How low can the 25K burners be set?
Low heat is useful for melting butter or chocolate while you keep an eye on it, or keeping a pot warm without heating up the oven.

I can't imagine ever needing four burners at 25K at the same time, but everyone cooks differently.

I gotta ask - what kind of meals do you cook that need 4 25k burners? Can you tell us why you don't want a few lower-powered burners? I am curious.

Please tell us about your hood exhaust. How powerful is it? If it's powerful enough to exhaust 25k x 4, then you must also have a makeup air system, correct?

I must admit I've never heard of simmering exclusively in the oven. What do you do when you have to use the oven for something else, and also need to simmer something?

I would go try one out to make sure you get a decent simmer. Some things need to be stirred while simmering so the oven would not work for that. Although I guess you could buy a simmer plate if you needed.

I would definitely recommend you get 2 25k burners back to front at the minimum so You could use a plancha or grill pan across both but I doubt you would ever need 4 25k burners. I have 4 18k burners (2008 Mongram which turns out to be a rebranded DCS) which are powerful yet have an amazing simmer as well.

I've had my 36RNB with griddle for five years and find the simmer burner to be extremely useful. I use it often for soups, stews, rice, oatmeal etc. etc.
I'll admit, my least used burner is the 18k, but does come in handy on occasion.
I can't imagine ever needing more than two 25k burners.

You don't need or want all 25K burners. The 25K burner at full blast is useful for stir-fry and wok cooking. I rarely use mine. My 22K burners are my work horses.

With a four-burner surface, you won't have enough stove top space for more than one wok at a time. Those 22K burners and the 18K burner are plenty hefty to do pretty much everything you can dream of. I'd keep it the way it comes.

Before you take the leap, find someone with an operable unit and test drive it. I think you will end up with the stock unit after you experience firing up the range top. It's plenty. I love mine.

I went from gas to induction, and in the process got a cooktop that can simmer. It's one of the best surprises..... having a cooktop that simmers instead of scorches. I use it a lot! (I'm not trying to talk you into induction, just saying if you haven't had a stove that has the ability to properly simmer, you'll probably use it more than you think). Your cooking may be different than mine, but I would never need 4 burners operating at max at the same time.

Thanks everyone for your
comments. These are extremely helpful,
and it is exactly the sort of discussion I was hoping to have (which I have
been unable to find before in the question boards).

Lena M- it's very good question that I had not thought of
before as to the low end of the 25K BTU burner.
It is also surprisingly hard to find the answer on the internet. I have an email out to my retail person, and
I will report back the answers for all the burners.

That said, I'm not sure that knowing that the low-end of the
25K BTU burner was...say...15K BTU's would mean anything to me in terms of what
I could cook on it but cross that bridge when we come to it.

That's why I was hoping that people who actually have these
burners could say, I use the 25K BTU burner for making "X," but
"Y" burns on that burner, so you need a 22K BTU burner for that sort
of stuff. I'll report back what I found.

Also, my wife and I were cooking eggs benedict this weekend,
and as I was making the hollandaise sauce, I thought, "right, I would need
a simmer burner for this." Also,
since you seem to use your low-power burner for melting butter, etc., do you
(or any commentator with an opinion, please) have any thoughts as to whether it
would it would be better to get a burner made for simmering or to get a higher
output burner and use a simmer plate?
I've never used a simmer plate before.

Friedajune - We cook mainly a combination of Asian and
traditional American fare. Off the top
of my head, in the past month, we've made beef & broccoli stir fry
(featured in the NY Times article), meatloaf, lasagne, beef tacos, mapo tofu,
egg bok choi, gyoza, and chicken marsala.

As to why all 25K BTU burners, I don't really have a good
reason, which is why I'm asking the question.
Our current range that we're replacing is a Jenn Air JGR8855. I don't know the exact burner/BTU
configuration and the manual and the internet doesn't have it, but once we
realized that the different burners had different size/intensity flames, we
found ourselves defaulting to the highest flame one to get things cooked/boiled
fast and then moving pots to the lower looking ones.

So for instance, when making chili, we make huge batches and
freeze. So typically I've got a huge pot
with 8-12 cans of tomatoes (yes, I use canned tomatoes for chile, please don't
judge me! ;-) and so I want a huge
burner to get that monstrous pot of tomatoes up to a simmer as quickly as
possible so that I can simmer it for the 30-45 minutes that my recipe calls
for.

At the same time, I am searing a pound of beef in stages and
the various vegetables before putting them in the chili. That's usually 8-10 uses of the same 10-inch
skillet -- sear ingredient, dump in big pot, sear next portion of ingredient,
dump into big pot. So I would want at
least two monstrous burners for situations like that (and I like cleo07's idea
of having them front and back to put a plancha over them, thanks cleo07!).

We've already established that I need a simmer burner/low
output with a simmer plate for hollandaise and the like, so I guess my question
is now any opinions on what the last burner should be (22K, 18K, 15, or
9K). I have no idea what those numbers
mean in terms of cooking.

As to hood exhaust, we currently have a cheapo
recirculating. We know we have to
install a vented hood, so I'm trying to figure out the configuration of the
burners to then determine what sort of hood and makeup air we will need to install.

Simmering in the oven is great! Get whatever it is to a
simmer on the range and then 275-degrees in the oven is a perfect burbling
simmer. We rarely entertain (and we're
not big bakers), so usually if we're simmering something, that's the thing we're
eating and we use the toaster oven in the rare instances we need something else
in the oven.

Cleo07 - Sorry, I buried my thanks to you for your suggestion about front-and-backing to put a plancha across. Great suggestion!

CooknCarpetner -- if you had to do it all over again, would
you change the 18K to a 22K or a 25K? Or
would you go down. And when you say it
is occasionally useful, what do you use it for that you would not use your 25K
burner.

Homechef59—if you did it over again, would you change the
18K to a 22K? And I would love to find someone's stove to cook on, but I fear that this is the sort of knowledge that would take living with the stove and cooking on it over long periods of time, which is why I'm soliciting all of your opinions!

Sherri1058 – Thanks for the comment. As I said above, I did discover that I will
need a simmering burner for stuff like hollandaise. We’re currently using an induction burner because
our range conked out, and we’re not fans.
Agree to disagree! ;-) And while I rarely have all 4 burners maxing out, I do often have all four burners going. So I suppose I need to wait for my salesperson's response to Lena M's question about the low-end of the various burners to better figure this out.

Also, does anyone besides homechef59 have both 22K and 25K burners and if so, do you have a preference between them for high end? homechef59 said he rarely used his 25K burner and instead relies mainly on his two 22K burners. I would love to know if that is a generally shared opinion and if I should make my high-end burners 22K instead of 25.

Thanks everyone! Sorry to flood everyone with replies, but your comments were all so useful, I had to follow up on all of them!

oh, and an interesting article by BlueStar on this question that I came across looking into the low-end output of the 25K BTU burner. https://www.bluestarcooking.com/news/all/much-cooking-power-really-need/

I should have clarified I have two 22k burners, (that's the biggest they had in 2012). Honestly, I've never felt I needed more than that even for stir fry or searing. I do the majority of my cooking on vintage cast iron, the star shaped open burners are ideal for that cookware. To answer your question about my 18k burner, it is just handy to have a middle of the road burner, It's more about how low it will go vs the 22's.

Keep in mind that if you are used to sealed burners the BS open burners are actually going to direct substantially more heat to the pan at any given BTU output. With sealed burners a ton of heat energy get's wasted up the sides of the pan and into the air. A 25k BTU open burner is actually insanely powerful, for all but a small number of applications it's actually overkill.

I have always used a flame tamer disc. I have the 36" six burner unit. I use the 22K on each end at the front for just about everything that I do. I use the 22K burners for searing meat. I rarely use the 25K burner in the middle. It has more to do with the real estate/space available for pans than burner output. I wouldn't change a thing. It's just fine straight out of the box.

The 18K simmer burner is really just a regular burner that goes very low. It is more powerful than any burner that you have on the Jenn-Air. All of the burners go low and use the same mechanism design. The difference is simply the number of gas outlet holes in the cast iron grate. Lower power, fewer holes. Higher power, more holes. The 18K open burner would be a respectable burner on any range top. Don't get all caught up on the power levels. You are going to adjust them to what you need.

For Hollandaise, I melt butter in the microwave and drizzle it slowly into the egg yolks with my VitaMix. VitaMix has a really good recipe that is available on line. You can use it in any blender. I quit doing stove top Hollandaise years ago when I got my first Oster Blender. At the CIA, we made our Hollandaise in the VitaMIx. I never saw anyone even demonstrate on the stove top. No standing over a pan stirring constantly. The friction of the blade and the warmth of the melted butter do the cooking. No burned or scrambled egg. Perfect every time. You hold the Hollandaise by placing the glass container in a hot pot of water. I hold mine by immersing the open container in hot water in the prep sink.

Don't over think it. Just order it. You won't regret it. It's a delightful device. FYI, add six inches to the width of any range top. For your 30" BS, you need a 36" hood. Don't try to limp along or cheap out on the ventilation. It's really needed with these open burner units.

Thanks Cookncarpenter, that is very helpful. And that's good to know HerrProfessorDoctor (I never noticed all these hilarious user names until I started typing them in!). And with homechef59, I'm now leaning towards two 22K burners front and back, a simmer burner in the back, and either an 18K or a 22K for that last burner. But at least that let's me start to get started on the hood. Keep those comments, coming please!

I would love to have one high-BTU burner for woking and searing and the rare boiling of wort for beer brewing. Sounds like you got your answer on simmer BTUs. Best wishes with your purchase.

Oh, and your hollandaise recipe intrigues me homedoctor59. This may be just the excuse I need to get my wife to let me get a $300 super VitaMix blender. But probably not. ;-) But I will try it in our normal blender!

with 8-12 cans of tomatoes (yes, I use canned tomatoes for chile, please don't judge me! ;-)

Actually I find canned tomatoes far superior to anything that I (or local farmers here) can grow in my as-far-from-southern-Italy-as-there-is Zone 5a climate. And canned are superior to the so-called "fresh" tomatoes shipped here 3-5 days ago and picked 3 days before that. I am partial to Muir Glen's canned tomatoes grown in California and canned immediately upon picking. Much better than "fresh" - around here anyway.

Muir Glen's plum tomatoes are the best domestic tomatoes available. We use a lot of canned tomatoes in a professional kitchen because the quality is consistent.

Kazu1234. You can use your regular blender for this. Just put it on high. Drizzle the melted butter. That's the key. You don't want to over load the emulsion process. Try it this weekend. Just Google Vitamix Hollandaise and the recipe should pop up. You can cut the recipe in half successfully if you are only cooking for two.

I have a 5-burner range that has one simmer burner, two medium and two higher, don't remember the BTUs. Yes, I like having a range of burners. I use each one for a variety of things, including making oatmeal; I tend to not watch the stove closely enough and regularly the milk boils over. With lower BTUs, I'm less likely to do that.

I actually heat water for tea in a tea kettle, and once used one of the high-powered burner to heat my water for tea. I turned up the burner too high, and didn't grab the kettle off quickly enough, and ended up melting the plastic on the handle of my beautiful Alessi kettle.

Kazu no thanks necessary at all. That’s what these forums are for. Give an update when you start cooking on it. I am moving (I thought this summer but now probably next summer ) and I am getting the same range and probable configuration as well in the next kitchen.

Just wanted to check back in with an update. Still in the process of changing our recirculating hood over to a vented hood. That said, I was a little confused because our salesperson told me that the Bluestar range burners came in only one set configuration.

I reached out to Bluestar directly and a rep emailed me back:Thank
you for your interest in BlueStar. You are able to customize the
burner layout on most of our ranges, but you are a little limited on the
30” models just due to the number of burners.
With the 30” Platinum Series model you can add an additional 25,000 BTU
burner to the front if you like. Due to the heat produced by these
burners we require they be located in the front and not on the back of
the unit. If you like you can also go with all
18,000 BTU burners on the unit. Each time a burner is moved or
upgraded there is an upcharge that your dealer can definitely price out
for you. If you should have any additional questions please feel free
to contact me.

Thank you,

Matthew Schutte

BlueStar Digital Marketing

So just for anyone following this thread who is in the market, you CAN customize which BTU burners you have and where you want them (with some safety limitations.)

Oh, and homechef59, tried your hollandaise in the blender recipe a couple of times. Got to say that I prefer the stove-top way that I do it. Clean up feels equivalent for me (pot and whisk vs. blender and parts).

The blender hollandaise for me is a little thin. I like my hollandaise a tad thicker and when using only residual heat to thicken the hollandaise, there's no way for me to make it thicker. Also, when I do it on the stove with the exact same ingredients, the stove-top version tastes richer. I assume that is because some of hollandaise evaporates when thickening on the stove versus just using the residual heat of the melted butter in the blender. Agree to disagree, but it was fascinating experiment! I appreciated the tip!

I will report back once the range is in! Thanks everyone!

Add an additional egg yolk to the blender method.