We have a 48" Bluestar rangetop with 4 burners and a 24" char broiler. We love it. The char broiler is fine, but the burners are great! The even heat distribution from the star burner is evident when you season a wok. I started using a new wok on our temp stove (15K ring burner). The sides seasoned nicely, but the center of the wok remained unseasoned for 2 years. After a 2 weeks of stir fry on the Bluestar the entire wok is a lovely black. You can see the same effect when boiling water. With a ring burner you see a ring of bubbles, with a star burner the entire bottom of the pot is bubbling. If you care about such things is a personal descision. Yes, the 22k burners, on high, will burn things. However, properly setup you have a wide range of heat available. When you add the ease of removing or elevating the grates I have not had any problems with the burners being too hot, or not hot enough. I have 3 22k burners and one simmer burner that really is a small pot burner. This is the perfect setup for the way we cook.

Ladybug: I'm not sure if this helps or not, but I'm in a very similar situation as you. I have done a lot of research on 48" ranges and am keen on having high BTU and a lot of interior space. After having a long conversation with Trevor (from Eurostoves), I actually went to the Capital factory and was very impressed. In fact, it's the only appliance I have decided on! So, if they can assure you that you can get easy service relatively close by, I'd go with the Culinarian. Hope that helps!

fun2cook, In general, the higher BTU burner will boil water faster. But...there's more to it than that (such as the design of the burners, etc), so it isn't necessarily the case that the Monogram will boil water faster than the Wolf. Second, if there is a difference, it will be very small. 15k and 18k are pretty close. Asking people to boil water and report their results to you may not be that helpful because there are a lot of other variables that you can't hold constant, such as the type of pan, temperature of the water when they start, etc. Appliance Advisor (linked below)tried to take this kind of water boiling test seriously and asked people to send him results holding a lot of factors fixed. You can see his results at the link below, though I am not sure either of the models you are interested in are tested (but double check). The lesson you should draw from his test results though is that most of the 15-18k BTU burners boiled water in roughly the same time, give or take a couple of minutes. I'm not sure what you mean that the stainless quality seems better or worse on some models. Is it just the finish you don't like? I presume you aren't referring to the thickness of the metal. Burner ignition problems plague nearly all cooktops. I wouldn't make that a deciding factor. So, how should you choose? I would suggest the following: 1. Are the placement of the highest BTU burners different on the two models? Do you like one configuration more than the other? This is where you'll boil the pasta water and do your highest heat cooking. 2. Do you like the looks of one more than the other? 3. Do you prefer one placement of the knobs more than the other? 4. You said there each can simmer on all burners. Otherwise, I'd say pay attention to the simmer capabilities. 5. Is the price difference meaningful to you? Here is a link that might be useful: Appliance Advisor water boil test

> You don't have welded on parts falling off and gas lines knocked loose in a stove that was properly shipped. You have a demonstrated ability to weave a fictional account so as to portray NXR as flawless. "...dragged it there behind the truck"? What if the pipe was kinked in China where it was made by a $1/day laborer? Maybe quality control is just something they put on the website for the target audience? What if the internal gas pipe is of such poor quality that it can't handle high gas pressures? Maybe a valve stem was broken & the valve was open though the knob was in the off position. The point is you don't KNOW - you have a theory. It is not rational to put a CLEARLY impacted range into service with explosive gas. Your theory is not sound. > Anybody with half a brain can see [it was a shipping problem]. You've [essentially] repeated this - try to reign in your grandiosity. I'm not trying to belittle you but I'm confident I'm smarter than you IQ-wise, street-wise & even at non-traditional intelligence like social skills. > Should I start listing the HUNDREDS of complaints I am sure I find on most any other stove? So complaints for *other* ranges - the gospel truth. An NXR complaint - clearly EVERYTHING is a SHIPPING problem. "They are clearly mistaken no matter what that is for sure."-S.Allen, May31. > good for you, you managed probably after hours of looking to come up with 2 more complaints which I have never seen and I looked for months when looking at this stove and a few others. I have a honed ability to craft&sift through SERPs - it didn't take hours. I'm not that invested. > Get a life. You are nothing but a FA with a serious problem. Oh dear - nunya-speak - a what? I do hope this is "masked vulgarity" addressed in the TOS.