Range top help - GE Monogram, thermador, capital??

12 years ago

I am looking for a 36" professional style 6-burner gas range top. I am by no means a professional cook, but I do cook a lot and want something that will hold up over time. I also really want something that is easy to clean. I keep looking and looking, but they all look the same to me and I have no clue which to choose. I am leaning towards the GE monogram that I saw in the showroom, but only because it looked nice and was a reasonable price. Any advice, opinions, or help in any way would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Comments (5)

locaiz
Original Author
12 years ago
I actually think I might throw the Viking 36" 6 burner in the mix too...

Also, any advice on whether sealed burners actually do make it easier to clean (I've seen mixed reviews) and whether the porcelain finish on some of them makes the surface easier to clean.

Thanks!
sophie123
12 years ago
I think the GE monogram rangetop is really nice. I wish i had the space for it! It has some nice characteristics (all 18K / low simmer burners). The open burners by top makers - wolf, bluestar, capital - sound great and I've learned provide a better flame for cooking so i would check them out but i believe they will be more expensive. I would search on the easier to clean aspect. too much has been already written about that!
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Thanks, nunyabiz1, for your comment. I need to clarify my post more: we cook a lot, 6 out of 7 days, 2.5 meals a day on average (making smoothie doesn't count as cooking lol) We have lived with our trusty all gas Caloric for 15 years. Never had a pro stove and this is an opportunity for us to experience a sexy stove. NXR, while quite nice looking, doesn't have the continuous grate that we want. There are other brands we looked at already that we ruled out, including DCS, Dacor, Wolf and Viking. Not because they are not sexy enough but either the knobs don't work (Sorry, DH don't like the red knobs of Wolf) or the service issues is more than we like it to be. We have visited many appliance stores and from what we heard, besides Wolf, T-dor and GE monogram have the least service issues. So, that's how we arrived at those two choices. Blue star has the high btu (22K)burners compared to the Ge monogram or Thermador (18K). Ease of cleaning actually meets our cooking needs better than the high BTU offered by Blue Star or CC. That's what I meant we won't benefit from it. We took a look at the open burner configuration of blue star, and DH who does the stove cleaning thinks that it will be a PITA to clean any spills even with the catch tray. Sorry if we offend all you open-burner lovers. But, to each his own, right? We cook, and we like cooking, but we are not into cooking. I hope it makes sense. Cooking is something we do as a bonding experience, and feed ourselves simple nutritious food. But, we don't need nor dream of producing restaurant quality dishes. Therefore the pro-look (sans the real pro performance of Blue star or Capital Culinary) of GE monogram and Thermador is an upgrade without the pain for us.
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breezygirl
12 years ago
After seeing the cleaning videos of the open burner Culinarian, I'm choosing that. I've never owned a rangetop before, or even had gas, so I don't have a lot of knowledge to compare. I haven't seen a Monogram rangetop.

Curious, why isn't Wolf on your list?
antss
12 years ago
From my limited experience with the monogram top I can tell you it' well made. I can also tell you I don't like the burners because they have poor control in the middle range. they are great on simmer and full blast but I find them hard to control in the medium settings. They also throw a very wide flame pattern which is not ideal for smaller pans and pots.
mydreamhome
12 years ago
locaiz-I like the Monogram too. The burners all having the same BTUs and all with the simmer feature is a huge plus IMO. Aesthetically, I really like those grates. I investigated Thermador but I heard that when you put the burner on simmer it cycles on and off continuously every 30 seconds and makes an annoying clicking sound as it does so (imagine 'click-click, click-click' every 30 seconds). I did like the star shaped burner though especially for smaller pots, but the clicking thing was a deal breaker for me. I also checked out the new Viking and it was very nice. I put it back on my list. The salesman told me about the new Dacor that is nicely priced at ~$2,000 with 6 burners. Haven't investigated it enough to give a completely educated opinion, but simmer was only available on 2 burners and not all burners have same max BTU output. From the pot size aspect, it does have some different sized burners. Wolf is almost always a good bet, but the price can be a little prohibitive.

Open burner vs sealed burner--if you have spillage or overflow with sealed burner all the liquid stays right there. You remove the grates and clean it up. Open burner spills/overflows go into the burner insert and down through it into a tray that slides out from under the rangetop. The debate comes in with is it easier to just mop up at the rangetop or to be able to break down the whole unit and clean the pieces in the sink/dishwasher. I would think that if you're not a pro chef, having "better flame" from the open burner configuration would probably be lost on you (as it would me as well) because you wouldn't have anything to compare it with and even if you did have a comparison, you probably wouldn't be able to tell a difference, again because you're not a pro. These are the only 2 major things I've heard on the comparisons of the two.

antss-Just curious, do you have the GE Monogram that was made by DCS or the one actually made by GE? I was told to handle the smaller pots, just turn the flame down. Have you found this to be the case? Thanks!

Range top help - GE Monogram, thermador, capital??

Comments (5)

locaiz
Original Author

sophie123

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Range top help - GE Monogram, thermador, capital??

Comments (5)

locaizOriginal Author

sophie123

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antss

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locaiz
Original Author