What kind of cooking to you do? If you simmer delicate sauces, then a good simmer feature would be important. Do you need to use high heat for your cooking? Compare the BTUs of the various units to see which is more powerful.

You might want to include the model numbers here for what you are considering too. Someone may have one of them and could give you personal experience. Sorting through appliance options can be daunting!

Hi, blakeas,
I LOVE my gas cooktop. I linked it below. It isn't the "pro" style, but man, it can cook. It also has nice low-btu burners for simmering. We got our from Sears, but I couldn't find it on their site now, but here it is on another site. FWIW, Amy

Here is a link that might be useful: Gas Cooktop

36"GE Monogram. All 5 burners to all the way to low simmer. Virtually impossible to burn stuff and totally worth it. 1 power burner makes big difference when I need to bring that big pot of water for pasta to a boil. Love this cooktop.

Hi Blakeas,

I NEED a fast high speed Burner to boil water and another
precise Simmer Burner. I did not realize that I needed
these features until after I owned such a range. I cook 98%
of my meals.

Think about the way you cook, what you like to eat and
how often you need specific burners. If you love rice
the simmer feature rocks. If you like rolling boil water
to cook your Gnocchi to perfection you need the fast
boil feature. If you cook vegetables and need the steam
you will want to cook that fast. Quick heat but the ability
to lower to a simmer for veal or duck you want those
features for simmer.

Something we all forget to think about is how you like to
clean. Or I should say HAVE to clean.

Look for sealed burners. The old GEs used to have unsealed
burners and food would clog. Burner could not ignite.
I love my Bosch Duel Fuel with sealed burners and it ROCKS.
The grates are heavy but can be cleaned in the dishwasher.
Who wants to hand clean grates? The gas on glass feature
of my range is not my first choice but it is easier to wipe
clean than Stainless under Gas. That can be a nightmare to
clean off fried, baked or burnt foods from the burners.

I am not a fan of GE. But there are many on GW who love
their GE. Don't go by me, I had a bad experience with GE
in the past and have not forgiven them.
I love my Bosch.
~boxer

Here are some GE Gardenweb links that might help you out.
(Maybe you already read them)

GE Profile Cook top
http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/appl/msg0102091124073.html

Anyone have GE Monogram cooktop and/or wall ovens?
http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/appl/msg1015033227858.html?10

Gas Cooktop Surfaces - Stainless vs. Glass vs. Porcelin
http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/appl/msg0218461529692.html

Completely overwhelmed on choice gas cooktops and electric ovens
http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/appl/msg0918191913586.html

like txcook, I have the 36" drop-in GE Monogram gas cooktop. In a previous house, I had the GE Monogram dual fuel range and I actually like the cooktop better--maybe because it's five years "new and improved"??

are you on propane? The big reason that I liked the Monogram was that I could get it set for propane from the factory so I'd lose fewer BTUs. of course, if you're not on propane, this is a non-issue.

and here's another potential non-issue for you :) . Are you at high altitude? I loved the dual-flame simmer-on-any-burner in my last house where we were only at 5200'. Not that I make delicate sauces or anything, but there's alot of dishes that called for some amount of simmering during the process. My current house is at 8200' and water boils at around 197 degrees according to my instant-read thermometer (too lazy to do the math for what h2o *should* boil at here), so if I use the simmer only, it doesn't really simmer. bummer for me, but maybe non-issue for you.

This cooktop is *very* easy to clean. The grates, burner tops, burners, and knobs all removed easily. I use SS wipes and even heated-on spills remove pretty darn easily. I loathed this house's previous 1980 electric smoothtop on both cooking and cleaning counts, but then I'm sure who wouldn't?

hth

Thanks for the advice!

I live in Atlanta, ga...

I am building a home and the builder is buying the appliances (cooktop, double ovens, dishwasher, microwave) for 4 grand. I am trying to decide what is most important in each. there seems to be a wide variety of options - some I need and some I dont think I need. I dont have alot of experience in this but I do know that I am fine with the basic cooktop that I have in my rental home now. However a good simmer feature would be great...

we want stainless but dont need all of the bells and whistles..