Gary I think I once had an electric "stove" with a burner like that "sealed electric burner" for awhile. Agree that induction can provide a great range of heat and generally even heat unless there is an issue with the pan. For gas though, there seem to be features attributed to "open" in the open/sealed debate that are really due to other factors. There are several components of cooking that can contribute to a cooking surface that applies heat evenly to your food. You could look at the configuration of the burner ports. Open, sealed or semi open as in the old Wolf burner, there are attempts to make a better pattern of distribution by increasing the number of ports and spreading them out in concentric ports and putting them in a star shape. The most advantage would be for a pan that does not conduct heat well, like cast iron or a very thin pan. They must be sized to the burner though, as you size a pan to an electric burner. The second aspect is considering the size of the pan in relation to the heat pattern of the burner. Once you have a pan, like cast iron, that is bigger than the burner,even though the heat is distributed evenly over a 6 inch circle, you have a hot spot in the middle of the pan. I use 14 inch pans quite a bit and so with my 14 inch CI pan I am better off with a larger ring of heat that would cut the total area of the pan roughly in half unless I could find a star burner 12 inches wide. The flip side is a burner that is too wide for the pan. You then have the heat going either to the very outside or completely around the pan. An open burner on the highest setting will produce a flare but the extent to which this happens depends on how the burner is engineered. Here is a picture of the 30 inch Wolf cooktop compared to 30 inch BS and even when you consider the flare really only on the highest burner setting, the burner is much smaller to begin with so might accommodate a smaller pan easier than the BS. People on this forum tend to focus on the heat source because it is an appliance forum not a cooking forum. To get the most even heat in many more situations, don't worry about the burner but the interface of the food to the burner--the pan. Use a good heavy copper pan and not only will heat be even across the bottom but even up the sides as well. Heat will be coming evenly from all directions. If you can't swing copper use heavy aluminum. Last week, I did use a commercial range with star burners, (with almost no void of burner ports in the middle) with a cast iron pan. It was well sized to the burner so heated well. It had a very poor low end of heat but I'm sure I could work around that if I had to. I have cooked on other commercial ranges as well. I still do like my sealed burners for home due to the great control of the flame especially the low end. I can certainly see people making other choices though. I am currently using my range but due to the issues with the "blue chips" I will at some point replace it. I may have to reconfigure my kitchen to accommodate a rangetop and I am not sure what that will be. Maybe I will get a CVAP for the oven. They are supposed to be coming out with a residential version.

I have a CC but I'm sure they're all very similar. It takes about a minute for it to light and come up to broiling temps. Basically as long as it takes for the glow plug to get hot. I usually fire up mine as I'm preparing the food for the broiler so it's ready when I'm ready. I think one time I fired it up as an afterthought, and I waited a couple of minutes anyways to let it get good and hot. I didn't actively monitor it. I just turned away to do something else and came back to it. But it was ready so it was a non-issue for me. My range vents out the back, so smoke from broiling has not been issue. I'm sure the Wolf and Viking are similar in this regard. One thing an IR broiler does not do well is blackening. For that, you'll still have to use cast iron and deal with the smoke.

linnea56 - use caution when cleaning anything with an enamel finish. It is basically a polyurethane plastic held in resin or something, and will scratch or melt with abrasion and/or chemicals. Here's what I would do for your stove: First, wipe it with a wet paper towel for any loose stuff. Then, use a grease cutting solution (like Dawn dish washing detergent/water 50/50, or Simple Green) on a cloth laid over the gunky spots. Wait 15 minutes to an hour. Use a wet nylon sponge or "no-scratch" sponge to work as much gunk off as you can. Wipe well with a wet paper towel and dry. You can also lay a paper towel down moistened with 50/50 vinegar before you attack the burned on stuff more but DO NOT mix it with anything else and rinse with water before and after you do. For the hardest to remove spots, I suggest using Bon-Ami (it's like Comet, Zud, or Bar Keepers Friend cleanser but will not scratch like that stuff does) with a damp paper towel, second choice would be the cleansers made for glass stove tops - a mild abrasive that may scratch a little. Always rinse and wipe dry. A slow gentle touch and some elbow grease is preferable to an attack. Last choice for stubborn stuff: My husband is a cabinet maker and occasionally uses a tool like a fat razor blade, called a (wood) cabinet scraper, honed to razor sharpness, to take the top layer of burned on gunk off my glass stove top. I have used it for a thick layer of gunk on my black enameled stove top, but you have to be very careful to not get it directly on the enamel. A single edged razor blade also works, and easier to find, to be used only if it is brand new and used on just a few places, then use a new one used for more scraping on the next bunch of gunk. It will scratch and could cut you so a light touch, a little layer at a time, never down to the surface itself, and patience is necessary. Follow up with the Bon-Ami for the last layer of gunk. You might consider not cooking on high heat on gas stoves. For one thing it is not good for your pans and for another it will not get your food cooked quicker, but just burned quicker. If you use cast iron pans, it can take the high heat, but down a notch for cooking is better for flavor retention and less spatter. If you get a lot of spatters while cooking, use a splatter screen and then wipe up with a dry paper towel then with a Dawn solution while it is still liquid on the stove top. If it dries on the hot stove top, it makes gunk. Your husband's fear of self-cleaning is baseless, but a consideration is the cost of the energy/gas used to clean it at up to 700 degrees F. I use the no-fume spray ("Easy-Off" brand) all the time and in 10 years have only used the self-cleaning function once (mine is electric though so gas may be different) and it does not harm electrical connections, otherwise the manufacturers would not be able to sell so many ovens over the last umpty-ump years with this feature and still be able to offer a guarantee. The no-fume spray has a light clean scent, takes only a couple of hours in a completely cold oven, and works like a charm (I do it before I go to bed and clean up later). You just remove the residual softened gunk with lots of wads of damp paper towels (I wear latex gloves). A second application sometimes is necessary. I put a note on my calendar to remind me to do it once a month, whether or not I've been baking/roasting/broiling a little or a lot. Takes 2 minutes to spray and 5 minutes to wipe out. BTW Bon-Ami is the only cleanser that will not remove the porcelain/ceramic/granite/enamel/stainless steel/plastic shiny finish on your sinks, tubs, toilets, and faucets, and also refrigerators/freezers, dishwashers, microwave, toaster, painted walls, vinyl floors, plastic light switches, etc., etc., etc. And, BTW, "Magic Eraser" is so abrasive that it will take the "no-fingerprint" pattern off your refrigerator. For whitening stains and sanitizing (not for faucets), I use Clorox Clean Up. I don't have any affiliations with any manufacturer of anything, I just learned what works for me. Nancy

jakkom, here a Delmonico is an old fashioned term, seldom used, and meant to denote a rib-eye steak. New York is invariably a strip steak. I've edited this to add this, I was just looking up a specialty market in Traverse City and found the "Delmonico Roast", also known as boneless prime rib! http://www.burrittsmarket.com/news/holidaymeatdepartmentmenu.html Also, according to Wikipedia: " Delmonico's steak may now, in the 21st century, refer to other cuts, prepared differently in different parts of the USA. This wider variety of beef cuts may be broiled, fried, or grilled. Some of the steak cuts now commonly referred to as Delmonico steak include: Boneless rib-eye: A Delmonico cut rib-eye consists of two heart cuts of ribeye tied together with butcher's twine. It resembles a filet mignon in appearance, but because of the more marbled nature of a ribeye, is moister. The modern rarity of the Delmonico cut of rib-eye may be because it renders the remaining pieces of ribeye unsaleable as anything but stewmeat, and the profit to be made from a pair of choice ribeyes is almost always more than that of a single Delmonico. The Delmonico Steak served by the current iteration of Delmonico's in New York is a boneless ribeye. Annie