Please call your dealer ASAP. Capital will not send a service company out to make the corrections. They will not cover damage caused by shipping. The distributor may need to be involved with this so you need to get this started like yesterday.

I spoke to Capital. I guess the 1/4" across the front it normal. None of the nice pictures show it, its also odd the back of the unit fits nice and tight. I think all i need is a manual and 2 drop pans.

Odd thing #1 explanation:

Stainless steel sheets that are processed into parts in manufacturing facilities usually only have film on one side--this is nothing out of the ordinary.

The film is to protect "cosmetic" parts from being damaged as they go thru the manufacturing process. If the film is easily removed by the end user it is left on.

What is odd is the protective film is on the underside as opposed to the top.

Who was your rangetop ordered through?

I downloaded a close up image of a Culinarian burner pictured on the EuroStoves site and compared it with your burner. The burners are somewhat similar but yours does not look quite right when compared side by side with the Eurostoves photo. There are some discrepancies.

I'm not seeing any clear burner ports on yours either, but this could be due to the photo quality.

If I were you I would be doing some extensive questioning with whomever this unit was purchased from.

I have the 36" 6 burner CC rangetop in natural gas. That gap in between the drip pans look normal. I can't tell if you have a 4 burner or 6 burner, but you should have a u-shaped stainless steel channel piece that span the gap between each set of drip pans (the grates rest on these channels). Your drip pan is definitely bent and you should seek a replacement.

As to the gap in the grate, that also looks consistent with mine. Rather than push the grates to touch either the front or the back (the sides as well), I balanced the gap evenly around the perimeter (my recollection is it's about 1/8" around).

The final item is "the 2 pipe looking things". The one is the nipple that attaches to extend the hook-up below the bottom of the unit. Since you need to slide the unit after your counters are installed, you would not be able to get by the front of the cabinet if the gas hook-up was below the bottom. So this piece is screwed on after the top is in its final location. The other pipe is the regulator. Some areas of the country have gas flow that varies so the regulator keeps the flow even. This is for information only as your gas installer will know about these items and how to install them appropriately.

Hope this helps.

Steelcfo,

Thanks for chiming in.

I don't have that steel U shaped channel that spans the gap. With the normal grates, the way the grate dips down around the burner head, i can't get it to move toward the front any further. Seems like they had to design the range top differently from the full ranges, used the same grates as the ranges, and realized they had the gap. The wok grate fits nice and tight to the front, but it slides around(I think because I am missing the U Channel)

Are your Burner heads centered with the grates in? Mine are way off. I have the 6 burner. Since I'm not living at the house yet, i only have my cell to snap pictures.

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That fit is terrible--not something people would expect from Capital.

I would NOT want that kind of off centeredness with my burners. I think you should call Capital and then e-mail your photos to them. That cooktop would unacceptable to me.

Please keep us posted if you can.

Forgot to add that if it were me that thing would be going back where it came from. Hopefully you have some recourse with your payment method.

The line up maybe because i am missing the parts the grates sit on. I emailed capital and plessers. I bet the shipping guys dropped something on the unit opened it, took out the bent gap covers, put the grates on so it sat flat and delivered it to me. It looked fine at first glance. We'll see. I don't think you can have a defect this bad, so i bet its the missing parts.

I really hope that your cooktop was not a manufacturing defect. I have been seriously considering ordering the Capital Culinarian range and was about to do so. I am holding off a few days to see if Trevor or Capital chimes in about what is going on here.

That said, hopefully it was from delivery damage. Not that delivery damage is a fun thing to deal with, but I would rather see that as the problem rather than the product. Damage could explain the off center burners if the unit was dropped a certain way, skewing everything.

We'll see. I have an email in to capital. I was going to buy it from Tervor (tried to) I was being penny wise and pound foolish. Other than the range top Gap which seems to be only on the range top, the unit is very well made. I'll reply when capital chimes in.

Why don't you contact the chair of Capital? His contact info is on the "Capital Wall Oven DOA" thread.

Thanks TonySak. I'll be working through Trevor and have already been comunicating with him in detail. I feel we can count on him to take care of any issues for us.

We're still leaning towards the Culinarian because after much research I feel they have the very best burners and appear to be customer oriented. BUT, I want to make sure they don't have a manufacturing issue first.

Blue Star turned me off a while back due to all the customer service complaints. Suddenly resolved or not it displays a mindset to me.

Capital called. I spoke to bob on the phone. Nice guy. He is going to send me out 3 new drip pans and the SS pieces the grates sit on, and a manual. He asked to if I had the LP regulator which i do, so i thought that was thoughtful. After talking to a few people, i think/hope the missing parts will do it.

I'm also a retailer, nothing earks me more than having a customer threaten me right off the batt with a manufacturer or shipping issue. All the retailers do it order from the distributor and reship it. Its not like Plessers made the thing, or shipped it. If it was dented or what not obviously id insist on returning it. However, missing the rails the grates sit on seem like a very logical reason why the alignment is off. So I don't mind trying it. If its not, or if there is more obvious internal damage, then it will have to go back. They can't install it for about 2 weeks anyway.

TonySak I would be concerned about the fact that your unit was harshly treated during shipping. I am a business owner in a very technical and instrument oriented business. I do not become irked if a customer received something that is damaged during shipping. It is not a threat but a demand to receive something in perfect condition that was paid for.

Everyone has tolerance levels. Mine would not be to pay several thousand dollars for something and receive it damaged. My range when ordered will arrive in perfect condition or it gets returned.

Tony,
Sorry I have not gotten back with additional details as it got hectic at work. I am still in the process of installation (waiting for granite) but I did take a closer look at my unit this morning. The channels that I referred to for my 6 burner unit, has 4 of them. The two outer ones (they cover the gaps along the outside edge) are 3/4" wide and the two inner ones are 1-1/2" wide. The grates physically sit on these channels/rails. For grins, I removed all four channels and set the grates directly on and it looks just like your pictures, very offset. I would attach a picture, but I haven't figured out that process yet. I am sure once you have the channels, your unit will look right.

If you haven't gotten rid of your packing material, you may want to check and see about those channels/rails. It has been a few months since I unpacked mine, but I recollect that they were in a cardboard box that was used as part of the packing material. If not, glad to hear Capital is sending you replacements.

steelcfo,

Thanks for replying! I got the replacement parts and it did fix the alignment issue.

Do you find that there is about a 1/4" gap all the way around the grates? My grates have a lot of wiggle room to them, meaning they are kinda loose, not secure. I always figured the grates would be tight and secure.

Tony,
I only put all the grates on when I first unpacked the unit a number of months ago. They just installed the granite today so we are in the process of dust removal, sink/faucet install and other general clean up. We will probably get the rangetop cleaned tomorrow, so I will measure the gap, but my recollection was that it was an 1/8" to 3/16", but it definitely was not snug. At first I thought it should be snug, but once the gap was even all the way around I thought it would be easier to remove the grates without scratching the side stainless steel.

Can't wait to hear how you like your new cooktops when you get to try them out. I would think you'd want a little room to get the grates in and out, and sounds normal. Any gas stove I've had has some.

Its kinda a lot of grate movement room. Like if your cooking the grates will slide around. I can understand some movment, but we're talking about a 1/2" front to back and another 3/8" side to side. With the wok ring in, its much more. its also affects the cosmetics. When the grates shift the are not all lined up. who wants to take the time to realign grates so they look pretty after each use?

I'm going to get a SS Rod and put one in the back gap and one on the side. It really seems as if capital made a design flaw on the range tops. The main body is very well made, the grates and the spacing on top is a bit of a joke. Had i known that before hand i think i would have gone with BS.

I'll post some pictures when i get the SS Rods and it installed.

I wouldn't like that much movement. That would really bother me. I looked at many ranges today including the Blue Star. I'm going with the Bluestar. The quality is excellent, including a beautiful grate system on the cooktop portion.

Do you have any recourse considering the damge? If you can get a refund you can rethink what you want.

are you sure you're not missing some piece of trim or railing? Is there one you can look at nearby or zoom in on a good photo? You shouldn't have to jerryrig a fix yourself.

Capital also verified, the the gaps are "normal" and not other parts are missing.

Yah it does stink that i have to jury rig it. It seems this is a bug that came up after the range tops were put into production. Its way to much space for "easy removal of grates". Capital could have fixed the issue a number of ways. If they simply put indentions or cuts in the rails the grates sit on, that would stop them from sliding. On the back and sides they could have included 2 more trim pieces to stop the grates from sliding and filling the gap. Or they simply could have made another cast iron mold that allowed for a slightly larger edge on the grates to fill the gap and stop the sliding.

for the cost of the addition we did the range top is a drop in the bucket, i dont think i want to go thru the hassle of trying to return it (it would need to be crated ect). The SS rods should help out a lot. It seems like a well built machine, other than the grates. There was some sloppy assembly on it. Burner knob bezels were not on correctly (the red line indicating off were upside down and at 90 degrees from top, the depth at which burner knobs are installed are not uniform, you can see into the shaft area on some which cant seem to be adjusted further. Not a big deal but on a unit that is so posed to be the best of everything, it was a bit of a disappointment. In capitals defense maybe these are growing pains.

That kind of sloppy workmanship is not typical of Capital, I think someone sold you a damaged or returned range as new. Can't speak for the cooktop, but the grates fit fairly snug on our CC range. I see that Capital has sent you all new replacement parts though.

Capital must have had to modify the range top to allow it to be a stand alone unit from the rest of the oven. Whatever they did to make the range top work by itself must have messed with grate spacing. Nothing on the unit looks used or anything like that. I also had to wait 3 weeks for it to arrive, so i know the retailer had to order it from the distributor.

Steelcfo also has one and has the same extra space in the grate area. Its a design flaw.

It's a shame you feel that you need to accept this cooktop considering what you paid for it. The run of the mill stuff from Home Depot has better fit. Growing pains are not an excuse. I'd be ashamed if I sold a product that is supposed to be high end with that workmanship.

I'm going with a Bluestar range after comparing the Capital with the Bluestar in person.

I wouldn't & I did - heat both ovens up to 400 & wait a hour, then go and touch various parts.

Someone asked me about the grates so I started a new thread on the grates. it can be found here

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/appl/msg101653424290.html

Here is a link that might be useful: CC Range Top Grates