Hi ash2011. Thanks for info. But Er. I am not in US. I live a short ferry ride from France and no biggie to import from there for me. But as I say my French isn't really good enough to be sure I wasn't being done. And why the don't AC import the hoods. They are freely available here. (i was looking at one this week) Lacanche produce an approx 5 ft (1500mm) hood which I presume is meant for your cooker. Look on www.lacanche.co.uk/products/extraction to view the lacanche hood thats supposed to go with your range. Maybe you can find one available to you that has the same spec.

Hi Maggie, You are welcome! I sauté meat, chicken and fish on my 11,000. I cook dishes like jambalaya, bolognese sauce, curries, etc. on it. I cook everything from the onions, garlic, other vegetables to the meats needed for these dishes on these burners. I then keep the dish on this burner while the more liquid ingredients are added and until the dish is fully cooked. I use cast iron Dutch ovens most of the time for these dishes and move them to the portable French Plate with the 15,000BTU burner to keep it at temperature until needed. I have stainless steel cookware, but I rarely use it anymore because I find most things burn or stick to the bottom fairly quickly. I do use my stainless steel stock pots to boil water though. We also cook scrambled and fried eggs and bacon on the 11,000. We basically use it for just about everything. You can boil water on it, I boil water for poched eggs on this burner. But, if I'm boiling a large pot for potatoes or pasta, I usually will use the 18,000 Classique burner which I also use for stir fry. We aren't big steak eaters, but I have seared meats on the 15,000 BTU burner before I have put them in the oven. It's normal to agonize over this decision. It's a big purchase and you want to get it right! If I could do it again the only thing I would do differently with the burners is change the configuration. Both my husband and I cook and we sometimes cook together. It would be great to have had one set of the 11,000BTU burners on the other end of the range so we could each have our own side.

I think, snafu mcsnurf, that the question to be answered first is whether the outer shell (surround) that is to receive the insert is combustible (e.g., wood cabinet continuation) or non-combustible (some metal structure). In the latter case, the outer shell can act as part of the overall hood function by capturing and funneling the plume to the insert containing the baffles. In the former case, the wood must be covered on the interior and I would argue for covering the bottom edge even if beyond the combustible distance limit specified by the stove fabricator. I imagine that a sheet metal shop could build an insert extension for a wood surround that would mate with a 'standard' insert. Lighting may be a problem is one has to reach too far up into the hood. However, all this sizing really needs to start with some fundamentals, so let me go over them again. For more detail, read the hood threads in this forum back to 2008. Capture area must overlap the cooking surfaces (pan bases, griddle surfaces, grill surfaces, etc.) by enough given the hood entry aperture mounting height that effluent cones from those surfaces expanding at 10-degrees from vertical are intercepted. This is a more fundamental rule than rules based on overlaps defined by the cooktop or stove boundary dimensions. For island hoods, even more may be needed if there are cross currents (drafts) moving the rising and expanding plumes. Containment air velocity at the entry aperture performing the capture should be aimed at around 90 ft/min, which is equivalent to 90 CFM/sq. ft. of hood entry aperture. (Conversion to metric is left as an exercise for the student.) Note: While it is true that induction cooking lacks the combustion plume of gas cooking, and hence has a lower peak effluent velocity at modest cooking levels, all-out searing or wokking will bring the plume velocities close enough that skimping on the containment velocity using induction as an argument will likely degrade containment. The 10-degree number is just a point on the plume shape so gaining a tiny bit of effective capture area expansion due to inflowing air at the hood edges is helpful. Second note: Moving inserts up into a hood surround is a somewhat desperate act, and I would recommend a custom insert as a better approach. Please realize that in the larger hood sizes, the production rate is less than for the 30- and 36-inch sizes, hence fully automated cut and weld tooling is less likely to be used. Thus the amount of labor needed for a custom size should not be a lot more than for some fabricator's standard size, given similar standards of fit and finish. Blower scaling should account for the blower's fan curve and all the system pressure losses going from the stove top to outside and back to the stove top, so make-up air pressure loss has to be planned for and evaluated, along with baffle loss and duct loss. Lacking such an analysis, I suggest that a multiplying factor of 1.5 be applied to the calculated required flow rate to determine the blower's rated (zero pressure loss) flow rate to account for the fan curve and the various pressure loss 'sins' that are likely, but this assumes that the MUA is not too lossy. (In any case, lossy MUA drives house relative pressure negative, which is a safety hazard in many residential situations.) Noise control is another aspect treated in many threads here. MUA insertion into the kitchen to avoid drafts must be performed with care. kas

Hello All, First of all I want to chime in that I did not think Caroline was being snotty, I appreciate the directness. Second, I am currently debating what type of range to get and it has been really far more challenging than I thought. It seems the brands I like for looks just do not get solidly good reviews for performance or service. I love the looks of Ilve or Hallman, Aga Elise, La Cornue Cornu Fe, Big Chill Classic, and LaCanche. I would definitely like a gas top with two ovens and something with color options and brass knobs. But I have not been able to see some of the models in person (I am in a large market so it is surprising that none of the distributors have floor models for Ilve, Big Chill Classic, Aga, CornuFe). I can choose almost any size as this is new construction but I don't think I want anything larger than 48". And the range will be installed on an island so I am also trying to determine how service will be managed for the brands I like should something happen which seems to be the most difficult. I get lots of "we will help you get service" but nobody actually does the service themselves and the local appliance repair folks only service Viking and Wolff for high end brands. So far La Canche is the only brand that covers all the bases but it is 35-50% more in cost and in absolute dollars that is between $3-$7K (yikes). In the long run, if I am saved the hassle of some of the horror stories (wow, have you all read the better business bureau reviews on Hallman, eek) then I suppose it is worth it. I do like that there are no digital parts so i believe it will be something that lasts and is fairly easy to repair. I am not a major chef so I do not know if the lack of a convection feature is a deal killer for me (I too am leaning towards the Cluny) but I do love the idea of one electric and one gas range. As for oven size I have to believe it will be manageable, I don't cook for dozens of people. But that is the paradox, do I really need such a high end range? The answer is no regarding performance, but the answer is yes for looks and ease of maintenance. In this day and age of internet information it can be very hard !!