against the bottom of the burner. Pretty much the definition of "sealed". After the first year of use, there was a good amount of splatter that was permanently baked on. I'm not talking about spills.. just basic splatters. During the first year, we were religious about cleaning it after every use and still some splatters just got on and wouldn't come off. There's was also an aluminum collar around the burner that was impossible to clean.

With open burner ranges and cooktops, the top is either all cast iron like on the bluestar range or there is a enameled bowl around the burner. After a year of heavy use, our Bluestar looks brand new after simply spraying on some SS safe cleaner and wiping. I will grant you that after a serious spill, I've only had one (knock on wood) you do have to pop the top and clean underneath. The good thing is, once I did that, all was well. That happened a couple of times when we had the sealed cooktop and for 2 weeks after, some of the burners wouldn't ignite or would keep clicking due to the spill getting into the ignitors. On the Bluestar burner, the ignitor is located on the inside of the inner ring which is rarely if ever touched by spills. Even if it is, it's exposed so I can spray it with a can of compressed air or hair dryer to dry it out.

Thank you for your thoughts and referral to other good info. We spoke with a Viking rep today who says the heat distribution is the same, and she said the open burner keeps the flame a little further from the pan, which makes simmering easier. I can see pro's and con's with both on clean-up. All in all, I think I'm leaning toward open. Thanks again!

For what its worth, I would find myself a rep who knows what they are taking about.

Heat distribution is far superior with a REAL open burner. I say real open burner because some manufactures make ranges with the open burner principal but don't use a true open burner, Wolf is the one such company.

She is also way off the mark with the simmer comment.

You are leaning in the right direction so far as the open vs sealed burner.

kathy

We have a 36" AG viking w/open burner configuration - First I researched the pros/cons from a burner use perspective - lots of prev discussions on that. Seems an open burner is tried/true as far as the effectiveness of the gas/air flow. The woman in the appliance store put the clean up issue this way "do you want to bring your sink to the cook top or the cook top to the sink"
I am good about wiping up spills - drip pan is slide out under cook top part easy wipe down. Every 2 weeks or so I take all drip pans to the sink for a good cleaning - easy & after nearly 4 yrs looks great
Best to you