30" gas cooktop: Wolf, Viking, or ???

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Looks like a pretty fancy stove! :) In my case I'm pretty well stuck with 30 inches without an expensive kitchen remodel.

My kitchen is nice but it's not as big as I wanted, and no island although it has a bar type extension where my guests can sit on bar stools and visit while I cook. No walk in pantry either. I hope things are better when I've organized it or I'm going to have to turn my entry closet into a pantry (who uses those closets anyway?) or maybe keep the canned goods in the garage.

I'm definitely planning on visiting the local Wolf/Viking dealer today. I'll take some measurements and pictures of the current setup with me in case it will help them determine practicality and possibly quote installation cost. It's quite possible I'll place my order today! :)
 
Thanks TL. :) There's already a problem, hours: Tue-Sat 10am-6pm. So I guess I'll do something else today, maybe sit around and covet... ;)

Well I've got more artwork to hang and my Goodwill bar stools don't swivel, I've bought the hardware to fix them so I might as well do that. I've been working 8-10 hours a day unpacking and fixing and all that move in stuff. Saturday was my first day off in a whole month, I went shopping! Yesterday the most productive thing I did was research the stove and write this topic! :D I feel great that I've reached the point where I can actually waste a whole day doing nothing but fun stuff. :D

I'll head out to that store tomorrow.
 
Looks like a pretty fancy stove! :) In my case I'm pretty well stuck with 30 inches without an expensive kitchen remodel.

My kitchen is nice but it's not as big as I wanted, and no island although it has a bar type extension where my guests can sit on bar stools and visit while I cook. No walk in pantry either. I hope things are better when I've organized it or I'm going to have to turn my entry closet into a pantry (who uses those closets anyway?) or maybe keep the canned goods in the garage.

I'm definitely planning on visiting the local Wolf/Viking dealer today. I'll take some measurements and pictures of the current setup with me in case it will help them determine practicality and possibly quote installation cost. It's quite possible I'll place my order today! :)

My entry closet is now an equipment pantry with some space on one side for food. I have a very small pantry in the kitchen for the rest of the food, stuff that's used daily. I think that this is as much better use of that space than a place to hang coats and gather clutter. All of my pots and pans along with small appliances, keeps my counter tops tidy and I don't have to dig around the cabinets for pots and pans, everything has a home.
 
My daughter recently bought a home in the valley and the seller offered to leave her fairly new Wolf range/oven for a price. The matching hood was part of the kitchen so the seller couldn't take that. Anyway my daughter got a deal on the Wolf. I've used it myself several times already and it is very nice. No fancy/cheap electronics on that cooker.

And speaking of crappy electronics, I installed a new GE Profile cooktop a couple of years ago in my home and several months ago when someone spilled some water on it it apparently got under the knobs and shorted out the igniters. The thing is a sealed unit so I haven't bothered trying to fix it. We now have to use a lighter every time. Terrible design. Liquids do get spilled on cooktops.
 
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It's probably the same GE Profile cooktop I have, or at least a similar model different year. Only one of the knobs activates the igniter system, and the igniter for that burner is broken. So same here, I have a propane lighter sitting next to the cooktop.

Between the broken cooktop and the oven broiler not working I'm pretty annoyed at the seller, but admittedly I've intended to get a high end stove for a few years so I guess in the end it makes no practical difference. The GE cooktop is worthless and with a broken broiler the GE oven is probably worthless too, so I'll just have them hauled away and disposed of.

Anyway today is the dealer's first day of their week so I'll head over this morning and hopefully will report back with my installation date. :)
 
So, what's the plan for your first meal on the new stove?

Should you get that new cookware first?
 
LOL Andy, I don't even know if they have to order the stuff sent out from back East. Although both Wolf and Viking are great stoves they're still stoves, and I doubt my cooking is going to be any greater as a result, although likely more enjoyable, and it looks like easy clean-up is a great feature too. I'll probably cook whatever I would have cooked with the broken GE Profile and propane lighter. :)

I think you're pulling my leg! :) It's a big enough decision what cooktop (and oven) to get. (I had originally intended to just get the cooktop, but I'm sure everybody would agree it would be ridiculous to have a gourmet cooktop sitting over that old clunky GE oven.)

I'm still moving in so other problems still have priority over the cooktop and oven (which are both broken) but I'll get around to the cookware pretty soon. I'll visit BBB and do a bit of research and then ask my expert friends here in the forum for some advice. But that's a topic for a different day. I'll use whatever cookware I got when the stove gets here, and I'll cook whatever I would have cooked with the old stove.

That automatic ignition is going to be really nice. I understand both Wolf and Viking have independent ignition per burner, and that they automatically relight if they go out for any reason. I bet you don't have to point the knob at a "light" position either, like ordinary stoves. With this broken GE profile I have to keep relighting burners if I turn the heat to the wrong setting and lose the flame.
 
Just remember Andy, one man's ceiling is another man's floor. I took GF for a car ride a few days ago (because the weather was too hot for our intended botanic garden visit) and we drove up into the hills of the southern SFV (near Mulholland Drive) and passed hundreds of houses that the word "mansion" doesn't adequately describe, I'm sure most of the houses we passed were worth many millions of dollars, some of them 100M+. Even though I've just bought a beautiful home that is nicer than I ever expected to live in I had to keep reminding myself to keep down those envy feelings. It's not what they have. It's what you have. No matter how much you've got you'll always see people with better than you have or will ever have.

Yeah I'm getting some nice toys but I'd rather have my youth back even though I didn't have much money back then. I'm sure I'm not the first person to express this, not by a long shot.

Also keep in mind, I'm making the final big purchases I expect to make for the rest of my life. I'm closing in on having only enough money left to maintain my lifestyle and won't have any budget for any more lavish toys, no fancy vacations, no new cars. After the cooktop & oven, maybe the granite counters, maybe an extension to the (small) patio, I'm going to be on a beans and wieners or cheese and mac budget for the rest of my life.... But I'll have a pretty nice stove to cook them on! :D
 
Yeah, PS is the place. Checked both Sub-Zero/Wolf and Viking websites and PS is the local outlet for both. I've never shopped there but I've heard good opinions of the place from friends.

I'll probably know shortly, but do they discount off of MSRP? I've got a coupon from Wolf for $1K off but I suspect that is the discount off MSRP.

Anyway my mind was made up a couple of years ago to have a high end stove some day, so whatever it costs that's what it's going to cost. In for a penny in for a pound.
 
Well it's a done deal!!! :D

Wolf it is! I got the Wolf CT30GS cooktop:

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and the Wolf SO30FS oven:

wolf2.jpg
wolf3.jpg


They say they might be able to get them installed tomorrow! They said it was a sure thing that by this weekend I'll be cooking on Wolf! :)

I'm sure many will wonder and I'll save you the trouble of asking. The whole package including tax and installation came to very nearly $7K.

That's a lot but it's the last cooktop and last oven I'll ever need. They asked me if I wanted to buy an extended warranty and I laughed and told them the cooktop and oven will probably still be working perfectly long past the time I've gone to my final reward. :)


I just didn't take to the Viking. The Wolf cooktop looked prettier, and I liked the electronic touch panel of the Wolf oven vs. the traditional dial controls of the Viking oven. Thermidor was mentioned as an alternative to Wolf or Viking but by then I was too stoked on the Wolf gear to even look at the other stuff.

I sure wish I knew who is going to pay for this stuff...
 

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