What about the GE Monogram? It seems to be getting better reviews. I looked at a few others...Wolf, Bosch and realize that they will not work in my space without destroying my drawer base.

First, I want to convince you to move your cooktop away from the island, and to the wall. An island set-up makes for much more expensive and problematic venting. Also, your island has to be big enough to have landing area, and space not to splatter others with cooking. Also, the idea that cooking on an island is more "social" is, in reality, not true. Prepping on the island is more social. Much more time is spent prepping than cooking. And cooking means you are looking down at your pots and pans, not up at your friends/family. Then there's the splattering issue. Plus the island venting with its interrupted sight lines, larger hood size requirements, higher cfms requirements. Regarding M's points about cooktops vs. rangetops, I agree. Another issue with cooktops (vs. rangetops) is that cooktops require a counter cut-out specific to the model. If you need to replace the cooktop at some time in the future, you will have a hard time finding one with that exact cutout, even within the same brand, as sizes change over the years. A rangetop however is just dropped into the 30" space, with no cutout of the counter needed. If you prefer a cooktop instead of a rangetop (a rangetop is more expensive, a frequent deciding factor), and you said you are flexible about the size, I would definitely get the 36" cooktop over the 30". The problem with a 30" cooktop is that a good amount of the cooktop's real estate is taken up by the knobs, which makes the burners more crowded, and more difficult to use several pots at a time. You can avoid that by getting the 36" width instead. Go to a store with 30" cooktops on display, bring a couple of your pots with you, and you will see what I mean. Re the 2 brands you linked - for a cooktop or rangetop, I'd want a Bluestar. If it were a range, I'd choose the Wolf, since Bluestar has had some problems frequently reported on this forum with their range's ovens. But everyone loves the Bluestar open star-shaped burners and cast iron top.

Yes we do have one now - a GE Monogram - but we are moving. It is a PITA to clean but I have that pretty much worked in to my routine. We have a 900 cfm in line exhaust fan which works well when I open a window - which is fine with me. One conclusion my ife came to while looking for one on -line is that they dont seem to come with a cover for the grill anymore. Even when clean the grill is not particularly attractive. Do the Bluestar and Wolf come with a grill cover?

@clinresga: "We've had a composite 20+ year experience using Thermador gas cooktops. Yes, they are older, but they are in many ways still similar to, and related to the current models." You have no way to know whether new and 20-year-old models are similar in design or construction. "By your logic, any request for opinions on appliances are only useful to you if they relate to the current model. Of course, the flaw in your logic is that these owners will by definition have only had their units for a matter of months, not much time to understand the ins and outs/pros and cons." False. Many appliance models have long lifetimes and hundreds or even thousands of reviews of current models -- including those purchased that were purchased a number of years ago -- are often available on websites such as Home Depot or Best Buy. Consumer Reports...relies on member reports of their experiences with their devices going back many years. False. Predicted brand reliability icons are based on estimated problem rates for newly purchased gas cooktops, not under service contract, within the first five years of ownership. In 2019 CR published brand reliability estimates by product category based on data from the previous 10 years. "On one hand, experience with older devices may not translate to newer ones." Correct. Newer appliances may not even be manufactured by the same company as older ones. For example, Bosch, Thermador, and Gaggenau are all brands of BSH Group. Haier manufactures appliances under various GE brands (GE, Profile, Cafe, Monogram).