Wolf's are probably the most reliable gas cooktops. Two different appliance installers for my kitchen remodel who only work at installations and repair and aren't associated with any brand, say that Wolf by far makes the best ranges and gas cooktops, at least as far as reliability is concerned.

Neither of them liked Viking and say they get call backs all the time. They say the new Thermadors are much better than the old ones, but still prefer Wolf on a gas cooktop.

Neither of them were too keen on Miele's either, as far as gas cooktops are concerned.

Greg

What comprises "good" for you? I have a 30" Wolf cooktop and like it very much. It has a 15K high power burner which is effective and a bigger flame than any of MY pots can handle . The highs are all outstanding for my needs. The lows are what really thrill me. Well, actually, it is the simmers that really thrill me as it has dual-tier stacked burner assembly for each burner, and the simmer settings are wonderfully low. I've made custard and whitesauce and scalded cream and been able to let them all sit on the simmer without attending to them too much.

I replaced a perfectly good 30" Bosch NGP30 cooktop with this 30" Wolf. The highs on both were outstanding but the Wolf's really low simmer is most gratifying for me. Since I brought up the Bosch I will say that the Wolf is MUCH harder to maintain than was the Bosch. I found it very easy to clean the stainless steel bottom of the Bosch in the 2+ years I owned it. I've had to work MUCH harder to do the same with the Wolf and am finding keeping some discolouration at bay a far harder proposition. I hate to say anything against this cooktop that I am really really liking but I have to cop to this one slight annoyance.

19000 btu's dropping down to 140 btu's for each burner.It is the finest cooktop on the market place today. Capitol Cooking Equipment. Web site is www.capital-cooking.com

Don000 would love to hear more about why the Capital is the best. I am looking at it and like the fact that you can get 5 burners in a 30 inch cooktop. Would like to hear more about why you think it is best -- reliability? materials? maintainability?

thanks for the information-- I like a powerful burner, something that can keep a simmer (the simmer burner is fantastic, so reliable), and something powerful that can go down to a simmer. that's what i'm used to using, so i'd like something similar to that in a cooktop/rangetop.

I also have a Wolf 36" cooktop and, in general, am very pleased with it. The appliance is solid and the configuration suits my needs - I didn't need 5 high-power burners. As mentioned previously, the simmer is fantastic. The one hesitation I have about the performance is that the heat is not distributed evently over the bottom of the pots. The hottest part of the flame is under the edge of the pan. I never cooked with gas before and got much better heat distribution with my old coil electric. I must be careful or the food on the outer edges will burn. I know that there are many gas fanatics but I don't think this appliance brings water to a boil any faster than gas. However, I chose gas because we now live in an area with frequent power outages and I wanted to be able to have the cooktop in operation.

On another note I have been very pleased with the Wolf/SubZero service. I haven't had any problems with the cooktop but did have a defrost issue with the refrigerator. The service man was able to talk with the SubZero technical folks directly and solve the problem. I asked him if many brands had this type of backup help and he said no - another consideration in choosing between similar brands.