I have a 48" BlueStar with grill. There is a stainless steel lip that seats the grates for the grill that goes around the perimeter of the grill which is slightly raised from the burner grates. It's not much, about 1/8". You would have to have a very large pan for it not to fit on the burner grate and hit the grill. I can fit my All Clad 20 qt stockpot on the burner without a problem. When the stainless cover is installed it's about 1/2" above the burner grates.

Thanks monkeyjac. Doesn't sound like too big a deal. Does the cover have any effect, and do you typically keep it on when you cook?

Lastly, how is your grill, anyway? Has it meet your expectations?

If you leave the grill cover on when using a large pan on one of the 22k btu burners can cause scorching and temporary distortion of the cover.
If you go for the Bluestar remember to line the grill with tin foil, it makes cleaning easy.

DHC8,
I am curious as to why you have not been swade by all the negative listings for Bluestar within the last couple of months. My wife and I are redoing a kitchen and we had been looking at the BS, but i have to say w/all the negative reports or statements, we are leaning toward the Capital 36inch all gas Range. Additionally, I went to the companies web site and submitted a question and I never heard from them. I did that twice. Food for thought.

DHC8-There is a very very simple solution to that issue. The grates on a bluestar have 3 height positions. Lets call them low, midpoint and high. These positions are achieved simply by the way you place the grate into it's cradle. If you put the grate into it's cradle in the midpoint position it raises the grate that 1/8" you need to clear the lip on the grill or griddle. As someone else posted, scorch marks are possible on the stainless cover, so if you are using a really large diameter pot on a 22k burner, I usually take the covers off to prevent scorching. I would sincerely recommend a bluestar. With it's unparalleled 22k open star burner and its large capacity ovens, it truly is a pleasure to use. I have not had one quality issue with mine yet. I have had it since the 4th of July. I actually look forward to cooking a meal. I had a Viking before the Bluestar, and I enjoyed that as well, but the Bluestar is in a league of its own.

You also asked another poster if the grill met their expectations. Well, my $.02. In my opinion it takes quite a while to heat up, and it is not easy to clean. I think probably an infrared grill would be better for both circumstances. Once it is heated fully, it is sufficient to cook a 1.5 inch thick steak beautifully to medium rare. I think an infrared grill would actually be the single biggest improvement Bluestar could make to their ranges. Otherwise, in my experiences it has been a dream.

If you have any other questions or concerns about a Bluestar, feel free to ask.

I have the 48" range, so I usually use one of the burners on the left side that is not directly adjacent to the grill, so I have had no problems with scorching. I find the grill to be terrific. I cook a lot of fish and vegetables and have never found it inadequate or not hot enough. It can be a pain to clean, but as long you line the grill with foil, it's not too bad. I highly recommend the grill. For me, it's been terrific. I use it just about every day. As Tyguy mentioned, you can adjust the burner height to clear the height of the grill if needed. I still think your pan would have to be extremely large to make that necessary.

Thank you for the responses, everyone.

Richandclaire - I have read many of the Bluestar threads that have been critical of BS. I have certainly taken it into consideration, but have decided that the risk of purchasing a Bluestar is probably not that much greater than buying a high end appliance from most any other manufacturer. It's a chance I think I'm probably willing to take (we haven't yet decided which brand and model we like the most.) We looked closely at the Capital as well, but didn't care for the cooktop arrangement with the grill, even though the controllable infrared grill was intriguing to me.

Tyguy and monkeyjac and trevorlawson - thanks for the grill input. I've been going back and forth on which type of grill to get, "standard" or infrared. I've never cooked on infrared and don't have the opportunity to in my immediate area, but I've read many positive things about it. But, the Wolf's digital "on/off" of the grill sort of turns me off; the Capital cooktop arrangement I dislike; the new Monogram is priced too high for me; did I miss any others with infrared?

There are negative reports about Wolf, Viking Sub Zero, Miele, Kitchenaid sometimes people want to vent because they believe they are not being treated fairly and sometimes they are not being treated fairly. It's not a perfect world. If their venting triggers a response and gets their problem solved they do not always report back about the happy ending, they are still upset that they had a problem.

DHC8,

If you get the bluestar, do line the grill with foil and also wrap foil around the mid section of the burner. That, plus lining the drip tray underneath will go a long ways to keeping the grill easy to maintain. Also, based on suggestions from this forum, I lay a piece of foil over the grates when I'm finished and leave the heat on for 5 or 10 minutes (also leave your vent on - there will be smoke!) This helps to burn off grease, food bits, etc. and a lot of the grease will end up on the underside of the foil, not up into your hood.

I find that preheating the grill about 10 minutes while I'm preparing the food makes a huge difference. I've been very happy with the end results. We've noticed a difference in cooking steaks and chops, in particular - we can get a nice sear on the outside and the inside is nicely rare (in the case of beef or lamb) and still juicy and tender. Did pork chops the other night and they were wonderful. Make sure you get enough CFM power to pull out smoke.

If you are not sure what is meant by lining the grill hit the link below

you will see a pfd called "Grill Photos Close Up"

http://eurostoves/v/vspfiles/bluestar2.html

DHC8....thanks all good points......we're gonna go with the capital.....6 burners.....just fyi...$3800.00 (all gas/manual clean). I was quoted the same for the BS...all gas/manual clean). Good Luck to you!

Have fun with the stove, richandclaire. That's a real nice price you were quoted, good job with the bargaining.

I'm curious-- what is the advantage of an infrared grill over using the infrared broiler? Is it ease of use or does the food turn out better?