Endives, no worries on my end. I just wonder if you can post your issues. There are some really good people here, and they may be familiar with your problem and a possible solution. We all play the lottery when we buy an appliance ( sometimes it is two lotteries) Sometimes we get a good ticket and the appliance works perfectly, and sometimes we get a bad one and just have things fall apart. That is when you draw cards for the second lottery. Some get a good repair person, the appliance gets fixed promptly, and life is good. Others endure long waits for a less than competent repair person, or disinterested customer service reps, and never get it resolved. I have been lucky on this purchase, but on another occasion with a prior stove, ran into some roadblocks, but a post by another user showed a solution to a problem that the repairman ( who is actually pretty good) and the factory customer service said could not be fixed. If you make a new thread with a description of the problem in the title, you should get more of a response.

Clinresga once reported here a sound test comparison of his Vent-a-Hood he had at one location and a more conventional system at another location. The VAH was reportedly much louder. A Google search based on this web site's URL and his name may find the thread. As I recall it was a long thread. There are also threads about cleaning VAH that should be evaluated. In my view and that of others, the 18-inch VAH mentioned above is too short front-to-back (depth) for serious cooking. One wants an approximately 24-inch depth to have overlap in depth as well as in width. With the added aperture, more CFM are needed to keep the air velocity up at the baffles (or whatever VAH use in their aperture because they use the squirrel-cage fans to perform one of the functions of baffles -- grease collection. The problem with the CFM capability reported is that it is an apples to oranges comparison. Different things are being measured. It has been my presumption (giving VAH the benefit of the [great] doubt), that the CFM they report is measured for the hood and blower, while that for most fans and blowers is for the fan/blower alone without a hood. In both cases, when ducting is added and the make-up air (MUA) is restricted, the actual flow rate will be significantly less than the number associated with either the VAH or other blowers and fans. What I would recommend for a 3 ft by 2 ft aperture is 6 x 90 CFM actual, and a factor for losses. Maybe (!) this is only 1.2 for VAH (with windows open) and 1.5 for conventional roof-mounted or in-line blowers/fans. It depends on too many factors to just throw out a number that will be valid, but the 1.5 is probably at least reasonably conservative given a decent source of MUA. Under most cooking circumstances, you will be operating the fan at part power because this maximum flow rate won't be needed; the uprising effluent velocity will be lower than assumed for the "90" value. Sound level should be significantly lower. If you like quiet, then a roof fan and in-line sound suppressor with a baffle hood will be best, with most sound apparent to the cook being air turbulence at the baffles. kas

Personally, I find that extra oven space is more important than extra burners. It took a while to learn this skill, but I now use my ovens much more frequently and it saves a lot of work. I rarely if ever run out of burners, and we only have four of them. I do use all three ovens for big meals, though. So, that's my answer for whether you need a six burner range. As for the griddle, I'm torn. I sometimes cook in a kitchen that has an overlay griddle. It's really fun to use, but cleanup is a little more work. Also, a 12" griddle is really small and doesn't do as much as you need. On the other hand, we have GrillGrates™ for our outdoor gas BBQ, and let me tell you, it's amazing. Best money I have spent in a while. They flip over and become a giant flat top, and that's so nice to work on. Also, cleanup is much easier than for an indoor kitchen. I know I didn't really answer your question. But maybe this is some food for thought on what you can do to optimize your kitchen for your needs.

The glowbar igniters are a really old and proven technology. You'll find it in lots of gas appliances (e.g. water heater, furnace, ovens, ...) as they are so safe. Whenever the thermostat calls for heat, it turns on the igniter. As a first approximation, a glowbar igniter is the same thing as an incandescent light bulb without the protective glass shell. It draws a couple of hundred watts and uses that to produce heat. Right next to the glowbar is a temperature activated gas valve. As long as no heat it produced (i.e. glowbar doesn't call for heat or glowbar is defective), no gas flows. This is very safe. But if the valve detects sufficient amounts of heat, it opens and gas flows over the glowbar and ignites. This is damn simple and there is very little that can fail catastrophically. So, it is inherently a safer design than using click igniters. Those are good for the stove top where a person can supervise the burners. But the oven has to work even when it cycles on/off without human intervention. The downside, of course, is that this glowbar behaves just like an incandescent bulb. Some bulbs live for decades, most live for a couple of years, and a small number dies within months. Same is true for glowbars. Nothing much you can do about it. Fortunately, they are cheap and standardized components. Every appliance manufacturer buys from the same factory. And yes, gas ovens always cycle on/off completely. There generally isn't a great way to modulate heat output. This is a noteworthy difference when compared to electric ovens, which frequently can keep constant temperatures much more easily. For many dishes, that doesn't actually matter. But there are some that do in fact cook much better in an electric oven. And I guess the reverse is true too.