We're moving up from a Wolf 30 inch cooktop to a rangetop for 2 reasons: 1. Not enough cooking space. I really get about 24 inches of cooking width so my pots bang into each other quite a bit when cooking and it's not even big enough to put 2 cookie sheets on without turning on the burners. 2. I would like more high-powered burners now that I am cooking more.

I have read so many posts on this forum and looked at Wolf, Thermador, Viking, Capital and Bluestar. I would say I am an average cook, definitely not gourmet -- but enjoy cooking.

Right now I am leaning toward the Viking rangetop for a few reasons:

1. I like the 18500 power burner in the right place (front right) and the other three burners at 15000. It seems like for 98% of what I am doing, those outputs should be fine. (I have a tendency to overbuy and then not fully utilize things and don't want to go overboard with too many BTUs.)

2. It has a lot of surface area. The Wolf loses 2 inches of surface area to trim on each side versus 3/4 inch for the Viking. We don't have a big kitchen so maximizing cooktop surface area is big to me.

3. It fits my pots comfortably from from the smallest to the largest. The flame won't be too big on my smallest pot.

4. I like the look of it. The Bluestar is great -- but it is too industrial for the style of our house and kitchen.

5. It has a 3 year warranty. I know there are a lot of Viking complaints here and I know their refrigerators are a big problem but I can't believe that they would put out a product and warranty it for 3 years if they didn't thoroughly believe in it.

6. It's the right price -- @$2480 or so right now versus the Wolf that is $400 more and the Bluestar that is about $800 more.

Does anyone out there have a Viking range/rangetop that they have purchased in the last year or two? If so, can you share your experiences -- good or bad? Any thoughts on the criteria that I am weighing? Let me know. Many thanks.