Have you ever watched steam or smoke rise? The farther up it rises the more it drifts off to the sides as well. If you have a vent flush to the ceiling, you will most likely miss most of the steam/grease/smoke as it's already drifted out of range of the vent...and you say you have high ceilings so it would be even worse than 8' ceilings. Yes, you could get a really powerful vent to suck everything straight up, but I suspect it would take pets and small children with it! :-) Vents are usually mounted approximately 30" above the cooking surface and even then it's advised that you get one 6" wider than the cooking surface in an effort to increase the "capture area" b/c of the sideways drift. I'm not a proponent of down drafts either, but as long as you don't fry, brown, do any cooking with oil, or use the charbroiler, you'll probably be all right...although you will probably be able to smell the next day what you had for dinner the night before... I really don't mean to be so negative, but I think you should really think about this. I second the idea that the range should really be against the wall...aside from the venting issue, it's a safety issue as well, especially if you have younger children (unless you have a large overhang in the back...24" or more, and decent space on the sides...again, 24" or more on each side). Most of my time is spent prepping...and that's when I like to be able to see/converse with others. When I'm at the cooktop, I need to pay attention to what I'm doing...and that's even more important if you have gas. You also do not usually spend much time at the cooktop...you put something on a burner & just periodically check it while you're continuing to prep, cleanup, set up, etc. If I had to choose, I would much rather have the sink in the island than the cooktop.

Thanks Michelle. My designer would like me to choose the appliances so he can proceed with the final specs on the cabinets. I heard the new Thermador ranges will be out in Jan 2019 from a salesman so that is a bit too far out. I wish there were some floor models available in the refrigeration as I do like what I have read about them thus far but again price is a bit more than I had budgeted out for the project. This is why I went with the counter-depth option for refrigeration given I can save a few thousand here and still have a decent range.

Well we don’t always buy based strictly on need. There are some kitchens that call for a 48” range and some cooks that want a built in 24” griddle plus 4 burners or maybe you just want 8 burners. Electric ovens have certain benefits as well. Some people want the control of heat(control, direction), airflow(direction and speed) and humidity. One of the complaints for a gas oven is the difficulty in keeping humidity in the oven especially when bread bakers add steam during the first part of baking. Some cakes may not raise quite as well but this depends on recipes and even the pans. janiest, having said that I think you would be fine with gas. One of the benefits of gas is is the drier environment that promotes browning. This is why it is beneficial for roasting. Humidity levels in an oven have no bearing on internal moisture in meat. That is determined by the internal temperature of the meat when it is finished cooking.

If they still have the blue interior, I would not go with Wolf, especially with the corner fans. Wolf and their sales people always say it was just a few ovens or it was fixed long ago but several posters here have gone through several ovens. The are some threads entitled along the lines of “Are there any Wolf ovens that haven’t chipped?” There are class action lawsuits where the plaintiffs went through many ovens. The M oven was actually developed to deal with this issue with the removable bottom and the DF range was just redesigned to incorporate the elements of the M oven. Someone also posted here recently that Wolf told her they would only consider this damage cosmetic and would only fix it for the first 60 days. Yes it is probably caused by the shrinking and expanding of the metal but who designed the oven? How is this the customer misusing it? If the self clean is a misuse, they should not be marketing it as a benefit. I’ve used self clean ovens, cheap ovens haha, all my life with no issues. The condos we stay in at the beach, use the self clean every time the condos turn. Aside from that some Wolf ovens have had the chipping without using the self clean. This is why GE ditched the blue enamel. They told me when mine chipped that I must have put foil on it or done something to it. What? I could not get mine fixed. It was out of warranty at 4.5 years old and very lightly used. They would not tell me how much to fix it only that it would start at $800 and would only be guaranteed for a year. I just use it with covered dishes and no convection. The enamel is glass flakes so it isn’t good to have that flying around. I like the way the Cafe is designed but not sure about durability. I haven’t seen one I like better though. Some here like the Monogram. My range is 36” and I actually prefer an add on griddle to the built in especially being it is 36”. it leaves me the flexibility of still using the burners. I can use an aluminum overlay for great heat transfer, a nonstick aluminum or steel. The 2 burner overlay I use has about 50% more cooking area than a built in. You have a lot more heat available with two burners @15-18K each. The built in is 15K BTUs total. There are people who stir fry on these. I have picked up what I am cooking on the griddle and put it in the oven griddle and all. The bare aluminum will season over time. I am adding a nonstick though when we get back to having people over. This disadvantage to an add on would be that with a built in you can turn it to a certain setting and always get a repeatable temperature. I have a 15”x23” like this. They are a heavy thickness of aluminum. The steel weighs a lot more and the heat transfer properties aren’t as good making more of a zoned heat surface. http://royalindustriesinc.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=4_22_48 These are the steel overlays. They have a 4 burner but I looked at it at a restaurant supply and I couldn’t lift it! https://www.dvorsons.com/ChefKing/Griddles.htm