In July 2005 we installed a Dacor Epicure cooktop, remote blower and downdraft and Epicure double wall ovens. They get a lot of use since both of us love to cook. The cooktop has been nearly trouble free- we had one minor issue. One ignitor began clicking after 6 months. I called Dacor and they said they had recently improved the ignitors and sent 6 brand new ones to my local authorized repair who installed them at no cost to me. The Epicure oven seemed to have excessive condensation between the glass on the lower oven door. I called Dacor and they sent the same authorized tech who replaced the glass pack and the insulation around it. While some mist like condensation is considered normal it should dissipate during cooking. The condensation on my oven was larger drops of moisture. Changing the glass and insulation didn't correct the problem. I called Dacor and spoke with a very knowledgeable customer service rep. She told me that this has happened to others with the same oven. I thought she'd offer to replace the door itself. I was stunned when she offered to either buy back my 10 month old double wall oven for my purchase price - or - replace them with Dacor's new model - the Dacor Discovery wall ovens which were significantly more expensive than my model. I don't remember the exact price difference but it was close to $2000. And it came with a new one year warranty. The Dacor rep told me that with earlier customers they had simply replaced the ovens with the same model and sometimes that did the trick but not always. So they decided it was easier to buy back the old or replace with the newer model. I went with the new model. I did have an issue with the meat probe not beeping when the meat hit the desired temperature. I was one of the first customers to report this problem to Dacor. They said they'd have their engineers work on new programming to correct it. It took about 6 months until they developed a new control panel which was installed without cost to me. All of this is something I would expect a reputable company to do. But we all know that this is the type of thing that seems to rarely occur. I can't speak for the other posters here who had difficulty with their Dacor purchases. Maybe I was just lucky - I don't know but I have been very pleased with their customer service. As for your appliance store standing behind the product - I wouldn't rely on that too much. Unless they have their own repair techs they're probably just going to call Dacor. The manufacturer only gives a one year warranty and it's doubtful if an appliance store is going to absorb the cost if your appliance needs repairs after the warranty. The cost to repair these new electronic models is high.

I believe the Wolf range top comes with either sealed OR open burners, or just the open burners, while the cooktop comes with only sealed burners. The AG range comes with open burners, the DF range comes with sealed burners. If you go to the Wolf/SZ webstie, you can find out for sure (loads of info, pics, specs....on their site). FWIW, we recently got a Wolf AG range. The open burners have a very tight opening, so barring a spillover, it's not too likely that much is going to end up on the drip tray anyway (which you can just line with foil, and replace when needed--nobody sees it unless you slide out the tray). As for cleaning the black enamel burner pans/range top, you'd need to do that whether your burners were sealed or open. With open burners, you can lift out the pans themselves (3 of them), and bring to the sink to clean, or just spritz them with your preferred cleaner/de-greaser, and wipe clean (which is what I've done so far). I'm not too big on cleaning the burner rings (unless they're really messy from spills), and they are easy enough to lift up and then clean (burnt on stuff is probably just as difficult or easy to remove on most burners; open or sealed). Hope this helps!

I had decided to go with Bosch for cooktop, oven, and DW before I came across a few articles about Dacor and DCS. I have seen the Bosch Benchmark up close, but not the latter two. How do these two brands compare? Should I make a trip out to the showrooms? Bosch BM: 20,000 BTUx1, 12,000x3, 5,500x1 Dacor Renaissance RNCT365G: 18,000x1, 12,000x2, 9,000x2 DCS CDV2-365N: 20,000x1, 15,000x4 Btw, does the difference between 18,000 and 20,000BTU make that big of a difference for day-to-day, home (Chinese) cooking besides boiling a big pot of water? Thanks.

I am designing my entire kitchen with Dacor modernist as we speak. It’s a new construction that will be built in the summer. I contemplated subzero and Wolf route but I can’t get past the sleek and sexy look of all their appliances.