Funny I had some of the same constraints. I have a 30" Wolf cooktop and like it very much. I am now used to it, but 2 years ago when I did my kitchen, I went from a 30" range to the 30" cooktop, it did at the time feel a bit compacted to me because the range had the controls in the front vs. the top as on the cooktop. I am now used to it and while your "big" my not be my big, I don't have any problems using wide pans simultaneously on my cooktop. To make risotto for instance, I use two wide (9 -10") pans on two burners back to front and don't have any problems with the space. 10" is my widest pan however. Surface wise it hasn't felt tight to me. However, there are 2 cooks in the family and it felt a bit close to me in the beginning going from the 30" range to the 30" cooktop but now it is not an issue. I do love the cooktop, though. Performance-wise it is very good. If the latter consideration is relevant to you, however, you may also want to take a look at the Viking designer series - the cooking surface spans the 30" width, controls in front. Do study its outputs though - for me, the high at 14KBTU may have been fine although I preferred the 15KBTU, but 2 years ago, the low was 1.2KBTU and that was too high for the things I do want to be able to make some times. At 675-700btu simmer settings for the viking now, that is a LOT better. The Wolf has 300 or 400btu lows and I find that I use them quite a bit so I would not have been happy with 1100btu for a low. I have a Bosch oven and like it very much indeed. I have a 30" 700 series but since Bosch came out with new models this year, I don't claim to know anything about them. The 700series is a relatively basic oven even though it was their top offering 2 years ago - bake, convection bake, convect. roast, broil, convect. broil and warm, thaw, dehydrate or some modes like that. It is self-cleaning although I've only ever used it once. Goes down to 100degrees in "warm", 120degrees in "dehydrate", 170degs in the cooking modes. The direction of the heat source distinguishes the modes. It does an excellent job with temperature control (+/- 7 or 9degrees per my experience except for when you open the door in which case the temp can drop sizeably depending on mode; Miele Wolf and Gaggenau are even more precise & hold temperatures to within 5-7degrees), very even whether in bake, broil or roast; I liked its size as it was a smaller oven. I LOVE its interface. I noticed Consumer Reports doesn't like it either but haven't been able to figure the reviews out. I will say that you do have to experiment a bit to get used to how to cook in it - either it is the convection or the Bosch itself but there are things I have had to consciously start to do to ensure good performance; I did have some corkers in the beginning before I cottoned on to that. Placing the rack too close to the front of the oven instead of in the center or towards the back will interrupt its' air circulation (in convection) and the net result can be a asymmetric cooking. Likewise sorting out how to load the racks for multi-rack cooking so that they are evenly spaced out else same story. That sort of stuff. Anyhow, I like my Bosch oven very much but claim no knowledge of even any of their new models. I absolutely love the cooktop, but I think that the oven maybe what I play with even more than the cooktop.

I emailed Karen the answer to the question but thought I might answer here, too. The vanity top is mystery granite but probably something in the Giallo family. We purchased a remnant at a slab yard where the owner didn't speak English very well. Lucky for me, he did excellent work and liked cash. I paid $200 for the granite and fabrication and we installed it ourselves! What a deal! The right side backsplash is from the remnant but the rear and left backsplash pieces are from a different slab. He did such a nice job matching them. This is a kids' bathroom and the busy granite hides everything.

We used to have the Kenmore Elite in a white ceramic top, and cleaning it was the bain of my existence. (Jeez, but I sound like my mother when I say that!) Like you, there was no quick and easy way to clean it -- you hadda go through a whole big rigamarole with a bit elbow grease thrown in. And, like you said, it only lasted til the next time you used the stove top. Even boiling a (CLEAN!) kettle of water for tea would leave a nasty brown ring. At first I used the Sears product ($) and a razor, but I found I got better results at less money with Bar Keeper's Friend. You might want to try generously sprinkling BKF on the spot, adding a few drops of water and waiting a bit before scrubbing. It was with much delight that I replaced that one with my new GAS range, and I have no clean-up issues at all anymore. Of no help to you in this instance, I'm sorry -- but I do commiserate.

From notes I took last spring when I had to replace my Kenmore (Electrolux) cooktop, the cutout dimensions I know about are listed below. Note that examples I looked up of Kenmore/Frigidaire/Electrolux, Thermador/Bosch, Dacor, and Miele were nominally too large in one dimension or the other. The biggest issue is that it is unlikely that any manufacturer will support installation into a too-large cutout, even if the cooktop is large enough to not fall through. Some reinforcement may be needed in such cases. ref: current cutout 35.5 x 19.625 from message above Wolf CI365 35. x 19.5 Jenn-Air JIC 4536XS 33.125 x 19.25 (top overlaps cutout but support area may be too small requiring some added steel or wood support) Fagor IFA-90BF 35.44 x 19.5 GE PHP960DMBB 33.875 x 19.125 (see Jenn-Air comment) There may be newer models that have better fitting dimensions. Electrolux and clones have common installation cutout dimensions of 36 x 20.5. These allow for air ventilation at the edges, a ventilation scheme they once used but which is not used on the present Frigidaires. Some contraction of the cutout size might be acceptable, but gaining a whole inch front-to-back seems unlikely. Thermador/Bosch have common cutout dimensions of 34.875 x 20. I don't know if the width would allow squeezing into 19.5 inches. The top is 37 inches long so it will overlap adequately. Added support at the ends may be required depending on how the device is designed. If you can tolerate the Mother of all Messiness, you could have the granite cut in the kitchen. In such a case masking all the cabinet hinges, drawer glides, and other moving mechanical items in the area is one of many steps necessary. kas