If you use it, it's not a fifth wheel, but in general I think it's a lot to crowd into 30". Is there any way you could get a 36" cooktop and mount it over a separate undercounter oven (they'd have to be compatible to do so) or split the functions and have storage under the wider cooktop and have a wall oven or undercounter oven elsewhere?

I would love to do a split; top and oven, but there is no wall space for an oven, it would have to fit with the stove top into the 30" spot that the range sits in right now.

I worked as an interior designer for a decade and specialized in high end kitchens. But my little San Francisco kitchen is really limited, and I have had it for 25 years, so I know what works, If I take that extra six inches I will loose a whole corner of storage, from a lazy susan to a blind corner cabinet. Storage is at such a premium I just can't do that,

Picture a room 11' x 5.5'. The saving grace is the fridge is recessed into the next room and only takes up wall space, not floor space.

I am my own worst client ; - O

Of course now you have me back to the drawing board trying to get 10lbs in a 5lb bag!

Maybe modify the joint between the corner cabinet and a cabinet in the range space to allow a 36 stove top with an under 30" oven below...

I have the GE Café range, and I do use the center griddle for a few things-- fish, chicken strips for my grilled chicken salads, pancakes, grilled cheese. If we ate more bacon and red meat I'm sure I'd use it for those things too. The griddle size works well for cooking for 1-2 people but I might not use it as much if cooking for a larger family.

I've also used my Le Creuset oval dutch oven over that center burner. It's a good fit as long as you're not in a hurry for it to heat up as that burner is only 8,000 btu.

One thing I will point out about the GE Café range is that it comes with a nonstick aluminum griddle that doesn't last very long before the nonstick coating begins to wear. I just replaced mine with a cast iron reversible grill/griddle made by Lodge for GE's Profile line, and you can find details about that if you search for my thread on it.

I would also strongly recommend avoiding the "double oven" version of the Café range, as there are reports about uneven heating in the upper oven, and awkward placement of the lower oven for lifting heavy items out from down near the floor. The Café ranges with the full-size oven plus a warming/oven drawer underneath are a much better design IMO.

The bottom line is I really like my center burner & griddle. But if I were to have installed, say, a 30" Capital range with 4 high powered open burners instead, I'm sure I could work around not having it. For my family of 2 though, the 5-burner 30" configuration has provided all the flexibility I need, and I've rarely found myself lacking the cooking space or power that I require.

Finally, I'll say that I had to decide on the most efficient use of space for our kitchen here in the NYC metro where every inch counts, and I'm glad I didn't give up the extra storage and much-needed prep space to shoehorn a 36-inch cooktop or range in there, just to keep up with the Joneses. Bigger is not always better, you need to make the best use of the space you have.

My wife and I are finally able to enjoy our new 30" GE gas range with the 5th griddle burner. We love it. After just a week of using it, I can attest that it is not in the way at all. Now, we've not loaded up all 5 burners at once yet, but we have put two standard burners plus the grill to work all at once. Not too crowded at all. The grill plate and burner grate that came with it are Lodge cast iron. Quite durable. Based on your statements in your original post, it sounds like you'd get great mileage out of this. For what it's worth, we went with the Adora line from GE. It was extremely economical compared to Cafe or Monogram. So far, it's amazing. Would highly recommend.

How much are you using your DW? Maybe you could live without it and reclaim that much space for something else, such as an oven...

I have the GE café 30" gas range with the smaller oven on top. Love the center burner. I have no problems with uneven cooking in either stove. There is another GWer who was having massive issues with that and posted here a few times. Not sure if she had a lemon or if I'm just lucky. We're a family of 4 with a kitchen almost as small as the OP's (14x7.5, also have the fridge recessed into another room.) I like the fact that I can do a ton of work with this range without taking up much space, relatively speaking. And it looks reasonably nice too!

i also have a ge stove with the griddle burner. i love it for many reasons:
pros- the cast iron grates are in 2 pieces and very solid.
love that you can put hot pans on the stovetop and not have the tipping issues with that gap in the middle of the 4 burner style
it is shallow but it looks so much nicer:)
i like the griddle burner for my pancake griddle
love the way the there is less wasted place on the sides of the stove.

cons- the griddle burner on my model is not as powerful as i would like
it's placement is pushed toward the back of the stove so i had to cut off the handle on one side of my griddle pan to make it sit properly (bolt cutters)
all in all it's awesome and i would totally do it again.
i got mine at HD and it is not a cafe so other versions may have a higher btu griddle burner but i am a cheapskate and did not want to spend $1k or more on a stove.

Oh Man, this input rocks ; -) I can't tell you all how much I appreciate it!!

We are sitting right now brainstorming on this knotty subject.

It's good to hear that the bridge burner is making you all somewhat happy. I am seeing that the 8000 btu is an issue and I can see why. When I sear on my griddle/grill I crank up the two burners and even if it is a bit uneven on the heat distribution I am burning around 19,000 btu (two 9,500) so yeah 8000. That is something to think about.

I mentioned I have been in this kitchen for a long time, I didn't mention the heavy use it gets. We have 4 full time adult residents, and most weeks we have at least one more person for 1 or 2 nights. When college is on break extra children and their room mates put us to 6 or 7. Over holidays the count climbs right up to 12. It isn't unusual for us to seat 16 for a holiday meal and I have done buffets for up to 30.

For all that it is small it is pretty functional. That long run of counter allows me and my favorite sous' (the Spouse ; -) to really rock and roll in there. We call it the kitchenette two step.

I run the DW almost everyday. That stays.

I don't see the trade off for a 24" range giving me much advantage. The 6" cabinet gain would not be worth it, for me at least.

We are looking hard at the undercounter wall oven and the countertop stove, but wall ovens have some issues; size mostly. You pay alot for SQ footage in those things, for what you get!! The spouse is looking at the Wolf M and saying it would fit. I know about the chipping issues. ARRRGH,

The input about the replacement griddles is great to have. I had wondered about the lightweight alum with the non stick... Not surprised to hear it gives up pretty fast. The only non stick I really use is egg and omelet pans. If I could find cast iron with nice slopey sides for sliding omelets out I would prolly ditch all the non stick.

Anyone have a bridge burner with enough BTUs to make them really happy? I have read about replacing burners, is that an option for the bridge (I would guess not, but you never know)

How about countertop stoves with the 5th burner? anyone have a model they like?

Again, can't tell you how much I appreciate all this!!