36 inch range.. griddle or grill???

you will, of course, have a fully outside venting hood if you are even thinking about a grill. Yes? I think BBQ'g inside is a nice concept but pretty disgusting and messy in practice and most people with the grill never end up using it. A griddle is fine if you make a lot of pancakes. Much more useful are 6 burners, imo. Ends up depending most upon what and how often you cook.

Thanks yes.. I will be venting outside..

Even with a good vent, indoor grilling is very messy.

If you grill with any regularity you can expect a greasy buildup on EVERYTHING in your kitchen ... from floors to ceiling and everything in between ... within six months.

NYCMatt: exactly. That is why I say it is pretty disgusting. It is literally impossible to adequately clean the stove afterward, let alone what all that particulate does to everything around it. Indoor grill is like a bread maker or icecream maker: you'll never use it after the first time.

I suppose I'm disgusting. I use a cast iron grill all the time (flip side flat for pancakes).
I have a 36" 5-burner top - with the mega burner in the middle for high-heat wok cooking.

But I have a smooth backplash with no grout lines, so cleanup is fast.

We have a grill with a powerful vent to the outside. Grilling large amounts of meat at one time still overpowers the vent. So we grill only 1-2 pieces of meat at a time. It works well with vegetables, of course. We have used it as a griddle by placing a cookie sheet over the grill. It works great. So we use it both ways.
We do use the grill regularly, mainly in the winter.

A regular griddle like nyc10023 works best. Easy to clean, etc.

My old landlord-grade stove has a built-in griddle I've never used. There's a big burner underneath it, along with a metal container to collect drippings. Two things to clean, and it's both too small and too big.

We have the 6 burner wolf with a grill and i use the grill ALL the time. yes, you do need a very good hood and i did disconnect the smoke alarm in the kitchen. it is a bit of a clean up but so worth it to get the sear on meat or fresh vegetables. i have stainless steel tiles for backsplash so it is easy to wipe down. And my wolf hood has pieces that you lift out and just put in the sink once in a while to clean. I can't imagine why or when i would use a griddle insert. A frying pan would do the trick for any pancake type item i would be cooking. One caveat...I do like to cook and I cook a lot when we are in the city as we enjoy entertaining. Caveat #2...I actually make my non-cooking spouse do the cleaning.

Should add that I have a 36" cooktop, not a range. The seam between the counter & the range all the way down bothers me. Electric wall oven.

Screw the vent, what you people really need is a terrace.