30" vs 36" range/cooktop and oven landing strip

10 years ago

My dilemma is that I have had a 36" six burner gas range before when we lived in a rental and the in the two years we lived there I never used more than four burners at one time. The range was a kenmore and the spacing of the burners made it so that you could not put the 10-12" pans next to one another but had to space them across the three rows of burners. My understanding is that BS and other high end ranges have the real estate to enable placement of 10 to 12" bottom pots/pans centrally on all four burners at the same time. So in this sense a 30" range would make sense for me.

However, I currently have a 40" 1956 electric range with double ovens, four burners and a space for a plug in griddle. The griddle space I use all the time as a landing strip for items coming out of the oven. If I get a 30" range I don't have this natural landing strip but it seems silly to have a 36" range and use 1/3 of it as a trivet.

An actual trivet as a landing strip is not that appealing. Anyone else face this dilemma? What was your preference/choice? Did you go with a 36" cooktop/range, get some sort of indestructible countertop or relegate yourself to trivets?

Featured Answer

kksmama

10 years ago

Just posted a picture of a meal I couldn't comfortably make on my old 30" range because I couldn't arrange the pots/pans correctly. Most of the time, I am using my griddle on the rangetop as a landing strip. Chose the 36" rangetop with controls on the front specifically because I'd get maximum real estate. You are smart to think this through!
I think my counter would work as a landing strip, but the coffee maker has found its home there and taking something out of the double ovens and putting it under the hood makes sense, anyway.

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (7)

Cindy103d
10 years ago
We have a 48" with 4 burners, griddle and grill. The grill (with cover) is the landing strip. While we don't use that strip on the top other than as a trivot (about 12") I wouldn't give up the double oven and grill.

I had a "no grilling in the house" rule. We have an outdoor grill steps away from the kitchen and I don't want the smoke and grease in the house.
Related Professionals
El Dorado Hills Kitchen & Bathroom Designers · Grain Valley Kitchen & Bathroom Remodelers · Minnetonka Mills Kitchen & Bathroom Remodelers · Bay Shore Kitchen & Bathroom Remodelers · 93927 Kitchen & Bathroom Remodelers · Lyons Kitchen & Bathroom Remodelers · Mooresville Kitchen & Bathroom Remodelers · Pico Rivera Kitchen & Bathroom Remodelers · San Juan Capistrano Kitchen & Bathroom Remodelers · York Kitchen & Bathroom Remodelers · Forest Hills Cabinets & Cabinetry · Jefferson Valley-Yorktown Cabinets & Cabinetry · Newcastle Cabinets & Cabinetry · Norfolk Cabinets & Cabinetry · Universal City Cabinets & Cabinetry
cookncarpenter
10 years ago
I have a 36" 4 burner, with griddle in the middle. It works great as a griddle, and also becomes that landing strip when needed. I too have never needed more than 4 burners, in fact, it's not often I even use 3 at once.
ChristyMcK
Original Author
10 years ago
Thanks for all of your perspectives! It seems that the 36" just gives more real estate to work with for hot pans, which I can appreciate.

ctycdm:
Doesn't the griddle space / landing strip protrude into the other burner spaces? It seems like if it were on the side, it could hang off the edge over the countertop and be more out of the way.
cookncarpenter
10 years ago
"Doesn't the griddle space / landing strip protrude into the other burner spaces?" On my Bluestar, the griddle with the cover on it sits pretty much flush with the top of the grates, which allows a large skillet to hang over, or be slid right onto it.
julieste
10 years ago
I've got a 30" AG Wolf and have no problem with using larger size pans at the same time. How often would you typically have all 4 burners going at once anyway? For me, extremely rarely. For a landing spot I almost always just move things to a burner I am not using. In the rare event that I can't or don't want to do that, I have soapstone counters that I can set hot pans right on without damaging the countertop. So, for me the 30" does make sense and allowed me to have some more countertop space next to the range.
ChristyMcK
Original Author
10 years ago
ctycdm:

but the griddle is in the middle right? if you put a full sheet pan on it, you probably can't have pots on both sides at the same time right? it seems there wouldn't be enough space for a sheet pan and >2 burners working because the sheet pan would be too wide and protrude into the other burner spaces even if flush. does this make sense? If I had 6 burners rather than a griddle there'd be no problem.

needinfo1:

it's good to hear others chose another path. I do often have 3 burners going at once (my 1956 stove does not like me when I do this) but 4 not so much. I've been reluctant to put sheet pans or other items coming from the oven onto burners that I've just used because they are still hot and I don't want to cook the food anymore.

I'll look into soapstone - a heat durable countertop could also work. My kitchen isn't that large and right now I really want more counter space so I'm trying to think it through to optimize functionality. I can see that 36" gives you more heat proof space to work with which I like, but I'm also not that keen on a 36" oven - I want my main oven to heat up fast.

Anyway, thanks for everyone's input!