The picture you posted looks like the Fisher and Paykel range. They have dual stacked burners. I would also look at the Bertazzoni. The European units will usually have dual stack burners. Older Wolf gas ranges did too but the design changed in the last few years.

Good luck!

Funny that you would mention open burners and induction. Both technologies have a lot of advantages ... and an equally large number of incorrect preconceptions. If you post a list of things that are important to your friend, rather than a list of technologies, we might be able to give better advice.

Examples: price, total power output, even heating, fine control from simmer to full power, ease of cleaning, can be used with all sorts of pots, compatible size to old stove, no need for high-amp electric service, automated features (e.g. timers), front-of-cabinet controls, reliability, recognized brand, good service network, ...

"She does not want an open burner gas range because her exhaust is just middling and she doesn't need high power for her type of cooking."

M Miller,

I want to make a statement that even closed burner gas ranges have high output which will challenge her exhaust unit. Calculate the total capacity of the range and then determine what type of exhaust you will need.

I hope I was not one of the people who responded to your friend and I apologize that she felt bullied. That is never the intent in the forum.

I am a huge advocate for Induction but I also own both technologies. I see the benefits of induction especially as I have older relatives visiting. Beyond that, I have my CRS days too, where I left something on the cooktop for an hour, I can only imagine what would have happened if I did it on the gas hob. I understand not liking the technology but its benefits are really not being overstated.

Good luck!

Agreed with @homepro1, both open and closed burners can be had in a variety of power levels. Traditionally, the lower power ranges tend to also have more boring mainstream technology. So, on average, your friend will be right with equating closed burners with low heat output. But then stacked burners are also a gamble; they are traditionally more likely to be found on high end stoves that also tend to have higher BTU.

As a counter example, look at the Bluestar RCS. It can be configured with open 15kBTU burners. That's in line with the power output from other mid-range stoves.

I agree about the advantages of induction. But I also realize that running a new electric line, can cost anywhere between $300 and $3000. At the low end, that's worthy of consideration. At the top end, it's probably out of reach.

That's why I asked for a better summary of what your friend values. Thanks for providing that. I don't know much about stacked burners, as they have mostly fallen out of favor in the past. But hopefully somebody else can chime in whether the few remaining models would be a good overall fit

The photos that you posted, I think, are generally referred to as "dual ring" burners that were used in older Wolf ranges. Current Wolf ranges have "dual stack" burners that have a higher power burner directly stacked on top of a low power simmer burner. These burners are never on at the same time. The control knob starts with the top burner for normal cooking but, when you get to the end of travel, you can push it in and turn it farther to switch to the lower simmer burner.

That said, I had a dual stack, sealed burner Wolf range (model GR304) before my current Bluestar open burner (RCS304BV2). They both have the same maximum 15K BTU burner ratings. I very much prefer the Bluestar's top burner cooking characteristics and ease of cleaning.

As @John points out correctly, make sure you get a chance to try the model that you want to buy. You might not get what you think you are getting. Dual-burners sound great in principle, but they can also be an indication that the engineering team couldn't figure out how to design a burner that works evenly over a large surface area and over a large power range. Instead, they did the next best thing and designed two burners that each solve part of the problem.

You might be lucky, as your friend apparently did, and this turns out to be a really great design. Or you might discover, as @John did, that you'd be better off with a stove that started out with a great design and didn't have to add additional band-aid solutions.

In the end, a particular technology (dual vs. single, or open vs. closed) doesn't guarantee more satisfaction. It always comes down to how well-designed a specific model is.

>>>"What is important to my friend is to find a 30" gas range, middle of the road pricing, with dual stacked sealed burners."<<<

Is your friend looking specifically for "dual-stacked burners" or, maybe instead, looking for a stove with one or two multi-ring-"power-burners" like what she has on her current GE stove? Dunno what your friend considers "middle of the road pricing" but for $1500-to $1600 you might want to check out the GE "Profile" PGB930SEJSS.

The specific term "dual stacked burners," often seems to refer to those burners from Isphording Corp. which are used on "pro-style" ranges such as DCS/Fisher&Paykel and NXR/Thor Kitchens and formerly on some Wolf ranges. The NXR/Thor stoves, when equipped with dual-stacked burners, currently seem to be priced around $1800 to $2100. However, the NXR & Thor models do not have any conveniences that your friend might want (e.g., self-cleaning oven, sabbath mode, timers, etc.) and post sale service and support can be hit or miss.

These dual stack burners are not an engineering deficiency. These are the burners used throughout the European brands on all their cooktops. I think someone explained on these forums years ago the reason for the popularity of these burners. I remember it was something to do with the serviceable parts of the unit being above the counter rather than below to limit the clearance needed for storage under the cooktops. If you look at Gaggenau, Miele, and Atag cooktops, they all use these stacked burners. My Miele Wok burner at 25k btu uses the same burner set up. Here is a picture of the Miele gas cooktop with the dual burners.

If we are talking about concentric burners that are always operating at the same time, then it is really just a solution for the problem with closed burners that makes it difficult to evenly heat a large pot. Traditional closed burners tend to have cold spots in the center of the pot and hot spots at the very edges. It's why I hated my old Viking with such a passion. With open burners, you have a lot more options to shape the burner so that the flames distribute heat evenly. So, you never have to think about working around limitations in burner shape.

But yes, you are correct, concentric burners are probably the best solution, if you are set on a closed burner design. And while it would be a major pain to clean the inner circle after a major spill, that presumably doesn't happen all that often.

With stacked burners that operate alternately, and that require explicit user action to switch from one to the other, I'd argue that design is the result of an engineering flaw. The extra user action shouldn't be needed. And a well-designed burner should be able to smoothly and evenly cover the entire range from a gentle simmer to a high-heat sear. There are plenty of stoves that demonstrate this is possible.

M,

"With stacked burners that operate alternately, and that require explicit user action to switch from one to the other, I'd argue that design is the result of an engineering flaw."

I agree with this statement. I was referring to concentric burners that operate in unison.

Perhaps more than your friend wants to spend, but Fulgor Milano appears to have what you're considering. I can't speak to the brand as I am only just considering it myself, but have not used it and wish I had more info.