Product review (1 stars): Works Great at First and Then the Problems Begin
I just drove this very expensive cooktop to the dump; another heap of junk for the landfill. Read on to find out what you need to know before thinking about these Monogram/Cafe units.

First thing - they are not made by GE, but by a company called DCS (so watchout for that brand too!). Second, it's a fantastic cooktop until it ages, then things start degrading. Third, you then discover that the units are not repairable... at least not within reason.

I've owned the 36" version of this rangetop for about 10 years. It performed very well. It was kept meticulously clean despite heavy use.
These units have "dual burners", a large flame coming from the top burner, and a simmer flame coming from the lower burner. They are
electronic ignition sparked by a central igniter. I first started noticing that the simmer flames on all burners were starting to perform poorly.
The flame was not uniform and areas of flame were missing. Cleaning did nothing to solve the problem. Then one burner started clicking - it
would ignite, but the spark did not shut off like it's supposed to after the flame was present. I then noticed that the lower simmer flame wasn't
working at all on this burner. Two things you need to know about these dual burners: 1) the simmer flames ignites first; and 2) the igniter on
each burner senses the presence of the simmer flame and signals the igniter to turn off. Without a simmer flame, the igniter will just keep
running even if the main burner ignites. If you run the rangetop this way you'll quickly burn up the igniter.

No big deal, right .. just clean the unit and get back the simmer burner. That's when the adventure, and the technical jazz, starts. The dual
burner is actually quite complex. There are two "jets" that supply gas to the burner. The "main jet" is large and feeds the upper burner, and a
"simmer jet" operates through a separate chamber to supply a small amount of gas to the simmer ring (lower burner). When you turn the
knob you supply gas to both jets; when you turn the knob to simmer you isolate the main jet and gas only flows to the simmer ring. You can
take the burner top off and keep that part clean, but you cannot get to the simmer burner without taking off a 1 1/16" brass nut. The
instructions that came with the unit said it was okay to do that, so I did. Everything was pretty clean though and the tiny holes that allow gas
to feed to the simmer ring were clear. Hmmm .... then I looked down the long tube the gas flows through for the simmer ring with a flashlight
and I could see the problem. Waaaay at the bottom of the tube is the tiny "simmer jet". I'm a gearhead and am familiar with handling jets, but
this is the smallest one I've ever seen. And guess what? ... the tiny hole in this tiny jet was completely clogged. So, after a lot of work and
head scratching I found the problem. But there was no obvious way of cleaning the "simmer jet". Remember, if the simmer flame is not
present on one burner the unit will spark its brains out on all burners. So you either stop using that burner or have it fixed. But what about
the other five? If one failed when will the next ones follow suit? I decided to disassemble the other burners to look at their "simmer jets" since
the simmer flames were looking a bit weak on many burners. Sure enough, most were showing signs of clogging, though gas was still
trickling through.

Time to call factory-certified GE repair man. Now things go from a downhill ride to straight off the cliff! To clear the simmer jet you have to
remove the "burner base"; this allows better access to the top of the simmer jet which lies beneath the pan. That requires removing a bronze
"venturi tube" that feeds the main burner; it's screwed into an aluminum casting that lies beneath the black pan that holds the grates - you
can't see it, but it's down there. The repairman says: "boy, it's almost impossible to get these things apart'. Sure enough, the "venturi tube"
was frozen solid. He knew better than to put much force on this part for fear of destroying the burner. The only way to remove it... DRILL IT
OUT! You have to destroy the venturi tube. In the process the aluminum casting lying beneath is often destroyed to ... basically the guts of
the burner are toast. But how do you replace parts deep inside the unit?

He then related this story. These units are assembled in such a way as to make servicing them virtually impossible. Brass and bronze
components don't do well when screwed into aluminum parts; they tend to weld together making disassembly a no-go. High heat and
corrosive gas (there are acids in natural gas and propane) mix to create the perfect environment to cause different materials to stick
together. Ideally, when they are assembled at the factory, a lubricant should be applied to the threads to help prevent parts from sticking
when screwed together, but this step was clearly skipped when these rangetops are assembled. If your unit is used a lot and has a few
years on it, the likelihood is that these parts are seized together. The story gets worse. These units are solidly built, but from the inside out.
The very parts that are stuck together are typically the last parts installed. It's like trying to fix the brakes on your car without being able to
get the wheel off because it's welded on. Repairmen have a very difficult time getting 'inside' these cooktops because they are not meant to
be easily repairable.

It was clear that these parts were not budging. If one burner was doing this, the other 5 would likely be the same. The repairman's
suggestion was to pull the cooktop, tear it down (no easy chore), replace the burner parts by drilling them out, cleaning everything up,
reassembly, and re-installation. Basically, total rebuild. Parts would come to $6-700 and and another $800-1000 in labor. That's $1400-1700
for repairs done right. If that sounds as ridiculous to you as it does to me you'll understand the 1-star rating.

Considering the price of these units they should be fully and easily serviceable. There's no excuse from dumb engineering and shoddy
assembly procedures on high-priced items like these. The sad news is I don't expect much better from other appliance manufacturers.
I needed to get back in business with family coming for the holidays, so I bit the bullet and just installed another rangetop. Mr. GE
Repairman did offer me an alternative that can sometimes work so I'll past it along. If you experience constant clicking from the spark igniter
(which might be caused by the loss of the simmer flame) or are having a weak simmer flames on these units DO NOT try to go any further
than removing the 1 1/16" nut. If you're brave and want to try removing the venturi tube (13/16" hex) remember to apply only a very gentle
torque; if it doesn't immediately come loose it's stuck. If you force it you risk tearing the thin aluminum gas line and destroying the burner.
Removing the venturi tube facilitates removing the burner base, but that only makes it easier to clean the simmer jet which still lies beneath
the pan. One thing he suggested to clear the simmer jet WITHOUT PULLING THE VENTURI TUBE is to glue a tiny piece of 3M scouring
pad to a pencil or wood dowel and reach down through the long port in the burner base that the gas flows through to provide the simmer flame. If you take a small flashlight you'll see the simmer jet about 3" down this tube. Spinning the pencil back and forth will clean the top of the simmer jet, but it might not unclog the tiny hole. For that you need a very small diameter wire. He couldn't recall the diameter of wire needed, but it's very small. He offered to try this on my unit, but that meant another trip and a delay. With the holiday coming up I needed a 100% functional rangetop, so I just replaced it.

One more thing about these units... to remove the drip pan to get full access to the guts of the unit you MUST remove two venturi tubes and burner bases (front and back). The 36" unit is laid out in three rows of burners with two burners per row with one drip pan per row. BUT... if you're unlucky (like I was) and the failed burner is in the middle row (the location most people use the most - front and center!) you're screwed because the center drip pan in pinned by the ones on either side! That means you have to remove ALL SIX burners to work on 1 failed burner. I've seen a lot of bad engineering in my time, but these units rank in the top 3 of the MOST STUPID DESIGN award category.

Looking around on the internet for "DCS Continuously Clicking Igniters" and you'll better understand the problem.