Commercial Gas Range Buying Guide: Burners, BTU, and Oven

The range is the backbone of a sauté station — the one appliance that does both stovetop and oven work. Buy the wrong burner count or oven type and you've limited the kitchen's most flexible station. Here's how to spec a commercial gas range.

What a range gives you that a hot plate doesn't

A range is a stovetop + oven in one footprint. That oven is the difference between a range and a hot plate, which is burners only. If you need to roast, bake, or finish dishes in an oven below the burners, you want a range. If you only need open burners, a hot plate is cheaper and smaller.

The spec: burners + total BTU + oven

Westlake's gas range line:

Both are open-burner ranges with a standard oven — the 24″ packs 4 burners for compact kitchens, the 36″ gives 6 burners for a full sauté line.

Burner count = how many pans at once

The real constraint on a sauté station is how many pans you can run simultaneously. Each burner runs a pot or pan, so:

• 4 burners (RGR24) — a compact kitchen or a secondary station: one protein, one starch, one sauce, one spare.
• 6 burners (RGR36) — a real production line where two cooks work the range at once.

Count your simultaneous-pan peak, not your menu, when choosing burner count.

Total BTU: what it actually means

Total BTU is the sum of all burners + oven. It's not just a bigger-is-better number — it's the gas-line sizing number. RGR36's 210,000 BTU means your gas supply and ventilation must handle that draw on top of every other gas appliance on the line. Undersizing the gas line or hood starves the range exactly when all burners are lit.

Standard vs convection oven

The RGR24 and RGR36 come with a standard oven — radiant heat from the bottom, no fan. That's fine for general roasting and baking. If you do high-volume baking or need even, fast, multi-rack cooking, you'd add a dedicated convection oven rather than expect it from the range's oven.

24″ vs 36″

• 24″ — tight kitchens, food trucks, or a range as a secondary station.
• 36″ — the standard width for a primary restaurant range; fits a 6-burner top and a bigger oven.

If you can fit a 36″ in the line, it's almost always the better long-term buy — the extra 2 burners cost little in footprint but a lot in flexibility.

The buying checklist

• [ ] Burner count matched to simultaneous-pan peak
• [ ] Total BTU summed with other appliances for gas-line and hood sizing
• [ ] Oven included (or confirm you only need a hot plate)
• [ ] 36″ if the footprint allows
• [ ] Open-burner grates you can lift for cleaning

Bottom line

A range is burners plus an oven, so buy it for simultaneous-pan capacity and confirm your gas and ventilation can feed its total BTU. If you don't need the oven, a hot plate does the burner job for less.

Browse the commercial gas range line.