fun2cook, In general, the higher BTU burner will boil water faster. But...there's more to it than that (such as the design of the burners, etc), so it isn't necessarily the case that the Monogram will boil water faster than the Wolf. Second, if there is a difference, it will be very small. 15k and 18k are pretty close. Asking people to boil water and report their results to you may not be that helpful because there are a lot of other variables that you can't hold constant, such as the type of pan, temperature of the water when they start, etc. Appliance Advisor (linked below)tried to take this kind of water boiling test seriously and asked people to send him results holding a lot of factors fixed. You can see his results at the link below, though I am not sure either of the models you are interested in are tested (but double check). The lesson you should draw from his test results though is that most of the 15-18k BTU burners boiled water in roughly the same time, give or take a couple of minutes. I'm not sure what you mean that the stainless quality seems better or worse on some models. Is it just the finish you don't like? I presume you aren't referring to the thickness of the metal. Burner ignition problems plague nearly all cooktops. I wouldn't make that a deciding factor. So, how should you choose? I would suggest the following: 1. Are the placement of the highest BTU burners different on the two models? Do you like one configuration more than the other? This is where you'll boil the pasta water and do your highest heat cooking. 2. Do you like the looks of one more than the other? 3. Do you prefer one placement of the knobs more than the other? 4. You said there each can simmer on all burners. Otherwise, I'd say pay attention to the simmer capabilities. 5. Is the price difference meaningful to you? Here is a link that might be useful: Appliance Advisor water boil test

"I am taking the liberty of emailing you since I can't find much info on this BS cooktop. I am seriously considering it but don't know how it holds up and how it 'looks' after a ferw years. Would you kindly tell me how you like it now and if you would buy it again? Any repairs? How easy is it to clean daily and when you have a 'spill over' (soooo worried about this)? How is the Stainless Steel holding up (scratched, stained, hard to clean)? Do you like the knobs? Anything you hate / love about it? ANY input would be SO appreciated! Thanks so much! Vivi" Received an insite message from Vivi88, but I can't reply with email because the sender didn't let GW reveal the address. Have to come back to this topic and update in hope the vivi88 will see. - I like my Bluestar in general. I stir fry with wok ALL the time. BS has high BTU but it's still weaker than a real stir fry cooking would need I'm afraid to say. But this is as far as I can get for Chinese style cooking. - Spill over is a headache. I had to take the burner apart to clean underneath. The good news is it's easy to take part and put together. It's really simple. - Tiny oil drops splatters all over even with high raised wok. We put down foils in between burners to make clean easier. You'll definitely need a very powerful vent. We got Zephyr (the most powerful model). Then the vent itself needs serious cleaning. - Stainless steel holds well. Knob, is very essential. It is made of metal and you'll understand it needs to be that way when you use the range. The burner gets very hot while cooking. If the knob is made any cheap material it'd melt long time ago. They are easy to clean - just take them off and clean then put back. - I don't like the grate on top of the burner. Again it doesn't allow wok's bottom to sit firmly on. The grate is built with flat bottom pans in mind. Hope it helps.

I have a Kitchenaid 5 burner gas (not propane) stainless with a downdraft. Only problem with the cooktop: right after we got it my husband made a big batch of bean soup in one of those big tin roasters like your Mom used and set it over two burners. The iron grate got too hot and melted the rubber tips on the feet which keep it from scratching the cook top. Kitchenaid sent us a new one right away. Great service. The cooktop works pretty well for the price range but no comparison to a Viking gas stove I used to have once upon a time, but for the price it's pretty good. Better than the Jennair that I had yanked out, that's for sure. I would stay completely away from that one!!! As for the "downdraft" ....ugg...this is my third downdraft (various brands) and in my opinion there isn't a downdraft that works. May as well not even have one. They're #1: filthy and impossible to clean, and can get "stinky", #2: If you are using anything taller than a skillet everything goes right over the top of the downdraft and right into the house, #3: the only time they do slightly pull anything out is when you cook on the very back burner. You will still know you fried fish though, if you catch my drift! :) #4: if you are using a skillet on one of the front burners it goes right over the top of the downdraft and into the house. YOU CAN SEE IT! The solution: an overhead unit that pulls up and outside, which means you have to have overhead electric over your cook top, and venting as well. $$$$$$ Unfortunately I can't do that in my existing kitchen but believe me if I ever remodel I would get a setup that allowed for the overhead kind vented to the outside of the house. The ceiling in my kitchen is covered with grunge because DOWNDRAFTS DON'T WORK.

Thank you for the recent replies. I don't think anything can be done about the letters. The complaints that I have read said that they were not getting any help from GE. I think I will go with the Monogram in hopes that the lettering may hold up better. Either way, I will be careful around the letters when cleaning. Is the SS surface like the refrigerator and dishwasher surfaces, in that you use the paste or cloths to clean it? rockmanor - Interesting that you want to go back to white. WE have had black (dust shows too much), white (liked the white, but heard it can yellow), and now the stainless. I would say that the stainless looks the best when clean, but it's a pain to keep that way! The white was the easiest. We had an interior kitchen with white cabinets, and I think not having direct sunlight helped keep the appliances and cabinets from yellowing. See photo. All appliances were KENMORE (third time using Kenmore without any problems!) On a side note: I don't think those ORB appliances took off very well. I would think they would really be hard to keep looking good.