Hi Kayla - overall I like the dual fuel range. My husband loves the digital meat thermometer that came with it and we've made the best prime rib roasts since we've gotten this oven. The pre-heat does take awhile but we've gotten used to it. I've made cookies and they turn out great. We have also started using the lower oven more if we're baking something in a shallow dish, frozen garlic bread, rolls and etc. because it doesn't take as long to heat up. We've used the griddle to make sandwiches and pancakes and I'm happy with how that works and the easy clean up. I would say the stove top is easy to scratch if you aren't careful when you clean around the burners. Make sure you lift the grates up, off and set aside to clean and not just lift the front of the grates so you can wipe underneath. You'll scratch the little raised lip on the back of the stove top with the burner grates. I'm still not crazy about the overall height of the stove top but that's not really a fault. My husband on the other hand (6'2" tall) LOVES the dual range and all of it's features. He would highly recommend it to everyone. I like it. We also bought the matching over the range microwave. We bought it because you can bake in it and I thought we would really use that feature a lot but have found it takes a really long time to pre-heat the oven feature of the microwave and you have to use this little round raised baking rack which I have very few dishes that will fit, actually none now that I think about it. I thought it would be more like my old toaster/convection oven that sat on my counter top and it's really not at all. For the most part we just use the microwave to re-heat and warm things. I hope this helped

What compromises are you willing to make? Is your budget for each item 2K per item, or is it 2K for both combined? What size vent pipe are you planning to install? The problem is that your budget is low for what you are asking about as a combo, even if your budget is 4K. Compromises will have to be made. A lower BTU cooktop coupled with a lower CFM fan that uses a only 6" vent can probably be found on your budget if you're willing to go Chinese on the hood and aren't that concerned about noise. (Looks not cooks compromise) Or, you could do the high BTU cooktop and compromise on a wimpy (but still expensive) vent above. (Cooks, but adds CLEANING a lot more as a compromise. Not recommended in my book.) But, to get both a high BTU cooktop and an effective island hood above it with the larger coverage, CFM and vent pipe, well, that will require a larger budget. (Cooks and looks) And we haven't even discussed the labor costs for installation. Or, you could explore moving the cooktop to a perimeter location. It's a lot cheaper for ventilation, and you get better quality ventilation because the wall helps to contain some of the cooking products and funnel them into the hood. Therefore, you can choose less CFM for a wall hood setup than an island hood setup.

Here is the explanation I found on the GE website (the link to this is below so you can see the video). Also I looked through a couple of GE Café range manuals where they discussed the Control Lockout on 'some models,' but I suppose those manuals were written pre Summer 2013 because they showed it locking out burners as well. You may have to verify with GE Support about the specific model you are looking at. "Range - Explanation of the Lockout Feature The range Lockout feature allows the user to lock out all oven and surface burner operation. When locked, there can be no unintended oven or surface burner activation. Note: As of summer 2013, the control lockout button locks out the oven controls only, not the gas burners. To activate: 1.press Range Lockout pad 2.press Start To deactivate feature: repeat the steps listed above. If the power fails to the home while the range lockout feature is activated, the range lockout feature will remain activated once the power has been restored. The range lockout feature can also be activated while the surface burners are in use. Once range lockout has been activated the gas will stop flowing to the surface burners. The control panel will flash to remind you to turn the surface burner off. Caution: If the surface burner is left in the on position gas will flow once the range lockout feature has been deactivated. Note: Cooktops with control lock feature, when the lock is engaged and a burner is turned on, the cooktop will buzz and no gas will come out. View a short video about about the lockout feature."" Here is a link that might be useful: GE Lockout Button

Lisay, I love my range. It’s probably ten years old now, but was a great purchase! There is about 3/4” of Countertop behind the range. Probably due to the connections. I loved that it didn’t have a high back of a free-standing range, where all the knobs are. I think those are kind of clunky. Good luck!