After owning a capital Precision 60" gas self cleaning range since 2008, I would say, AVOID CAPITAL. I was the biggest capital fan because I thought they had the best and most innovative product. Upon delivery and installation, we were burning everything we put inside one of the ovens. We went back and forth with Capital for months, they sent out repair people who swore there was nothing wrong with the oven. We were even blamed for not letting the oven warm up for enough time before we put our food in. We had to threaten them with legal action before they finally had a proper technician fix our range. As the years progressed, our issues continued. The rotiserrie went out. They sent the parts and I fixed the motor myself. Our grill always heats only the left side. I had a gas leak inside the range and Capital did not respond to my requests for help. I had to get Trevor from Eurostoves involved and then they responded. The absolute worst is they offered to fix my grill and wok burner (useless) for free as long as I paid for shipping both ways. A few days later, they sent an email and said, they were wrong when they told me they would fix it for free and would charge me for the repairs. I AM DONE WITH CAPITAL.

Hello all, first of all, thanks to all the great folks on this forum - you all have given us an education that we never could have gotten elsewhere! Getting down to the wire on range selection: Blue Star 36" vs Capital Precision 36" AG GCR366. Couldn't care less about style - feel that BTUs rule (the Rosengarten review of Blue Star, DCS, Viking etc. was a real eye opener) We'd snap up the BS in a second but have always dreamed of sealed burners. So... as far as we know, Capital has the hotest sealed burners available and hence the choice. Would so appreciate your advice: Would we be giving up a lot of capability and taste going sealed (22,000 btu BS vs 19,000 btu Capital)? Can Capital really get down to a very low simmer (Sunday sauce for hours, other delicate sauces, etc.) How does the Capital work with small pots? flames up the sides? thanks to all in advance C and R

I know I am a little late joining this conversation, but I found this thread, looking up a comparison between Viking and Capitol. These are my two finalists, but things have changed a lot with these 2 companies in the past 2 years, since the last comments were made. First of all, Viking, who was purchased by Middleby Corporation (approx. 3 years ago), has made significant changes to the entire product line at Viking. I am in the commercial kitchen equipment business, and Middleby Corp owns the finest cooking equipment companies in the commercial cooking business (Jade Range, Southbend Range, Wells Mfg., Lang Mfg., Pitco, Blodgett, Market Forge, TurboChef, Star Mfg., Magic Kitchen, Anets, Toastmaster, Nu Vu, Doyon, and more). I went to the big home show this past spring in Las Vegas, and spoke directly with the CEO of Middleby and asked him what he has done with the Viking line since he bought the company. He hired engineers to revamp everything in the line, and was very proud of his new 7 series ranges with their new burner design and chrome plated griddles. He let me know that he inherited a lot of service issues that he has addressed, both on the manufacturing side, and on the customer service side. I can tell you that working with their commercial division companies, they are very committed to customer satisfaction, and expedited service. Some of Middleby's commercial divisions are making components and ovens for their newer product additions (such as TurboChef ovens in their wall ovens). I can't tell you how these changes have impacted the lastest product offerings, but I can't imagine that the changes have made them worse. I did have a Viking 48" gas range in a house I sold back in 2008, circa 2004, and there were a lot of features I did not like. Burners were not good in simmer mode, gas oven was not self cleaning, and was very difficult to get clean. Charbroiler smoked out the house, whenever I tried to use it. But it added a lot of value to the house when I sold it. Now let's look at Capitol. The guy who owns Capitol, owned DCS, which used to be one of the "players" in the commercial range market. Their ranges were very attractive, performed well, but were not heavy duty enough for high volume restaurants (Wolf and US Range were the big players on the West Coast, where DCS and now Capitol are located.) As many companies have gone light weight, easy to clean, low maintenance, Capitol appears to be sticking with some of the old commercial designs, which pay off from a performance standpoint, but may intimidate some, from a maintenance standpoint. I am truly impressed with the open burners on the Capitol Connoisseurian and Culinarian ranges. I can tell you that not only the burner design, but the top grate design adds significantly to the performance of the burners. Their is a bowl/ring that is part of the cast iron grates that directs the heat back up onto the pans that is deflected down off the the bottom of the pan, containing the area. The open style grates, that are light weight and easy to clean, have no added qualities to the performance. I am impressed with the thermostatic griddle (which is also standard on the Viking). The old manual flame griddles got too hot and made them useless for breakfast items, and left the griddle only for meat and searing. The addition of a self cleaning oven on the all gas model is probably the biggest "plus" feature of the range comparing it to Viking. With Viking you have to go to Dual Fuel, which raises to price by a couple thousand dollars. To me, the downside of both of these ranges is that they don't have a real good computer control for the ovens, like you see in a regular domestic range. I would love some feedback from anyone who has bought these two products in the past 6 months or so, with the latest improvements, and the bugs worked out.

Dr Jo Black knobs (similar to most other ranges) are not an up charge they are simply not available..... The Grey knobs are standard on the Culinarian range as per most pictures on the Culinarian website, but you can change to the red ones at no cost should you wish. I don't think any of the pictures are a true reflection of the real color of the Red /Cabernet / Maroon knobs. I don't think that Capital are trying to promote themselves as a "Bespoke" company, and I hope I have not painted them as such. They are however trying to accommodate SOME of the wishes of the Garden Web Posters which is a good thing. If they tried to accommodate everyone the spec book would be huge and unaffordable. Anytime anyone asks for something different companies charge for that change, be it Bluestar, Wolf or anyone else.