Shorts - actually you cannot negotiate down the Wolf or Subzero products, unless you are buying a floor model or discontinued model. Wolf/Subzero, along with Miele, Bluestar and a few other hi-end brands are priced according to UMRP, set by the manufacturer. UMRP stands for Unilateral Minimum Resale Price. So, no matter where you go in the country, the price will be the same for that brand and model appliance. This topic has been debated a lot on the Appliances Forum, but essentially, the manufacturers who require UMRP are preserving the cachet of their brand, as well as a specific profit margin. If any retailer sells below UMRP on a new Wolf appliance, Wolf/Subzero will cut them off. The exceptions are, as I mentioned, for discontinued or floor models. Wolf retailers will compete with each other in other ways, since they cannot compete on price. They will offer free delivery and installation, or steep discounts on other brands along with your Wolf, extended warranty, that sort of thing.

Cpartist makes a good point, I think, about any Wolf appliance looking more modern than a house otherwise restored/renovated to a century old appearance. One question, though. When you spoke of "the more modern looking induction cook top," did you mean "stovetop" (i.e, you are looking at one of the 36" Wolf induction ranges) or did you mean you are considering a separate 36" induction cooktop with a separate wall oven or ovens? If your carriage house kitchen has the space for a separate cooktop and oven(s), then it seems to me that the induction would be less jarringly obvious than the big DF or induction range would be. As an aside, if you have not already done so, you might want to look into the ongoing issue with the flaking cobalt blue oven linings that sometimes happens with Wolf's electric ovens including those in the dual fuel and induction ranges. Might or might not deter you, but worth looking into if you were not already aware of that ongoing controversy.

bratcat, I would not feel too bad not getting a Wolf DF. Mine has been a major disappointment as it has had the chipping of the blue liner which has been an ongoing problem for Wolf for at least 10 years. It affects all of their ovens with a blue liner including the “M” which was designed to make it easier to repair with a removable bottom. The gas range does not have the blue lining. Mine happened @4.5 years old and was out of warranty. I did not get it fixed because labor starts at $800 and I have read it can run to $2500 to replace the liner. Wolf will not guarantee the new liner more than a year. Many posters here have gone through several ovens. I have a wall oven(Electrolux) so only use the range oven with covered dishes and no convection. The porcelain chips are glass shards. Posters here have been injured with them. There are lawsuits over this. http://www.wolfblueovenchipping.com/case-information/ pennfire, I would not use the self clean and wipe your range out periodically with a damp white paper towel looking for blue shards. If you have the issue, you want to find it out during the warranty. Mine happened after about the third or fourth self clean. I would love to replace mine with another DF range but am just not sold on any of them. Have you looked at any gas ranges besides Wolf? A favorite on this forum is a BlueStar. It is a little more to the commercial side than Wolf and has the star burners. It is the grandchild of the commercial Garland range that Julia Child had in her kitchen. It has been fitted out for residential use. There are two models that have star burners. One has higher BTUs. The star burners would be good for your cast iron and maybe the copper bottomed stainless depending on what it is because you have better dispersal of the heat than a ring burner. The other big difference is there is no cap on the burner which allows the flame to go straight up. The cap causes more flare of the burner on highest heat on Wolf. Wolf is not as bad as some because they have the dual stacked burners. It actually works out well for me because, I use highest heat on bigger skillets. The prostyle burners are generally bigger than regular burners. I have the exact burners that are on the Wolf gas range now. My smaller saucepans are the squat wide type and there is one small pot burner. Heavy aluminum or copper skillets, especially big ones, heat more evenly than cast iron on ring burners. Electric coils if sized to the pan provide even heat so the ring burner might be a little different. I still use my cast iron too but you have to pay attention more Cleaning the BS is a little bit different too in that the burner tray is “open”. If you are coming from electric, gas ovens are a little bit different to use. They tend to brown a little faster and better. You might notice a difference in the way things bake. My sister and I make the same cookies and here’s come out thinner and crispy in a gas oven and mine are thicker and chewier in electric. All of the ingredients are the same. You could probably adjust cooking times and temperatures to get different results but we each like them the way they are. Gas ovens have a lot bigger vents than electric ovens so if you add any steam, it is vented out much faster. A side effect of this vent is that you have more heat and moisture in your kitchen. 36” ovens take awhile to preheat. Mine takes at least 20 min to get to 350°F and the 30” wall oven takes 7 min. The BS is bigger than the Wolf. It holds a full sized baking sheet which I don’t use but I would like to be able to use two half sheets side by side. Look at the rack size and height of the top from the bottom rack to get an idea of the size of the oven.

Do you use a griddle now? I would consider an overlay griddle instead of a built in. The one I have(Royal industries)is 15”x23” and is about 50% bigger than a 2 burner built in. I have a Wolf range. It can be bigger because it is made of heavy aluminum which has much better heat transfer properties than steel so heats more evenly. It comes in bare aluminum which seasons over time and nonstick. With a built in you have about half of the power, somewhere around 15K BTUs. You can set the griddle anywhere you want or you have the flexibility of using all six burners. I have picked up my griddle and put it in the oven. You can take it to the sink to clean. These are Royal Industry overlays. They are pretty inexpensive. http://royalindustriesinc.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=4_22_48 Chef King makes a similar griddle out of steel. With the built in, you have a thermostat so you can repeatedly turn it in to a certain temperature and get that amount of heat. If you go this way, look how the different brands are built. Wolf uses an infrared burner to get a more even heat. The steel is twice as thick as BlueStar. BlueStar uses this burner on the RNB griddle. Thermador uses an aluminum griddle and an electric element.