I feel your pain! I am close to the end too, but choosing (in this case) between Wolf and Viking (although leaning wolf) and all gas versus dual fuel (it all comes down to money somewhat)-- which did you pick?? For me, the burner, griddle question was a no brainer.... you can easily get a double burner griddle for the times you need one (in my house, this would not be more than once a week, if even). I have MANY times wished I had a fifth burner-- even just to accommodate larger pans. Now I will have six :o). Re your hood. I was told by more than one person you can get away with a 36" hood if you don't have the griddle but must have it you do. Even so, your upper cabs are supposed to be at least 3" off range on either side (The same distance the oversized hood would take up). It may come down to the building inspector in your town (assuming you pulled a permit)-- I would ask around. Also, someone told me you can get away with a 17" deep hood (versus standard 20") -- especially if you oversize and if you turn on at beginning of meal. If you are tall like me (5'9"), this could keep me from smacking my forehead regularly. I am in the southern part of CT and our local retailer services Wolfs, so no worries for me there-- Marsillios in Fairfield, if you need. Good luck and look forward to continuing the conversation.

16,000 BTU is the top burner rating. One burner only. Sealed. Not open. Even a low grade GE has bigger burners than that. The 36” single oven range is only 4 cubic feet. Which is 1 whole cubic foot less than most 30” ranges. In double oven mode, it lists the capacity as 2.4 and 1.5. Beyond tiny to begin with, and splitting it into with the space wasting wall in between? It won’t hold two cake pans side by side. The wimpy little 2K BTU broiler probably steams steaks into shoe leather rather than ever getting a char. It’s also dual fuel. Most professional cooks use gas for baking. Not electric. All of the commercial bread or cake ovens are gas fired. It’s a weird consumer misconception that gas doesn’t bake well. Contrast that with a 30” Bluestar RNB, which has more firepower and more room in 30” than the 36” Verona. And it comes in whatever RAL color you may want. It will fit a full sheet pan in the 30”. It has 2 22K open burners and a 15K burner. It’s “medium” BTU burner is almost as powerful as the Verona's power burner. It has a 15K BTU infrared broiler! 8 times what Verona can do. And then some. You’re getting more than twice the capabilities in a range that occupies 6” less space. It is, very pretty. But I don’t want to pat it on the head and give it a peppermint. It should kick you in the teeth and take no prisoners while doing a genuine restaurant stir fry, and look like it stepped off a runway at SEMA.

“ I posted all of the numbers on here a couple of years ago from IR measurements of two Wolf's and two BS's. You'd need to search back through my posts.” It is up to the person making a statement to supply supporting data. I would mostly be looking for the specs for the thermostat given by the company to determine how much swing they say it has at least as a starting place. IR measurements have some problems with inaccuracy. The cookware forum on chowhound has had quite a few discussions about this. This is one. https://www.chowhound.com/post/measuring-pan-surface-temp-ir-wrong-choice-1041669 “Sealed vs Open are commonly used terms that most people understand. I agree that Capped vs Uncapped might be much better terminology. I'll leave it to you to change the culture on these terms.” I would say most people misunderstand the generic term “open” because it used so nonspecifically. It has a meaning. There have been arguments here as to what that means. You only have to look at marketing from various manufacturers to see confusion and myth. I would never use bad terminology just because that is what most people do. People come here, to an appliance forum, to get information and we do them no favors if we don’t use the correct terminology to help them look at each specific aspect of the burner and see how it contributes to the way they cook. As the saying goes these days, “If you know better, do better.” “There is no single burner setting that will maintain an even temp over time. The primary cause is food. When food is added the temp drops considerably as the heat in the griddle or pan surface transfers to the food. Similarly, as the food cooks the amount of heat that it pulls from the griddle or pan surface changes. The heat produced by the underlying burner also changes, I believe based on gas pressure to the range but there may be other bits). “ So to me you have to ask the question, what is the variation and how is this significant in actual cooking. The burner provides a certain number of BTUs. The pan and food are other variables that affect how things cook. At least at my house, I don’t get any variation with the heat from the burner that is noticeable in cooking. I have read of some areas that lose gas pressure noticeably when everyone is using gas at the same time. My cousin has this issue but even a thermostat doesn’t help If they lose pressure. The oven temp goes down. There are varying ways to deal with that drop in temperature with dropping the food. With something like hamburgers, I actually preheat the griddle or pan a little bit hotter and then add the food and may turn it down and it generally comes to an equilibrium. I can quickly change it if need be, especially with aluminum but the temperature settles out. I leave stockpots simmering unattended overnight and it doesn’t change. I can hold starchy pastas in foil trays with no scorching. You might not be getting as even of a surface temperature as you think. After you add your food and the surface temperature drops, it can take a long time for the heat to fill in and eventually drop all the way back by the thermostat to trigger it. It also depends on the food, how much and the metal and thickness of the griddle. With only 15K for two burners, you may never get the heat you want. But again when is that significant in cooking? “You can turn a griddle or flat-top on very low and it makes a great place for keeping sauces the proper and constant temp. I and friends have tried this with removable but found it doesn't work. It should in theory based on what I wrote above about heat transfer but in reality it doesn't. Thermostatic does work though.” When you say it didn’t work, what do you mean? What type of overlay? What type of burners? I have kept some of my sauces and gravies in a thermos made for that purpose, in a closed container in the oven or even just on the burner. Lots of ways to do things. It depends on what else I have going so really need the flexibility of my six burners. “Crepes and Swedish pancakes do best when cooked over a very consistent temp. If they cook too slow they get dry and if too fast they frequently burn (e.g., the time from properly done to burned is just a couple of seconds). I know that if I set it to about 425°f about 30 minutes prior to making them that I can make them consistently one after another until I've made as many as needed. I cannot make them nearly as well with a pan or griddle over burners and the thermostatic is much easier since there is no need to constantly adjust the burners. “ I do my crepes in a pan, but I don’t have the problem of constantly having to change the burners. As I said above being able to turn your griddle on to a number to consistently get the same output is a benefit for some cooks. I understand that you have very specific requirements for the way you cook but there are many cooks that have posted here, me included that just do not have the issues with temperature variation on an overlay that you say will happen. We are not constantly changing the setting. I guess if one were doing that, you would end up chasing your tail. What do you do when using a big skillet over a burner? How do you control heat? There are benefits to both but for some the benefits of an overlay are greater than a fixed even thermostatically controlled griddle. Like you said, you could easily buy an electric griddle if you needed that particular type of heat occasionally. You need it all of the time so it is your main consideration in buying your range, for others there are other priorities.

bratcat, I would not feel too bad not getting a Wolf DF. Mine has been a major disappointment as it has had the chipping of the blue liner which has been an ongoing problem for Wolf for at least 10 years. It affects all of their ovens with a blue liner including the “M” which was designed to make it easier to repair with a removable bottom. The gas range does not have the blue lining. Mine happened @4.5 years old and was out of warranty. I did not get it fixed because labor starts at $800 and I have read it can run to $2500 to replace the liner. Wolf will not guarantee the new liner more than a year. Many posters here have gone through several ovens. I have a wall oven(Electrolux) so only use the range oven with covered dishes and no convection. The porcelain chips are glass shards. Posters here have been injured with them. There are lawsuits over this. http://www.wolfblueovenchipping.com/case-information/ pennfire, I would not use the self clean and wipe your range out periodically with a damp white paper towel looking for blue shards. If you have the issue, you want to find it out during the warranty. Mine happened after about the third or fourth self clean. I would love to replace mine with another DF range but am just not sold on any of them. Have you looked at any gas ranges besides Wolf? A favorite on this forum is a BlueStar. It is a little more to the commercial side than Wolf and has the star burners. It is the grandchild of the commercial Garland range that Julia Child had in her kitchen. It has been fitted out for residential use. There are two models that have star burners. One has higher BTUs. The star burners would be good for your cast iron and maybe the copper bottomed stainless depending on what it is because you have better dispersal of the heat than a ring burner. The other big difference is there is no cap on the burner which allows the flame to go straight up. The cap causes more flare of the burner on highest heat on Wolf. Wolf is not as bad as some because they have the dual stacked burners. It actually works out well for me because, I use highest heat on bigger skillets. The prostyle burners are generally bigger than regular burners. I have the exact burners that are on the Wolf gas range now. My smaller saucepans are the squat wide type and there is one small pot burner. Heavy aluminum or copper skillets, especially big ones, heat more evenly than cast iron on ring burners. Electric coils if sized to the pan provide even heat so the ring burner might be a little different. I still use my cast iron too but you have to pay attention more Cleaning the BS is a little bit different too in that the burner tray is “open”. If you are coming from electric, gas ovens are a little bit different to use. They tend to brown a little faster and better. You might notice a difference in the way things bake. My sister and I make the same cookies and here’s come out thinner and crispy in a gas oven and mine are thicker and chewier in electric. All of the ingredients are the same. You could probably adjust cooking times and temperatures to get different results but we each like them the way they are. Gas ovens have a lot bigger vents than electric ovens so if you add any steam, it is vented out much faster. A side effect of this vent is that you have more heat and moisture in your kitchen. 36” ovens take awhile to preheat. Mine takes at least 20 min to get to 350°F and the 30” wall oven takes 7 min. The BS is bigger than the Wolf. It holds a full sized baking sheet which I don’t use but I would like to be able to use two half sheets side by side. Look at the rack size and height of the top from the bottom rack to get an idea of the size of the oven.