Large burners in front are for frying pans, which need a large burner to cover the whole pan; a typical pot is smaller in diameter but taller and would block access to the pan behind it.

I don't know off hand which ranges or cooktops have the configuration you want, but I've certainly seen large burners in back, in front, and often one of each (opposite on left and right sides).

I agree with you. Only in America. In italy the stoves either have two smaller in front, or at least one large and one small. Anyone who truly cooks from scratch knows how inefficient two burners in front is. You can't put sauces on a large burner, so you burn your arm reaching over a large pot trying to reach the back of the stove. It's insane. And this trend was started by someone who knew nothing about cooking.

When we switched to induction ten years ago, it was hard to find a cooktop that placed the large burner/hob in the back. i didn't want to reach over a spitting frypan or large boiling pot in order to stir a smaller pot in the back.

We have a Wolf induction cooktop and the large burner is to the side (it shares space with the controls, which sit in front). The other four burners are all the same. Have only been cooking on it for a couple of months but I like the layout, for all the reasons stated above.

My complaint is the same. My Samsung range has the largest burners in the front and smaller in the back. I had 2 pasta pots, that had to be on the large front burners, and sauce in small pans on the small burners in the back. I burned my arm trying to stir the sauce. Never again will I buy a range with this configuration. Someone who does not cook designed this range. I don't know of ANYONE who cooks stir-fry.

I don't get why you'd want "large" and "small" burners at all. All the same with a wide range of adjustability on each would seem to be a much more flexible solution. Sometimes you want the big pot boiling in the back, sometimes you want to stir-fry or sear in a frying pan up front. That's the solution I've used for many years now and it seems to work out just fine. I do keep a simmer plate that I can move from position to position for when I want any one of my burners to give really low heat.