French element Wolf rangetop- any feedback?

[cupcakegoddess]

I love the idea of the french element available in the Wolf 48" rangetop, and can't seem to find any other similar products for home use. Does anyone have any experience using one of these, or alternatives? Thank you, in advance, for any wise words.

[toodie jane]

pray, tell-- what is a french element?

[cupcakegoddess]

its like a griddle, flat with a bullseye pattern of concentric circles, that is hottest at the center and cooler as you move away from the center. you can have several things going at the same time at different temps, and theoretically slow cook something all the live long day on the outer bits. very intuitive, i think.

[Romanmk]

From what I am told these French elements work phenomenally well in a restaurant situation. The reasons they are not widely available for the home: There is a long initial wait for them to heat up. Then you have to deal with all the heat they radiate into your kitchen. (Although if you lived in a cold climate this wouldn't be so bad.) It's just not the way to go if you want to do something quickly. Great if you want to saute a dozen different dishes in a row. I say go for gas or induction for fast response time and control.

[cupcakegoddess]

Thank you very much for the advice, Roman. I hadn't considered the lead time issue, and I/m goad you brought it up.

[MakingSense]

Don't the Aga ranges stay hot/warm/on all the time? If I remember, you cook by using different burners and ovens for different purposes.
People who have them absolutely swear by them but you almost have to take classes to learn how to use them, I think.

[Joe Blowe]

Search 'french top' over at GardenWeb -- you'll decide it's not for you in no time at all...

http://ths.gardenweb.com/search/nph-i...
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[kelly65]

Hi- late to reply to this, but I have a Wolf French top and love it. It's not for everyone, primarily due to metal discoloration and the chore of keeping it clean. That part of it is a lot of work- and a lot of Barkeeper's Friend and yes, razor blades. And I don't do that all that frequently, so a lot of funky looking french top. However I can say without hesitation that it is an amazing cooking surface. I've tried the same recipe, same pan on the Wolf gas burner next to it and there is no comparison in the French Top's ability to reduce and simmer- it makes superior food. We're always told that consistent heat is the best- and boy this is the best. I'd call it the copper pot of cooktops...you have to baby it, but there's a great payoff.

Too hot? No hotter than when I have the oven on, or all the gas flames going. It's only one (albeit high BTU) burner under there. Takes too long? It's actually pretty fast, and if you need high heat asap, that's what the traditional burners are for. You can start on the burners and move to the french top, but I really never bother- it heats up fast enough for me. It's awesome with the big Le Creuset for chicken and ratouille.

Very flexible-with a six-burner range, you can only cook with 6 pots/pans, less if they are large. With the French top, you can get A LOT of pans on there- and you can turn down the flame as well as move your pans around which I love. For some reason the Wolf instructions state that you can only turn it on high or off...not sure why. Maybe because it's hard to see the flame and they don't want you gassing yourself. But you can do this. You can also take the center plate out and cook over an open flame, though with the traditional burners right there, I have no need of that.

My husband is going to make me a simple copper cover for it which should solve issues with it not being sparkly and keeping splatters off it. If we ever move, I will take it with me and put in a 6-burner for resale. You will have to pry this out of my cold dead hand.

Pros-truly superior heat, flexibility in number of pots/pans
Cons-Not pretty, work to keep clean, can't tell if it is on (children, which I have, need to be schooled to stay away from it)