Once upon a time, when "high-fidelity" system meant something, there was a waggish rule that 3 dB better performance (which might just be noticed) cost 3 dB more money (i.e., a factor of 2).

In the case of induction cook tops or range tops, Pro style devices may provide some added features over their Kenmore/Frigidaire counterparts. In the case of gas cook tops or range tops, the issues are burner flame patterns and heat flow rates (BTU/hr). I'm unclear why, other than visual effects, a Pro style electric coil cook top would be considered, as coil burners are not common in commercial cooking except perhaps for griddles, and for some salamanders.

In any case, if affordable, I would certainly aim for using induction or gas cook tops or range tops over coil cook tops or range tops.

kas

Thanks for the comment. I didn't mean to imply I was considering electric coil. Just that it seems the LG/Samsung/etc (Best Buy and Sears level appliances) seem to have as good, if not better, performance ratings than some of these higher end brands (i.e. Capital, Wolf, Viking).

>>> " happened to stumble across the following statement from Consumer Reports concerning high-end pro-style ranges . . . . Is this a situation of a Timex keeping better time than a Rolex even though the Rolex looks better?" <<<

Yes, no, sorta, and it depends.

FWIW, the topic of "are pro-style ranges worth it" comes up from time
to time. If you have not already seen these previous threads, you might
find them helpful to further thinking through your stove choices:

http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/2627764/pro-style-ranges-really-needed-for-a-serious-cook

http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/2305675/pro-style-ranges-overrated
https://www.google.com/search?q=are+pro+style+appliances+worth+it&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/2424674/want-a-pro-gas-range-but-is-it-worth-the-cost

http://www.chowhound.com/post/pro-style-range-spend-money-587689

As for CR's opinion that a low-end coil burner performs better than the pro style stoves they tested, suffice it to say that some subtle and not so subtle points get lost or disregarded in CR's testing and in their proclivity for offering somewhat provocative or attention grabbing opinions.

Take their stovetop burner tests which are actually pretty limited: how quickly will the big burner bring a pot of water to boil; how well does the small burner hold a simmer; and how well can the largest burner simmer a large pot of thick tomato sauce. Let's look at the speed to boil (high burner rating). An 8" diameter 2500 watt coil burner does a very good job at bringing pots to boil, especially when the pot's base is around 8" in diameter (maximizing the efficiency of heat transfer.) Only induction is significantly faster. BTW, much of the induction speed advantage is due to induction burner power being 3500 watts or greater.

Move that 8" diameter pot over to a gas range and the time falls off significantly even on pro-style burners. So, CR can say the pro-style stove does not not perform as well as the low-end coil burner.

But, consider the pot being used for the testing. Size may matter. On my old coil burner range years ago, it took my tall stock pot (with the roughly 7½" disk base) a little over 15 minutes to boil, IIRC. (This is from memory -- I ran that test back around the turn of the century when this forum was still on the owlcroft site, so the results have dropped off the retrievable radar of google and etc.) Anyway, same pot and same quantity of water now takes around 22 minutes or so on the 15k btu burners on my current stove, a pro-style NXR. CR says the NXR is average for time to boil, which maybe implies that the NXR's larger-diameter, higher powered gas burners are a waste of money?

Well . . . no. The relatively slow speed to boil is mostly due to the size of the NXR burners and their being better suited to pots with bigger diameters. A full power flame goes out beyond the base of that disk-bottom stock pot with a lot of it just creating waste heat. Same quantity (and temp) of water in my 10" diameter stockpot which is a better match to the full power flame size --- just under 15 minutes. With my 13" diameter canning kettle -- 14 minutes. Plus, my pots sit evenly and level on the stovetop grates which was not always the case with the old coil burner stove.

Also, consider burner adjustments during cooking. Gas and induction burners allow you to
adjust heat up or down much more quickly than with radiant electric and
coil burners. That will be very important to some home cooks and not to others. (Heck, James Beard preferred coil burners to gas stoves and would not have a gas stove in his home. Julia Child ran many years of her shows using a coil burner cooktop. Of course, she had a Garland range at home.) If adjustability matters to you, you need to look beyond CR because their published
ratings do not consider that as a factor.

Now consider an alternate perspective on burner power. Do you like very high heat cooking? Your interest in a Culinarian implies that you do. In past threads here, owners of high powered Culinarians and Blue Stars -- stoves with 22k (and higher-powered) commercial-style open burners --- have scorned the 15k sealed, double stacked burners found on the likes of the NXR, DCS, and Wolf. I do not do the kind of cooking that I feel would benefit from those 22K open burners, but other folk here do feel the bigger burners are worthwhile to them. CR's seeming sneer at pro-style ranges totally diregards this kind of cooking preference.

But, here is something I find ironic. Several years ago, when CR published a year end/holiday article reporting on what its employees wanted and were buying, guess what their employees said they wanted? They wanted Wolf ranges. Nobody there piped up and said "I want that $400 coil-burner range." Wish I could find the article but it seems to have been removed from accessibility.

This is just a short way with a potentially very long list of subjects that could be considered, including service and support issues. Much of that is discussed in the threads I linked to above. Having read through them, you might well conclude that a pro-style range will not be worth it to you or maybe that it would be worth it after all.

Consumer Reports uses their own criteria for testing. it might not be the same as yours or mine.

One of the things I like about pro style ranges is the depth front to back. I use bigger pans so this is important. There are also more choices in 36" ranges in the pro style ranges. If you want uncapped burners, you have your choice of very inexpensive or pro style ranges with nothing really in between. If you want star shaped burners you will have to get a pro style range.

When you look at the ovens, it gets a lot trickier. How even do they bake, size vs heat of the broiler and how much do you want to direct the heat. You can also have a lot of features that don't really work all that well.

Here's a thread where it's discussed in-depth. There's not much for me to add. http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/2260746/consumer-reports-not-high-on-bluestar