Electrolux and GE are both well respected manufacturers in the cooking area. In terms of induction ranges, I think GE has gotten slightly better reviews in terms of long term reliability, but there are plenty of people happy with their Electrolux. GE refreshed their Profile line not too long ago with a new look, so you may not get as many reviews if you search the new model number, but people really liked the older version. As I understand it they're mechanically identical. I assume you're looking at free-standing ranges? If so the Whirlpool built induction range becomes an option. It's sold under the Whirlpool, Maytag, and KitchenAid brands. There's also the less expensive Frigidaire freestanding made by Electrolux. If on the other hand you are looking at slide in ranges another option to look at that is very new (so not many reviews) is the new sharp looking Bosch Benchmark series. Besides Electrolux, GE, and Bosch the only other slide in induction to my knowledge is Kenmore, which is made by Electrolux. OTR microwaves are pretty much all the same. The brand doesn't matter so much as whether you're venting it outside (which you are). They mostly come out of a small set of Asian factories where many different American brand names are slapped on them. Most people just buy the one that matches their range. I think Sharp is going to have to have the edge in quality in this area though, and as far as I know they're the only one making these in the US. I don't know if that's true of all models though.

Do not get the Precision. Go with the CC. or another open burner design- they are well worth it. The Precision burner caps are too large and all the flame goes sideways and up the sides of the pan. Do not get an OTR micro. Better to get a dedicated recirculating hood, some are better than others- you want capture area-the grease will cool and stick to it-instead of your walls and curtains, cleanable metal baffles and a charcoal filter for odors. Even Vent-A-Hood makes a "duct free" hood. OTR have to be set low, people spill liquids when reaching up to retrieve their micro-waved coffee. They are expensive and hard to repair. It is much better to have a stand alone microwave. Trevor is right, it is the food and how you cook it that determines your need for ventilation. Usually it's just steam (water). If you grill fatty meats or pan fry in oil, you may burn the fats of course and have smoke. There are better smoke detectors for kitchen areas- some are photoelectric and some are ionization types. I have used a Bluestar open burner range with no hood at all and usually broiled burgers or steaks in the oven instead of on the stove top. Get the Culinarian (or Bluestar). Get the best quality recirculating hood with the largest capture area. You will be much happier. Put the microwave in the Pantry closet. Or buy a small one for the counter-top. Just my opinion of course. Here is a link that might be useful: kitchen smoke detector report

Other than the two ranges you have identified, Five Star is the only other 30" range that (IIRC) will hold a full size (18x26) sheet pan. There may be another 30" range that does so, , but that is all I can recall at the moment. If you can forgo the full size sheet-pan requirement, there are additional choices. You are correct that, in major brands, it is very hard to find SS gas ranges without enameled black tops. Off the top of my head, only GE Cafe and some of the Electrolux Icon ranges have SS rather than porcelain tops. They have continuous grates and a couple of power burners. Of course, both have considerable electronics and neither has an infrared broiler. Apart from oven size, the Capitol Culinarians have good sized ovens and are well though of here but they are very expensive. NXR is a range that meets your criteria --- other than full size shseet pans in the oven --- and is the least expensive pro-style range that is currently available. (Note: to have continuous grates, you have to purchase an additional center grate for about $50.) It is a very simple stove and there is very little that can go wrong that you can't fix for yourself. Shipping damage is a different matter and warranty service can be problemmatic --- check out bmorepanic's two threads. My personal paranoia being what it is, I only considered buying an NXR from Costco because of the no-questions return policy. If I received a defective stove, it would have gone back to Costco for an exhange or a refund. That said, most of us NXR owners have been pretty happy with this most budget-friendly of pro-style ranges. If it sounds interesting, do a search on "gardenweb + nxr" and you'll find several long and explicit discussions of the good and bad of these stoves. There have been a number of recent discussions about hoods and OTR venting with pro-style ranges, so a search may prove informative. As the owner of a small-house kitchen, I know what you mean about space being tight. My solution was a good range hood over the stove while hanging the MW from a cabinet above the counters. I used a GE Space Saver II because a smallish MW sufficed for me, but YMMV.

Posted by allykay I've looked at a couple of YouTube videos done by a cooking school chef comparing Wolf and Viking burners with Capital (Culinarian) burners, and a similar one for Blue Star. These are marketing videos done by Trevor Lawson of Eurostoves. He sells Capital Culinarian and used to sell Bluestar. The bottom line is that the placement, number and angles of the holes in the burners make both the Blue Star and Capital burners distribute heat much more evenly across the bottom of the pan than on Wolf and Viking burners. Heat distribution needs to be considered in the context of actual cooking. There are several factors that influence how effectively heat is transferred to your food. No one burner is the the most effective in heat transfer in all situations. Even CC and BS are very different in this way. The CC burner in the video is 5 inches across and has inner rings. This would provide fairly even heat across the bottom of a 6 inch pan. If you use a 12 inch pan though it would create a hot spot in the middle of the pan. You would need something wider to provide the most even heat. In this case a ring burner, open, that has a little wider spread of the heat might be "more even". Some ranges, like BS have burners are different sizes to accommodate the difference in pan sizes. None of this matters too much though if you buy pans that are made of adequate thicknesses of heat conductive metals like aluminum(good) or copper(better). Pans made of steel, cast iron or stainless steel are poor conductors of heat and require matching the pan to the size of the flame. Multiply cookware is an attempt to add some of the heat conductive properties of aluminum and copper to stainless. These are hard to evaluate because the amounts of heat conductive metals used are proprietary. The performance of the pan is blunted by the encasing stainless, but they do often go in the dishwasher. If you have a copper pan of adequate thickness, not only will your heat be even across the bottom but up the sides as well. Aluminum pans are much cheaper and are very even as well. If you cook with cast iron or steel, or even multiply cookware, you might want burners that have various sizes. It will also matter what you are cooking. A pan of chicken broth will allow movement of the fluid and transfer of heat away from the bottom of the pan much more than a pot of thick mashed potatoes. Posted by deeageaux If anything the new gas Wolf models are worse. They used to be 16k btu with that tiny inner burner. Now they are 15k btu without that tiny inner burner. The previous Wolf burner was also semi open. Functionally they are about the same. To me the sealed burner is a little easier to clean. The newer burner still has two burners(stacked) too, but the idea is that the heat on the simmer is spread out a little more avoiding the little circle of heat dissed on the Eurostove video. For anyone looking at ranges, try to see the range in person, live if possible. If you can't do that comments on this forum by actual owners can also be helpful if they contain pros and cons.