Capital Culinarian Wolf Demo - Eurostove visit

13 years ago

Background

Just got back from a trip to Eurostove to see the Capital Culinarian first hand. Heres a little background on how I came to flying from Milwaukee to Boston to see a range: We are remodeling our kitchen and I was very close to purchasing a BlueStar, but then the Culinarian came to existence. I am not one for having to purchase the newest and latest thing, but I am for thoroughly researching and purchasing the best products that meet my specific needs. In case of the range that we plan on putting into our new kitchen, I was completely ignorant when I began my research. My wife and I love to cook, but have never taken the time to get the best range for our cooking needs. Our first thought was that we needed a dual oven (because that is what all the sales people say). We knew we wanted a gas top and we thought we wanted an electric oven. I have never been a fan of the sealed burners (we currently have a GE profile) and the way they shoot the flames outward and on the outside of my pans, but I didnt know there were any other options for residential kitchens. I thought the higher end ranges (Wolf, Thermador, etc) would somehow take care of this issue, but they did not. It wasnt until I came on this forum that I realized something else existed that addressed my issues with the sealed burner the open burner! Further research showed that gas ovens are capable of cooking evenly (with improvements to thermostat technology and location).

Wolf Demo

I went to a Wolf demo to see if I was wrong in my assumption that the open burner was the way to go. If those in attendance (about 15) represented all Wolf owners, than I have to say that people who buy Wolf are not interested in cooking, but are interested in showing off their expensive appliance to their dinner party guests, while their caterers use their equipment. They expect the appliance (especially the oven) to make them incredible cooks, why else would they ooh and ahh about auto shut off and program settings like "pizza stone". There was even a debate on why did they even bother getting a gas range when the induction range seemed to be the newest and neatest gadget! After I commented to the salesman (away from the crowd) that it seemed that most people at this demo dont actually cook, he said "well that represents a majority of our customers". I know this is not true of ALL Wolf users and I have to admit that being an engineer I was impressed with the gadgets, but overall the demo finalized my decision not to go with Wolf or the sealed / semi-sealed burners.

Eurostove visit

Trevor picked my wife and I up from Logan and took us to Eurostove. Along the way we asked a lot of questions regarding service, Capitals history, his history, etc He was very open, honest and did not shy away from difficult questions not your typical salesman or dealer. After going over the range in fine detail (grates, griddle, burners, oven door and racks, cleaning, etc) he left us to get some food for us to cook I wanted to see how well it would sear lamb chops, do a stir fry, use the griddle and how well the oven would cook a pizza (without a pizza stone setting J).The front burners do put out some intense heat and all the pictures and video are right on the flame is well concentrated towards the center. Trevor returned with all that we requested, plus a couple of whole chickens to try the rotisserie and some steaks. My wife commented that we wouldn't have time to cook the chicken, but Trevor said it would only take about an hour to do the rotisserie, which surprised my wife who does the roasting in the family. The lamb chops seared perfectly on high the browning was incredibly even. We then placed the chops directly into the 400 F oven for 8 minutes and they turned out great. While I stir-fried some vegetables, my wife cooked some tri-tip steak on the griddle. Trevor said they made a Wok grate that replaces the original grate, but did not have one on hand. He did go into some detail regarding using this new grate on the Capital versus dropping it into the Bluestar. There is already a detailed discussion on another thread, but seeing what he talks about first hand (regarding smothering the flame) I think the Capital will perform better with the new grate. Regardless, the Wok used directly on the original grate worked very well and made some very crisp and tasty veggies. The high heat gave the vegetables a flavor that I have never experienced at home. My wife did a great job cooking the steak on the griddle and is excited to use it. We then test drove the rotisserie. Pictures, words or video does not do this justice. We purchase rotisserie chicken from the grocery store about once a week to feed our 18-month son and ourselves and we have had very good ones and very dry and inedible ones. The chickens that came out of the Capital were the best that we have EVER had! The skin was totally crispy (not chewy) and the meat was the juiciest chicken meat ever experienced. We have already eaten so much by this time, but we couldnt help ourselves from eating this incredible chicken. Again, you must see this first hand to believe it. We then did a pizza on a pizza stone at 500 F. The pizza baked very evenly. It also gave me a chance to touch the door after being at 500 F. The door could be touched everywhere without ever feeling you had to remove your hand. I asked Trevor to spot-check some areas with his digital thermometer and the highest temperature I saw was 100 F. The water boiling test on the Wolf, BlueStar and Capital was also very impressive (this was discussed in other forums). The evenness of the boiling and the large size of the bubbles that were produced by the Capital were consistent with what others have said.

Overall impressions/concerns

Of course it is concerning getting a range that has not been used in any home kitchens as of yet, but having read the forums about Capitals president, Capitals track record thus far and my belief that Trevor will address any issues that may come up quickly and thoroughly, makes those concerns less of a factor. Why am I getting a Capital Culinarian versus a BlueStar? The heat distribution on the Capital range top, the rotisserie, the self-cleaning oven, and I am happy to support competition in an arena that seems to have been lacking in such. BlueStar should be thankful that this range is coming to market it will make them better in the long run and promote the open burner design (possibly even beyond this forum!). Look forward to getting the Culinarian in August/September and will be sure to post (good or bad) my experiences.

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Comments (23)

gbsim1
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Thanks Jlong. You seem the perfect one to answer my rotisserie question.... when you went to cook your pizza post rotisserie use, was there a lot of grease on the walls of the oven that then caused a smoking problem when you went to high heat for the pizza?

You said griddle but did you use the griddle or the grill for your steaks?

thanks again!
hpxmirage
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Thanks for writing up your experience. Much like you, I had a similar experience. Could I be a happy cook with the Bluestar that I was well on my way to purchasing? Yes. Would I prefer the Culinarian based on my schedule and preferences? Also yes.

It's nice to have choices.
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This thread is so sad!! Dcipher gave us a beautiful review of a new range that he and his wife both enjoyed using. Okay, I would have liked it if they'd baked cookies and yeast buns as well, but it's still a great review that tested many of the rest of the abilities of the range. Instead of appreciating the unbiased hands on trial of Dcipher's DW, we're carping on an offhand comment of Trevor's? I have both Wolf gas and Gaggenau induction cooktops. I can only relate to the "life" comment in that the gas sucks up oxygen like a dragon, in addition to the gonzo hood sucking up more with its great sucking breath (can anyone spell make-up air?). I feel like the induction gives me more control and lets me focus more on the food and less on the fire. So...what? Yes, the whole heat transfer to just boiled cooktop measure is trivial (and my induction flashes "h" when an element is too hot to touch as a reminder), but Dcipher obviously had misunderstood what was meant when we said that induction stays cool. That means that the adjacent areas to the element stay cool enough to clean up spills, to not crust on spill that aren't cleaned, and to not burn paper put under the pan, not that you can touch it after boiling. I understand that if he had thought that might be a draw for him, he might be disappointed that it wasn't the case. Instead, we're sniping about it! I love my cooking appliances. I've been cooking ever so much on them! They're lovely to use. But when asked to recommend a gas range, I mentioned the Culinarian as one whose features suited the cook in question. It seems like a lovely range and people are very happy so far with the performance. I'm sure Mr. & Mrs. Dcipher will be happy with it. And it was very generous of them to share their thoughts. Why can't we just wish them well with their new range and their new kitchen? Thank-you, Dcipher, for a lovely review. All the best to you both with your new kitchen to come.
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Servicing a Capital Culinarian is one of the easiest jobs for a tech because of design and accessibility. Through Utah there is a group of independent techs called Mr. Appliance. They've been certified to work on both the indoor and outdoor equipment for Capital. That applies to the all the other Rocky Mountain and Northwest States. IF a dealer is not a service center then these guys are more than capable of handling anything they would need to do. I have the 30" CC because of our counter configuration. My wife talked me into looking at it and we watched the Youtube videos. We also looked at the price and there was quite a bit of savings over the Wolf and the Blue Star. We saw no advantage in Viking, Blue Star was interesting until we spoke with a local dealer and they couldn't adjust one for our altitude and took it back the same day they tried to put it in. When we saw the Life Style Article provided by Mercedez Benz and their write up we had to have it. Had it sent to a dealer so we could pick it up and they got to look at it. Their sales staff was ooohing and awing when we took it out of the double wall box. Came on its own pallet. For everyday cooking and simmering I'll never even look at anything else. I put my high end stainless away and I've really enjoyed using my cast iron skillets and pans for baking and frying. We'll be building again in a few years and this time it will be the 60" with the double oven and again the gas range and ovens. The ceramic plates really make the oven work efficiently and evenly. I am suprised at all those waffling both dealers and consumers.....look at most of the chef shows now and they almost all have the Culinarian Stoves! Large smooth oven door handle, largest window on the oven door and the drip lip and catch trays make cleaning up my messes great and the design keeps it from getting into the door. Everything can go in the dish washer. I couldn't do half the things as easily with any other brand. By the way my son who's a welder looked it over and said he'd never seen seams in Stainless that were so nearly invisible and smooth. This is the upper end of tech in the cooking world for the common guy to get his hands on. I didn't get to try it out but made a lot of calls to dealers in the East and to California. I met one guy who was frustrated about getting a counter range and built in ovens. The contractor and the appliance dealer didn't know anything about Capital they said. I happen to know they did but he went back to California and bought what he wanted and had the cabinet guy put them in. He looked them in the eye and stated he would never cook on anything else again. I wish he'd known about Gygi the dealer in SLC. Would have saved him some trouble. Oh and Gygi does have an operating model in their culinary school which is in the center of the store and open to the public. I think that one is a 6 burner top 48".....have to look again. You don't know what you're missing until you get your hands on one of these pieces of kitchen equipment. I don't care what it takes, I'll always have one now in my home.
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Well, after months or reading about and comparing gas ranges, I finally decided on a Capital Culinarian. I spent a lot of time learning about different brands and understanding that open burners really are the right answer for good cooking. Initially I had decided on a Blue Star, but by fluke ran across the many informational videos from Eurostove on the Culinarian. Suddenly it was my front runner. Finally, we went and visited Trevor and coworkers at Eurostove. We spent the morning cooking the best stir fry and best steak I have ever made. These stoves really do make you a better cook, no question. The deal was sealed and I bought a Culinarian that day. Trevor had it shipped to me and I just now brought it into the house -a thing of beauty. The fit and finish are much better than Wolf or Bluestar. My only problem is the kitchen renovation won't be complete for a few more months, so I can't play with the stove. For now it has to sit in my dining room waiting while I continue to use my 30 year old electric stove! Thanks to Trevor and his crew for a fantastic purchasing experience. They so knowledgeable and helpful. It is great to have such great customer service! I'm not connected with Eurostoves or Capital in any way, just a very happy customer.
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Hey Shaotung Mommy, It's a great idea to the get the big blower -- I have a 1400 CFM blower mounted on my roof and it works great. With the blower on it will not heat up your kitchen. Remember to make sure the construction crew avoid sharp turns or too many turns in the blower ductwork. I think I used 10" round duct. If you have upper cabinets make sure they are set back 3" from the sides of the cooktop, so you will have 36 + 3 + 3 = 42" between your upper cabinets, and your range hood should be 42" wide to catch smoke billowing up from the woks. Also make sure the range hood has adequate depth to catch the smoke and heat from the front burners (woks on the front burner probably will extend past the front edge of the cooktop). Most stock range hoods are too shallow for these powerful cooktops. The hood height above the floor and cooktop... I used a piece of foamboard to determine how high I wanted mine. Obviously you want it as close to the cooktop as possible but it needs to be high enough to keep you from banging your head. I've had only one person bump their head on the hood. It didn't draw blood but they didn't do it a second time! The last issue is the make-up air. With a 1400 CFM blower the air has to come from somewhere or it won't be very effective. I was not able to come up with a good make-up air solution so I need to open windows when I turn on the vent fan/blower. It is cold in the winter here near DC, but it will depend on where you are located. I hope you have a window or two in your kitchen, or a doorway to another room where you can open windows. Enjoy! Billy
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eleena
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Jlong,

I was going to get Wolf integrated modules including the 22K gas unit because I wanted to have both induction and gas. I do cook and I am NOT at all interested in showing off my appliances (or anything). I know they are expensive but we have frequent power outages where I live and having gas is a "must" IMO. I also want induction because - supposedly - it is more energy efficient and heats the house less (as it gets very hot here in Summer).

I have not tried cooking on either Wolf unit but have read a lot of rave reviews here. I am confused now.

I am guessing that the gas cook-top burners are similar to the range burners, are they not? So, are they sealed or semi-sealed?

I did not quite understand why you said that "I have to admit that being an engineer I was impressed with the gadgets, but overall the demo finalized my decision not to go with Wolf or the sealed / semi-sealed burners."

I would really appreciate if you could elaborate. I need to know if I'd better re-think the cook-top thing.

Thanks!
mojavean
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Great narrative. Thanks for providing your experiences here, Jlong.

Questions: Did you order the Culinarian or will you continue to shop?
If you ordered, when were you promised delivery?
Apart from the wok grate, what else is going to be altered in the production stove?

Also, how did you get tri-tip in Boston? That's a long way from Paso Robles.
thusie
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
jlong,

Very informative post, thank you.

Starting to get excited about wok cooking again!
sayde
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Jlong, thank you for a detailed and informative post. Appreciate the specific details about cooking different kinds of food. Your observation that the wok on high heat gave the vegetables a "flavor that I have never experienced at home"-- that's it, for me. That's what I want!
Thanks for reporting!
sadiebrooklyn
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I can't order my culinarian until I know when my kitchen will be done - maybe not til january or so - so I will be most interested in reading your comments after yours arrives! Thanks so much for the lengthy post!
billy_g
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Great post, jlong.

Did you have the chance to use the rear burners? I'm wondering if there is any issue with the low backsplash/island trim jutting out too far toward over the rear burners? If so, how much? I can't tell from the other photos if it's an optical illusion or not.

Thanks,
Billy
rhome410
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Like, Eleena, I'm interested in your specifics the led to crossing Wolf's open burner range off the list. The only thing you mentioned was the negative impression of the other Wolf customers, and I hope that wasn't the reason! ;-) I have a Wolf rangetop that I do sear and stir-fry on with reasonable success, as far as I know (all I have to compare with is prior experience on electric ranges), so I am curious about the differences you noted between the Wolf and the Culinarian.
jlong9
Original Author
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Gbsim:
I did not notice any smoking while we cooked the pizza at 500 F after the rotisserie. I checked the pizza multiple times while it cooked and the oven did not belch out smoke. I think having a drip pan underneath the chickens that we removed helped with this. It also did not appear to have too much grease on the walls of the oven either.
We used the griddle on the tri-tip which worked great and a grill pan on the ribeye steaks which also worked great (very even grill marks).

Eleena:
I cant speak for the modular units of the Wolf they seem pretty cool, but because I do not have room in my kitchen for any of the mods I did not pay them much attention during the demo. You appear to have very good reasons to get the wok mod and the induction mod. The sealed burners that the Wolf offers are for the dual range (gas top, electric oven) and the semi-sealed are for the all-gas range. I took a quick peek at their website and it appears that the wok mod is a sealed burner. I think you need to view Trevors videos showing Wolfs semi-sealed burner versus the open burner to appreciate the difference. The gadgets I am referring to are what come with Wolfs ranges. They have an elaborate digital control center and digital readouts on their knobs as well. At first I thought that was really cool, but the more I thought about it the more I realized that those things will not make me a better cook and there will just be more to go wrong. Again from looking at their website, the modular units look much simpler and may be perfect for your needs.

Mojavean:
I did purchase the Culinarian. Our kitchen will be ready by August/September so the timing couldnt be better to get in line for the first production run. Trevor is saying September will be when the Culinarian will ship. Beside the Wok grate there were some slight tweaks between what will be coming from the Capital in September versus what I saw at Eurostove. 1) The burners will be slightly different with internal igniters with covers versus exposed external igniters (inside the ring versus outside the rings). 2) The back burners will have slightly different hole arrangements to get to the true lowered BTUs (15,000 and 8,000) that are in the specs versus the 23,000 back burners with plugged holes to lower the BTU. 3) the lower oven rack will be lowered a couple of inches to allow for more space within the oven cavity. All of these changes were brought about by Trevors suggestions and his experience with what will make a range a success in home kitchen (i.e. not needing to have 4 23K BTU burners).
Trevor must have a special stash of tri-tip he keeps for important guests :)

Billy G:
I did not use the rear burners to cook the 23K was too tempting to mess around with the lowered ones. I did not notice any interference that may occur with the island trim, but I also did not pay too close of attention to that detail.

I also look forward to truly cooking again and will definitely post my experiences in September.
PRO
Trevor Lawson (Eurostoves Inc)
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
the backspalsh does not interfere with a large pan on the back burners, it does however slightly affect the size of a skillet.

A skillet which is 11 7/8" wide at the rim can still be centered on the burner grate.
billy_g
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Trevor,

That is perfect information - thank you. I just checked my big Cajun pots and they're about 12" across so they should work fine on the back burners.

Are the back burners available with 23K? I assume it is mix and match with the burners.

Billy
PRO
Trevor Lawson (Eurostoves Inc)
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
You can have as many 23K 15K or 8K burner as you desire in any location, the cost per change is $100.00

standard lay out on all ranges and cooktops

2 x 23k front corners
1 x 8k back left
? x 15K for all other burners.
bickybee
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I'm looking for a rangetop, either slide in or drop-in. Everything about this range looks perfect to me except the "island trim" which won't work in my application (in front of a window). Usually island trim means the trim is flush with the counter surface. This one rises above the back of the unit. How will people use this on an island?
footwedge
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I thought it was stated the CC does not come with island trim. Can somebody clarify?
patti626
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
thank you for your info! I cook a great deal, i want a great working range top but also want it to look fantastic. my husband insists on an american made product (we live in Michigan) so i am leaning CC or bluestar. keep us posted on how you like the CC
appliance_3264
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
patti626,

just thought i would let you know that Wolf is also made in america, Wisconsin actually
PRO
Trevor Lawson (Eurostoves Inc)
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
The island trim on the Capital Culinarian is 3" tall. You can see what it looks like on the Web site.

When using this trim on an island you need to cover the back of the IT trim, we had to do that with the Bluestar in our cooking school, all trims that I can think of are unfinished on the back side.
bickybee
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Trevor, what do you cover the back of the trim with? Can you post a picture?

Thanks
PRO
Trevor Lawson (Eurostoves Inc)
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
If you send me an email I can return a picture to you ( I don't know how to post pictures sorry)

We used some wood that matched the face of the Island, most people would use the same as the counter top
bickybee
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Trevor, I just sent you an email through the Eurostoves website. I don't know how to send emails through GardenWeb. Does anybody know if that's possible?
dodge59
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Yep click on the user name. Their page will come up.
Click on "Send Email"
Easier than opening an oven door on a Blue Star (LOL)

Gary
bickybee
13 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I tried that Gary, but I don't see a place where it says "send email".

Wish I had a Blue Star so I could test your hypothesis. :-)

Capital Culinarian Wolf Demo - Eurostove visit

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Capital Culinarian Wolf Demo - Eurostove visit

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