36” Professional Rangetop Help!!!
Comments (17)
wilson853
3 years agolast modified: 3 years ago- PRO
Patricia Colwell Consulting
3 years ago Related Discussions
Need a 36" Rangetop - Help me Decide
Comments (11)My take with numbers, from the manufacturers BS -assortment of burner sizes, you have some choice in the sizes -open burners -google cleaning video to see how it's done -very high heat @ 22K BTUs -Unknown simmer BTUs so no way to compare, Indeterminate temp listed as rating. -Service depends on where you live. CC -5 same size burners with 1 small pot burner -open burners-google cleaning video -very high heat@ 23K BTUs -Unknown simmer BTUs so no way to compare, Indeterminate temp listed as rating. -Service depends on where you live but almost any one who has had issues has been helped by Trevor Lawson(Eurostoves) so you might as well buy it from him if you go that route unless you know you can get great service locally. Wolf -5 same size burners with 1 small pot burner, all dual stacked -sealed burners -High heat 15K BTUS -dual stacked burners provides simmer of 325 BTUs on small burner and 900 BTUs on large burners This means the big burner is low enough to hold mashed potatoes in an all-clad dutch oven for hours with no scorching. -Service if you ever need it is great. They are known for their service. I would see each in person and try to cook on them to see how they are. You can see how you like the way the heat adjusts, fit and finish and just how it feels to stand in front of it. If I were wanting a griddle, consider an add on, either the steel Chef King for 2 or 4 burners(heavy and holds a lot of heat) or the aluminum(responds quicker to changed in temperature and is lighter weight) uncoated Royal industries over 2 burners. " Posted by deeageaux Even Heat Capital and Blue Star " The burner that has the most even or useful heat for one pan will not be the best for others. No one burner can be all things. It is helpful to consider how heat makes it to your food. One aspect is heat transfer from the flame to the pan. There is a pattern from the burner where the heat is transferred to the pan. The heat immediately starts moving away from that point in all directions, as in the diagram, until the pan comes to equilibrium. It will depend on the size of the pan, its composition and configuration of burner as to how fast this happens and if it happens. If the area on the inside of the ring is smaller than the area outside of the ring, then it will come to equilibrium quicker than the outside. Each of these burners has a little different pattern. Sealed burners can have more flare on highest heat. This might be good or bad. There is very little difference on low or medium heat. If you use a pan with adequate aluminum or copper that conducts heat well, it is less significant. If you use cast iron or steel, you will want to consider how the pan heats in order to choose a burner that works well for you. You might like the smaller footprint on high heat of an open burner for a wok but a twelve inch skillet will heat better with the sealed burner with some flare. The burner is only one of the variables in bringing heat to your food. The pan luckily is an easily changed variable and by understanding the properties of the pan you will be able ti adjust o any shortcomings of your burner. Here is a link that might be useful: Material used for cookware...See Moreadvice on 36' gas rangetop
Comments (11)Most people who've had problems with Thermadors have had problems with the wall ovens or the oven portion of the Thermador ranges, not the burners or rangetops. The star-shape of the Thermador burners gives better flame coverage than the outer-ring style seen on most burners (which mainly heats the outer circumference of a pan rather than across the pan). And the Thermador rangetop sure is good-looking. I don't know why TonySak said above that the simmer setting may not be as reliable or as safe (??) - can you provide backup for that comment? I haven't heard that at all. I think if the Thermador burners weren't "safe" it would be a big deal and we would have heard about it, there'd be recalls, etc. What I have heard is that many people don't like the low simmer setting on the Thermador burners cause they click on and off which is an annoying sound. Other people say they don't mind the clicking, or rarely simmer on such a low setting, or they can't hear the simmer clicking over the other noises in the kitchen like the exhaust fan, the kids, or the general hubbub in a kitchen. The clicking isn't cause it's broken or anything, that's just how the Thermador low simmer has always worked. Can you go see one in operation to see if it would annoy you?...See MoreKA 36 ' rangetop vs Wolf rangetop
Comments (6)I admit to having a Wolf and never having looked at this KA until I looked it up for this post, so am starting out biased. ;-) I like all my burners the same power, which is one reason I chose Wolf. For example, I can use a 2 burner griddle sideways or vertically on any burners I want, and I can always arrange whatever size pans and whatever I'm cooking the way that works best for me, not by what output each burner provides. Also, Wolf customer service has an exceptional reputation for standing behind their products. I didn't experience that with Maytag, which is now in the same business family with KA, so I'm not sure if it's better or worse than I dealt with. There's the open vs sealed burner issue, which you can probably do a search on to find previous discussions on this forum. Different people prefer different things, but I thought the open burners looked like the best performers and what I'd prefer to clean. I only ever wonder if I should have gotten a BlueStar to have burners that are even more open. Do you have natural gas or LP? The KA specs say it's configured for NG, but can be converted to LP, which usually means a loss in BTUs for propane users. These are all tough decisions, especially when you're talking about so much money for either choice. I just didn't want to spend thousands and be disappointed, so after my research decided Wolf was my best bet for satisfaction without regret. Best wishes on your decision....See MoreHELP wolf 36 inch rangetop crisis!
Comments (2)thanks for your response. we called wolf this morning, after I posted- they said dimensions are 36 inches wide, but can be off by 1/8 from manufacturer and they highly recommended we do not try to change it, since our granite is not only templated but installed. So we are sticking with what we have and hopefully dh will realize its fine......See Morewekick
3 years agoThere are advantages and disadvantages to Wolf and BlueStar. I had Dacor appliances but I felt like they were made cheaply. The knob on the range was really cheap plastic and broke before it went back. I found that all the Dacor recommendations tend to come from higher bonuses or commission. When I was looking/buying, the recommendation from a couple of sales people suddenly changed, both to Dacor at the same time.
The Wolf and BS star burner are completely different burners.Wolf burners are capped and have a sealed burner tray. This was an innovation to make burners easier to clean because nothing can go down in the burner. This is very subjective though as some feel like the open burner tray is easier to clean because it disassembles. Wolf used to have a capped burner and the tray disassembled but they discontinued that.
The big problem with the burner cap is that it causes the flame to flare more as you turn up the heat. This may be ok for some who use wide cookware but not as good for someone who uses a Wok. BS is designed to keep the flame more to the middle. The flame from the ports along the sides of the Star rays keep the heat in a given area.
This is video that shows what the burners look like.
He also has a video on cleaning BS burners.
The BS star burner also disperses the heat better under the pan compared to ring burners. If you have cookware that allows heat to be conducted well(heavy copper or aluminum), the cookware will disperse it. If you have cast iron, steel or stainless steel, which are poor conductors, the BS burners will heat more evenly. Many pans now are layered and these can vary a lot in how well they conduct heat. CenturyLife.org has done quite a bit of testing of cookware.
The next thing to look at is BTUs. For simmer you can compare the BTUs Just like you would for the high end of heat. Wolf has a very low BTU rating for simmer. I have Wolf burners and I have not used a double boiler since I bought it. I’m not really a fan of Wolf because of issues with my oven but they do have an excellent simmer. BlueStar for some reason has never released the BTU rating for its simmer over the years. Thermador also has a simmer that is just about as low but it clicks on and off to get that low. Wolf has a dual burner so each burner has a simmer burner. They also have very fine control through the range of heat with the way the knob turns.On the high end of BTUs, for searing a steak, I use a big cast iron skillet and heat it well. It does great. The cast iron holds heat so can get very hot but just takes longer to preheat. The BS keeps heat more to the middle if you have a wide pan so it might depend on the size of the pan you use. If you are heating big pots of water, the BS would probably be faster. For stirfry BS would keep more heat to the bottom of the wok.
I would be careful about Capital. The design of the burner is’t bad but they have gone through a really rough place. They were recently sold. I don’t know if that will be a good or bad thing. Trevor Lawson that used to sell them hasn‘t been active for awhile. He could get service from them when no one else could.pennfire
3 years agomlee1976
3 years agowekick
3 years ago
eam44
3 years agomlee1976
3 years agowekick
3 years agowekick
3 years agoeam44,
You have to be careful with the term “open” as it can be ambiguous. Burners are pretty sophisticated and have several design features that contribute to performance. You have to consider all of them together.
“Sealed“ just refers to the burner tray and some people have a preference about what is easier to clean.
You can buy this “open” burner now.
Viking came out with the first prostyle burners and called this “open”. The burner tray is open but it still has a cap. The cap is what causes the flare of the burner flame on high heat and impacts performance. When you are looking at high BTUs, the uncapped burner keeps the heat to the center.
Wolf also had a “semi open“ burner because the tray broke down for cleaning but still has caps.
American has called its Performer burner both “semi open”, because the burner tray lifts off in one piece for cleaning and “open“ because it has no burner cap. Because it is high BTU, uncapped and star shaped, it is the closest in performance to the BS star burner yet almost has the cleaning like a sealed burner tray. Hard to recommend it though because the company seems to be non responsive to any service issues.
Thermador also has a star shape but a cap so not the same.
Wolf, Monogram and others have dual stacked burner which helps with the flare and gives you a very low simmer.
Many gas burners are ring burners and Capital has the triple ring to disperse the burner ports and no cap.
Kitchenaid has this.
zhatcher
3 years agomlee1976
3 years agoanj_p
3 years ago
PROProSource Memphis
3 years agoTBL from CT
3 years agoanj_p
3 years ago
TBL from CT