Product review (5 stars): Excellent Features for a Gas Cooktop... Good Value
Firstly, this is not the most inexpensive cooktop out there. In fact, we saw some prices from $800 to $1200, which caught my eye. But I had to remind myself of the most important point... "We use our cooktop every single day!" Much like our cars, but even more, we will be using this item for more years than we'll probably keep our cars. And because I'm the one who... "Lives to Eat!, rather than Eat to Live", I'll spend an extra $400 or $500 to get what I deem is "the best value" for our needs. I should note that one huge driving force for buying through Amazon was saving approximately $150 on the item, plus not having to pay another $120 in sales tax. And of course, with Prime... we got this item in "Two-Days!" (Yaa-Team!)

Like many others, I looked online, and in the stores. One common thread regarding the GE Cafe line of gas cooktops...? ... Home Depot, Sears and other stores all carried this model in stock. I had no problem seeing, touching and comparing it to others "on the floor." Forgetting price, it won out, even over the Kenmore Elite Series, which actually was about $400 less, but not as "commercial looking."

Up front, I'll share my greatest fear about buying this type of item online....... "damage in shipping, requiring a return process which wastes time." The cooktop is delivered in the orginal GE corrugated box, with the stainless cooktop surrounded and distanced from all corners of the box. There are three straps holding the corrugated together. One of our straps was missing, but the box survived, and while a few small boxed parts may shift inside, fear not......... the cooktop is "stationary" in its' foam nest. Bottom line, other than a FedEx or UPS drive dropping the box harshly to where something pierces it and the range... I have a feeling most of these units arrive in their "OEM, New condition."

So, I've been cooking, literally, since I was a very young lad. And I have an electro-mechanical background, which helps as much as haunts my every decision when comparing prior to buying. I was as excited to upgrade our cooktop as my wife. And here's a few features that made this an easy choice for us, after looking at many other brands, features and appearance:

BURNER LOCATION IN RELATIONSHIP TO GRIDS:
Burners are distanced a bit more than you'll see in other gas cooktops. That allows for more a more efficient transfers of heat to your pans, and insures more even heating.

BURNER SIZES and KNOB/VALVE CONTROL:
There is a "Fifth Burner, Center", that has the highest BTU rating, and will heat a large "Restaurant Pot" of liquid quickly.
The "Rear Right" burner is purposely small, and will allow cooking and melting delicates... butters, chocolates, etc.
All burners have an incredibly "low simmer setting." This means GE is using high quality valves-burner controls.
Overall, you have control over your burners that you may have "fought for" with your old cooktop.

OVERALL BUILD QUALITY:
From the heavy cast iron grids to the heavy built control knobs, this Cafe Series is closer to commercial equipment; it's not a lightweight.

INCLUDES BLUE LED HALO-LIGHTING WHEN A KNOB/VALVE IS "ON":
An incredibly smart feature! I'm embarrassed to share how many times I've left a burner on when making our morning pour-over Brasilian demitasse coffee. It requires an incredibly low temp simmer to keep the coffee hot, without burning the coffee... (a huge no-no). Manys the time I've forgotten to turn that burner off when I transfer the coffee to a serving urn. The blue LED halo-lighting can easily be seen, especially at night, and is an instant reminder that you're "gas is on!"

SAFETY LOCK-OUT:
There's actually a safety lock-out knob that allows you to disable all of the gas knobs. We only have one grandchild under one-year right now, so I'm not sure we'll have to worry about this right now. But I'm sure I'll find another reason for assigning this feature "5-stars!"

INCLUDES A CAST IRON GRIDDLE INSERT:
We've been cooking with Lodge-brand cast iron skillets for quite awhile. So when I saw that the griddle adapter was made by Lodge, I was impressed. And what was interesting was the specialized burner control for use of the griddle. The "Rear Left" control includes a setting that will control both of the left side burners "In-Tandem." It's specific to the use of the griddle, and gives you the even heating you'll need for golden flapjacks! Another item... like the distancing of the burners to the cooking grids, (extra distance for even heat), the griddle stands up a bit from the burners too, which adds to "even heating."

While no gas cooktop is perfect, I felt like we not only got a very fair deal buying via Amazon online, but we actually got the best product for our needs. It took me two hours to remove the old (18 years) GE Profile 36" gastop with downdraft venting system.... AND ONLY 30 MINUTES to install this new Cafe Series. Of course, once you have a pre-cut hole in your counter, it's really just a matter of insuring a good fit, and customizing your sealing of the cooktop to the counter material. Outside of the "quantitative evaluations", we both feel that this cooktop... well, "Just looks so good." It's probably the stainless finish with the bold grid design and the large knobs!