We’ve only used the griddle a couple of times over the past 18 months, but I still wouldn’t change it. The wall it’s on is long, and a 36” would look disproportionate.

I think a 48“ range is so great. You just have to be prepared for the expense of the hood for it, and make sure the ductwork is sized properly for that size hood.

I had a 48” Wolf df range with griddle and a separate combi. I loved the setup but found I didn’t use the smaller range oven very often. I also rarely Rarely used the griddle.

This house, I have a 36” rangetop with 6 burners, with a wall combi and a wall oven. Love the present set up much more. I enjoy not having to bend over as much.

you have to do what works best for you and what stage you are in life. The quandry is figuring it out!

We had a 48inch wolf in our old house and 48 inch Blue Star in current house. We love it. We use the smaller oven quite often as well as the bigger oven. We do wok cooking occasionally and the Blue Star is great for that. We have the platinum so the grill/griddle are not built in. We don’t use it. We had the built in griddle on the Wolf and only used it occasionally. Our kitchen is large enough to handle a 48 inch range with still allowing plenty of cabinets. We have a Ventahood and make up air. That set up was our big splurge.

@GD, thankfully, I’m in the boonies so no one but me cares about balancing it all out with other expensive appliances, etc. I’ll still get my 36” standard depth fridge and not a $20k Sub Zero one :)

MUA is a different discussion for another day as we live where there are no codes requirements for it.

We have a 30" gas range, a 24" CSO, and a 24" SpeedOven. For us, this is the sweet spot. It really meets all of our needs very nicely. Sometimes, I wonder whether I should have gotten a second CSO instead of the SpeedOven. And if pressed for space, I could see myself getting rid of the 30" oven in the range.

But overall, I think we hit it right on. Very functional kitchen without overwhelming it. There is an advantage in keeping all the core parts of the kitchen in close vicinity. And that's not that easy to do when picking larger appliances.

And as far as ovens are concerned, I am a huge fan of having different ovens for different purposes --- and of having multiple smaller oven cavities. Much more useful than fewer larger ovens.

MUA is code, but it’s based on home occupant safety. Backdrafting carbon monoxide and other combustion products back into a home is unhealthy, to downright deadly.

The entire US is covered by building codes. It’s just that some locations lack the ability to enforce. That doesn’t mean that people aren't still legally compelled to follow the code. Just that there aren’t any inspectors to enforce it. It’s like the big area states out west who just don’t have enough law enforcement to catch the 100 mph speeders. Just because they can’t catch you doesn’t mean you aren’t breaking the law.

Prior to our recent kitchen remodel, we had a 36" gas cooktop with microwave / hood over, and double electric wall ovens. We considered eliminating the oven stack and going with a 48" range instead.

In the end we chose to replace the cooktop with a 36" all gas range with vent hood, and the dual wall ovens with a single electric wall oven and built-in microwave. This has turned out to be a versatile configuration.

The 36" range and 30" oven both have larger cavities than either of the ovens on the 48" range and we have the option of gas or electric depending on what we're cooking in the oven. Also this approach allowed us to reduce cabinet and countertop changes. We very rarely use more than two burners on the range so the extra burners on the 48 aren't missed in our case.

Again, Green Designs, that's another discussion for a different thread. I'm not going to debate our particular circumstances here.

Green Design's argument is quite pertinent to the discussion though. A 48" range has much more complicated venting and MUA issues to solve. And while selective enforcement of building codes might allow a home owner to skirt the requirements for MUA on a smaller range, for large ranges that is not an option, because things just won't work without MUA.

The size of the range is fairly irrelevant. The question is how does everything fit in your kitchen and does that set up work for you. In a smaller kitchen, a range is often what is required, for lack of wall space for ovens. In a larger kitchen you have more choices and then it's up to how you like functioning. I have two kitchens. In one, which I did not design, I have a large range. I was able to add a CSO under the counter of my skinny island. That was super important to me. I have no trouble bending, so the lower over are not a minus. But that kitchen is on the small side and I don't know if I would have made the same decisions the PO did, though looks wise that kitchen is awesome. In my other kitchen I have a cooktop and wall ovens. I like that situation far better, but that kitchen is roomier- by a lot.

The MUA situation is not a luxury. It is infrastructure. In the olden days you didn't have this issue because houses were constructed differently. Now, our houses are more energy efficient- which translates to more air tight. If you don't have adequate MUA then when you run the exhaust for the range you don't actually change out the air, you just depressurize the house and you don't create air flow. The exhaust fan will not be able to pull air out of the house because it will be fighting the pressure instead of pushing air.

Thanks for the perspective, Rita, about the kitchen cooktop/oven setup.

And FWIW, I'm not saying MUA is a luxury, but calculations have to be done for it to even be necessary, especially since this house was built in the early 1970's. Our HVAC guy does not believe that it will be based upon his initial calculations. We didn't install MUA at our last house with a 600+ CFM (I don't recall the #) and never had trouble ventilating or with noxious gases backdrafting in the house. We used carbon monoxide detectors and natural gas detectors in every room. We didn't use the hood a ton (because noise bothers me) and if it got particularly smoky in the kitchen and we used it, I cracked the window in front of the kitchen sink. Total house SF including unfinished basement was about 6000 SF, though. So, that's all I can say about that for now.

We have a GE 48" and love it. Love that both ovens are fully capable. Love the space that two adults can cook without getting in each other's way. We have 600cfm vent and it has only been lacking once... when sauce overflowed in one of the ovens and i decided to use the self clean.