Guadelupe -- are you there?

Do you know if the V1 looks like the Marcus, but with the traditional colors? Does it have the Marcus skirt and wheels and the rounded top?

You seem very knowledgeable -- do you feel that the changes to the door and the other changes will end the problems?

I found a cooking/cuisine blog hosted by a woman who has a Blue Star range. She had the pervasive door hinge problem. Blue Star replaced her door in March. I wrote to her to ask her if the problem was fixed. She responded "It sticks again after only four months of use. .. They are trying to figure out what to do. The cooktop is fabulous but the oven is a nightmare."

Not what I wanted to hear, but, there it is.

You know it is interesting that the hinges would ever need lubing. Our old stove GE as I recall was probably 20 years old and the hinges never had to be oiled and the door never stuck. Our Current Elux is now 5 years old, never have had to lube the door and as far as I can remember(which isn't that far), It still works like the day we bought it--which is to say Purrrrrrrfect!

Gary

This amazing stove, incredible burners -- I really want this and I cannot believe my decision is now hanging on a -- hinge. Why aren't they replacing these hinges?????

====
This amazing stove, incredible burners -- I really want this and I cannot believe my decision is now hanging on a -- hinge. Why aren't they replacing these hinges?????
====

From what I hear, it's not that they are not replacing the hinges, it's that replacing the hinges only fixes the problem for a short time. I take that to mean that either they don't know what the problem is exactly or it's not fixable without replacing the whole unit. Ultimately, if the burner on the capital is comparable (or better) than the BS, then BS will loose a lot of customers. I will be checking one out Friday. YAY!

BTW, this begs the question to current Capital range owners... how is the oven performance and reliability. Are there any problems with the doors or popping noises or any other anomalous behavior? I'll post another thread for that discussion instead of hijacking this one.

I don't have a dog in this fight but aren't they the only pro-sumer range manuf. with a hinge epidemic?

How many centuries have hinges been around, and how long have pro range door hinges that DON"T NEED constant adjustment and lube?

BLUE STAR suits - I hope you are listening:

FIX YOUR BLOODY HINGES NOW !!! before what little market segment you now have erodes.

My suggestion is for people to not buy Blue Star products until mgmt. gets a better attitude -OR- gets a clue about building appliances.

Sayde, what email address did you use to get hold of Bluestar? My stove's still a.w.o.l. and I need to figure out what's going on. I see the email contacts for marketing and online orders, and I see the general service requests, but I'm not sure where to email for questions about when and if they're going to ship my stove and what it's supposed to look like when it gets here.

Thanks.

(I really like a lot about this stove, but their customer service is giving me serious pause.)

I emailed one of the general marketing addresses and they forwarded my question to Matt Schutte who both emailed and phoned me to follow up.

I called and emailed BlueStar and have the following response:
BlueStar New V1 Improvements:
They have introduced a Single Point Electronic Ignition System that will
prolong the component parts life, as well as assist in service diagnosis.
The grease pan system has been completely redesigned. All of their grease
pans now operate on stainless steel slides for an effortless easy glide.
They have "beefed" up the handle, and introduced dishwasher friendly, stainless steel grease pan inserts for ease of cleaning.
To eliminate hot spots and the occasional "oven banging noise" They have
redesigned their oven baffle. The baffle improves air flow inside the cavity,
eliminating the hot spots and creating a better bake
A Reinforced oven back has been designed for whisper quiet convection fan
operation.
They enlarged the gas connection box for ease of installation.
The gap between the oven door and kick plate has been reduced for a
cleaner, stylish fit and finish.
They have redesigned the range top by moving the grates forward,
redesigning the side trim and machine molding the castings to shrink gaps
for better fit and finish
All center filler, ring and top grates are now machine molded and porcelain
enameled in the USA. A vast improvement for the fit and an exact color
match.
All backguards and Island trims have been redesigned to fit the new range
top, making them deeper stronger. They also eliminated the flange, squaring
the backguard top
They have redesigned the swing doors on all ranges.
They have introduced a wall oven latch mechanism to ensure a complete seal.
All welded seems are now regrained and polished, eliminating any blend
marks.
Personally I think BlueStar as a company has done a great job of listening to their fans and one by one making the improvements that their fans asked for and responded more rapidly than I have seen from competing brands. Its easy to pick on issues but I think Bluestar has been and is focusing on solutions. This is Just my simple opinion.

bkirchert, thank you for your detailed post. Very helpful.
Of course, always more questions: any idea when a photo of the V1 will be available? Are the grates now shiny or do they still look like the original cast iron grates?

Thanks Sayde - I need to send them a note sometime soon.

My stove delivery is supposed to be imminent, so we'll see how it goes. Hopefully they didn't move the gas connection box or the plug or anything else crucial. ;-)

I think it's great they're doing all these fixes. I also think that as a person with a stove on order, I should have been notified and sent a list of changes and dimensions. Sending an amended delivery estimate would have also been extremely helpful to my kitchen remodel schedule - having to eat a month because your stove hasn't showed up kind of bites. I wouldn't necessarily have minded the extra time, but I think I should have been given the choice up front.

But apparently wanting a realistic idea of when my stove will arrive and what it will look like when it gets here, is unreasonable. I find it somewhat unbelievable that they're shipping a stove no one has seen ...

Sayde, Sorry for my delay (vacation and family time). Yes, I can get pictures of the new V1. I'm not sure how to post pictures here. If you get me your email or instructions of how to post pics here I will get you the pictures. As for other questions, Please fire when ready.

bkirchert -- can you email me the images? If you click on my name you will see a link to send me an email.

The list of fixes was long but did not include hinges. Still a worry (?)

When will Blue Star publish, including new specs, new install drawings and instructions?

My 48" was delivered in February and just finished installing. My White Glove service was yesterday. Everything seems to be perfect. It is interesting, the white glove serviceman said nothing about oiling hinges. He did show me how to replace ignitors if I ever need to.

So far, I love the new range. It works perfectly. I have tried out everything except the french top. I need my saucepans before I can do sauces. Furniture starts being put in the house next week, with kitchen stuff being carted up in the car every other day ....

Hope it turns out I got a gem instead of a lemon!

dancingsams:

Does your new BS range have any of the upgrades spoken of in this thread, such as individual burner ignition, new grates and bowls, etc?

Would like to know.

Thanks.

Hi Kelsold,

My unit has excellent ignition so far. When lighting one burner, all of them click but only one lights. I am not sure how to tell if it has the new bowls or grates. The bowls & grates do lift out easily for cleaning and maintenance, and are the same black as the top. How can I tell if they are the new design?

I have the island trim back part, and it fits very nicely.
There has been no banging, and the convection is essentially silent.
I have the two grease pans - they fit great and are very easy to remove and clean (I found out there are mice in the garage where it was stored prior to install, due to droppings on these pans!).

The fit and finish is much nicer than the ones I saw in our local store.

Did I miss anything? I'll try to get photos up next week. The new house is rural, so internet is slow up there!
Let me know any further questions and I'll try to get answers asap.

Hi dancingsams:

Sounds great and you answered my questions. I have a BS 6 burner rangetop and I am very pleased with it just like you are with your range.

I wonder when someone will receive one of the units with the upgrades everyone is speaking of in this thread. I'm just curious how it will actually compare.

Thanks for your response to my questions.

My 48" arrives Monday. I'll post re whether it has the new features. I surely hope so as it took forever. I arranged for the burner/griddle positions to be different than it's standard configuration, and have been told ad nauseum that this "custom" layout is what took so long. When placing the order I was told 4-6 weeks; assuming it gets here Monday it will have taken over 13 weeks...

48" arrived. Was very excited to see that it is indeed the new V1 model. The most obvious difference to me is the improved styling of the backguard vent. It looks much more finished and substantial. The cast iron top is rather uniform, with no difference between the grates and the bowls. The fit between the grates, the bowls and the range seems much better than older models I've played with in the store. There isn't really any play between the cast iron components. I have nothing bad to say about overall fit and finish - everything looks great. The convection fan is indeed whisper quiet, and the single point ignition system for the burners works very well.

A few negative points, however:
1) I heard plenty of banging during the oven burn in procedure (probably 4 or 5 loud knocks from within the larger oven). Hopefully this diminishes over time.
2) There were no leveling screws supplied with the griddle.
3) And this is a whopper, the burners were not arrayed per the order. I paid an extra $700.00 and waited an extra 10 weeks to have the griddle to the far right and the remaining burners configured in a particular order. The griddle was properly placed but the burner array was a stock configuration. I am furious about this. I'm aware the burners can be moved about the rangetop, and I'm reasonably handy (I've done the entire kitchen remodel myself) but this is an instance where (a) I don't want to void a warranty by doing it myself and (b) I'm so angry with BS over this that I'm going to insist on being reimbursed the "customization" charge (and then some) and make them eat whatever it takes to move the burners around.

The rant being over, I should point out that the rangetop cooks like a dream. Made a huge paella for the family last night and it was wonderful. The extra BTUs (the BS replaced an old GE with 9K burners) really make a difference, particularly with searing the meats and getting a good char on my paella pan. Hopefully the issues with the burner configuration will be addressed to my satisfaction shortly, and I can get on with enjoying the range.

So when do we come over to sample the paella? :)

I would definitely not recommend moving the burners yourself. You may already know, but for those that don't, it's not just swapping the burners. Each burner has a specific orifice that is sized to that burner. It's the termination of the flex line which inserts into the bottom of the burners air inlet (venturi tube). Moving burners requires moving the orifices and although it's not hard for them to do it in the field, it requires careful handling to prevent gas leaks.

Have fun cooking on your new range.

Paul, thanks for posting.

May-be the person who does your White Glove service can move the burners.

Any chance you can post a photo of your range? Blue Star said there were changes with the front bullnose and also with the spacing between the oven door and the kick plate. Would love to see. For some reason Blue Star is not displaying the new V-1.

pic

pic 2

Here are some pics of my 30" RNB. Most came from my cell phone so they're not great but I hope that they help. The last one was taken by husband with his camera so it's clearer. It was taken before my new knobs arrived.

Thanks for the photos! Even from far away you can see the gap between the oven door and the kickplate has been decreased.

Paul, it fits into your stunning stainless kitchen so perfectly -- it looks like it was designed especially to showcase the Blue Star. Looks wonderful.

Carecooks, love the black-green -- great color. The new grates do look a little tighter.

The other day a reader on Kitchens posted her blue Blue Star in her white kitchen -- it is fascinating to see how the range personality seems to morph with different color changes to fit into different styles of kitchen.

Thanks again! It really helps.

Where did you get the new knobs from?

The knobs came from Bluestar. I ordered them when I ordered my range but for some reason they shipped late. They were an additional $50.00 each. My guess is that they could be ordered at any time. You use the regular Bluestar RAL color book to pick the colors.

Oops! I just realized that the knobs were $220.00 for all 5 so it was less than $50.00 each.

Does single point ignition mean that you wouldn't expect the clicking to happen on all the burners before lighting? Dancingsams observations say they all click when you turn on one burner so I'm a little confused.

Does any one know if any parts for the V1 might be compatible with the RNB models? Can the new bowls and grates fit the old? Can you buy the grease insert trays and will they fit? Can the ignition modules be changed out to the new one and work the same as the V1? New oven floor with the baffle design, I would hope that would still fit the RNB. I'm awaiting service for my ignitor module system and hope that the new can retrofit with the old.

carecooks: i love your rnb! i'm about to order mine. we had hoped to order a color but my husband is reluctant to wait the 6-8 weeks for the stove. how long did yours take to be done from order to receiving? also...can we get the stainless steel but order a different colored knob? because then i could get the ss rnb but order dark blue knobs and that would make all the difference...even if i just wait for the knobs and then replace them when they come.

ebean,

The range took almost 8 weeks to get here. The knobs took about 3 months! I don't know if that is usual or a mix-up. If you go to the Bluestar website you'll be able to click on "Build Your Own Bluestar". They show stainless and a few of their available colors although you can choose any of the 190 colors for the range or the knobs.They also have different trims (copper, pewter, etc.) but I don't have any idea how much they cost. Although the trims would have to come with the range, I don't see why the knobs couldn't be ordered later.

If I were you I would call Bluestar directly to get the info and when you call them order their color swatches so that you can get a better match for what you want. Do not use your computer for color matching. Hope that helps.

The Blue Star dealers have little samples of all the RAL colors -- they're small but they're true. Still might be worth it to get a bigger swatch.

My door just fell off!!!!!! I have had two "black glove" "stove experts" out and I still have no ignition on my simmer burner. My gasket is not touching door. Several other things. Nothing was fixed!!!! The door never shut properly. They "adjusted it" once, and it still didn't line up. Next were supposed to come back with shims. Shims for this stove don't exist!!! It continued to get worse, and two days ago it smashed on my brand new tile floor, thankfully not my foot. I also have to add that the second "black glove" service, which was almost two months after the first, after at least eight phone calls that went unanaswered, FAIL. Supreme Appliance was the company that came out. Don't ever let them touch a Bluestar stove. They have no expertise on this stove. We are soooooo disapointed with this product and the service.

Paul and Carecooks,
I am just getting ready to order a 48"range, weighing heavly towards BS. Are you have any problems with the door heating up? The rep told me that was resolved? Are the hinges a problem? Is it only the normal door style or french door style. And are you still having in knocking noises in the oven?
Thanks so much

Hi spruce40,

I've been using my BS off and on for about a month. (I've been having my hardwood floors refinished and have had to be out of the kitchen more than I would have liked). That being said, so far it has been wonderful. I have only ever had awful cooktops and so-so ovens so the BS has been a dream. I have been happy with how evenly everything cooks in my fry pans. I finally did some wok cooking this week and for the first time ever my food didn't steam in the wok. It really cooked properly. I know that folks here want the highest heat possible for wok cooking and I'm definitely not an expert but I thought the BS does a fantastic job.

Now to the oven, the first thing that I did was bake some fruit pies for July 4th. They were evenly cooked and beautiful coming out of the oven. Yesterday, I did my first roast chicken. Very crisp, golden skin and moist interior. I only added some spices along with salt and pepper.

Now to actually answer your questions. I have a normal door and I checked it last night after about 20 minutes at 425º. I could easily put my hand on it. Now the vents on the sides of the door do put out heat, not enough to burn but enough to make some of the metal drawer handles next to the stove pretty warm. I don't have any floor banging that people have complained about. According to my oven thermometer the oven is right on target. I have found that the oven is slower get to temp than I expected but it is a larger oven than I have had before and it's not an unreasonable amount of time. Also, the recipes that I have made have taken a little longer to cook than I expected (an extra 10 minutes or so), however, everything has come out so well I'm not complaining. Every oven has its idiosyncrasies so as long as it works well I'm a happy camper

The hinges - I can't tell you anything. They aren't a problem for now. Like everyone else on this forum who has a new BS, I'm hoping that it won't become a problem. It usually takes a while for it to show up. But the info that came with the range still recommended oiling them. That could just be a precaution or maybe the problem isn't fixed yet. I'm hoping that it's the former. My only question is how to get the door skin off. The "White Glove" guy hadn't worked on the new BS before. He had worked on the Garland ranges and was pretty experienced with other ranges. He couldn't figure out how to get the skin off without opening the door. Of course, if the problem is a stuck door that's not going to work. I'm going to contact BS and see if they can give me directions, just in case.

An aside-when the white glove guy came, he couldn't believe how cool the BS was. He kept saying "Dude, you've really got some firepower." and "Dude, that infrared broiler is da bomb." It's really funny when you realize that I'm a gray-haired 60-year-old woman. Oh and for what it's worth he said that I had the best oven thermometer.

Thanks for the information Carecooks! Can't wait to order a BS. My sales person is on vacation until tomorrow. I think I am going to order a 48" 6 burner with a griddle, Ruby colored knobs and a black stove.

spruce40,

Black with ruby knobs! Very cool! Also, I really wanted 6 burners (so I am really envious) but I didn't have room to do that and the Kohler Stages 33 prep sink. Even though I have twinges about missing those extra burners, the Kohler was so worth it.

By the way, when my knobs came, one had a small chip. I called BS and they told me that they are sending out a new one which I should get this week. Apparently they only paint the knobs once a month which is why they can take longer to get to where they are going. Enjoy your BS!

I contacted Matt Schutte at BS with questions about dealing with a frozen door (if it happened), how to remove a skin from the door, possible videos detailing how to fix problems, and about the whole lubing thing. He was very responsive.

First Response from Matt:

"Ive received your email and will be able to assist you with the questions you have concerning the lubricating of the hinges on your oven door. The white paper you received just stated that they need to be lubricated to maintain proper performance. I normally advise people that it all depends on heavily you use the oven as to how often you should lubricate the hinges. If you use it every day then I would say apply some of the lubricant every 2-3 weeks. If you use a few times a week then you would only need to put some on every 2 months or so. You would just need to open the oven door and apply some of the lubricant to the hinge area. Once applied open and close the door a few times to work it in and youll be all set.
Removing the door skin is a pretty easy process should you ever need to do it. There is a latch located on top of each hinge that pulls towards you to unlock the door from the range. After these are pulled forward, open the door about 1/3 of the way and it lifts up and away from the range. Turn the door over and on the bottom there are five screws holding the two sides together. After these are removed the door opens like a clam shell exposing the inner workings of the door.
As for the videos youve asked about I can say theyre coming soon. I filmed them about two months ago and received the final version for approval in the last few days. Ive been informed that they will be added to bluestarcooking.com soon as we are currently updating the website."

Second Response from Matt to my follow-up question about what to do if there is a frozen door problem and letting him know that the white glove guy had discovered one missing screw on the door.

"First I have my shipping department sending out a replacement screw for you to put on the oven door. Secondly in the event the door stick you have two choices. The first one is to simply pull the door until it opens. This will cause the inner liner to bend but will prevent whatever is in there from sitting in the oven until service arrives. Since you have the new style oven door with the additional venting this shouldnt be a problem. The second option is to remove the two screws holding the kick panel and remove it from the unit. This is the panel that runs the length of the range under the oven door. This will allow you to access the screws holding the oven door together and let you gain entrance to the inner workings of the door. The good news is that the combination of the new door style and occasional lubrication will prevent you from having to use either of these options. If you have any other questions please let me know and Ill do my best to answer them."

He also said, " If someone has any additional questions they can contact me directly at (800) 449-8691 ext 2124."

Hope that helps!

Thank you so much, Care Cooks!
This is really helpful. It's not the perfect answer ( which would have been new better door hinges) but practically speaking it seems to be assuring customers that if they have the vented door and do the lubrication they won't get into trouble. Now, who really know, as there is no adequate history yet with the new door. But the risks of a debacle seem to have been lowered. Sufficiently???? Time will tell. . . .

Sayde,

I agree that new door hinges would be better but I don't mind doing the lubrication. And it does seem that most folks don't have a problem with the door (even those who bought before the fix) so I personally feel that the likelihood is slim. I have none of the other problems that folks had so I do feel much less anxious now.

By the way, I tried the recipe on the cover of this month's Saveur (peppers stuffed with a feta cheese mixture and broiled). It was the first time that I really gave the broiler a work-out. I had to broil the chiles to soften them and then broil the stuffed chiles. Everything came out evenly and perfectly cooked (pretty darn tasty, too).

You're making me hungry! We have been making our meager little repasts in a kitchen rigged up in the laundry room downstairs. Greek stuffed peppers! We're going to have to work harder and faster!!!!!!
Seriously, thanks for the posts. It is good to hear from the folks who are NOT having a problem!!!!

Hi Spruce,
Sorry for the late reply. I am still enjoying cooking on the Bluestar and would recommend the purchase of one but with the following caveat: Don't count on Bluestar to be reliable when it comes to white glove or whatever service you may have to arange directly through the company. So far, the range is great and the company stinks. My earlier posts mentioned that the 48" range for which I waited approximately 3 months showed up with the burners in the wrong configuration. I was scheduled for white glove service on July 30 (where the burner placement would be corrected) and no one showed up. After many calls to Bluestar and the dealer (dealer, with whom BS does not contract for the white glove service, has been great, btw - quick to respond and always on my side), service was rescheduled for August 6. So I stayed home from work - again - to have the service company call me at 2pm to say the truck broke and the tech wasn't coming. They offered me a service call for tomorrow (Aug 10) but wouldn't agree to make me the first service call of the day. Despite that I pleaded with them and urged they do me that favor since they failed to show up, they wouldn't agree. Calls made to Bluestar on Friday just after 2pm are still unanswered. The dealer spoke to the local BS rep who claimed to have had a conversation with me on Friday wherein he assured me I would be the first service call of the day on Aug 10. I most certainly did not have a conversation with the rep on Friday and I thoroughly explained that to the dealer. The dealer is contacting the rep again and I'm waiting to hear.
To complicate my life, my household endured many months of the standard discussions, debates, arguments and finally combat over whether to purchase a Wolf or a Bluestar. I was for the Bluestar and won. And now, when she has comments on this matter, I have to take them on the chin. ;)
As I said, I enjoy using the range, and am eager for BS to finish correcting its mistakes. I'm sure we'll get there someday, but I'm not holding my breath.

An update:
I heard from the dealer yesterday that the local Bluestar rep had insisted the service company make mine the first service call of the day at 8am so I could get to work. Well, the tech was an hour and fifteen minutes late but, figuring I am in the home stretch, I decided to think positively and not dwell on that fact. Even better, he was able to reconfigure the burners quickly and easily. Things were looking up! And then I asked for my griddle leveling screws. He never knew I needed them and didn't have any. Beginning the day this range was delivered (July 12, 2010) I have told Bluestar in PA (Mike), the local Bluestar rep (Andy), and the service company (Issco) that I needed leveling screws for the griddle. The Bluestar rep's response (through the dealer) today was "the screws are in the range under the griddle." This is the exact same rep I told a month ago that the threaded holes under the griddle were all empty and that I needed the screws to get the griddle level.
I need to get over this, as it's not worth all the negative energy, but this is a joke.

One of the items Bluestar really needs to work on is sifting through their service network to weed out the bums. The company I got my white glove service through, and the first call for a non-linear thermostat was a joke. Though the BS is not hard to service, they were not at all familiar with the product.

I too had the burners in the wrong place (I ordered it with one 22k & the 15k burner switched) when it arrived. When asked about it, the white glove tech said they couldn't be switched in the field. I told him what was involved and he wasn't comfortable doing it.

This is clearly an issue with Bluestar not training/prepping the service companies adequately. Fortunately, when I needed a followup service to fix the thermostat that wasn't fixed the first time, I asked for a different service co. and this one was really good and did his homework.

So while the BS is a great tool, the quality of service depends highly on the company being contracted. This is however, something BS can improve on.

Interestingly, the tech who showed up today was very familiar with the product and I was grateful for that, given the stories like yours and others about techs who arrive never having heard of Bluestar.

I'm thinking that the other improvements they could make would include actually managing the white glove service. I needed those screws and I told this to (1) the local Bluestar rep, (2) the white glove manager in Reading, PA and (3) the service company, but it wasn't important enough to any of those people to write down and follow up on. I think because BS has forced itself to be in bed with an endless array of service companies it sits back and expects those same companies to handle any issues with installation and start up, including missing parts. This is a poor model in the absence of aggressive and centralized management. Too many things can fall through the cracks. Worse, it sets up Bluestar to bear the brunt of any ill-will a customer has as a result of dissatisfaction with the service company.

I'm lucky in that I don't have any defects or problems in the range now (maybe I'm overly optimistic in thinking that the leveling screws were the only parts someone forgot to install in this range). Even if I have problems later, the dealer I bought it from has a fantastic service department that I've used before and know I can rely on. And, since the dealer threw in 4 years of warranty after the factory warranty is up, I know I'm free of repair costs for the next six years.

So I suppose I'm not worried about the long term, but I'm rather frustrated and disappointed in the short term. It cost me money each of the three times I had to carve time out of my calendar to give BS a chance to fix its mistakes, and still not all of them have been corrected. I'm sufficiently annoyed that, depending on what happens next, I'm not certain I would continue to recommend the brand.

Well, in this case, I think it is clearly Bluestar that let the ball drop. How hard is it to drop a couple of screws in an envelope and send them to you. I had a very similar experience with BS where they completely ignored my request for a warranty replacement part that would have cost a couple of bucks at most including shipping. This trivial issue (that would have cost 10 min of time and a couple of dollars) frustrated me enough to make me question BS service in general. Not smart business.

I'd suggest you talk to your dealer and see what they can do. It's possible they can order the part and pass it on to you. It sounds like you have a good relationship with them.

Dealer spoke to the BS rep (Andy) on Tuesday, explaining that I still needed the leveling screws I've been asking for for a month and requested the rep arrange for BS to mail them to me. So I was hopeful they'd show up in the mail by week's end. Instead, Rep (Andy) called me on Friday saying "he'd like to send someone out to look at the griddle." I advised I'm not standing around at home all day for a tech to come out and tell me I have no leveling screws in the range. I just want the screws. He said he wasn't sure of the exact nature of the griddle leveling screws and that an email to BS was necessary to find out what to do (i.e., determine if there are more parts necessary to level the griddle than just screws). When I asked what BS said, he advised he hadn't sent the email yet. I reminded him that I asked him (and others) for these screws a month ago, and the dealer asked him for them 3 days earlier. As such, I was disappointed that nothing had been done about it yet. He said he'd make sure they got right back to him and he'd get right back to me.

I hadn't heard from him by the end of the day so I called him to ask about it, and he said he hadn't heard yet, but "...wanted to solve this problem asap...was going to make sure we get this ironed out... will personally see to it that this is corrected.... blah blah blah".

Dealer is arranging for further refund. That takes the sting out of this, but I still want to see this range fully constructed. Hopefully Andy the BS rep finds time today to call me about status of his email requesting technical advice on how to begin to devise a solution to this complex problem.

Bumping this. Wondering -- Paul did you get your problems resolved?

Hi Sayde,
I received the leveling screws in the mail over the weekend and was able to install them and level the griddle in about 10 minutes. Dealer arranged to refund an amount to make up for all the difficulty and, at long last, I'm happy.
Still love using the range - have already put it through its paces in a couple serious dinner parties and it works flawlessly.
:D

Hi Paul, I am so glad to hear that things are going well now.

As readers of my posts have gleaned I have been anxious about ordering. Have been especially concerned about the hinges and noted that the V-1 did not include any change to the hinge. I phoned Dennis Costello at Pacific Sales. He told me that the problem has been solved. He said that the oven gasket was extended around the bottom so that it now provides a shield preventing heat from getting to the hinge. This change was made long before V-1. He acknowleged that the problem had manifested primarily on the 30 inch but said that it is now "fixed". He did however say that it would be a good idea to lubricate the hinges every couple of months as a precaution. Just thought I would pass that along in case any one else is as nervous as I am.