One thing I think gets thrown around here somewhat in error is "open burner". There are residential style open burners that many old basic gas stoves used and some new offerings such as viking and up till recently wolf offered as an option. The debate should be about "commercial style" open burners which as far as I know are only offered by 3 manufacturers (bluestar, capital and american range). Your typical residential style open burner does not offer a huge performance advantage over a sealed burner, but there is a huge difference in performance between a commercial style open burner and a residential style (open or closed) burner. The only way a residential style burner (open or closed) ccould give similar performance (with same btu rating) to a commercial style burner is if the cooking vessel had a huge diameter. Larger than 12" for sure. I have owned a residential style open burner 15k viking and also have 15k commercial style bs burners currently and I can say with real world experience the two burners can not compare on high heat performance. After owning both and using many, I would say that as long as there is a commercial style open burner available I don't think I could go back to anything else. I was never truly happy with the performance of any residential style burner that I have used or owned. If ther were no options available I'd seriously have to look into what it would take to legalize a real commercial range. @OP you may very well be happy with the performance of the monogram. We can't tell you if you will be or not. Those of us that own commercial style burners can collectively tell you that you will get better performance with a commercial style burner, but we can't say if its overkill for you or not. I was never thrilled with the performance of my 15k res style.

" Posted by deeageaux DCS is actually one of the better ones. Don't know if you have a lemon or an oven door that was assembled incorrectly. Bluestar will have one of the largest interiors but have the hottest or one of the hottest oven doors on the market. Wolf is near the top. From my experience and from what I a have read Capital has the coolest oven door, maybe there are others that match it or beat it but have not read so in credible source." What is your "credible source" for this ranking? Please post. "There used to be a dealer that did test and published data on this very subject but Bluestar used high powered lawyers to bully him into removing his data from his website." Do you have proof for this accusation? Trevor Lawson of Eurostoves has this on his website under "test data" comparing the CC and BS now but most thinking people would not consider "data" provided by a competitor to be unbiased especially if you have any knowledge about how scientific testing is done. This becomes more evident as you look at how the other "tests" are set up and presented. There have been complaints on this forum about the door being hot on the BS. There have been some things written saying that BS fixed the hot door but a poster here that had an older one and a new one thought the new one had a hotter door. BlueStar review On the Wolf, it may depend on if you are talking about the AG or the DF. I think there have been a couple of complaints about the AG, but others who had it seemed to think there was something wrong with it. Maybe an actual owner will comment about the AG. I have the Wolf DF and the doors and surrounds stay very cool. We have grandkids(toddlers) running around and while I believe in teaching them to stay away from "hot" and they are watched closely, it is wonderful to have the peace of mind that a cool door is one less hazard. Even after running a couple of hours the door is cool and the only part even warm at all is at the bottom. I couldn't find any place even hot, let alone uncomfortably hot.

(Apologies in advance for the ridiculously long update...) We've had our replacement range for a few months now. To be fair, we haven't used it much. It still gets hot but I haven't tested it to the limits I tested the first range. To be honest, I'm a little paranoid about our adjacent cabinets! My observations about the heat: 1. Realizing it is a professional range, I understand that it will get warm/hot. However, we have friends with a Thermador, which doesn't get hot at all; in fact, the surface barely gets warm. Not sure if it's fair to compare the two, but it is something I wonder about. If anyone has an argument about that, I welcome it because it would make me feel better! I also read someone else's comment here that her neighbor's (I think?) American range stays COOL. Okay, totally not the case here! 2. We tested the FIRST range for great lengths of time. When the repair person was testing it, we probably had it on for about 30-45 minutes at 450 before the surface temperature (on sides) approached the maximum indicated temp, and 1+ hours when it got scorching hot. The repair person, who works only with pro ranges, could not touch the sides for more than a second. He could touch the knobs for maybe 3 seconds. He told me his fingers were pretty used to high temps! 3. I had the REPLACEMENT range on for about 1.25-1.5 hours last week at 350. It wasn't nearly as hot as the first range, but it was still warm. For reference, I could touch the knobs (hot, but not scorching), and could hold my fingers on the side for about 5 seconds. On the previous range, I needed an oven mitt to turn the knob after about 1 hour. NOTE: *I'm not saying the new one is faulty at all, but I know some people have asked what 'too hot' is so I wanted to give a point of reference.* So, I haven't left the replacement range on for 1.5 hours at 450 like the first one because I'm a little nervous. I know some might argue that yes, this is what happens at high temps for long periods of time, but what do you do when you need to roast a turkey for hours? Of course we keep our little ones out of the kitchen, but I'm more worried about cabinets melting! On to our next set of issues w/ the replacement range: *We did the burn in for about 2 hours the day it was installed. Like I said, we haven't used it much so the burn in smell was apparent for awhile, but there was also a gas smell. After awhile, the burn in went away but the gas smell is still there for the first 5-10 minutes. We've been waiting on this issue because we wanted to make sure it wasn't the burn in we were smelling. When we first turn the oven on, the flame does not light for a few minutes, which I'm guessing has something to do with it. (?) *Also, when we first turn the oven on, the window fogs up as if there is condensation inside, and it's oddly spotty too, as if there is mildew (?). It goes away after a few minutes as well, but I don't remember that happening with the first range. Does this happen for anyone else? I wrote the rep about these things a couple of days ago, but didn't hear back. Today I wrote another contact, but didn't hear back from him either. I'll give them a few days and write again I guess. The customer service was great with the heat issues. They tried to fix the first range with a whole slew of parts, and when that didn't work, they replaced the entire thing -- that was very nice. So I feel bad complaining... but I have to admit I'm a little disappointed. On the upside, it's a gorgeous range, and the burners are incredible! Also, it is ridiculously easy to clean (the top of it, that is). It wipes up beautifully. I just wish the oven worked the way I think it should!

I have had gas and electric ranges over the years, but for the last 30+ I have cooked on electric until I moved and our new condo had a gas range. Everyone was all agog over it and told me I would LOVE the gas range that it was so much better than electric. For the last 20 years before our move, I cooked on smooth top electric ranges and loved them! But everyone kept telling me gas was better. Turns out, I DO NOT love the gas range. It doesn't boil water as fast as my electric one did and seems to take forever to preheat the oven. And I've had a hard time adjusting to the fact that if I don't use hot pads to remove my pans off the stove top, I'll burn my hands. And don't leave your stirring spoon in the pot for more than a second if you don't want to burn off a finger or two. My cookies don't rise -and they're either not done enough or too done, can't get it just right like before. AND the worst part is cleaning it! That's the main reason I switched to a smooth top all those years ago - they take a little getting used to the different cleaning method, but when you learn the tricks, they're a breeze compared to the old coil or this gas behemoth! It takes me a good hour to clean around all the burners and try to be careful not to get cleaner or food down those little slots around the sides. And even using a degreaser detergent, it still looks greasy after going over it several times. Give me my smooth top back! . . . where I can just scrap off the burnt on food with a razor blade - or if there isn't anything burnt on, I can just wipe on a little cleaner and polish it off with a paper towel. When wiping down the countertops with a little dish soap, I can include the stovetop and keep it sparkling clean on a daily basis. I have severe arthritis in my hands and moving those heavy grates off the top and then the cleaning around all the little places is just a little too much for me (not to mention getting gunk off the grates). That is why, after 2 1/2 years of trying to get used to it, I have decided to replace my gas range with a brand new smooth top electric range. People tell me I must be CRAZY because I'm the only person they know who prefers electric over gas. The only thing I will miss is turning off the heat immediately when something boils over. So I will have to get used to moving the pan off again. But it's worth it to me to clean up a boil over on the smooth top vs. the gas burner-cover-slots thing. AND I'll have my wonderful convection oven back and maybe my cookies too!