I have been browsing the 36" range offerings for the last two months as I have been going through a kitchen remodel, and considering the best options. I have to say I am pretty dissapointed by whats available, the cost point and how unreliable many of the choices seem. I am a professional chef and work on industrial stoves all day, many of which I could purchase for half the price of these so called pro style ranges. Unfortunately they are not insulated for use next to cabinetry. After looking at NXR, Berta, Smeg, Verona, and Fratelli for not wanting to spend more than 3500, which should be adequate, I have decided to go with the GE Cafe Series CGS990SETSS. I thought I would be getting more oven space with a 36" range but turns out not to be true. The GE offers two ovens with over 6 cubic feet of combined space, a 20,ooo btu burner, a included griddle, convection and many, many positive reviews. It also offers many convenience options like roll out racks, digital touch display, sabbath mode, timed shutoff ect... that the bare bones euro models couldn't think to offer. When I considered all of this, the $2500 price, extra cabinet and counter space, and parts and service that I wouldn't have to wait months for, it seems like a no brainer. I appreciate everyone's threads and contributions in making this decision and hope my opinion helps. Here is a link that might be useful: Best price warranty I found

do not use thin steel pans on induction unless they are going to be used to heat sauces only. a few months ago i bought a cheap 7 peace set of enameled cast iron? because i was not sure i wanted to buy a induction range. i have a 1 burner induction hot plate. any way the first time i used the fry pan on power level 4 to cook some sausage the pan warped and buckled and the teflon burned off the pan. my thicker stainless steel worked fine but is not non stick and of course everything sticks to it and i have to soak the pan every time i use it. i hate it. grin from other reviews i found do not use cast iron on a smooth top range. it is like sandpaper and will scratch the cook top. this ge induction range has thick fiberglas insulation on the oven door. very little heat can be felt from the front. also the door heat vents are covered by the cooktop food will not fall inside of the dore like the kemore induction range does. the vent on there door is exposed and every drip or spill will fall inside the oven door. now if i could find out where the pizza,convection bake and conduction roast touch tabs are. i have tapped all over the control glass and haven't found them. no one so far wants to help me add tactile dots to the controls i can't find. and whats the difference between convection bake and convection cook. there is suppose to be touch pads for both.

Testing is one thing. Using day to day is another. As a former Bertazzoni owner, I didn't have any issues with the range. I didn't need a gigantic oven. The burners work as they work -- it is well known. If you don't like the way the burners work there are other ranges to buy. The double-tier 18K burner did an excellent job. The simmer was very good. The Berta doesn't try to compete with Wolf. It does what it does at a certain price point. It would be far more useful to compare ranges at the same price points to each other rather than to lump ranges together because they are Italian imports. And if a test lab is doing that where are Ilve and the others?

Great point - Thanks so much for that idea- i will need to check and see if the item could be returned locally (in the worst case scenario like it being a total dud). I will call the local Costco and inquire - I wonder if they have ever addressed this before. I did review the written warranty from Bluestar and it says something to the effect: "warranty valid for all items purchased in US or Canada. It is looking like difference it will be the same range (RCS model) and after tax, etc would be approx $450 more to buy in the states. Not a huge amount but enough to make a difference and have me consider Canadian option (assuming it goes easily and relatively pain free). I will keep checking but have to pull the trigger eventually ... Don't want to be one of those who come back in 2 years saying "ok, I'm almost ready to buy" ...lol I did look on ebay and found 1 or 2 BS ranges. For anyone else thinking of doing this, beware of a company hawking BS ranges under the name if Markdown Madness - check some if their reviews on Merchant Circle. There is a similar outfit in my area (somehow associated with this Markdown Madness outfit) and they seem shady to say the least. 1 thing I think these shady ebay sellers do is sell a ton of simple items (shoes, lunch boxes, whatever) to overcome any negatives they may have selling high ticket scratch and dent items. At least that is the only way I can imagine a company maintaining a good ebay rating while having an "F" rating at the BBB and terrible reviews online (like Markdown Madness). In other words, if you are buying a "new" or "floor sample" item from ebay or craigslist, make sure you are buying from an actual dealer or personal seller and not from some guys using a storage garage to sell potentially non-warrantied items. Good luck getting any money back from people like this no matter what assurances they give you. Not saying you can't find a deal this way but you have to ask yourself if you have the capacity to deal with a total lemon (financially and emotionally). Unfortunately people looking for deals usually can't afford to buy another appliance if the "deal" goes bad. If it seems to good to be true - it probably is.