I have a 48" with four burners and a grill and a griddle. When I decided on this unit, I was very excited to use the grill and thought I might use the griddle on occasion. In reality, the exact opposite is true. We live in an area where the climate is conducive to grilling most of the year. I NEVER use the grill, but the griddle has become a necessity for me. I have come to use it in the same way that I think other cooks might use a french plaque. I use it to reheat items (my DH only likes his pizza reheated on the griddle!), it can be used with a double broiler to slow steam items, and of course the usual griddle fare. In fact, in our new build I am trying to determine how a griddle and french plaque might work together.....HTH!

Not sure if I misunderstood also, but here's another try: The sides of the drip pans and the opposing stove sides can be easily cleaned when the drip pans are removed. While Wolf may have changed the configuration, as with most pro style ranges with open burners there is a large drip tray beneath the entire range top that catches spillovers. In 6 years of daily cooking we've only had a couple of spills ever reach the tray, and it's on rollers and slides out for easy cleaning and removal. The area below the drip trays is pretty sparse: burners, gas lines and some supports that we clean out every year if we think of it, but nothing accumulates that remotely could catch on fire. Since you seem to have some major safety concerns, then perhaps a sealed top would be more appealing. However if you have a major grease/oil spill on a sealed top, and the oil is pretty hot and an on burner is able to flash the oil, you've a real kitchen fire on your hands. An unlikely scenario in my estimation, but still possible.

I have Wolf DF that is like the rangetop. I like it. It is not the highest BTUs but is adequate for anything I want to do. I really like and use the very low simmer. The control of heat is great. The rangetop/DF has just been redesigned. The biggest change is that they have changed the BTUs on some of the burners. They are no longer all the same with one small pot burner. They are different sizes with the highest rating at 20K. I don't know if they did this at the expense of the very low BTUs they had on their burners. They no longer list the rating of the lower end of their burners. I would want to see how much flare the bigger BTU burners have now. You could probably find the old models at a discount now. I would also look at some of the other brands like BlueStar and Capital. There are are many different characteristics of burners. Sealed vs open vs semi sealed (American Performer)burner trays-what is it made of-personal preference for cleaning capped vs uncapped burners a little or a lot more flare on capped burners depending on how they are engineered BTUs -low and high - look at the number not "wisp of flame" or temperature for low end shape of burner- star vs ring burner(s) control of burner If you stir fry a lot you might want the higher heat of an uncapped burner that is more to the middle of the pan. If you use big pans, the Wolf might be better.

Homechef, this is some additional info that the OP put in another post. "Is 15BTU on older Thermador enough to sear a steak and boil water quick? Going to a used appliance store and have an option of a Wolf RTS366 and Thermador PCS366US I am not experiences with gas much. I am really uncomfortable with the fact that Wolf burners have all different BTU." To the OP, I am confused as to what the choices are. If you are asking about older Wolf burners, topping at 15K, then all the burners are the same except the small pot burner in the back. If the burners are different, I think it is SRT 366, which tops at 20K and they are different sizes. I have the one that tops at 15K and yes you can sear a steak but there are a couple considerations. As Jakvis says on the other post, use a cast iron pan. This will takes longer to preheat but the CI holds a lot of heat and will go to a very high temperature. You need to have a fairly big skillet so that you have enough cast iron to accumulate enough heat. I use a 12" skillet for a couple weeks of filets but if you had 2 T-bones you would need 14". You can stir fry but with a less amount. Boiling water- 15K BTUs is less heat than something that is 23-25K. If it is a smaller amount of water, the difference in time might not be as noticeable. Both of these burners you are considering are capped burners, so try to see them live somewhere so you can see how this will be with your pans. I have the 15K and all my stock pots, Dutch ovens and skillets that I might heat at full blast are at least 12". My sauce pans are mostly squat and 7" wide and work well. If it is the 20K Wolf I would want to see how wide the flame is. If you stir fry a lot, this may not be the best for that. As far as simmer, I think the small burners on both have about the same BTUs but while the Wolf has the dual stacked burners if it is the model I am thinking about this allows the flame to stay on. The Thermador clicks the flame off and on to get a low simmer. Some people do not like the clicking. I am not sure how the rest of the burners compare but both companies tell you how many BTUs the burners have on the low side. I agree with homechef that you can and will adjust the heat as needed on different sized burners. A star shaped burner might be a good thing if you do use cast iron, steel or some sort of stainless cookware. Those metals do not conduct heat very well. If you have heavy copper or aluminum or plied cookware that involves enough of these metals, the shape isn't that important. BS and Thermador are very different in the execution of the "star". The BS, being uncapped, keeps the flame straight up from the star while the Thermador, which is capped, widens as it is turned up. If you can look beyond the current two choices, you might do better with uncapped burners if speed in heating large amounts of water or stir frying is important. They will keep the heat more to the middle of the pan. Consider the BlueStar or American Performer for star shaped burners or Capital Culinarian triple ring burners(all the same too except one small pot burner). It is hard to compare the simmers on these because they do not rate it in BTUs. The temperature rating used is pretty meaningless. Anecdotally most say the simmer is ok on though on BS and CC. Less is known about the Performer.