Definitely go go with the 36 inches. It will be that much easier to make your neighbors jealous.

We considered the same but ended up staying with a 30 inch mainly because I did not want such a large oven to have to heat up and although extra burners would be nice we rarely use even 4 at once. If you have a separate wall oven then the larger oven could be a positive for you and depending on how you cook the extra burners could be worth it too.

I just automatically went with a 30" when redoing our kitchen. Because we were enlarging our kitchen I could have easily gone with the 36" range and am so wishing that I had. Why? Because cooking and baking in my new kitchen is so much more easy, fun and functional. My cooking is more adventurous and I do use more pots because now I have the room. My old kitchen had a combined clean-up,prep, bake counter space of 2'x4' so cooking was a chore rather than fun. I have way more counter space but now not enough stove space. I wish I had thought this through a little more and had asked this question. I would have gone with the 36" range.

What are the dimensions of your space?

I was planning to go for a 36" rangetop and 36" sink - I'm glad I reconsidered. Yes, I fit them into my layout without a problem, but they would have been out of scale for my space.

One more thing - you know how pretty those 36" drawer base cabinets look - luxurious in dimension (as in the image below from the Cliqstudios web site)? When the major players of your kitchen are all 36" wide (fridge, sink, range) they look sort of ordinary (as in the image you posted, on either side of the range).

Totally a personal choice, of course, but most people who own 36" ranges only use 4 burners anyway. The range looks beautiful by the way. You can check out its performance on the appliances forum.

I REALLY like my Thermador! I went with 36" with the griddle, because I used a griddle pan so much on my former ranges.

I am having the BS installed as we write!! The END is near!! DH will install the hood, and lights(maybe).

Nancy

Thank you all for the responses!
Nancy- I would LOVE to see a photo of your Termador if you ever get the chance! I'm so envious that you're nearing the end! :) How exciting for you!
EAM44- that's a really good point about the drawers. That's definitely something I'll have to review with the cabinet design. Here is our design as of now (still debating about doing a "x", "+" or nothing in the top glass cabinets though). I think we were thinking about adding some more drawers in replacement of lower cabinets too.
Athomeinva- that's another good point. The thing I really loved about our previous pick for our stove was the warming drawer beneath. I feel like I'm "downgrading" by not having that, but hoping that the extra rack space will make up for that??
oceangirl67- :)

We have a similar layout with windows flanking the range. Don't forget your windows will have to be smaller (or you will have to reconfigure your upper cabinets) to allow for a larger range hood.

The only real downside to a 36" range is the extra time it takes to preheat the oven,maybe an extra five mintues. And the extra $$$ it takes to aquire and vent I guess.

The most important advantage is not two extra burners.

It is the space. You can have two large pans plus a pot.
And have landing space for a dutch oven or casserole dish you just took out of the oven. On a 30" range you would have pans stetching over the countertop for poor heat distribution,no space for a good size pot and you are looking for trivets to put on your countertop to land that dutch oven or casserole dish.Even if you have hardy granite countertops you don't want to make a habit of placing hot pans directly on the countertop because of thermal expansion and contraction will cause fissures and cracks eventually.

If your "cooking" consist of instant mash potatoes and mac'n cheese or opening a bag of salad for a side dish and getting a Costco frozen entree from the freezer to place in the oven,and you never plan to do much more than that then maybe a 30" range is for you.

I don't know a single person in real life that regrets getting a larger range and wishes they had a smaller one. Very small percentage of posting on forums say they same.

I have a 36" Capital Culinarian range and a 24" Gaggenau wall oven. I would never go back to a 30" range.I use my Gagg 95% of the time but having the 36" oven to place full size professional baking sheets and roasting large amounts of meat for special occasions is fantastic.

I went from a 30" builder grade electric range in my old house to a 36" KA dual fuel in my new build. I am not a great cook, but this range makes me *feel* like a great cook. It looks great, I love my griddle, and all the room.

I'll link a recent thread from the Appliances Forum. This question gets asked every once in a while, and my answer is on the thread below. Synopsis: love my 36" rangetop and would NOT go back to 30" willingly.

Here is a link that might be useful: Same question

Thanks for the feedback everyone! That link was also really helpful breezygirl! I think 36 sounds like the way we're going to stick with. Thanks for all of the feedback and encouragement! :)

Yes, don't forget the much smaller windows and larger and stronger ventilation system that you will need. And maybe makeup air as well. Those are all "hidden" costs that you may not be considering in "just" changing out the range.

I want to echo what Laurat88 and GreenDesigns said about ventilation. Do you have enough space between your windows for a 36" hood? Also, make sure you install the proper ductwork for the hood. The exhaust duct should be 8" or 10" in diameter, not smaller.

francoie47- that is a beautiful range! Thanks so much for the visual! You brought up a lot of the things we've been debating internally about going up in the size and price department. As far as measurements go, we still have time to move and adjust the window placement, and the cabinets have yet to be ordered, so according to our cabinet designer, we'd be a "go" in terms of those considerations if we wanted to go to a 36". We'll definintely have to look into the increased vent hood size and pricing though, too. Thanks for the feedback everyone!