1) I have only used the BS salamander once but in talking to people who use it and reading post by people that use it most use it as cheese melter/browner not a true broiler. I have not used the 24" one just the 12" one. I am 5'10" so can't answer the petite question. 2) The build quality of the BS and the support has improved over the last two years. My guess is in response to the Capital Culinarian. Capital support had an excellent reputation two years ago, sunk a bit during Culinarian launch,but has rebounded since. I still think the Culinarian has better fit and finish than BS and customer service is now about the same. Excellent. 3)Even with woking removed from the equation, the CC/BS is still superior. Not only the output but the evenness of the heat. Go to a Wolf/Viking gas cooktop demonstration if you can find one because they mostly demonstrate induction. They use very wide pots/pans and instruct you to do so to capture the very wide ring heat pattern. The difference between 15-17btu closed burners and 22-23k btu open burners is significant. From caramelization to boiling water for pasta. The difference between CC/BS/and even AR open burner is stuff for science experiments.

We bought a 36" Blue Star a year ago and love it. Have not used the broiler. Wish we had a second smaller oven. As for service, we also live in the boonies. There is an appliance repair man in the next (also small) town who has worked on Vikings and Wolfs. I contacted Blue Star who contacted the repairman. End result - he is now licensed to service Blue Stars. After he saw our stove (initial free tuning) he was really impressed. Good Luck! We spent months researching stoves and haunting appliance stores.

if you are looking for open burners your only real option is Bluestar I guess you have rightly in my mind discarded Viking. Wolf does not have open burners so that too should be discarded, which leaves you with Bluestar, 5 Star and Premier. I think that Premier is very low end with such low power it could be argued that a 16k btu sealed burner would perform better When it comes to 5 Star we had one in the cooking school a few years ago and it was very difficult to clean in comparison to Bluestar also the lack of power on the open burners was a problem for me but still better than most sealed burners, from memory it only has 14k btu at its high with a drop in power when used on LP Gas

I have a lot of experience with commercial grade cooktops and ranges. I have a degree from the CIA. I'd like to think that I have cooked on pretty much every burner known to mankind. Due to my husband's job, we have moved many times, owned many homes and renovated lots of kitchens. My mother has a commercial range in the home she purchased. So, I am completely familiar with the problems involved. While commercial units may be attractive from a purchase price standpoint and seem very simple, I wouldn't want one in a home setting. The continuous pilot light alone is enough to dissuade me. Proper ventilation is expensive and noisy. Even commercial kitchens are known to shut off the gas when not open to save money. Continuous gas is dirty. It makes a mess on the walls and ceiling. You have to run the hood constantly. The cost of running a continuous pilot and constant ventilation will begin to eat into any savings immediately. It will take a few years, but in the end you won't be saving money. Your insurance company will have a fit. If they find out you have one they will either cancel the policy, refuse to pay if you have a claim, or if they will even cover it they will charge you more. What you want is an open burner residential appliance. That reduces your options to two specialty manufacturers, Bluestar and Capital. You might find a used Wolf if you look around. My preference is the Bluestar. My primary reason is the burner design. It's the old Garland stove design. It's a superior design that has been tested and found to be excellent. The unit is a pleasure to cook on. You can remove the grate and wok directly on the flame without a wok ring. The difference in price is electric ignition and fit and finish. Capitol makes a nice range top, but it's not readily available in my area. I don't feel qualified to offer an opinion on Capitol. I don't know if you ever plan to move from your home, but I have walked away from purchasing homes due to the presence of a commercial range. And, I know how to use one. While you should please yourself, you never know when your circumstances will change. You always need to plan for change. Doing what you propose will not help you in marketing your home. A heat diffuser disc will take care of any simmer issues on any grate. Last, there is an appliance forum. It's an active forum with lots of participation. That's where the appliance geeks and experts hang out. We love to talk appliances. Pose your question in the appliance forum. You may get some creative solutions.