48" isn't silly. But it's also not really necessary for most people. When I was little, my mother had a five burner plus a two burner in her small kitchen. She did use them all for our huge extended family. That was before microwaves. She also and two separate ovens and a roaster oven like Nesco. By the time I was in my late teens and there weren't so many dozens of cousins and gaggles of grands running tame in the house, and the two burner had a problem, she switched it out for a butcher block and never missed it. The oft quoted statistic is that most people rarely have more than three pots on the fire at once. A couple times per year, I have four, but I try to manage it so that something is in the oven or the warming drawer instead of that many on the stove. I only have five on if I have to boil the kettle, too, and I could just dig out the electric kettle to push that away.

So... How do you cook? Are you making lots of little pots with different vegetables and sauces? Are you feeding a small army? Or do you want a lot of burners just for the elbow room?

@friedajune: There are a few manufacturers out there, but each one has their distinct drawbacks. I should have been more specific and said that the manufacturers that I'm considering don't make one.

I had to drop Viking because I'd want their high output (7 series) version, and they do not have any accessories for it still (after two years). I don't need much, but I do need a wok grate.

Miele is so new to the market: Can the longevity of the product be trusted? They're known for their ovens, this is their first rangetype product. We can splurge once, but we can't be replacing this in 3 years.

BlueStar/American: I have a tendency towards a) being a messy cook, b) wanting the kitchen to not look too dirty for too long. Open Burners are just not for me.

Capital: I know very little of these guys. The only thing I do know is that every time I've looked at them people have said to spring for the next tier of product (e.g. Viking/Wolf/Therm).

FInally, yes, I know we'll need a big hood. Likely getting a Best hood with their iq1200 in it. Probably 54", but TBD on that one.

@plllog: I can't say that we ever used all 6 burners at once in the last two years, but we regularly would use 5 of them, or 4 of them with multiple larger pans on at once. So more than anything it's about the extra space, the elbow room, the ability to dedicate one burner for non-flat bottom pans and not feel like I'm "down a burner." It's also a statement/aesthetic piece. The kitchen is my home. I work from home often and I'll spend 3-6 hours a day in the kitchen while on conference calls or the likes...So there is some level of vanity in the equation for sure.

I don't see why you couldn't do all of that with the 36" and for vanity's sake add the built in flat top or teppanyaki. Or get a separate wok burner if that's what you meant by dedicated to non-flat. Or get an induction domino for a fast boil or when you don't really want to heat up the kitchen. Put a big hood over the whole thing, or even a series of hoods.

Or...how much vanity do you want to go with? We have a big contingent who adore Lacanche, and you can get a big range configured however you want, including plate rails. Or go that one better with a La Cornue, which I've seen recently customized with Gaggenau Varios. Definitely makes a statement in the kitchen.

If you dismiss the Bluestar because of cleaning issues, you will need to dismiss the Capitol as well. I can be a messy cook, too. Open burners do not mean messy or complicated clean up.

Because space to hold and slide pots is important to you, I would plan on a range top and not a cook top. By placing the controls on the front, you gain extra room on the top for pots.

I'm firmly in the Bluestar corner. But, if that isn't the direction that you want to go, have you considered the Dacor? They make a 48" range and range top that is a six burner unit. It would certainly give you extra room.

I agree that the limiting thing is the burner placement and not the overall number of burners. I have a 48" with a griddle (never again) and wish I had gone all burner with a large griddle that would have spanned 2 burners. Decent size stock pots encroach on the next burner over, so I get it.

And don't dismiss the open burners - after 19 years with sealed - they are not all that they are cracked up to be....

There was a recent thread here where the OP was considering a pair of cooktops, one induction and one gas with an overall encompassing hood. This approach might provide the space and burner count you want.

kas

@homechef59: Definitely getting a rangetop. Sorry, I should have specified that initially. That's an interesting idea with the Dacor. At 48" with three across even my paella would fit without encroaching on the burner to the left/right. Still would get in the way of the one in the back, so not quite as good as an 8 burner, but I'd still have four usable burners. I've never heard anyone here talk about the Dacor: are they comparable to the other guys in their price range: wolf/viking?

@kaseki: an interesting idea: With a rangetop it looks like it'll be hard to get items side by side that make sense together.

@plllog: There are still limits to our budget! If someone made a 12 or 15" rangetop wok burner, that could be a real option. The few I've seen are 24" wide and, let's face it, the kitchen is still only about 120 SQFT with 6, maybe 7, feet of wall for stove and other appliances.

We were successful in bidding on our home, so it's now all very real. I'm going to bring the family to the appliance store again and look the options over. See if they have a functional bluestar, and/or if they'll let me boil over a pot to see how I deal with that mess =) I swear I do it everytime I make pasta.

Right now I'm leaning towards just getting a 36" Wolf Rangetop. Still going to consider the Thermador, but leaning to the Wolf. We made due with the 36" viking rangetop in the last home. We only, once or twice, had issues with space/burners. More than anything it just meant that we could both be cooking, squarely infront of the stove, if we were making different parts of a dish. But the extra 12" of counter space, and cabinetry, might not be a bad thing...

"boil over a pot......I swear I do it everytime I make pasta"

Boilover Guard

Well... It costs way too much, and it's not precisely a rangetop, and tops out at 18K btu, but Gaggenau does make a 15" wok burner:

https://www.ajmadison.com/cgi-bin/ajmadison/VG414210CA.html 

The knob(s) are on the face, so you can cover the apron with stainless and it'll fit in with your rangetop.

They also make an even more ridiculously priced top powered induction 15" which comes with it's own special wok (additional charge) and the apron mounted knobs. I don't know if you'd find that wok suitable, however. I haven't seen a thorough comparison from someone who has used both this and a regular, hand hammered wok over high btu flame extensively enough to really say.

I don't think you're looking for ridiculously expensive, anyway, but I thought I'd mention these just in case they might suit you enough to be worth it.

BTW, you could also get the 15" Wolf wok burner drop in and trim up the area around it to make it match with the styling of the main rangetop even though it isn't one itself. You could even put dummy Wolf knobs on the apron, possibly as switches for the hood, or a timer or something like that.

While the acting is terrible and script is totally lacking, the forth video down might help you.http://www.capital-culinarian.com/video-s.html

I have a 16-year-old Dacor 48-inch rangetop. I love it! When I look at the 6-burner+griddle/grill, I think the same thing -- won't those burners get crowded?

I think I've used all 6 burners a few times, and I often use 3 or 4 along with the griddle that straddles two burners.

I also find the times I'm using all my burners are the times I'm using my largest pots and pans, so I appreciate the space.

I'm in the planning stages of my reno and we're planning on keeping the old workhorse. If it dies I'll replace it with the same. :-)

What is it about the griddle that makes you want to avoid it? I had a Viking 48" 6 burner with griddle at my old house, and while we never used it I liked the bigger size of the 48" range. Will be getting a 48" range at my new house, and while I still don't expect to use the griddle, I know I will never need 8 burners so I prefer the flexibility of having the griddle.

We had one of the first 7 series Viking's out with the griddle and it was awful. You would cook 4 pancakes in the front and the first one in the back wasn't ready to be flipped over. We went through four units before we gave up and had it replaced with a 6 burner unit. While we were out the 800 bucks for the delta in cost, we were much more happy this way.

An Update: After a LOT of back and forth and uncertainty and looking and trying them out, we are going to go forward with a wolf 6 burner + grill.

In our last home the grill was 8 feet from the kitchen. In this one you have to go through a bedroom and down stairs to get to it. So unless I'm doing something pretty darn fancy, I'm not likely going to be using the grill (which is pretty sad because I love that grill).

We really want the 48" for comfort of two folk cooking together, which we do a lot. We can't bring ourselves to do Viking again, and they still don't have a wok ring for their 7 series after multiple years (and the aftermarket "works with everything" don't work with it). We seriously considered bluestar and just can't bring ourselves to do the open burner thing. I'm sure it is wonderful, but it's just too industrial for the kitchen we're putting together.

Because of the above we are going with the Wolf 6 burner + Grill. We'll spring for a grate with the integrated wok ring in it. I'm not 100% certain just how often we'll use the grill, but I know we'll use it more than the griddle. It's also the same height as the other grates, so you can easily move from one burner to the next.

I'm not 100% sure we're making the right decision, but we're making the best decision with what we know!

Now to figure out: is a 48" hood "enough" or do we need to give up cabinet space for a 54" hood. And is the 9" low profile Best by Braun hood really just as "good" as the 18" one, if they both have an external 1200 CFS blower.