The Blue Star grill is 15,000 BTU, the Capital is an infrared ceramic grill @ 18,000 BTU & the Wolf is also infrared ceramic @ 16,000 BTU. The Capital & Wolf use gas to heat a ceramic surface so that one is cooking via infrared as one does with charcoal. From the pictures on Eurostoves, I don't think that Blue Star uses the same infrared ceramic for the grill. Trevor? When I bought the house (built in 1992) I live in now, there was a Jenn-Air downdraft cooktop with a grill on one side with only two burners on the other side. I got another double burner cartridge and got rid of the grill ASAP. But that was the older type of electric grill. Charcoal is definitely not an option. I wouldn't want to deal with the mess. We will have an LP connection on one of our decks for a larger grill when we want to entertain. And I can see that a grill on my range would not be worth very much if I wanted to use it to cook for a crowd. I just would like some feedback from folks with infrared ceramic grills or the Blue Star type on how well they think the grill would accommodate grilling just for two people. Of course, the websites for the manufacturers make it sound like the grills are easy to clean. I will have good ventilation so that I will be able to do the recommended burn off. Is cleaning one of these grills much harder than cleaning an outdoor gas grill? The Blue Star that I have been able to see was not working. I don't think I would need to use the grill & griddle simultaneously, but I do have room for 48" if that would be the best configuration. Yes, I don't meet many Jo Ann's especially with the space on the middle. Of course, I've never been sure if my 1st name is Jo & my middle name is Ann or if my parents named me Jo Ann & forgot to give me a middle name. Do you have a middle name? Thanks - Jo Ann

Thanks for the links. Those are interesting. The Wolf burner is a different design from those videos, but I don't know if it is now better or worse (although it does seem to address some of the complaints). I also don't know how different the cooktop burner on the bluestar is from the range burner shown in the video, but my hunch is they are the same. The idea of an open burner being more even has always made sense to me and appealed and the videos seem to confirm one's intuition on this. As for the Capital on the website mentioned above, they do have a rangetop, but I don't think they have a high end cooktop in gas which would work better for our current kitchen (although their rangetops would look better here than the rivals rangetops from what I can tell because it seems to be a little more slim). In any event, we don't have a Capital vendor here and so even if it were the best product (and it sounds like many feel it is) and it matched, service would be enough to scare me off probably based on where I live. Thanks again to everyone for your input! ps for Miele reliability, it is only one datapoint, but my mother in law's works hard and is like new. She is going to be appalled that we bought something else. (And given how nice hers is, I thought that would be the direction we'd go, but my wife surprised me by picking the Wolf and I felt like given that each one had strengths and weaknesses I felt like this was a good choice, but I also felt any of the three she'd picked I'd have been able to say that about).

Bluestar. And don't forget the $$ for a good vent to go with it.

My Wolf Pro Island hood is the largest (66-inch) model. It is mounted over a 36-inch induction cooktop and a nearby Cooktek induction wok hob. Height above the cooktop is about 34.5 inches. Hood is centered (front-to-back) over the hob array center, and not the counter center. There is barely (including the hood lip) a 3-inch overlap of the r.h. induction cooktop edge. However, the prevailing MUA draft is from that direction so I don't get noticeable plume escape. Actual intake air flow at full power from my Wolf (Broan) 1500 CFM (at zero static pressure) is between 90 and 100 CFM/sq. ft. (observed in multiple places under the hood, but not carefully averaged over the entire space). I use 10-inch duct and have a Fantech silencer. This is with only passive MUA for the moment (moment == since 2010). If my wall oven overhead vent (uses a NuTone 600 CFM at zero static pressure blower) is also in use, the specific air flow at the Wolf hood with passive MUA would likely be a bit less, but I haven't measured it. Hence the goal of active MUA when I get to it.