I'll explain my post (the 1st response to OP), but I won't get into a debate over which range is best, because feelings run high among some folks, and I respect everyone's individual preferences. For myself only (I have the 30" Wolf DF range), I never, ever Wok cook, so having instant, high heat flames is not, and never will be, important to me. I sautee all of the time, and the heat produced by my burners more than meets my sautee requirements. Likewise, while people sometimes talk about how many BTUs their ranges produce and how they can bring water to a boil in "x" minutes, that has never been important to me. The BTUs on the range I have are more than sufficient for the kind of cooking I do...which is home variety, often at a gourmet (but certainly not professional) level. I wanted a range that had wonderful low burner output and could melt chocolate without burning, could hold a sauce without scorching, etc. And the DF does that beautifully. I like the fact that 3 of the burners on the 30" range have a high BTU (I think it's 15,000 - but don't quote me), and the one in the back has only 9,000 BTUs for its high heat level. All of that works wonderfully well for the way I cook. So, bottom line, I recognize my needs may not be similar to people who are much more professional in the kitchen, who need a range with a higher level of performance. For my wants the DF range (with its wonderful convection oven, which I truly love) makes me ecstatic every time I use it, and produces fabulous meals.

I would say that mine ingnites somewhere close to that one-minute range. It is my understanding that Wolf switched to spark ignitors in their new version of this range because they are supposed to be more durable (longer lasting) than the glow-type. However, I preferred the glow-type because they are silent and don't make that annoying clicking noise whenever they re-ignite. I figured having to replace the ignitor more often was a small price to pay for not having that annoyance. My range is fairly new, so I haven't had any issues. Have you already purchased this range, or just considering it? If you haven't already bought it, I would ask the current owner to replace the ignitor before purchasing.

A few years ago there were supposedly bad ignitors used by a number of brands of high end ranges - to the best of my knowledge they were replaced by the manufacturers and now a different, better kind are in use. In my case on my DCS range, the ignitors would continue to click after the burners were lit. Since the ingnitors were replaced I haven't had the problem. The repair person explained to me that the old ones weren't the correct height and didn't always detect when the flame was actually on. I remember reading that Bluestars may have had a different problem with the ignitors spontaneously clicking even when the range was turned off - you can check the Bluestar threads to see how that was resolved. I agree with the previous poster - if your problem is just with the ignitors and I would start with getting them replaced rather than trying to rebuild the whole cooktop unless you have other problems.

I have a range (NXR 30") that uses the exact same burners as the Wolf. I personally have no problems at all with it, but then again the smallest pot I own is 10", everything else is 11"-14" including the Wok. Plus a large 14X24" Steel Griddle. So I don't have any problem with the larger diameter of the burners and I love having all burners the same where I can have all 4 full blast at 15,000BTU or all 4 at super low simmer and everything in between. As for not being able to "Simmer a pot of sauce" with the Wolf burners that is complete nonsense. I am right now as I type simmering a LARGE pot of Sketti sauce on high simmer. It is in a Swiss Diamond 8 1/2 Qt pot and its at least 2/3rds full. But there is a high simmer and a low simmer. The super low simmer is obviously not for doing a very large pot of sauce, its meant for doing something like keeping mash potatoes warm, or holding an emulsion like hollandaise or a beurre blanc, or melting chocolate and it does so perfectly. That is what is so sweet about these burners is the ability of that super low (melt chocolate on a paper plate low flame)plus the slightly higher simmer that is for large pots of sauce. The high simmer as you can tell works just fine, in fact perfect for simmering a LARGE pot of sauce all day. You can see at least 3 sauce volcanoes coming up in my sauce here, (although a couple are just bubbles that might be hard to make out unless you know where to look) simmers perfectly, any more and it would burn. (Just ran back down to stir it and taste and had 4 bubbling volcanoes going) So obviously Consumer Reports is clueless in that respect. If you have and prefer to use tiny pots then yes you should get something like a Capital Culinarian as those burners would fit you small pot needs better. This is the high simmer with about 5Qts of sketti sauce simmering away just fine right now.