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Topic: Serious Cooktop upgrade! (Read 1094 times) previous topic - next topic

Serious Cooktop upgrade!

Here is a project which I am pretty excited about! Replacing the original equipment three burner cooktop with its gaping burners with a Wolf CT15S/LP 2 burner. It has one large rear 12,000 BTU burner and a smaller 9000 BTU front burner. I like the fact that they are staggered. They both go from a very low simmer to full blast... I can't wait for Tys to try it ;) .  I just got it off of eBay as a new old stock showroom item. I have been looking on and off for over a year... I also would have considered a Gaggenau like the ones that came in the fancier coaches, but all of the ones that I came across on eBay or salvage places like Visone looked pretty beat up. Besides, I like the form factor on the Wolf better. I won't be able to install it just yet, too many other projects on the front burner (see what I did there? :)) ) just now. But I am looking forward to actualizing this one... I will make a new corian cover out of a new old stock piece that I bought from FOT (for $50!) when we were back there. It will be fun engineering that part. The cover on our current one is ΒΌ" corian and cracked when a frying pan jumped out of the overhead cabinet... Tired of looking at the crack!
Here are a few pics of the new unit... This is a really nice solid unit with a build quality and design that I can admire!
Don

Re: Serious Cooktop upgrade!

Reply #1 –
Don,
That is a serious cooktop upgrade!!!

Re: Serious Cooktop upgrade!

Reply #2 –
Very nice, Don.  What will you cook?

Roger

Re: Serious Cooktop upgrade!

Reply #3 –
Oh you know, road kill, wild boar, whatever I can catch with my bare hands 8) ... Actually, that is above my pay grade, but I will happily eat whatever Tys cooks! ^.^d
Don
Quote from: Home2fromHastings –
Very nice, Don.  What will you cook?

Roger

Re: Serious Cooktop upgrade!

Reply #4 –
We want to do an induction cooktop upgrade, but DW wants at least 3 burners, and the only ones I could find with 3 burners in a 24"cooktop were european, and like $3K+.

Re: Serious Cooktop upgrade!

Reply #5 –
Quote from: acousticart –
Here is a project which I am pretty excited about! Replacing the original equipment three burner cooktop with its gaping burners with a Wolf CT15S/LP 2 burner.

 I also would have considered a Gaggenau like the ones that came in the fancier coaches

I'm excited about this one, too!  I have the Gaggenau, and I think Tys would be frustrated by it sometimes as I am - not enough space for 2 pots at the same time unless they're both small saucepans.  The Wolf's design with offset burners (and slightly wider surface area) should provide a better experience.  And it looks cool  ^.^d

I wonder if it's above-counter height allows it to fit under the usual cooktop cover or not?  Do you happen to have the comparative specs between it and the Gaggenau already done, Don?

Re: Serious Cooktop upgrade!

Reply #6 –
Don, road kill or weenies, it should do the trick.  I downloaded spec/installation instructions as I am sure you have done.  As I read it, the installation specs call for 7" on either side of the cutout to combustible materials.  Are you going to mount it at the countertop level?  Does that leave enough clearance to the bottom of the case of your old microwave? 

This looks like a serious cooktop with more working room.  I like the Gaggenau but like Michelle find the spacing between the burners and the burner to knob spacing a bit restrictive.  They do have nice burner BTUs.  Maybe with a smaller cooktop one would cook and eat less.  It doesn't seem to restrict the later activity for us.

Did you get a really great deal on ebay?  These are not inexpensive.

Roger

Re: Serious Cooktop upgrade!

Reply #7 –
Don, just wondering if the gas supply is the same ID as the 15000 BTU furnace. Not the amount of gas but how fast the burner (s) may use it..in my 280 they are different size pipes.

I know the commercial units require a manifold.

One thing for sure, it will bring a pot to boil !

Re: Serious Cooktop upgrade!

Reply #8 –
Well this be a direct fit... if so I'm all in .my two burner looks cheep and not very useful... 8) 

Re: Serious Cooktop upgrade!

Reply #9 –
At this point, I plan on mounting it below counter level and making a new cover that is flush with the rest of the counter. It is about the same length as the the width of the existing cut out. At first I thought it would make sense to mount it sideways with the burners arranged side by side. But looking at the unit in front of me, I will probably mount it in the conventional way and add some stainless to either side of the unit. I will probably keep the width of the notch the same as current and deepen it enough so that the bull nose edge of the cover will match up with the rest of the counter and so that the folded back cover has as much clearance from the back burner as possible. There obviously isn't 30" above the cooktop to the microwave nook, but even though the old microwave is gone, I kept the bottom of the case when I put in the pressure oven (which I still have to trim out and add a louvered door to one side of). The bottom of the microwave case is not combustable, and with all due respect to the lawyers on the forum, some of that clearance is mandated by a fear of litigation, not common sense.

Speaking of common sense, one does not put something on the stove running at full blast and then take a walk :o Anyway, I intend to be sure enough of the safety aspect to be able to sleep soundly at night ;) I haven't found the Gaggenau installation instructions, but I would bet they they call for similar clearances (which would be impractical in all the Foretravel layouts with which I am familiar). Fire is fire, regardless of the name on the plate or BTU rating and must be respected in use.

One of the most attractive features to me is the advertised linearity of the burners from a very low simmer to full blast. In my mind, that makes it safer to use. I have a lot of details to work out on the installation, but I am confident that the result will please the chef! Other things I like about it; the cast iron continuous grate that has silicone inserts where they rest on little raised nubs on the surface of the unit (no rattles!), the stainless knobs and the action of the controls, the auto re-ignition and flame sensors, the backlighting on the control surface, the two level burners and the heavy cast iron burner caps, the staggered burners to accommodate larger pots... and all in all, just an admirable build quality overall. I also like the way the heavy cast iron grate sits so precisely and stably down on the surface of the unit... perfectly flat. The burner controls and adjustability of the status quo in our coach, leaves a lot to be desired. Regarding the size of gas line service, I also have the old line from the Dometic fridge available nearby which I could use to add to the old stove line before the regulator if necessary.

As do pricing, the unit I bought on eBay was a decent price, though not the deal-of-a-lifetime type of bargain. It was $899... and I found an LP conversion kit for about $40 because the unit I bought was an unfortunately an NG version, but is convertible without changing the BTU rating. It is the only one of this model that I have seen on eBay, having had an active search for it for over a year now. Anyway, it remains to be seen just how much I have bitten off with this project... time will tell.
Don

Quote from: Home2fromHastings –
Don, road kill or weenies, it should do the trick.  I downloaded spec/installation instructions as I am sure you have done.  As I read it, the installation specs call for 7" on either side of the cutout to combustible materials.  Are you going to mount it at the countertop level?  Does that leave enough clearance to the bottom of the case of your old microwave? 

This looks like a serious cooktop with more working room.  I like the Gaggenau but like Michelle find the spacing between the burners and the burner to knob spacing a bit restrictive.  They do have nice burner BTUs.  Maybe with a smaller cooktop one would cook and eat less.  It doesn't seem to restrict the later activity for us.

Did you get a really great deal on ebay?  These are not inexpensive.

Roger

Re: Serious Cooktop upgrade!

Reply #10 –
That's a nice cooktop for sure! Please post more pics when it's installed.

acousticart > I just noticed your username. Are you an audio enthusiast?

Re: Serious Cooktop upgrade!

Reply #11 –
I am at heart, a musician. A guitarist, classical by training, eclectic by disposition... but not practicing the art enough to my liking. Tys sings and plays a mean piano and we have done some stuff together, and plan to do a lot more in the future. I also started to tool up to build guitars and have a couple in progress (stored now in a climate controlled environment), but no place to practice that art currently. Maybe once we have figured out what and where our ultimate home base is, I will apply myself to that process once again. Thanks for asking...
Don
Quote from: chazb11 –
That's a nice cooktop for sure! Please post more pics when it's installed.

acousticart > I just noticed your username. Are you an audio enthusiast?
 

Re: Serious Cooktop upgrade!

Reply #12 –
Quote from: Steve & Ginny Hill –
We want to do an induction cooktop upgrade, but DW wants at least 3 burners, and the only ones I could find with 3 burners in a 24"cooktop were european, and like $3K+.

Bumping this since I just noticed Wolf has a 24" 3 burner induction model Induction Cooktop | CI243C/B | Sub-Zero & Wolf Appliances priced much lower than $3K. 

It would require some electrical work since it's a 220V appliance and needs a dedicated 30amp circuit.