Thanks for these thoughts, I hadn't considered the 36" hood, but makes sense.

To be frank though, I wonder how much I should worry about optimal versus functional.

My was looking at some pictures and my last place had a gas 30" bertazonni range with a microwave hood fan with only 20inch clearance. That microwave hood fan was terrible, it didn't pull from the front burners at all. Overall it didn't work very well.

My current hood fan is quite good. I just tested with boiling water on the front burner, and it all got pulled in. It's a 60's house and built super solid.

I'm thinking the thermador has a 5 burner layout. As long as I avoid the large front right burner, I should be ok with respect to proximity to the wall. It's not ideal, but at least I will get great functionality from the other burners, pretty decent use from the existing hood fan.

Although... It's possible I'm not considering how hot those right burners will really get when in use...

Your insurance company will decline to pay the claim when you burn your house down. The side clearance is a much worse issue than the overhead clearance. And that’s bad enough.

So is the issue with the side clearance only when you install gas?

There's over 100 homes in my neighborhood with exactly the same layout... Cooktop right wall oven.

Hmmm, this is interesting. I just remembered that my cooktop has an old gas line, therefore must have been gas originally.

I found this house with my same kitchen, but with original appliances. It was gas, though the knobs were on the right, which gave a little extra clearance.

I'm not sure if insurance can deny claim if I replace an appliance with virtually identical specs. Would be with a call, my insurance guy grew up in my neighborhood, so he'll know the kitchen, ha!

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/198-Pope-St-San-Francisco-CA-94112/15178709_zpid/

"There's over 100 homes in my neighborhood with exactly the same layout..."

Just cause 100 homes were built unsafely doesn't make it right for goodness sakes. Cooktop fires are the leading cause of home fires and deaths from home fires.

But setting aside the combustible surface an inch from the heat, how do you fit a pan on those burners? You can't unless they're half off the burner. You are left with only 2 full burners for your $$$ expenditure on your cooktop. That doesn't make any sense to me.

As to the 20" distance, how to stir a stock pot, or the water boiling with the pasta? You can't lean over and look in.

The NFPA report:

• Almost half (46%) of reported home structure fires were caused by cooking.
• Cooking equipment was involved in an annual average of:
  • 480 civilian fire deaths, or one of every six (19%) home fire deaths,
  • 5,540 civilian fire injuries, or more than two of every five (44%) reported home fire injuries, and
  • $1.1 billion in direct property damage, or 17% of total direct damage in home structure fires.
• Ranges or cooktops, accounted for the majority (62%) of home cooking fire incidents and even larger shares of civilian deaths (88%).

You probably have enough space for a 24" cooktop in that space. It would be a cooktop you can actually use. Consider induction which would be more powerful than most gas cooktops and you don't have to run a gas line. You should be able to use current electrical line for the cooktop. You can keep your 30" range hood in that configuration. The link is a search on AJMadison for 24" induction cooktops.

Good luck!

Or. Remove the wall oven and the cooktop cabinet. Replace the 30” cooktop cabinet with a 30” range. Rework the wall oven cabinet to place a counter over the drawer portion. Now no crowding the side. Rework both uppers to hang a real hood at an appropriate height, and a small MW from the now wall cabinet on the right.

If I were you, I'd get an induction range rather than gas and follow Sophie's advice. You'll end up with a more functional and safer kitchen. This is coming from someone who spent half of her 73-yr old life in NYC apartments with tiny 24" gas stoves next to the wall and no mechanical ventilation.

So... When I said we don't have money for big changes, I really meant it. Completely redoing the countertop and tiles and refinishing cabinet bases... That's a whole kitchen reno!. Wish I had all that extra budget, but that's not the case.

My tallest pot is only six inches, and that is easy enough to stir with the existing height. Not sure why pans would hang halfway off? Excluding handle they usually fit within the stove dimensions.

As to home fires, I have children, therefore I agree the risk is unacceptable. One of my kids could turn on a burner and leave it running. That's all it would take.

I noticed wolf and miele have 15" combisets. Miele even has a 12" option.

I think I'll do a combi and put induction on the right and gas on the left. The induction specifically says installing next to a wall is permitted, and that 2 inches are all that's required.

The gas won't have enough btu for a wok (only 12000), but the induction goes up 3150 with boost. Sounds like best of both worlds. It should tide me over for a few years until we can afford a remodel. In the event of a remodel, we can keep the cooktop so it's not a throwaway.

Thanks for identifying the danger with the wall, I'm not sure I would have figured that out before it was too later.

Btw, I do understand why remodel was suggested. So thank you for the thoughts. It seems a lot of people on here have slush funds to expand a project when there is a legitimate need. That's just not the case for us.

Or to delay a change until all the changes can be made! :)

I have the same set up right now. It sucks.

Evelyn,

Do you really want gas at this time? I think a 24" cooktop would fit in the space with a minor countertop modification to make up the 6" on the side. Although induction has a lower side clearance than gas, you will be limited in the way that you can use the cooktop so that if you have pans with long handles, they would be hitting the wall if you have another item on the stove.