A grill throws off a good amount of heat and smoke - you will need a good exhauster and make-up air.

Solaire Grills

Yep! I'm expecting the need to put in a heavy duty hood and exhaust fan to accommodate the wok burner. Can you use the Solaire Grill indoors? I've never used an Infrared grill before (charcoal & gas yes) how does it compare?

When I was planning I gave some good look at the ones that are offered as cooktop modules, and really liked the Wolf with the lava rock. I think the lack of gas might have to do with dripping fat and flames and safety. You'd have to have a larger installation. Infrared grills are actually very good, but they're grills, not barbecues.

I know a number of people who have indoor barbecues. They were popular in the middle of the 20th C. Those have brick surrounds and chimneys, and are essentially fireplaces in the kitchen, with a higher box and a grate. Allowable by code but a stinky mess. When portable gas grills became popular, they were made obsolete.

We've had members in the Northern parts of the U.S., including Alaska, who use a Big Green Egg outdoors, year round.

The Wolf one is now just an electric module. Was wondering how that would compare usage wise, unfortunately I can't find any sort of demonstration video.

Oh, wow! That's very different. They've redesigned the gas module too. There are some advantages to the new gas domino design, but I don't like it. I use mine for stock pots, and the off center burner would kill that.
The Gaggenau Vario 400 still has the lava rocks, but it's also a different model than I've seen. It has two 1500 W burners. This is the kind that has the knobs on the apron of the cabinet. The Wolf is a drop in. They probably got rid of the rocks to make it shallower. Y'know? I think I was thinking of the Miele I was thinking of that had a deep well and lava rocks, not the Wolf. Apologies! The Wolf has two 1400 W burners. I don't think the wattage difference is a big deal, though the Gaggenau has a bigger surface (and the rocks). I don't know how powerful the Miele is but it's probably comparable.

Your best bet to see if you like it is to find a showroom where it's installed and make an appointment to come grill some lunch for them.

You won't just need ventilation with a wok burner and grill choice, you will need VENTILATION. Don't minimize the commercial level CFM and heated makeup air choices that will have to be engineered in order to not run yourself out of your kitchen or exhaust all of your heat in winter. ERVs that can keep up with 1800CFM will cost more than your cooking appliances.

Yep correct! And add that to the fact that I need to either get a 66 or 72 in hood or break up my cooking areas so that each is using a 36+ hood and I know I'll definitely be spending a pretty penny.

I'm curious as to where you came up with the 1800 CFMs though? That's one of the items I've been researching - I knew I was going to need to use a minimum of 1200 CFM but was waiting to consult with my HVAC guy for final research/numers.

Perfect thanks! This is definitely why I'm intending the HVAC consult.

So now that we have that out of the way (i.e. I will need proper and strong ventilation and I need to consult with professional HVAC) can anyone answer my initial question?

Who has indoor built-in grills? If you have one, is it infrared, electric or gas (and what brand)? And what has your experiences been with these units?

Looks like Wolf, Miele, Gaggenau and Profire make separate indoor grills. Does anyone have one of those and can you share your thoughts with me?

I know that there are people out there who have ranges or rangetops with grills built in - what has your experience been with those?

We recently started using the Bluestar Platinum range with an interchangeable grill griddle. I will say the grill is very very hot, in fact I don't recall ever using a hotter grill. The results have been excellent so far. We also use the Capital indoor grill with good results but it does need a heat up time as noted below.

I think most indoor grills work well, but most need 20-30 mins to heat up the grates fully and run on about 18k btu max. The platinum uses 2 x 22k btu burners.

I wonder if the BS Platinum range top might not be better value 25k btu open burner for the wok cooking will out play the wolf with ease, and the grill as i say is very hot.BlueStar Platinum Grill / Griddle

That's actually an excellent idea. Maybe I can do BlueStar 24" platinum rangetop with a Wolf 24" inch induction. It won't be the prettiest configuration but that way I get the features I want - grill/charbroiler, wok & induction with bridge functionality.

I think a 24" @ $3806 or a 30" @ $4075 will give you better value for money and IMO a better cooking station.....Worth considering for a little while

JJ P, I like your idea of having both induction and gas units. Wokking a round bottom should be pretty good on BlueStar. I was looking at open burner units for indoor wokking. Unfortunately, those cool, high BTUs units from Capital and BlueStar are not availably in Aus.

For Wolf induction unit with bridge, someone said it is not a true bridge where connected elements are two, or four, round elements not squarish elements which will cause a hole in the middle. I have no hands on experience, but you should check the actual unit for the fact.

Chanop .... did you try this guy

AUSTRALIA

ARISIT PTY LTD

40 – 44 Mark Anthony Drive,
Dandenong South VIC 3175
Phone: (1300) 762 219
Email: arisit@arisit.com
Website: www.arisit.com

Hi Trevor, thank you for the tip. Capital has some models in Australia, but none of the open burner like Culinarian. I did not check which series it was, but probably Precision, since it is a sealed burner unit that they carry here.

What is also interesting is a product called Power Wok from Capital. Would you be able to elaborate on that? I have not been able to find much info on the net, just for curiosity sake.

Does Thermador make such a unit? Reason I ask is that the Brady Bunch had a Thermador wall oven and they also had an indoor grill, though I never, ever saw Alice cook on it. Then again, if you look at their fireplace, there is no way it could have worked either (I guess the set designers forgot that in reality, a fireplace needs a chimney).

Thermador did indeed make such a unit, available in two widths, and was featured on the "Brady Bunch" as well as "Bewitched". It was known as the Thermador Char-glo indoor grill. I had the smaller of the two units in a previous home. It came with lava rock and there was a lever in front that allowed the cooking grate to be elevated in the back. If memory serves me, the positions were flat, low elevation and high elevation.

I'm imagining one-half (23k BTU/hr) of my 30-inch Lynx Prosear2 IR grill in a kitchen, operating without a cover other than the hood overhang. The visible and near IR radiant output in all directions would be intense. While I haven't seen any sign that Lynx approves these for indoor use, I imagine that if they did there would be significant limitations on proximity to almost anything that wasn't metal. Certainly proximate walls would need stand-off sheet metal to keep the sheetrock cool enough.

Normal gas flames are not that radiant, and transfer heat to pans (or grates and meat) by hot gas impingement. What isn't transferred heats the air rising into the hood. So, I assume that the Bluestar Platinum uses gas flames for grilling, without any IR conversion schemes. Trevor?

kas

I have a gas module and an induction module. Several of us here do. You do need a few inches between the two, but since you were talking big hood, it should be fine. The trick to looks is symmetry. My induction has a stainless bevel frame which matches the bevelled edge of the stainless gas module, and the black grate matches the black induction.

With the Wolf and BS 24" you have size and black in common. You can have a range top shaped frame made for the induction, or you can just do a contrast drawer/apron front to mimic the front of the rangetop. The simplest way would be to do the countertop in stainless (sheet or tile) all around both cooktops, and also clad the drawer/apron with it. That makes them visually one unit with some balance. Wrapping a drawer/cabinet front with sheet stainless isn't a big deal.

Or you could just say function is function and let them dance. :) It sounds like it's the solution you were looking for.

@ Chanop we shipped a BLuestar to England last week so anything is possible.

Kas .... The heat is diffused when using the grill, you can see it in the first set of pictures. This steel diffuser heats up so much it creates IR is guess ....

http://www.openburnerrange.com/platinum-line.html

Thanks for the link, Trevor. This is evidently a viable but different approach relative to the heated open screen above a Lynx small-pore area burner. The radiant output of the Bluestar grill zone appears to be restricted in area and angle, making it a lot more practical for an indoor kitchen range than, e.g., a Lynx grill configuration would be.

Mom friendly and combat ready

kas

Chanop, before you explore importing your dream range, please check with your local authorities. It may be that open burners just aren't allowed where you live. If they are allowed, you may still need a waiver because it's a foreign appliance. And you'll need approval (in writing) from your insurance company. I self-imported my induction cooktop, which is a much easier sell to the naysayers than a big flaming dragon range.

Thank plllog, local codes do prohibit everything that is not certified by the gas standard authority. Open burner is non existent here for indoor domestic use. I don't think I will have any luck with open burners like BlueStar or Capital down here.