Looking to remodel and I'm also looking for some advice on choices: cooktop, drop in range, freestanding, steam, or separate ovens. I really like the new color choices BUT I would like a stainless top / continuous grates / a real low simmer burner and 1 or 2 high speed burners. The kitchen is small but I could just barely do the 36 size w 36" hood. Is it possible to get those features? I've been looking at the American Range because it says it doesn't need 220 wiring but it is a little over my budget with hood and installation it is over $6000. Reading about the ranges, I didn't like the pre heat time being so long for the larger ovens and therefore looking at other options. And, does anyone know if I will need to get 220 wiring for the cooktop or for the built in wall ovens? Right now I have a microwave hood 300 cfm over a 30" freestanding range (6yr old gas). Thanks so much for any advice.

I appreciate all the replies on this thread. I liked the Viking 'designer' line gas cooktop, but it's performance specs are not as good as DCS or Monogram. Oddly the specs on their "professional" cooktop weren't any better. I want power and simmer. The dual burners on the DCS and Monogram seem to offer that the best. Also their burners have cast brass instead of steel. Even the pricey Thermador doesn't use brass, and it 'clicks' the burner on and off to maintain a simmer. So now it's down to choosing DCS or Monogram based on their layout, reliability and customer service. This is where I really reply on the postings here. I'll take some of my big pots to the good store next week and verify I can use them with both. I'm going to have double ovens installed next to the cooktop. I want big drawers beneath it. I'm planning on the Electrolux (not ICON) ovens because they have the best mix of features I really want, and I like its styling better than Monogram. I also looked at Viking "Designer" ovens and a Bosch. I really like them for their looks and using knobs instead of an electronic interface. They have the features and power that I want, but I'm too concerned about reliability. I haven't heard ANY complaints from the owners of Electrolux ovens! So I chose better reliability over knobs. Thanks for sharing your experience. I'm still in "planning" phase with my remodel. Tear out begins in a week. It will be about 8 weeks (I hope) before I installed mew equipment and test it out.

I had a 30 inch regular range in the past - I have a 36" five burner Wolf cooktop now. I'm not sure if it's the difference between the range and a cooktop or what but on the old 30" I could not fit multiple large pots/pans on at once - not enough room. With the five burner I have no problem - I've used 3 and even 4 at once now. That crowding was the main reason I wanted a larger cooktop - not to have more burners. I don't think I've ever had five on at once though I have had something sitting off to the side on the 5th burners sometimes which is handy but not necessary.

I'll second what cooksnews said, but add a couple of additional comments. First, it seems to me that you've pretty much answered your own question. Second, the supposed difficulty of cleaning a sealed-burner stove is, it seems to me, a function of the cooktop surface and the depth of the burner wells. My old GE dual fuel, with its shallow burner wells and burner plates required a lot of attention and frequent applications of Barkeeper's Friend. My new pro-style NXR with its stainless cooktop surface and deep burner wells is much easier. Pull the burner grates, spritz with windex and wipe with a microfiber cloth. As for whether you would be "happier" with a 15k to 17k burner configuration than with the 22K-plus open burner Blue-Stars, ARs, or CCs, who knows? There are a really wide variety of reasons why some folks are passionate about high-powered open burners. Some want to use round bottomed woks and get closer to the "true taste of the wok" or something they feel is reminiscent of street-vendor pad-thai. Some feel that, without an open pro-style burner, they cannot get sufficient low temp burner evenness to make the exquisite sauces they make. Some of them need or want to be able to blast three or four shrimp in tiny pans heated to very high temps. Some of them feel their cooking style really benefits from the higher btu-hr power. Some are like car junkies for whom there can never be enough horsepower. Some of them need the high hp or btu to supprot elitist snobbery and feel superior to us peasants who tastes and skills are far less refined than their own. Some just like the look better. Some people will have a mix of some or all of the above reasons. Personally, for my cooking, I have absolutely no regrets or problems with having sealed 15K-btu-hr burners for what I cook. My NXR burners will heat my cast iron pans hot enough to burn off the seasoning if I choose to do that, although I could also do that with the 12K btu-hr burners on the old GE. Personally, I don't feel that a steak has to be seared at temps sufficient to melt lead. I have not owned a round-bottomed wok for a decade and do not feel bad because I do not have one. The NXR's low heat settings, like those on cooksnews' DCS, are plenty low enough for me to melt and hold chocolate in a small pan for hours. There is one difference I have observed between my stove and cooksnews' DCS. For high heat applications, the burners on my stove work better with pans larger than eight-inches in diameter. For example, boiling six quarts of pasta water will take me 22 minutes. Doing this with a 10-inch-diameter pot will bring the time down to less than 15 minutes. In a 13-inch diameter kettle, it takes less than 14 minutes. That said, I have no problem searing steaks or sauteing in 10 and 12 inch fry pans. For me, making blackened fish or chicken does not require more heat than I have available. Also, I certainly can and do use small pans. Boiling water for morning oatmeal takes 3 minutes in a 5-inch sauce pan. I can melt and hold chocolate for hours in that small pan, too. Frankly, I find cookware construction makes a bigger difference to evenness than the burner design for what and how I cook. Now, if I had one of the open burner stoves, maybe I could boil that pasta water in 12 minutes instead of 14 but that is not a big deal for me. But, again, whether you will be happy with a "lesser" stove is such a subjective judgment that, except for bragging rights, it will be hard to say how "happy" you will be.