Can you find both ranges live and test them out? That would be the best way to figure it out. Are you talking about the Wolf AG or dual fuel. The duel fuel has dual stack sealed burner similar to the DCS that I have and it has an incredible simmer on all the burners - I've accidentally left things on for hours without anything boiling down or burning. The Wolf AG has a semi-open burner with a small simmer flame in the middle - I have no idea how it performs. Personally, I'd choose the Wolf over the Viking.

Well, more info but no less confusion.

The viking is still 900 btus without further specification.
The DCS low setting is 3000 btus PER HOUR. The DCS simmer is 140 degrees.

Can't seem to find any apples to compare. What are they hiding?

They're not really hiding anything - there's just no standards or accurate way to compare these things objectively - the type of pan you use also will affect the simmer. The best you can do is try them out if possible.

The same thing is true about DW and vent hood noise ratings although these are even more subjective because installation and room acoustics plays a big part in the perceived noise.

I used to have a viking before my current bluestar, and although this is not a scientific answer, the viking simmer was flawless. I'd say its simmer and broiler were its two strongest points.

According to user manuals online, pg 25 the DCS low setting is 1300 BTUs/hr.

Wolf sealed burners are as follows, from their website
15,000 Btu sealed burner --950 Btu delivered at simmer.
12,000 Btu sealed burner --950 Btu delivered at simmer.
9,200 Btu sealed burner --300-325 Btu delivered at simmer

Wolf semi sealed
16,000 Btu high / 500 Btu simmer

But as weissman says there is more to it than just the BTUs. The configuration of the burner as well as the pan(shape, size,composition etc) and what you are cooking, will determine the temperature of the simmer.

I have the Wolf sealed burners 1 9000 BTU and 5 15000 BTU burners and the simmer is great on all. I can hold mashed potatoes without any scorching.

Here is a link that might be useful: DCS user guide

I too have been researching simmer burners. I like the blue star french top which is a constant simmer. You might want to check it out. I haven't been able to try it, but I think it makes the most sense for delicate sauces etc. Let me know what you think.

The simmer on my NXR is 620btu's on every burner.
It has a high and very low simmer.

I can and have melted chocolate on a paper plate to test it.
Any less than that and you may as well just rub your hands together and hold the pot.

Same burners as the Wolf.

15,000btu burner with 620 simmer.
That may be the "high" (620btu) setting for simmer I don't know.

Here is the burner on low simmer.

I just rechecked my DCS manual. The simmer portion of the dual stacked burner is 140 deg. I know I can make rice or mashed potato for 2 and simmer for well over 1/2 hr with no over cook or sticking on all 5 burners. Mine has 3 - 17,500 and 2 - 12,500 burners. I have simmered large pots much longer with excellent results.

I just wanted to say that I too was very interested in having a low enough simmer. I know you don't mention Bluestar in the original question. But I'd like to share what I saw at a live demo of the BS. The rep took two blocks of chocolate squares, tossed them in a pot, put over the simmer burner. About 30 minutes later he turned it UP to get them melting. They were barely doing anything and yes, the burner was lit and was not clicking off and on.

I am not trying to bash any brands, just relaying what we saw.

Bee

It is true. The simmer on the BS goes so low that at times I have had to actually turn it up a notch.

I didn't mention Bluestar because I had the impression that their low simmer was on a particular burner only. I had been interested in the bluestar otherwise, especially after my husband said he'd do the oven cleaning!

I like the option of color, too.

It seems like most of the brands mentioned here have simmers will be low enough for my purposes. (I had never heard of NXR before.) I just want to be sure I can get the simmer on more than one of the burners. At least 2, I would think. But it seems like if the simmer is on more than one burner it's on all of them. (I'm looking at 30" ranges)

Thanks, everyone, for the helpful posts. It'll be so nice not to hear the fire engines any more. I guess I could just disconnect the smoke detectors, but I really do want to eat better.

Stooxie had posted about the simmer of the "Non-simmer burners" on the BS.

If He doesn't jump in here, then do a search at the bottom of the main appliance page for "stooxie bs" Now "be nice" Trevor, that is "stooxie Blue Star",
NOT "stooxie @#$!~~etc"

Gary

Jamies:

BS comes standard with one simmer burner which is ULTRA low. So low in fact you may turn the heat up a bit from lowest setting. The 15k burner also simmers quite well, probably good enough for most applications. The 22k burner will simmer large quantities decently, but is better suited for a power burner. A standard 30" rnb will give you one 22k burner so the way I see it, you will actually get 3 burners suitable for simmmering on a standard arrangement. The 15k burners are actually a very good all purpose burner.

tyguy: I believe the standard Bluestar 30" RNB still comes with TWO 22K burners, 1 15K, 1 "simmer". Agree that the 15K is a great all purpose burner and also that the simmer burner goes incredibly low.

I think the above posts cover things pretty well. Tyguy summed up the BS simmer situation nicely. I recently made a nice stock (which jelled into a solid block of gelatin just as it should) on the 15K BTU burner on simmer. Did the job perfectly, just a nice easy bubble the whole time. You don't ever want to boil a stock. On the 22K that would have been a more rapid bubble.

I've been sitting back lately and watching some of the the threads here contradict each other. Rather amusing. This one is ok. The one complaining about the CC simmer being way too hot and then some dude starts saying that Bluestar has "issues" because it has a dedicated simmer burner is my favorite so far. :)

-Stooxie

Actually Stooxie what this dude said was that Bluestar only has one simmer burner - some of us like to be able to simmer on multiple burners at one time.

Buffalotina: you are 100% correct. The standard 30" rnb has 2x22k burners. Sorry for the confusion.

I would try to get all 4 burners the same, that was one of my prerequisites when I was looking for a 30" Gas Stove.

I have zero interest in a stove with 3-4 different size burners.
Just 4 burners all 15,000btu or higher and all 4 burners with ultra low simmer.
Unbeatable combination.
I chose the NXR because of the price at $1799 it was as good as any of the rest for half the price.
But if price is no issue then I am sure the Wolf would work great, think most models have the same burners as the NXR.

>I have zero interest in a stove with 3-4 different size burners.

Funny how that works huh? I have no interest in a stove with all of the burners trying to be everything in one shot.

>Just 4 burners all 15,000btu or higher and all 4 burners with ultra low simmer.
Unbeatable combination.

Unbeatable for what? I sometimes deepfry with 5+ litres of oil at a time. 22k has a hard enough time bring that much oil back up to temp after throwing in a couple pounds of cold potatoes, with an nxr I'd be prepared for some pretty greasy deep fried offerings. It would also give you some unbeatable steamed offerings from a wok.

The nxr is a nice range for the money I suppose, but to say it is going to give unbeatable results compared to say a bs or cc is purely bias at its best.

tyguy - different people have different needs - I deep fry occasionally on a 17.5K sealed burner but I don't cook 2 lbs of potatoes at once - I generally cook a smaller amount but if necessary I'll do several small batches. Similarly when I stir fry I don't overload the wok and don't end up steaming the food. Personally I agree with Nunyabiz1 about having all large burners all of with a low simmer - for what I cook and how I cook that meets my needs better than 2 power burners and 1 simmer burner - I chose a DCS over a Bluestar although at that point in time Bluesar only went up to 18K and DCS had 4 16K burners and 1 17.5K burner.

I understand your needs are different and that's why different products exist. What bothers me and others on this forum lately is the attitude of some posters (yes deeageaux I'm talking about you) that if you don't have a Bluestar or CC then you've settled for an inferior product and obviously aren't a serious cook. As I've said on other threads, I use the low simmer far more often than the super high flame. YMMV

Weissman covered my responses pretty good.

But it is an unbeatable combination for ME and how I prefer to cook, and like weissman said I don't put 2 lbs of potatoes in oil.
Never once had a problem of any kind with 15,000 BTU's more than enough heat for me.
and it works excellent with my 14" WOK.

What I mean by unbeatable combination BTW is simply having ALL 4 burners the same, regardless what stove you have is meaningless, BS CC etc I would rather have all the burners the same. All high heat 15K+ and all super low simmer.
That TO ME is an unbeatable burner configuration.

>That TO ME is an unbeatable burner configuration.

Fair enough

Looks like in many cases, we see things the same way,tvguy.

When somebody says this is absolutely the best , or the best made, without the "To Me", it really bugs me, and I will sometimes spend hours researching the validity of their claim, and in most cases it only has "To Me" validity.

I guess many posters here, just assume, we assume , they mean "To Me".

Gary

>I will sometimes spend hours researching the validity of their claim

Lol!! I'm with ya, although hard to prove right or wrong. You can prove that product x has this or that advantage over product y, but product y is certain to have an advantage over product x, and who the heck am I to say that the one advantage is more important to an individual than the other advantage is. I can easily prove that a bs has more powerful burners than a wolf, but what if that person insists on a dual fuel rnage? Guess the bs advantage means nothing.

> and in most cases it only has "To Me" validity.

Amen to that!