Most people who've had problems with Thermadors have had problems with the wall ovens or the oven portion of the Thermador ranges, not the burners or rangetops. The star-shape of the Thermador burners gives better flame coverage than the outer-ring style seen on most burners (which mainly heats the outer circumference of a pan rather than across the pan). And the Thermador rangetop sure is good-looking. I don't know why TonySak said above that the simmer setting may not be as reliable or as safe (??) - can you provide backup for that comment? I haven't heard that at all. I think if the Thermador burners weren't "safe" it would be a big deal and we would have heard about it, there'd be recalls, etc. What I have heard is that many people don't like the low simmer setting on the Thermador burners cause they click on and off which is an annoying sound. Other people say they don't mind the clicking, or rarely simmer on such a low setting, or they can't hear the simmer clicking over the other noises in the kitchen like the exhaust fan, the kids, or the general hubbub in a kitchen. The clicking isn't cause it's broken or anything, that's just how the Thermador low simmer has always worked. Can you go see one in operation to see if it would annoy you?

If you're going with the six burner model this is a great buy. The star burners Thermador uses gives you more burner to pan coverage than the circular burners any other brand uses. The x-lo feature has it's positive and negative side. On the positive side it really does get extra low. You can take a piece of paper, put some chocolate on top and it will melt the chocolate without catching the paper on fire. The x-lo burners also lead me into the first problem I have with the rangetop - your burner will actually shut off and then come back on (10 seconds on and 50 seconds off on the lowest setting), so you'll get the regnition clicks continuously. Not really a big deal to most, but if you suffer from OCD it may drive you into taking the rangetop and chunking it out the window. The other problem I have is with the griddle. It's electric, so you have an element underneath that squiggles back and forth giving you hot spots and cold spots, which leads me to a question for Thermador - Why put an electric griddle on a gas rangetop?! For a far superior griddle check out the Monogram or DCS rangetop (they have a gas griddle that has a compartment underneath, so your whole griddle heats up to one temperature). Either of those models have the dual-flow burners, which are pretty neat themselves. The Guru has Spoken Here is a link that might be useful: The Appliance Guru Reviews and Commentary

I have the 6 burner Bertazzoni drop-in cooktop: it's the same layout as the rangetop, but has the knobs at the side of course. I like it very much. Easy to clean - soapy sponge, then wipe up with a microfibre cloth. I stir-fry often - albeit for only two, so the quantities are small - and find it to be perfectly adequate. As I also make sauces frequently, plus gravy and so on, I got an extra simmer ring, which helps. I like having 6 burners, because it means I can move the pots around a lot, but would have had no issues with having only 5. I particularly like that the higher powered burners are at the side, not in the middle, where a big pot could block access to other burners, like my tall pasta pot. For what it's worth, we had originally intended getting a Dacor 5 burner drop-in cooktop, but changed our plan when we found the Bertazzoni. Just looks sturdier: I didn't like the Dacor plastic knobs. The white markers were already wearing off on the showroom model. Hope that helps a little!

So, what did you decide? My Miele 36” induction cooktop bit the dust. I’m thinking of a gas rangetop, either Wolf or Thermador. It was a struggle finding a Miele repair person in my area, so I will be going with an appliance store that provides service for everything they sell. That means no Miele, no Bluestar. The sales person recommended the Thermador for ease of cleaning. It’s easy to wipe under the burner. I have maids once a week, so this isn’t a deal breaker. I didn’t like the fact that only one dedicated burner can simmer and it clicks on and off. The Wolf, with the high-low burners can simmer on any. Plus I like the Wolf has different BTUs on burners from 9,200 to 20,000 where the Thermador is all 18,000. I do have some smaller pans and I read that the wide star shape burner is just too wide of a flame for a smaller saucepan. I’m actually waiting on the quote to repair my Miele, but I am starting the search for a replacement.