Strictly necessary? No. I don't think I've ever used all 4 burners simultaneously, but I've definitely done three, though with some planning I probably could have used just two. We're about to buy a pop-up camper with just 2 though so we'll see how that goes. ;)

I have almost zero counter space, so I put a big 'ole cutting board on my two of my burners. It's nice to have the option of four for big meals, but day to day I only use two.

Yep. Day to day, I only use two burners - but on the days when I need three or four, I'm glad to have them!

I use 2 diagonal ones for everyday and all 4 when I am cooking for company. Though growing up, we had only a 2 burner stove, and mom always cooked up a storm for upto 40 people on those... I have no idea how :)

It's just the two of us but I use 3 burners at a time half the time I'm making dinner. Mostly because I'm weird and need 4 dishes at a meal and usually 3 of them are heat processed in different ways. Other times, we have a two burner grill/griddle that straddles front to back for breakfasts and grilling things. The cutting board idea is great too to get some extra real estate out of the range.

I don't think four burners are absolutely necessary. The most I have ever used is three and it isn't often enough to legitimize having it.

This is especially true in small apartments. I do not understand why the tiny one bedroom I share with my boyfriend has a full scale fridge, stove oven, and a double sink (no dishwasher unfortunately) but absolutely no counter space. For better functionality and a probably more eco friendly choice I would definitely choose a double burner.

Could I do it? Yes. But I wouldn't want to. I routinely find myself needing three and if I'm cooking for a holiday meal or dinner party I find myself wishing I had 6. I'd get rid of my microwave and toaster oven before I'd get rid of two burners.

I use 3-4 burners for every meal, and often the the oven too. Frustratingly, one burner ignitor is out and it makes cooking meals into more of a jugging act.

I can't do with less than four. There are times I have to plan on moving simmering food to the oven because I don't have enough burners. But I honestly believe that a big part of cooking is making do with what you have--sometimes I end up discovering new things because of it!

The only times I've routinely used all four burners is when I've had an electric stove, as one has to change burners in order to go from boiling to simmering.

Just realized I own only four pots/pans for use on the stove top, so there's no danger I'd ever go beyond four burners.

I have never used all four burners at once. Plus I don't think my pots/pans would all fit at once. haha.

I tend to use the back burners has a cool down area since I have an electric range.

I agree w/ SashaCooks - I use 3-4 almost everymeal. And it is just me and BF. I refuse to use my microwave so i think that may have something to do w/ it. That and he is a meat / potatoe / veg guy for dinner....

In our last condo, we put in a 3 burner cooktop and 24" oven from ikea. Space savings was substantial, never missed the 4th burner. Anything too big for the oven I did on our big green egg on the balcony.

I find myself frequently using at least three and not that rarely four. There are many times I have wished for a 6 burner stove or a separate induction top.

we regularly use all four burners - we'll cook dinner as well as boil eggs for work breakfasts and we usually have the kettle on at the same time.

I have a stove where you can switch out the burners for a grill or a griddle. Mostly I keep the grill on the left, and two burners on the right. That seems to be plenty.

I would prefer to have three gas burners in a V formation, so you could have large pans on all three burners at the same time. Also, I would want all three burners to be able to go from very low simmer to very high BTU for maximum versatility.

When I roast peppers I use all 4. Also when I have 2 extra large pots/pans going iI

oops...I use opposite corners

Necessary? No. But when I'm cooking or making confections or pantry prep, I'm generally doing it in batches. So having 4 stockpots or saucepans (say for 4 different infusions for truffles or 4 different syrups for the pantry) on the stove at one time is fairly common for my house. Am I a size queen? Maybe. Atypical to use all four burners at one time (for an American home), definitely, but it's a timesaver and when I can replace my cooktop with a 5 or 6 burner you bet I will!

Hmmm, does anyone make an 8 burner for the home???

I have cooked with all four burners on. What I hate? Having to wait to cook something because I'm out of burners! I need a six burner stove AND a double oven, although I don't think that's ever going to be possible...not with me living in an apartment.

like others have said, 2 burners very often, 3-4 burners for special occasions like cooking for company. there's no way i'd ever go less than 4, but i don't see a need to go over 4 either.

i would like to get a cooktop with the 4 burners more spread out so i could properly use all 4 at once with large pans. i hate that they are all squished together.

I use all four-- and even when I'm not actively using two of them, they become the landing place for hot pans just pulled out of the oven.

I have never used all four burners at one time, but I could imagine a situation when I might (holiday family gatherings). As it is, I generally only use one or two for an evening's cooking, and it tends to be the front two. If just one, it's the front right (closest to the sink and fridge). However, in different situations, I will use different burners. If I'm making mashed potatoes or rice (something that's gonna be bubbling away for a while), I use one of the back burners. If it's something like stew or dried beans, that'll be on long and low (I don't own a crock pot), I always choose the back left (furthest from the one I use most commonly). When I make hot tea in my cast iron tea pot, I choose the back right - still convenient to the fridge and sink (and my loose tea is in the cabinet right there), but back from the edge so I can leave it on while its heating without worrying about my daughter. So yes, I think the 4-burner is a necessary thing in my house. I think maybe for a single person, it might be different, since they are generally not going to be making large meals, but what do I know, lol. I personally wouldn't get a 6-burner, because I can't imagine needing all those burners unless I had a large family (which is not in my plans). But then again maybe there's a single woman out there who loves to entertain or just loves to make elaborate meals and wants 6 burners to do it with. Who am I to judge. :)

Necessary? No. Appreciate it? Yes.

In fact, my stove is a 5 burner stove and I love it. Why? Because it's basically one solid set of grates across the top, so I can slide heavy pots off the burner as needed. And the middle one is great for really big pots or for using my griddle attachment.

I never actually use all burners at once, but I tend to occupy them all at once. Two burners might be going, while the third has a cooling dish and the fourth holds my tea kettle.

Growing up my mom could frequently use all four, but I've never used more than two at once (and that's with cooking for guests). We use the back two burners as a sort of useful storage area. On the right, the tea kettle lives on the burner (not only for ease of use but because it's pretty). On the left, my large cast iron skillet lives on the burner so that I only have to pick it up if I need to rinse it out. It's become a makeshift griddle of sorts.

I routinely use 2 at the opposite corners and sometimes 3 but for the life of me, can't think of when I've used all 4 at once.

I could easily go to two burners. We're very into one dish meals. But I would also love to have two ovens! :)

I do most of my cooking on the weekends and on a real stock-up week I might have four burners, the oven, the crockpot, the rice cooker, AND the micro working. But day to day? 2 is enough. I need the Harry Potter kitchen--or rather, the Molly Weasley--that can shrink or expand at the wave of a wand.

I often play this game where I pretend I own my apartment and make renovations in my head. A slim two-burner stove is high on the list of my kitchen renovation! In fact I was just thinking about this last night!

Hell no! ... meaning I could not consider having less than 4! In fact, I'd like to have 6 burners.

I usually use just two, but I think all four have been used on a couple occasions.

I find myself using 3 burners occasionally, but I've only ever used all 4 during the holidays. I suppose I could get away with 2 if I put in more effort into planning and time management but eh.. its not like I need the extra counter space that badly to make it worth it.

A couple design recommendations when remodeling your kitchen:
- Consider a 24-inch range or cooktop with 4 burners (6-inches smaller than standard) - many brands, including the swank ones, offer these. all the function in less space.
- Or, depending on your use, consider one of the 2-burner models (http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/kitchen-design/5-twoburner-cooktops-116982)
AND having one or two of these portable burners (http://www.williams-sonoma.com/shop/electrics/specialty-electrics/induction-burners/?cm_type=lnav)
on hand for those rare occasions when more burners are needed.

I use three at once quite often, so I would say yes. Usually I rest the cutting board or serving plate on the 4th when I'm almost done or just starting out. I need that space.

Day to day 1 or 2 burners. Bigger meals 3. Canning all 4.

When, eventually, we need to buy our own stove, I would look more at a 5 burner or one that you can swap out burners for griddles that someone mentioned above.

I often use three, and occasionally use four. My stove has a middle section that has no function, but I find I use it all the time. I wouldn't want it any smaller. Especially when canning, I need all of that extra space. But, we do host dinner parties a ton, so maybe that's why I think it is so necessary.

I use three burners with some regularity. And the fourth burner is often holding something that I had to "remove from heat". A normal dinner uses two burners and since I live in an apartment with about 3 square feet of counter space, the other two burners are often turned into prep or staging areas. If I didn't have a full stove/oven, I would be crippled. I'm a messy cooker and my boyfriend often jokes that I must challenge myself to use every inch of counterspace and every dish we have.
@elfjeansonne - my biggest pet peeve about apartment living is that the kitchens are so tiny and poorly organized. Just because I can't afford to buy a house, doesn't mean I don't utilize the kitchen to it's fullest extent. Our fridge/pantry/cabinets are full and I cook 8-9 whole meals a week, I would sell my soul for a bigger workspace. Every apartment building should offer a floorplan that has a spacious and effective kitchen and you have to prove you'll use it to live there. Those are the rules I just made up.

I'd love to have six! We use 3-4 all the time and yes, I can manage them all. Oooh. A double ovens! And an extra freezer!

We live simply in most areas but I would love a kitchen with all the extras.

We are re-doing our kitchen, and I had the same thought: Why can't we have a 2 burner stove top, get some counter space back, and put the oven in the wall?!?! But, it all comes back to 2 dreaded words: Resale Value. No one wants to buy a single family home, with a 2 burner stove. I think it would take a change in American thinking first, before it was acceptable to have a "small but functional" kitchen.

Having four burners is a necessity for me. Our first year as dorm parents my husband and I had the smallest apartment on campus. We only had two burners and a toaster oven, and it was hell. Maybe it was just the terrible layout, but when I used both burners half of both pots or pans would hang off of the burners. Not safe and not efficient. It made me hate cooking so much that my husband and I ate at the campus dining hall a lot.

Now that we're in a bigger apartment with a real kitchen I regularly use three burners. And I didn't eat in that gross dining hall once this past year. Could I live with two burners? Yes. Do I ever want to have to do it again? NO.

In the winter, I routinely use 3 (there's a grill right outside the kitchen door that sees most of the action in summer and fall), and on holidays I've even got the center 5th burner going. When we redid our kitchen, we decided we could make do with a smaller sink, smaller fridge, smaller microwave, but went for a stove with more burners and more oven space. More cooking!

I'm in China, so I've got a two-burner stove and no oven. The stove is fantastic, but boy do I wish the second burner worked. x_x If I could even cook two things at the same time it would save a lot of time. (Also, it would mean my husband could do one thing and I the other, instead of both of us hovering over the wok going, "It's my turn to stir!")

I'm temporarily living in Japan and as you can imagine space is very limited in apartments. It's pretty common to have a 3 burner stove-top, which works great for me. Each burner has it's specific uses, one for heating up a teapot, one great for simmering and another for high powered BTUs that is great for searing or wok cooking.

In Paris, where apartments are tiny, many apartments only have two burners. Some don't even have that and people use hot plates or single burners plugged into a wall socket that they put away when not in use.

Coming from the US, where I had a nice big gas range, I wasn't sure that I could handle only having two burners, but I actually have found that not only is it possible for me, but it's made me a more organized cook. My husband and I do some catering and cocktail/supper club type events and only rarely do we need to bust out a third countertop gas burner (ninja stove).

Not to say that if we do get the chance to get the full four that I'd turn it down immediately - it'd depend on how much countertop space I'd be sacrificing.

I like having four, even though I mainly just use two - but I love having that heatproof space to put hot pans on.

We use three burners regularly, especially in the baby-food-making times (our son is past that now but we're gearing up for a second). Ironically, we were just buying a four-burner stove for our kitchen remodel and got a call from the appliance store saying that with the rebate, the five-burner upgrade (griddle insert) was something like $10 less than the original plain one. So now we have a five-burner and have yet to test out that fifth one. In a similar vein, we bought a one-oven model of range, and were thinking about the one-and-a-half, but decided we would rarely use two ovens.

I think it just depends on what your needs are. If you have kids in the house, especially babies, then you might need more. I made my own baby food and also would heat water on the stove to warm a bottle in while I was making dinner for the rest of the fam....... so that was 4 burners going at once! If it's just you and another, I say skip the other two burners!

I have five burners and I use them all because they are all different BTU outputs. I appreciate them all individually so i wouldn't give them up on purpose. I have used four burners at a time though. I can't use the fifth middle one with other things going on.

I almost exclusively use two burners (usually 1 for sauce and 1 for pasta or stirfry etc.). The only time I think I've ever used more than 2 burners is when I try to do some fancy French cooking because of all the side dishes, sauces, etc.

I could easily live with 2 burners. You could always pick up a cheap portable induction burner and pull it out when needed (great for slow-simmering soups, etc. if you don't own a crockpot, like me--I'd much rather simmer in my trusty Staub cast iron pots; I'm not a fan of leaving any hot appliances on while I'm away from home).

I got a nice big induction burner on sale at The Bay here in Canada, for less than $100.

Oh, also, here in Canada, most people have an electric kettle so that's one less burner than the typical US household might use.

I would use all four burners frequently. I do A LOT of home preserving and cooking. We also entertain quite a bit, so often I find myself cursing the one broken burner on our rental stove. Four burners is definitely necessary.