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Wolf 36' Rangetop - Open or Sealed Burners?

16 years ago

I've finally narrowed my rangetop choice to the Wolf 36" with griddle. However, I'm vascillating between choosing the open or sealed burners.

Most salespeople (including the folks at the Wolf distributorship) have said there is no difference in performance and the only difference between the two is whether you clean the components at the sink or at the rangetop.

However, one salesperson told me the open burner is far more difficult to clean and that you have to get j-hook to remove the burners. However, he also said the performance from the open burner is superior.

Per Wolf's website, the open burner has a range of 16,000 BTU's to 500 at simmer and the sealed burner has 15K BTUs and 950 at simmer on all burners except the rear left which is 9.2K BTUs with 325 at simmer. Is the variation between the two enough to notice?

Any opinions on whether the performance and ease of cleaning is significantly better on one or the other? Thanks for your input.

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Comments (5)

lascatx
16 years ago
I have the 36" Wolf rangtop with sealed burners. You will see more comments here supporting the open burners, based on cleaning preferences or performance, but DH hated the look of the grates on the open burners and only wanted the sealed. So I got the sealed.

I have not had an issue with cleaning the cooktop, but I've never had open burners so anything else would have been a switch to me. I can't say one is better than the other -- only that I am fine with the sealed.

I don't think the BTU difference is significant. It hasn't been for me, and I melt chocolate directly rather than over a double boiler without a problem. The only time I have a pot on high is to boil a large pot of pasta water or for canning.
edlakin
16 years ago
i love open burners, both for the performance and for ease of cleaning. but i'm prejudiced because that's what i'm used to working with in a professional setting.

i find open burners easier to clean, but then, i almost never take apart the whole burner assembly. maybe once a year i might do that. mostly, i just change the foil on the pull out drip trays and wipe down the grates.

i also believe that open burners perform better because they allow better circulation of oxygen around the flame source. this may or may not be true, i have no scientific proof.

this may just be one of those "go with what you're used to" issues.
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capecodcook
16 years ago
The j-hook does not remove the burners, it removes the black porcelain twin burner pan which does not have to be removed for normal cleaning. I think I've pulled mine out 2-3 times since we installed the rangetop (over 18 months a go) to get at some crumbs that got tucked between the pan and the frame of the unit. The black burner pans clean up with a few spritzes of windex and a paper towel. Never came close to needing to put them in the sink. Also we have pulled out the drip tray for cleaning less than half a dozen times (again crumbs more than anything else. (And we do cook full meals every day.) I do not think the 1000 BTU difference between the sealed an unsealed burners would be noticeable.
Tom Pultz
16 years ago
We chose the 6-burner rangetop with sealed burners. My wife just liked the looks and function of the grates better, and also the knob design. Others prefer the looks of the open burner... so cosmetics are really a personal choice.

The sealed burners have the dual stacked feature, which the open do not. Whether that's a big difference or not I don't know. To me it would seem that the sealed unit with these burners might be more versatile, with a wider range of adjustment. The open burner design used on the Wolf has been around a long time and appears to also be used on various other units such as Miele. In that regard one might say it was tried and true.

The best thing would be to try both in a real cooking scenario. I think you could do that at a Wolf distributor.

Good luck with your choice.
aflowerfreak
Original Author
16 years ago
Thanks so much for all your great input. I really appreciate it!

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