Bluestar offers cooktop and rangetop(with knobs on front instead of on top). Capital Culinarian only rangetop for now. Bluestar RNB and Capital Culinarian rangetops are about the same amount of money. Yes, knobs on cooktops can get hot or splash with oil. Sometimes they can get in the way of large pots/pans but you can remove knobs temporarily. In the Bluestar you don't get the drip tray with the cooktop. But cooktops are cheaper and some people like their counterop edge in front of the cooktop insead of the steel of the rangetop.

Andrew: I have a 48" with a grill and griddle for about 4 yrs now. In my opinion the trusty cast over a high power 22k burner will give you better results than the griddle for the reasons you already suspect. The only advantage I see to the griddle is it is very thick so it retains heat well. I find the griddle is great for things like pancakes and bacon etc but not as good as a cast iron pan on high heat for searing etc. I most likely would not order the griddle if doing it over. The grill is another story. I love my grill! I use it all the time, even in summer. I love in the middle of a cold canadian winter I can have a delicious bbq steak without any concern at all. Sure you could use the broiler or a cast iron "grill" but nothing will give the same flavour as those juices hitting the hot flavor bars and infusing your food with all of those carcinogens. ;) Although I havnt tried, I don't think what you are inquiring about would work as well either. As you mention, 15k spread over a relatively large area. If I was to do this I would probably take the flavor bars (heat diffusers) off so that the flames will come into contact with the bottom of your portable griddle. If I was doing it over I would get a 24 grill and a portable griddle that will span two burners.

I know what you mean about exploring things fully for the gear-obsessed. It sounds like you're close, and if you're going BlueStar, I'd try to get an order in my the end of the year. I've recently gotten a "courtesy" email from a BlueStar retailer We simply wish to inform you that the factory has announced a price increase starting on January 1st, 2010. We expect the increase to be around 5% on all items. My wife loves the oven and I love the cooktop (division of labor) so I don't think you can go wrong if you are comfortable with open burners. The Wolf is also a good range, but I prefer the BlueStar burners for their uniformity, control, and output, along with a simmer that is low enough for custards. It was that the American Range and NXR didn't have a low that wasn't as low as my decades-old Caloric (which wasn't that low) that pushed me another notch up in the range market to the BlueStar.

jerzeegirl, it's funny that I have no problem selling anything else I have, but when it came to selling my BlueStar, I blanked. I first thought Craigslist, but I don't like dealing with all the scam junk mail I get from the post and I live in a small town and Craiglist really is not as effective. Ebay is next on the list which I'll be willing to ship the cooktop. Thinking of waiting until after Christmas to post it on ebay. Might not be the best time of year to expect somebody to buy a cooktop. I was hoping there was a place that most people listed their appliances, maybe a forum or something I didn't know about.