I'm not into tearing up perfectly good kitchens, so all of these ideas about accommodating a 30" range with alternative cooking assists sound fine to me. Let me play devil's advocate. What about the oven? I have a friend with a 36" ordinary household range, which she loves. Nowhere near the power of a BlueStar, but the size serves her well. The oven capacity makes it possible for her to cook whole meals for a dozen or more people, including heating appetizers and breads while the mains are cooking, and starting pies as the first sides come out. Are you gaining any storage if you have to devote it to extra hotplates and warming devices? OTOH, will one 36" range be enough for your 5-6 dozen people meals? Will you need the extra devices anyway? And why are you getting a BlueStar? Because you're happy with the way you're cooking now? Yes, you're managing. I managed to cook and bake with an underpowered cooktop and an oven with no temperature control. I managed to cook and bake with two gas rings and a wonder pot. But how do you want to cook? Will having a larger range just plain make your life easier? Will it help cut down on the logistical planning of what your kitchen can do, rather than what you want to do? Or will you feel restricted with anything short of a hotel sized kitchen? Yes, cutting down the cabinets to accommodate a larger range and hood is a big mess, and once you start cutting up existing cabinets/counters you open yourself to potential problems. But is it worth giving up your desire for a larger range because of lack of will to go for it? A lot of people talk about putting in their interim best and never actually get the kitchens they really want. It's not worth ransoming your future for, but if you have the disposable income, is it worth forgoing a vacation trip for? I knew I had to redo my kitchen when the house was bought, but put it off for a few years to grow the money, and then a few more because of other life stuff. Looking back, though I'm thrilled with my new kitchen, I realize that I gave up an awful lot of stuff settling for the old one and being practical. I really did have the money before (just not so much liquidity, which could have been fixed), but didn't have the will to be less practical. Can't get back the lost opportunities and meals not cooked. Sigh.

" Because all you non pros say it's ok, then that must mean it's ok? As opposed to listening to the Pros on this forum or doing your own research by asking in the appliance forum?" Wait, what makes someone a non pro vs one of the "Pros on this forum" and is that different from having PRO under your picture? Only one person with PRO under their picture has answered here. It is actually their "pros" telling them it is OK. Are you saying that "non pros" giving their subjective opinion is somehow invalid? Are you saying if you are a "Pro on this forum", whatever that means, your word is infallible? I think no matter who you profess to be, you have to make a case for what you are saying. If I were doing this now, I would have a few questions myself. It's a lot of money especially if you have to install makeup air. There are a lot of ways to calculate how much ventilation is needed but how are these ways and numbers validated? I think this is the thread mentioned above that has the comments by kaseki(no PRO under his picture). He references certain people that have worked in this field. https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/5161173/hood-faq#n=21 "Any ventilation hood over 400 CFM requires MUA. Your locally adopted amendments to code can be stricter, but not more lenient." Some codes, ours in particular, call for it at 600 CFM, so you really have to see if it is required in your location and what the requirements are. This is our code. Not everyone needs the motorized version. I don't think makeup air was required when I put my fan in, at least none of the inspectors said anything. I have not had any issues anywhere or blow back from the wood stove. We have a lot of open areas in our house. I do think I have naturally supplied makeup air with a gravity damper. ;-)) It is also close to the furnace. We went to a restaurant recently with no makeup air and a giant hood. I could not pull the door open, until my husband pulled on it too and we broke the suction. Not good!

Around here, plumbers seem to prefer putting the gas line into a recessed box. Or alternatively, if that isn't a good option, then they'll put the gas valve into the floor. That also makes it easier to reach the shut off valve in case of emergencies. Otherwise, I sometimes see a secondary shut off valve in an adjacent cabinet. As others have said, none of these locations guarantee that the gas line fits behind the range. Every range is a little different, and some of the larger ranges do use almost all of the available space in the back. So, it is not unusual that you'd have to move the gas pipe a little bit. A good general contractor plans for that possibility -- after all, you never know if a few years from now, the next home owner doesn't want to switch out the range.

We decided on the 36" Thermador Dual Fuel Pro Harmony with griddle. It'll be a few months before we're able to install but I'm looking forward to it! It's sitting in my garage right now just being a tease. The main impacts on our decision were the depth (standard vs commercial) because it's in a tight corner which would be uncomfortable with a more protruding appliance. And the fact that it came with a free dishwasher rebate. Even though we didn't actually need to replace the dishwasher, I couldn't resist a shiny freshie one vs the one that came with the house. I thought really hard about going with the Wolf especially with their good customer service history, but I was worried about the porcelain chipping, backorder status, and the fact that some of the features that were a plus on the Thermador like the telescoping oven grates, were available for an extra fee on an already more expensive unit. The Thermador was already a stretch for us so that's where we stayed! I decided I wanted a dual fuel rather than an all-gas, so we eliminated the BlueStar, though it seems like a solid choice otherwise. Best of luck to you all with your decisions - now it's just puzzling out the hood and ventilation systems for me. If you thought the range decision was hard - eep!