Mini-review of Expo's Professional grill and a comparision to the Virco. After five or six years of frustration using my Weber (not enough heat) I decided to consider an upgrade. I really wanted the Weber to work, but I just couldn't get the temp over 450F. One day at Home Depot I saw the Straublestone (misspelled, I'm sure) and felt that was an upgrade at a reasonable price. So, before buying that I shopped around to be sure of my choice. One of the trips included a trip to Home Depot's Expo Center. This place is loaded with all the high-end grills, very painful to go in there because I want to buy ALL of them. ;-) But on this trip they had a new grill called the 'Professional'. It was priced at $1000 (actually $999 I think) and upon inspection it looked almost as good as the others that they had and a considerably lower price. I also strongly considered the $900 'Jenn-Air' which is really made by Vermont Castings. I choose the Pro over the Jenn-Air due to construction. It was almost all stainless where as the VC was not. So I coughed up my $1000 and went home a happy kid with his new toy. Well, about three months later I spot the Virco during a trip to Costco. Sheesh, two hundred dollars cheaper and ALL stainless. So I set out to sell the Pro (at a loss, of course) and buy a Virco. But I ended up with the MM Y0660 as explained earlier in this thread. The Pro grill is made by Charbroil for the Expo Center. They have also introduced a smaller, 45K BTU, 3-burner model for $800. Both grills has an unlimited warranty on the SS, a 10 year warranty on the burners and a 2 year warranty on any other part. Both grill come with a heavy-duty rotisserie standard and no side-burner. I don't know if this is an option, but I don't think that it is. The grill does not include a cover. It did come assembled at no additional charge. These grills arrived at the Expo unassembled and they sub-contract the assembly at their store. The Pro grill, while still a good product, seems to be overpriced when compared to the Virco. The Pro grill uses four 15K BTU cast iron burners for a 60K BTU total, same as the Virco. I was able to reach an indicated 550+ and I could tell that it was noticeably hotter than my old POS Weber. The pro's single biggest weak link is its drip tray design. First, it's fabricated out of epoxied or powder-coated steel, not stainless. Second, it is only accessable from the rear which makes it a bit of a pain to clean. and third, the dang thing is so poorly designed that it barely slides in it's slot. The tolerances are so poor that it wants to come out of its track and fall on one side or the other. It's hard to explain, but trust me, it sucks big time. I was so frustrated that I was in process of designing a new drip tray to be fabricated out of SS to replace that sorry design. I was quoted $100 by a local sheet-metal company. The Pro's rear IR burner is set in a black powder-coated steel panel wheras the Virco uses SS for the panel. The Pro's flame-tamers are make of regular steel and are black powder-coated. These will NOT last very long. They were starting to degrade during the three months that I owned my grill. They have a two-year warranty so you can probably get a set or two for free before the warranty expires. The cabinet on the Pro is inferior to the Virco. The cabinet is a single-walled wrap of stainless that has a two to three inch opening all the way around the top. So it does not offer any protection from the weather, it will get wet in there if the grill is uncovered. On the front are two single-wall doors, just folded SS sheetmetal. The Virco's cabinet is far superior. The Pro's lid is folded stainless sheet that is spot-welded on the sides. The Virco's is welded, ground and polished and as a result looks much nicer. The Pro did have a double wall lid but the gap is quite narrow. In spite of this, it did not discolor on the outside during my short ownership. The temperature gauge worked well and seems to be reasonably accurate but I never calibrated it to be sure. The handle on the lid looked like chrome plated steel, not solid SS as on the Virco. The handles on the sides of the cabinet were also chrome-plated, not SS. The Pro grill uses beautiful, cast & machined SS knobs. These really looks impressive, even better than the Vikings and DCSs. So there is absolutely nothing really wrong with the Pro except for it's price point. It served me very well and I was willing to deal with the non-SS parts as needed. But when compared to the Virco, it seems like it should be priced well under the $800 range. The Virco is truly unbeatable under $1000, at least for now. Who knows, maybe next year Virco will have some competition at that price point. -Terry

The difficult thing about ranges is that there's no one perfect solution. If you're wanting French/trad style (Lacanche, Cornue or Berta Heritage) you get ample power on top but smaller ovens; some not lighted. Then there's the all gas option where the Wolf, Blue Star and lately Capital Culinarian come in. Those have the larger ovens and power on top. Most refined are the pro-style dual fuel (which as mtn points out you can get on the French-style ranges) and there Wolf seems hard to touch. In this area though, you pay for style and the combi fuel. Price points on those is way beyond something like the Berta, which is a basic range with electric ignition. The big advantage on Wolf dual fuel is the digital oven readout and they are great ovens. Now if you live in a place with a lot of power outages (I do) that can be an issue. Bottom line: you pay quite directly for your features on a range so determining priorities can be really helpful. One question to ask yourself: Are you a top cook or an oven cook? Many people want high powered ranges for wok and browning. Some want giganto ovens that hold a full sheet pan. With me, just as a f.ex., I don't care about maximum power on top as I don't use the wok. I don't saute very much (unless I'm making cassoulet or a stew in the winter). I use my bbq a lot. I'm an oven cook who usually roasts and uses the oven for for many things folks do on top of the stove (rice, veggies). I use an electric steamer. But I want a precise (electric) oven because I bake a lot -- breads, pastry. So for me, the ideal solution would be a dual fuel range. Having had a rotisserie, I'd want one etc. People buy ranges with features they never use all the time. Good intentions, aspirations, whatever. That's fine and why not. But it's a bear to get a range that gives you something you don't need vs what you do -- why the analysis is useful.

Bluestar used to offer a 36" RNB configuration with a charbroiler (special order) but I think the built in charbroiler is now only available with the Platinum BS...someone correct me if I am wrong. Here's the platinum version >>>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXqwCHBan4w This addon charbroiler >>> is another choice if you don't need a built in unit, this might be a good alternative to save some $$$$ if your not looking to charbroil on a daily basis.... This... http://www.webstaurantstore.com/12-x-24-x-5-add-on-charbroiler/117761149.html or this ... http://www.webstaurantstore.com/fmp-133-1207-11-x-24-x-5-add-on-charbroiler/3591331207.html As was suggested give Bluestar a call to confirm....

smm5525, I have posted some layout plans before, but things have changed over time. Here is a PDF with the layout and my organization sheet which details what kitchen item would go where. It's hard to post a screen shot, because it's too large to capture it all. You can follow the link to see it. NOTE: I am hoping to gain back enough inches to be able to make the base cabinets on each side of the cooktop equal size. Because design was created on a grid the refrigerator cab is drawn as 39" when in reality it'll only require 37.5". And I'm guessing on the Super Susan dimensions. We had a cabinet design guy come measure things today. He took a printout and is creating a "real" plan we can use. He sent me a message today saying that even though it's in Excel it's good and easy to figure things out. He should have it ready by tomorrow. I can't wait. We'll decide on what cabinet brand once we get some estimates. We're leaning towards Plato. Walnut with the grain going horizontally. Islands painted blue, with a more furniture-look to switch things up. We're planning on putting in a much larger window over the sink. You'll in the PDF that I have indicated where the existing window is in a dark green with the expanded window size in a lighter green. Let me know what you think. :)