My electric stove with the larger burner will sink into the stove due to the lengthy high heat applied while the heavy pot is set on it. The metal support struts that hold up the burner will bend and sag. After a while teh whole burner is as level as the chrome trim ring, which is not good. Outside the chrome ring I have hard brown stains that won't come off unless I use a mild abrasive like Bar Keepers cleaner. If its hard grease, I spray the no fume oven cleaner spray on the white enamal surface and that seems to soften the burned on stuff. Stoves are always hard to clean. My mom removed the greasy knobs one time and soaked them in something that removed all the paint markings that are normally embedded into the knobs lettering. Once thats gone, you cant easily see what the knob reading is. I do use those foil 'burner bibs' but they still allow stuff to get through. Under the canning burner, that aluminium foil simply melts away, exposing the chrome drip bowls, which tend to rust eventually. Chrome plating today is very poorly done.

ya_think, The setup has been in place the whole time I've lived here - 18 years, and probably another 7 by the prior owner who built it (it's a loft) - with no incidents while I've been here anyway, just mounting discomfort though I do love the look of the Wolf range. On your other questions, -the narrow door is for a separate cabinet that has wood and granite countertop continuous above it (so granite would have to be cut to remove it). The granite is 2 cm thick. I'm not sure what field-cut means, but if it means the cuts were made here, I don't think so, as on the other side there is a place with a small patch as if measuring was in error. -There are no cabinets just bare wall above the current range. -Removal would gain 6-1/4 inches (plus the 23-1/2 = 29 3/4") so it seems 24" range is biggest I could do. Seems I need to figure - how much hassle and work will be involved in removal (for example, the side of the remaining cabinet and the wall behind will need painting, wall need patching, need to find someone who can do the cutting without extra damage, cost -- versus having a 20" range ( the current one is 22"). Are there other things you think I should consider?

I wanted to contribute my experience- we got the capital culinarian all gas 48" w/ the griddle (so we have 6 burners) within the past year and I have been using it for a few months. I LOVE LOVE LOVE our decision!! I too did a lot of research and did not read many negative reviews about it- and they are very well built, pretty, and simple design-wise (my husband is a contractor and thought they were most similar to the commercial ranges he has worked on, i.e. if something breaks it would be easy to fix). I probably wouldn't need 6 burners just for cooking- but it is nice to have. I also do a lot of canning/preserving, and do use 6 burners at the same time (simmer for warming lids, canning pot, pot for extra hot water, pot w/ stuff to be canned, pot w/ syrup for the stuff to be canned, one pot w/ dinner cooking). My husband loves the griddle- very easy to make breakfasts, hot sandwiches, etc. You could always do 4 burners and a grill/griddle as an option if you don't can/need 6 burners. Also, I really enjoy the big oven on the 48" (not sure how this compares in size to the 36" since the 48" has a large and small oven and the 36" one large oven). It can fit 9x13" pans side by side, and cookie sheets. The roll out racks aren't as smooth as some of the other brands we looked at (we liked the thermador racks the best- very smooth) but they work pretty well. Also, I haven't had any problems w/ the baking heat/evenness, and our oven is gas (which I think is typically worse than electric ovens?). I haven't baked bread yet- but have done a lot of other foods (cookies, casseroles, etc.). So if it were me I would definitely do the 36" over the 30" :-) It sounds like you would use it w/ all the cooking that you do. If you have any questions about mine please let me know :-)

I don't know if you searched this forum before posting your question, but this topic has come up before. Perhaps those threads have gone to The Great Beyond. :-) We had experience with a stainless-steel 20" Avanti in a rental unit. It looked nice. It had lots of features (sealed burners, light, etc.). But it was not very good as a range. The burners were fairly weak. The oven would not hold larger baking pans. And the broiler on ours was just off the floor (where I would rather store pots and pans than reach down for hot food). The Avanti linked to here clearly is not the performer even the other two ranges are. The Premier and Summit look like they share the same innards. Note that one is a slide-in (which introduces some installation issues of its own). For me it would come down to whether you actually enjoy cooking. If you do, I'd quit thinking about the Avanti if you can at all afford one of the other two. The Avanti will get the job done for someone who wants to fry an occasional egg and heat soup. But it will frustrate a real cook every time they switch on a burner.