I used the grill on my 36" Viking range top at my previous home enough to make me want another in the kitchen I'm renovating now. It wasn't all the time, to be sure, but in the wintertime especially, it was great to be able to grill salmon, steak or other items indoors. I never noticed a discernible difference from outdoor gas grilling.

I would note that it was rather a pain to clean up, and if it was something other than fish that I cooked, I would sometimes do a quick clean of the grill and leave the messy stuff for later. If it would bother you to do so or to have to essentially take the grill apart (grills off and in the sink, those heating dispersers bar things off and in the sink, wipe off edges) each time, then you'll probably find you won't use it.

You also MUST have a good strong vent. I've read that you should double the usual rule of 10 CFM for each 1000 btus for a grill and have a wider capture area....ie. the hood should be 6" wider than the range top...for a grill. I had enough CFMs in my last house, but not the wider capture area. And I had a bad habit of not putting the fan on as soon as I started grilling. As a result, I set the smoke detector off regularly.

hope this helps...

I had a rather costly downdraft grill on a previous cooktop back in the late 1990's and while I liked being able to grill on the cooktop, the odor and clean up was just not worth it. I am sure many improvements have been made since then but after that experience I have not been interested in cooktop grilling again.

I now have a countertop grill that gives better results than my cooktop did and clean up is much easier. If I am going to grill anything important though, I am doing it on wood and charcoal. Fortunately I live in the south and outdoor grilling is usually possible year round.

If you do plan to grill, as Melissastar mentioned, you will definitely need a high-powered range hood and it's best if it's over-sized.... You want the hood to be both deeper and wider than the cooking surface...preferably at least 6". I also recommend at least 1200cfms...but be aware that you may need "make-up air".

As to when to turn on the range hood...before you start grilling, not at the beginning or during. You need to get the air flow moving properly prior to beginning to grill...so I advise turning it on 3 or 4 minutes ahead of time.

Here is a link that might be useful: Appliances Forum FAQ: Overview of vent hoods

Hi there -

We have a Bluestar with four burners and a grill. To be honest we did not really use the grill very much at first and I was kinda regretting getting that feature. Because, like you, we are diehard hardwood charcoal people, and do not compare charcoal to gas

Initially I used the grill for bread (for bruschette), because it's way easier to do that than fire up charcoal just for the bread. Then, a few months ago, I thought I'd try making grilled brochettes on the grill - shrimp, scallops and chicken. They turned out so well and were so delicious that now I use the grill a lot. Of course it being summer our charcoal bbq gets a workout, but if I'm making something simple and quick, the grill can't be beat.

Here are a few pix to show you some of the stuff we grill...

Thanks all for the comments thus far! And thanks Eliz for posting pics of yummy looking food! We need that dream just now, sitting in a tiny condo snacking on ramen while we hammer out plan details this weekend; not taking time for anything else.

Yes, we plan for adequate ventilation, no question. Sorry I forgot to mention that part. Unless someone sells me logically, I'm pretty sold on Vent-a-Hood wall-mount or undercab (no downdraft), sized appropriately.
I would think the grill feature would be perfect for quick grilling. Just the time & convenience of standing in the same place would be nice. We're mid-Atlantic, and planning a rear corner "Grilling Porch" off the patio so that we can bring the charcoal grill somewhere & continue during inclement weather.

We'll see who else posts here in the next few weeks..... thanks again !

I thought I would add my .02 :) We don't have a built-in grill but we do grill all the time using a Lodge Logic grill pan. We love it and find that with the high heat we can get on our center gas burner we can get an "outdoor" grill flavor that is better even than charcoal w/o the after taste that some grill cooking has.

We have a 1400 cfm remote blower. It is a liner from Tradewind. It is quiet and efficient and gets every bit of grease and odor. I will post a couple pics .Can't stress enough the initial start of the fan about 5 min before cooking starts. Also let run as long as there is a hot pan on the burner and to get all of the "dirty" air out of the system before you shut it off. This is why you want a system that is quiet so you will use it completely. I also want to mention having more power than you "need" so that you can use medium as your max speed. The reason for this is that turbulence is created inside the duct on high and the odors/steam/grease etc come 'back at'cha". This is a law of physics and is unavoidable so plan on this when getting the cfm you need.

A few more things: get baffles as they are easy to clean, they are quieter, they capture better. If you have a high cfm you can ignore the 6" extra that you need in width and also add height to your hood to place it further away from the cooktop. We have a 54" and there is no extra on the ends. We also have it 33" above cook surface. As you can see it works great and I am REALLY glad we have it higher.

One reason I like the grill pan is the above mentioned cleanup. It is simplicity with the LL pan. Wiping down the cook top is a breeze and no parts to remove etc.

Way more than you probably wanted to know LOL> Here are a couple pics and there are tons more on my photobucket accts . c

steaks on LL pan:

view of high heat wok cooking and what happens when you have good ventilation:

view of hood assembly:

Another issue about in-kitchen grills no one has mentioned: I had one in a downdraft Jenn-Air range and it set off my smoke alarm every time I used it. I finally started shutting off the circuit breaker for the smoke detector before I used the grill. My grill also made a big mess, but I liked it a lot anyway and used it often.

Nope! I have a gas grill on my Jade/Dynasty Range, and I have never used it in more than 18 years that I've had the stove. My DH really, really, wanted it and since the Jade was my fantasy cooking item, I acquiesced to it. Unfortunately the day before our range was installed (and too late to change the order)our friends invited us to dinner and grilled on their identical range. Oh my, what a mess and the food wasn't that great compared to outdoor woodfired grilling. Gas grilling just doesn't come close for us. So, that section been unsued, except that about 15 years ago I had the idea of removing the grilling apparatus and having a slab of granite cut to cover the hole so now I have a mid-range section of granite which is extremely handy.

When the urge for striped food strikes (which is a lot since my DH might eat cardboard if it had grill-marks), I use a cast iron pan with ribs. It is the above-mentioned Lodge Logic, but with its vile (proprietary) non-stick coating electrostatically removed and then reseasoned.

I'm thinking of getting a new range, and the one thing I won't consider is a grill.

My advice would be to try and eat some gas-grilled food, and then offer to clean the grill in exchange for dinner. That'll cure ya, I bet!

TrailRunner...I know you say that "you can ignore the 6" extra that you need in width and also add height to your hood" w/the 1400cfm hood, but looking at your setup and there's plenty of extra width on yours...the grill setup appears to be in the middle of the 54" with plenty of "extra" space on each side...are you sure you can get away w/a hood the same width w/a range w/a grill? I'm just trying to understand and clarify... Thanks!

Ah buehl you make a good point . I actually was only taking into consideration the "total" space and not the specific space , if that makes sense. So here is why I still say it works.

If you are using the center grill/grill pan on the range top/range or even the center wok burner on a cooktop then by virtue of the placement of these burners the "6 inches" is taken care of so my argument holds. You don't need anymore width. Now for my real test, it is the placement of the fryer on the far left. The edge of the fryer is even with the edge of the hood. It captures perfectly over there also. We don't do greasy stuff to the far right so I can't speak for that side but I have to assume that the hood works as well on that side as it does on the left. Of course you have to have a really good hood and use it consistently and correctly but then it should be just fine w/o the "extra 6 inches" .

I really really believe that the reason these rules were set was due to the fact that a lot of makers of hoods do a poor to fair job of manufacturing and they had to find a way to compensate..that is just my opinion but given how poorly things are being made I think it holds.

I am glad you made me think about this , you are good to question. Thank you ! c

Makes sense! Thanks!

Nope! I have a downdraft Jenn-Air. I used the grill ONCE. The clean up was a mess, the vent is poor in eliminating anything, and the smoke alarm went off. Enough to make me clean it once and put it back in the box. It hasn't been out in 21 years. Not even remotely on the radar screen for the new kitchen. I'm sticking to the outdoor grilling during the summer, maybe a grill pan in the winter if I'm really ambitious.