The most obvious difference between traditional cooktops and the ones of today is modular additions. Built-in steamers, woks, barbecue grills, griddles, and deep fryers allow home cooks to customize their cooktops to the way they prepare food.

The idea of a grill on a cooktop has been around for a while, but is still very popular, as are the newest cooktop options. Now joining the grill are woks, steamers, and even deep-fat fryers.

Ever since consumers decided they wanted more than the one-size fits-all, Model-T style of products —available in any color you want, as long as you want black — we’ve been busy customizing our homes. Now, our cooktops can be customized for function, as well as looks. Three gas burners and a griddle? You can have that. Two induction burners and two radiant? You can have that. Four sealed gas burners, a wok, and a steamer? Just ask.

Buying a professional appliance gives your kitchen more than just a hip, stainless-steel look. For the money, a professional cook top comes with professional heat, measured in Btu. Btu stands for British thermal unit; one Btu is what it takes to heat one pound of water one degree Fahrenheit,  roughly the heat produced by one wooden match.

Typical ordinary burners generate around 7,500 and 9,000 Btu. Newer models — those made in the past few years — can produce 12,000 Btu, which is enough heat to get a really good stir- fry going.

New high—end models, like those made by Kitchen-Aid, Thermador, Viking, and DCS, often come with “power burners,” which can produce as much as 15,000 Btu. Power burners can keep a pot of gumbo piping hot, or boil a large pot for pasta. With that much heat, eight quarts of water (definitely enough for a pasta party) will boil in about six minutes.

But the bells and whistles aren’t all about getting hotter. The newest gas can also regulate low temperatures. The drawback with gas has been that you can’t truly simmer on a gas cooktop. The newest models have solved this problem with a simmer burner, which keeps a constant low heat by turning on and off.

More functional cooktops are gaining in popularity with the new interest in staying at home. People want to be able to get restaurant-quality results without having to go to a restaurant.

Jenn-Air is the last manufacturer to still make an induction cooktop. Their most popular induction model has two induction burners and two standard radiant burners.

The first radiant cooktops didn’t heat up quickly. In reaction, manufacturers came out with a cooktop with a halogen heating element. The powerful bulbs got very hot very fast but used a lot of energy. Now that radiants heat up faster than they used to, there isn’t as much need for halogen, which is less energy- efficient anyway. The premium you pay for halogen —between $100 and $150—is enough that it doesn’t really justify the scant few extra seconds it takes for the radiant burners to get hot.