I still love the looks of the Wolf, but after actually going to a dealer that carried Wolf and BS and CC (and others) I purchased the Capital. I was able to try them all out. If you can do that you should, rather than rely on others' opinions. I was dead set on the Wolf, but after comparing the two on the spot it wasn't even a difficult decision. For me, the build quality and performance of the CC was unmatched.
I also liked the BS very much.

In the end, there are many happy Wolf owners out there and the Wolf is a capable range, so I don't think you should lose sleep over it if the Wolf is the one you want.

Best of luck!

Like you, I read all the rave reviews on the CC and the BS, but it decided to go with Wolf. I know 3 people who own Wolfs, and they absolutely love them. Their service is unmatched and that is a big deal to me. Most of the people repairing the CC's have never even seen one. I believe all three of these appliances will perform well, but as I have learned with all of my major purchases, an appliance is only as good as the company that stands behind it.

What is the Wolf lacking and why do most seem to have more favorable opinion of BS and CC?

Wolf rangetop/cooktop burners lack the power and heat direction of both BS and CC.

Wolf at maximum produces less heat and alot of the heat produced goes to the edges of the pan and off to the side.

BS and CC are capable of more heat and direct it to the center of the pan.

Wolf fans generally are people that decided long ago that is what they were going to get. Because friends have them or they fell in love with the look when looking at kitchen magazines or some remodeling TV show.

Not becuase they researched the performance. Which is what people on GW Appliance Forum do. If you research and buy based on performance it will lead you away from Wolf cooktops,rangetops and ranges.

Why spend $4K plus on a capable range when you can spend the same amount on a class leading range?

This forum is populated by people who are bigoted against sealed burners. That's why CC and BS receive such raves. Many of us have sealed burner ranges - Wolf, DCS, etc. and are quite pleased with them.

I'll take a stab at it, because I used the same analogy when discussing this very topic with a friend this week. I bought a CC and was questioned about its merits. I compared the luxury range situation to the luxury car market many years ago. Wolf and Viking are like Mercedes and BMW. Everyone who owned one was proud of it. They weren't cheap, but you know what you got. The CC and BS are kind of like Lexus, Infinity and Acura used to be when they first hit the market. They generally cost less than the known luxury brands at the time, but you got more for your money. Performance matched or exceeded the European brands. So who bought those new luxury brands back then? Well, many car enthusiasts were keen on them. Also people with some money but still looking at value really liked them. Fast forward to today and you'll find that very few would argue the merits of those three brands as luxury brands. You'll also find that resale value is every bit as good as the European brands.

I currently have a 36" all gas wolf. I like it a lot and have not had any problems with it. I think for my everyday needs, it is plenty hot.
However, for my next kitchen, I am thinking of getting the Capital Culinarian because I am curious about the higher btu burners and the rotisserie option and from reviews, it sounds like it is just as good as the wolf in build quality. For me, I would be happy with either and when I am ready to purchase, the price and my ability to get a good deal will make a huge determining factor in my decision.

Six year owner here....Love the performance of my 30-inch DF Wolf. Love the easy clean-up. It's a superb cooking machine that more than meets my needs for frequent entertaining, daily cooking, gourmet extravaganza dinners, etc. The BTU output is more than adequate for the sauteeing I do....I don't do WOK cooking.

The oven performance is excellent, resulting in wonderful baked goods, roasts, pizzas, broiling, etc. And the temperature probe ensures a perfectly roasted meat.

I also greatly appreciate that I have never had a second of problem with this range. It was installed and checked-out by the local Wolf dealer, it performs flawlessly and consistently. This consistent, high quality performance is worth a great deal in my book. Other popular brands seem to have more problems....perhaps they're working the bugs out of the relatively new models.

I don't think "one size fits all" has much merit in appliance selection. You need to determine what's important for you as you prepare and produce meals in your kitchen, then investiage those products, observe their function, check out their reliability, yada-yada, and make the decision that is best for you and your family.

Not sure if people on this forum are more knowledgeable, but I definitely think people here are biased towards what they own, or sell or market..... And I'm biased towards my Wolf...it's the best range I've ever owned.

Funny, I had the same reaction as the poster above comparing a Wolf to a German car and the others to an upstart Lexus. Some may prefer to think that they got better performance per dollar from the Lexus, but in my view the service I get from my German car dealer, the knowledge that these things have worked and worked well for decades, a frankly better looking product, and the desire to have no bells and whistles but just a product that performs (flawlessly in my view) every time you ask it to do so led me to stick with Wolf, and have no regrets. That and the Sub-Zero/Wolf package discount made it an easy decision.

Someone recently did the comparison more as Wolf is the top end of the more civilized, residential ranges. BlueStar is the most residential of the commerical-style ranges. Capital is somewhere in between.

I don't know if this is accurate, but it makes sense as people talk about them here.

I have a little Wolf closed burner cooktop, with one small burner and one medium burner. It has the sideways flame, etc., that the others have been concerned about. It's hands down better than any other gas stove I've ever cooked on, and the open burner range/rangetop should be that much better. I'm a good cook, but I have no pretensions to being anything but a home cook. I do have any desire to cook like they do in restaurants. My cooking is often better, anyway, and I get to some very fine restaurants. :)

That said, I have a friend who uses a big wok to cook for company, and also cooks slabs of meat. I suggested he might like a Culinarian, for the extra bit of oomph. He decided it was more range than he needed and got Wolf. :)

The point is, there's nothing wrong with Wolf, but there are extra right things with Capital and BS.

Bigoted is a pretty strong word, I'd say...the folks here have strong preferences and opinions about a lot of things. If they didn't, nobody'd ever post anything...LOL...

I wanted a Wolf because I live in Wisconsin and I thought it'd be cool to own a product manufactured here at home, not far from where I live. Unfortunately I did my research a little too well and ended up with Miele induction instead. That said, Wolf is a good company that manufactures solid products and if a Wolf is what you want, because of the looks, performance, customer service or whatever, then go ahead and get it and be happy.

Cj

I had a Wolf in my previous house and I have a Wolf now. I loved the previous Wolf and I love this one.

Do I have anything bad to say about any other range: no (except for the Thermador my first Wolf replaced).

Are there other brands out there that are just as good? Possibly. If I move again (yeah, right) will I shop around? Nope. I'll get another Wolf.

I agree that everybody's needs and preferences are different. Often we tend to be driven by what we most dislike about our current range (or kitchen in general, for that matter).

In my case when I moved 3 years ago I went from an old Wedgewood that I had cooked on for many years to a brand new GE profile. I very quickly realized two things I really disliked about my new stove. One was that the back burners were too weak, although the front burners were fine. The second thing was that although the front right burner was plenty hot at 17000 BTU, when turned up it tended to overshoot the pan in a way my older stove never did and burned things on the outside of the pan. I actually found my self sauteing on the weaker front left burner, even though I wanted more heat sometimes.

I had no idea about sealed versus open burners or anything at that stage, but planning the kitchen remodel I knew I wanted to get a new range that solved both those problems.

Now, after lots of research, I realize that the overshooting problem is directly related to the sealed burner. Since I never really cared about the different in cleaning between my old stove and new one (they were quite different, but I wouldn't say either was better), I focused a lot on evenness of heat. In my research I found Viking and GE monogram to be the most like my current range, Wolf and Thermador somewhat better and BlueStar and the Capital Culinarian to be the best at solving the problem I most wanted to solve (except for induction, which I strongly considered, but rejected as not going with the look I wanted for our 1909 Craftsman house).

Other criteria might have made be go other ways, like if I had a strong preference about the cleanup (I admit I worry about the roughness of the BlueStar grates). I haven't made my final decision yet, but the Capital Culinarian is certainly at the top of my list. Having something with a longer track record does pull me towards Wolf.

Again, I think my main point is to decide what's important to you. Other people's opinions aren't worth much if they value different things than you do (and be honest with yourself about what you do value, looks or brand recognition can be important factors as well).

Today was my second meeting with my contractor regarding design plan for kitchen and I may be looking at 36" range as opposed to 48" range. I have a tight budget I'm working with and must stick to it even if it hurts at times :) Part of me keeps questioning if I really need at 48" anyways- I think I just like the looks and want something that really gives the kitchen a wow factor! Maybe I should do 36" with splash of color (or red knobs!)

Anyways, all of your comments are greatly appreciated! I'm glad to get some feedback from Wolf owners. I was really beginning to question Wolf given the lack of positive feedback or comments on this site. I am kind of a traditional gal and do like things that have been around and stood the test of time and still do have good reputation and Wolf seems to have that.

If Wolf fits into my budget, I will probably go that route although I'm sure the other ranges are excellent. I am figuring out what is important to me and Wolf is leading the pack ; )

I looked hard at the burners and chose a BlueStar RNB and I could not be happier with the choice. The direct flame is great and there are times when I'm really glad for the output. Excellent broiler too. Good (and big) oven.

But some of the negative comments about Wolf seem over-stated to me. I cooked once on a Wolf in another person's home -- a full dinner that had been auctioned off at a pre-school thing -- and I had no complaints about the range at all. Customer satisfaction ratings on the Wolf (JDP surveys, etc.) seem to be extremely high. And if you think that there are not excellent home cooks and, indeed, serious professionals (not me, I'm another amateur) who own these things you are probably mistaken.

I think part of this is that when people focus greatly on A vs B comparisons the differences can really stand out -- sometimes much more than they do in day-to-day usage of either A or B. I love the open burners -- I do -- and I can fixate on them if directed to do so. But really, with a Wolf, are the flames shooting around the sides of the pan if I'm sauteing onion for a base for a risotto? There are times I notice the difference and times I don't.

I don't find the car analogies all that helpful. As others have suggested, we all have our own preferences and some of us find it very helpful in sorting through the myriad choices to check these out in person. And I was like one of the Wolf fans in this thread -- I found some of the Internet posts very informative, but it made a big difference to me that I actually knew two people, really, not just virtually, each of whom was able to report on several years worth of experience with a BlueStar range.

As I said (and have said before), I'm very happy with my choice. But I wouldn't suppose to know much at all about the type of person or type of cook who chooses a different model or a different manufacturer. Look, try, and in the end we all pays our money and takes our chances.

I agree with much of what has been said here. There are different strengths and weaknesses that you need to match up with your style of cooking and comfort levels as far as obtaining service.
I almost think some would be better off with a rangetop and wall ovens so you could consider the oven and burners separately.
I have cooked/baked on various ranges over 50 years and only three years ago bought something with higher range burners and convection. I can cook /bake/roast on any of them. Having said that, it is wonderful to have a great range. You can teach an old dog new tricks(baking/roasting with convection).
I have a Wolf DF and love it. You might consider the DF if you do a lot of baking/roasting because of the electric elements, you can use the various modes to direct the heat from the top or bottom. It will also keep the temperature swing a little tighter. If you broil steaks/fish though you may want to consider something with an infrared broiler.
It may be important for you to consider how hot the oven door gets. I don't like standing cooking in front of a hot door myself and we have several little ones in the family. The Wolf doors do stay cool.
As far as burners, I have found the sealed Wolf burners on the DF, which are different from the Wolf AG work well for me. I use the simmer, which is the lowest of low on all burners quite a bit. Trevor who has the Culinarian did a simmer test with paper on the Culinarian, the Wolf AG semi sealed and Dacor. I did the same test with the Wolf DF on the regular burner and the simmer set on the lowest simmer and had no marks on the regular burner and one very slight spot of discoloration, almost imperceptible, the size of a fingernail on the simmer burner.
As far a s maximum heat from your burners, I have had plenty of heat from the Wolf for my needs. I tend to use either a 12 inch cast iron skillet or DeBuyer steel pans. Some like the BS or Culinarian for using a Wok, but for me going from 16-17 K BTUs to 21-23K BTUs is not the same as jumping to 100,000K +/bTUs of a real WOK burner. I planned to get one this summer for outside but have been busy taking care of my parents so that is on the back burner, so to speak. I do like the configuration of the BS burner and think it would contribute to even heating especially if you use less expensive or cast iron pans which tend to have hot spots. As far as the heat going sideways, I use a 7.5 inch pan to cook caramel and have no trouble with the outside of the pan getting hot with the flame adjusted properly. If I have little pan I use the small burner.
We have been very happy with the Wolf DF. For others, they have been happy with other choices.

Here is a link that might be useful: simmer test.

I was looking at Wolf too, originally. But once I saw and compared the oven dimensions and capacity of the Wolf to the CC, I have decided to go with the CC. Now with that said, we haven't even broken ground on our new kitchen, I can't tell you about performance. But the size of the oven alone, convinced me to switch. Hope that helps!

I've had a Wolf 48" AG for a little over a year and love it. Several posters on this site have the elitist attitude that Wolf owners are only in it for the prestige/looks and don't cook in their kitchens. It's humorous that they're judging others as snobs (pot/kettle and all that). I consciously did not choose a Bluestar because of several clients with customer service issues that were not satisfactorily solved. It is very possible that their quality control and service issues have improved. The Culinarian was not available at the time, but it is unlikely that I would have chosen it in its initial product run. I had a commercial range for years with 6 20000k burners and a flat top, and the Wolf burners do very well, especially at simmer, and the ovens are a vast improvement. The grill and broiler offer great heat when needed. I am not a stir-fryer, so waiting a minute or so longer for boiled water is the only difference I've noticed. I do let my pans heat up for a bit, but I've always done that.

I have a Bluestar cooktop and have cooked on my brother's Wolf. Both are good. I love my Bluestar, but I have to admit though, that most of the time I don't need those extra btu's. That is, 15k-17.5k is probably adequate for most needs. I do prefer open burners because they are easier to clean and provide more btu. I also like the simplicity of the Bluestar. So I think any of these choices will work out fine.

We are happy with our Wolf 36" AG range. We had just done a buy-back of our new, yet problematic Jade range when we chose the Wolf to replace it. We looked at BS as well, but we liked the Wolf just that much more. We liked that all burners were the same BTU's, and that all have the same simmer capabilities, the convection fan is nice and quiet. Customer service and tech support were known to be very responsive.

We got our range in/around the time that others were beginning to experience burner issues during oven use. We opted to wait out Wolf's search for a solution or fix (they swapped out our range at least twice during this time) because we liked the range, and knew we'd enjoy using it once a solution was found.

Wolf has continued to be responsive with regards to service issues (we have an extended warranty; Wolf's thank you for sticking with them throughout the issues with the burners), and we still enjoy cooking on/in our range.

The only thing I really dislike about our Wolf, is the fact that the oven cavity is just the slightest bit too shallow to fit full sheet pans, or 1/2-sheet pans placed side-by-side on the oven rack. We have a 36" wide range, and we can't take full advantage of that width, because the oven isn't deep enough. Other than that, it meets our cooking needs very well. Besides, maybe someday they'll come up with a flatter/more flush fan unit--one that could be retrofitted into existing ranges....just puttin' it out there!

We have a 36" Bluestar. I would not say that it is as elegant a design as the Wolf, but I have no doubt it will smoke a Wolf when it comes to the performance of the big burner (Eurostoves videos have demonstrated this previously). Also, I can fit a full comercial baking sheet in the oven or two half sheets side by side on one rack for big baking chores. Now, what does this mean in the grand scheme of things? Not a whole heck of a lot. A good cook can make a hotplate come alive. Most of it is convenience or ease of getting the food to come out without too much work or shuffling stuff around. My Bluestar handles woks like gangbusters and I get great results without having to baby tiny batches in and out of it. But that doesn't mean that the next guy more skilled than me could't turn out a better stirfry using a Hotpoint electric and a Mirro skillet from the depression. Mostly I think it is go see the stoves and pick the one that makes you happiest. That's what we did.