This is a really great cooktop that is well designed, laid out, and extremely functional -- also very easy to use and install.
Burners:
The center burner is powerful for quick boiling and the 2 simmer (small) burners are great for long slow cooks like tomato sauce or soups etc. Unlike our previous cook top, the simmer setting truly is a simmer; it doesn't boil whatever you're cooking on the lowest setting so you can leave sauces and soups on for long periods of time like in a slow cooker.
The two other "medium" burners are great for things that you want to get up to a high temperature quickly: things like grilled cheese, pancakes - or for searing meats or frying eggs (the smaller burners will also do the trick just not as quickly).
Cleaning:
The grates just lift off with very little effort to provide easy access for cleaning the burners and/or the grates. Also the knobs come off easily for cleaning when you're making a greasy mess. Other reviewers have mentioned a discoloring of the stainless steel after doing some hot cooking; I have experienced none of that whatsoever -- I think Bosch may have fixed that problem because I've done a lot of cooking over the last few weeks with zero discoloration and no cleaning challenges.
Auto-lighting:
The cooktop lights very quickly automatically and we've had no "misfires". I did purposely blow out burners a couple of times and it automatically re-lights them.
Deficiency:
One MINOR complaint (minor because I don't think it will ever affect me): When you're running ALL 5 burners at full throttle, the regulator doesn't have quite enough capacity to allow enough gas through for them to all truly function at 100%: they all turn a bit orange and wavey since there isn't quite enough gas. I have tried to imagine any and every cooking situation I will be in, and I can't think of a time where all 5 burners will be going full throttle -- there simply isn't enough room behind a cooktop for more than one person - and you'd need at least 2 to tend to 5 boiling or searing pots simultaneously. It's got plenty of capacity for a few simmer burners, a full throttle main burner, and medium - medium burners.
Luck (Karma?)
Before ordering this cooktop, we went to the appliance store to buy the weekend before we had installers scheduled. The rude manager ridiculed and laughed at us for not coming weeks earlier; then tried to sell us a lower quality Electrolux display model for over $1300. I thought we were in a pickle and would have to buy it, but couldn't get over his snottiness and rude comments -- so instead of buying it then and there, we went home to decide whether or not we would be better off rescheduling the installers as opposed to doing business with a jerk. I decided to piddle around online and look at reviews - and we lucked out. We found this cooktop for under 900 bucks and had it delivered 2 days later; in plenty of time for the installers. SCORE!
Extras:
We bought a lodge griddle to go with it, and it sets quite nicely on the grates and works well once you figure out how to get the simmer burner and the medium burner on the same sized flame (since they are different sized burners, it's not as easy as putting both on "medium" heat).
Lodge LDP3 Double Play Reversible Grill/Griddle, 9.5" x 16.75"Lodge LDP3 Double Play Reversible Grill/Griddle, 9.5" x 16.75"
No wonder this cooktop continues to show up at the top of nearly every ranked list of gas cooktops.
| Brand Name | BOSCH |
|---|---|
| Model Info | NGM8056UC |
| Item Weight | 41 pounds |
| Product Dimensions | 21.25 x 31 x 3.19 inches |
| Item model number | NGM8056UC |
| Is Discontinued By Manufacturer | No |
| Installation Type | Drop-In |
| Part Number | NGM8056UC |
| Heating Elements | 5 |
| Color | stainless steel replacement model 2018 |
| Voltage | 120 Volts |
| Wattage | 360 watts |
| Fuel type | Gas |
| Material Type | Stainless Steel |
| Batteries Included? | No |
| Batteries Required? | No |
