The GE Monogram is only a dual fuel range, I believe, whereas the Capital is only an all gas range. Also, the GE Monogram has sealed burners whereas the Capital has open burners. The previous incarnation or the GE Monogram was made by DCS, the company previously run by the current founders of Capital, although it is now manufactured by GE itself. You're not exactly coparing apples to apples - you need to decide what's important to you.

It really isn't an apples to apples comparison IMHO. GE Monogram is sealed burner and dual fuel. For those interested in those features, Capital Culinarian wouldn't even be a consideration. More apt comparison would be Capital Precision but even that isn't duel fuel. You'll have to look at Wolf for instance.

People interested in the Culinarian are mainly looking for open burners I think since that's the main difference between the Culinarian and Precision lines. In the open burner residential market, there is basically Capital and Bluestar. There are rumors that American Range is coming out with one but not many solid details are available yet. Wolf offers a semi-open (or semi-sealed) design that is a bit better than traditional fully sealed designs but still doesn't heat as evenly as even a basic open burner.

I think the first thing you should do is research open vs sealed burners and then look into dual fuel.. i.e. gas vs electric ovens. Then decide what combination of these fundamental designs best fit your lifestyle. That will narrow your field down to a manageable set of options.

Good luck.

Thank you both so much. That does help. I've wanted the dual-fuel all along...mainly because that's what I've always had. I've been pretty well convinced that I wanted seal burners...so what is the draw for those that prefer the open burners?

I definitely want it for residential use...I just want the commercial "look" and the higher heat/low heat and supposedly great ovens.

Sealed vs. open burners has been a hotly debated topic for a long time. Well designed open burners can deliver heat more evenly to a pan than sealed burners. Cleanup is controversial - I personally love the sealed burners on my DCS range - just wipe up after cooking and I'm done - occasionally need to clean the burner caps. Open burners require you to take them apart and drag them to the sink for cleanup and you have to deal with drip pans.

I agree with wiessman that the sealed vs open has been widely debated here sometimes with a fervor bordering on religious. Do a search on "sealed open burners" here on gardenweb and you'll have a flood of information.

Personally, I think that the cooking benefits outweigh any potential difficulty in cleaning. For me, lining and cleaning a drip tray is a lot easier than cleaning and maintaining a stainless steel surface. If you do a lot of saute, pan fry, or wok cooking, then open burners have a huge advantage IMHO.

If you are looking for sealed, I'd suggest researching or testing the heat distribution of the burner. The common issue with the sealed burner is the uneven heating and the distribution of heat to the edge of the pan rather than the center. That causes loss of heat around the sides as well as uneven cooking. Many sealed burner ranges have interior burner rings or other features to try and distribute heat evenly. This definitely helps but it also creates potential cleaning issues.

Ultimately, you need to decide what you want and what you need. Don't be completely driven by opinions voiced here one way or the other but.. do your research so you understand the issue. Then make an honest assessment of what is most important to you and go with it. The best looking range is maybe not the easiest to cook on but if that's what's important to you, then you should go with it.

Good luck.

I'm interested in the Culinarian. But not because of open burners. Because of GREAT-PERFORMING burners. What makes me believe that the burners perform great are the pictures, videos, and measurements on Trevor's site. Plain and simple. Same for the Bluestar pics and videos (since removed). The empirical evidence is there.

But "open burners" as the explanation for the performance is an inference and an over-generalization. Open versus sealed has little, if anything, to do with even heating or powerful heating. I know this because I have a 20-year-old Kitchenaid with open burners right now. VERY open. They do not heat evenly AT ALL, and I have pictures to prove it. They even have a "daisy" shape similar to the "star" of BS or Thermador, but that doesn't make them heat evenly. They're not that powerful either. The 12K burners are OK, but I frequently wish for higher heat. The 9K ones are nearly useless to me.

Let me also say that my KA open burners are MUCH MORE OPEN than either the Culinarian or the Bluestar. You can see inches of the (foil-lined, dirty) cooktop floor below. My popcorn overflowed the other day, and a whole bunch of it fell down onto the floor of the appliance. I have to take off the burner grates and rings and lift up the cooktop, like the hood of a car, to clean down there.

And don't forget, BEFORE sealed burners became the standard in residential cooktops, they ALL had open burners like mine. Those open burners did not make any of them perform like the Culinarian or the Bluestar. And the hassle of cleaning the ones like mine led to the demand for sealed burners.

So what accounts for the more even heat of the Culiarian and Bluestar versus my KA open burners? I've looked carefully at all of them (Culinarian in photos and videos only, obviously). To me, knowing that the openness doesn't make them heat evenly, it is obvious that the design of the actual flame ports is responsible for most of that evenness. The heat goes where the flames are. If you look at pics of the Culinarian burners, it's a donut shape with THREE rings of ports. Some point OUT, some point UP, some point IN. You're always going to have more heat right over a flame, so the more flames, and the more area covered by flames, the more even the heat is going to be.

I took a close look at my KA's flames, and guess what. Even though there are 6 little circles of flames in a "daisy" shape, each little circle has no flame ports on the inside. Why not, I have no idea. Flames only come out the outer part of each circle.

Scroll down Trevor's Burner page and look at the pic of the Dacor -- this is the typical single-stack ring of flames with a cap in the middle. Because of the angle the flames come out -- they really point outward -- there is more surface area of flame pointing OUT and DOWN to the porcelain surface below than UP to the pan. The Wolf (or any DUAL-stacked burner) should be better because now there are 2 rings. Some flames are at least there under the center of the pan. I've seen a triple-stacked burner somewhere, and that should be better still.

Most residential gas burners have caps on top. The cap dictates that the flames ports must point outward. This placement guarantees the heat will be like the Dacor; the flames curve around the cap; most of the flame's surface area points downward and outward; and a lot of heat is wasted. So why the caps? I figure that they are there to protect the flame ports from getting clogged when there are spills or boilovers. Trevor's site mentions cleaning the Culinarian's exposed flame ports out with a toothpick if this happens. Mfg probably know that most consumers wouldn't want to do that.

You can see just by looking at pics of the lit burners, that the Culinarian couldn't put flames everywhere it does and also cover the ports with a cap.

Bottom line, where there are flames, there will be heat. The Culiarian's donut shape with 3 concentric rings of flame, angled differently, is brilliant. It is my first choice for a rangetop.

My second choice is GE Monogram. The combination of BTUs and simmer on all burners, dual-stacked design, grate design, fit and finish, and customer service reputation puts it 2nd on my list. Bluestar might have better burners than Monogram, but its service issues are unacceptable.

Thanks so very much you guys! That helps me tremendously.

I'm sticking with my original plan, GE Monogram.

Now I have to have the battle about the fridge. GE Monogran, or Sub-Zero?

cnidog,
SUPERB review! I wish everyone would do as thorough an analysis of the pros/cons of their appliances. Thank you!

I will add two things to my review of the GE monogram range above.

1) the griddle is awesome. it is stainless steel with layers of aluminum. The heat distribution is generally even although there are a couple of small hotspots near the edges. Once it is seasoned, it is virtually a non-stick surface. It is more similar to a professional flattop than what I have seen on some other ranges. After use, I scrape it clean while it is still warm with a $5 pastry cutter and then rub it with paper towel to get rid of any excess grease. Really easy. I have cooked on a thermador griddle, which I did not like nearly as much. first, it had a smaller cooking area, second, it was teflon, and after a year or two, the teflon coating started to flake off.

2) the dual fuel GE range does not have an infrared broiler in the oven, but the 36" and 48" range models can be purchased with an infrared broiler on the cooktop.

Thanks for taking the time to do that review, cnidog. Those are just the sort of details I was looking for when I was shopping for a range.