I am going to go ahead and chime in here for the OP although I fear may be flamed by Bluestar enthusiasts for what I'm going to say. Bluestar's flame pattern and BTU power on their high-powered burners are exceptional; that is without question. However, unless you are a frequent stir-fryer or need water to come to boil super-fast, I don't think it's fair to imply that a Wolf won't do an excellent (in fact, exceptional) job cooking and should only be chosen for its build quality/looks. I have owned a Wolf AG range for two years; I prepare 2-3 meals a day for our family of five on my range every day and consider myself to be an excellent cook although I'm not a professional chef. I don't remember thinking at any time, "Gosh, this thing doesn't have enough heat/power" but then I'm not a stir-fryer. I know that it performs much better than anything else I've ever cooked on/ owned, sears meat, etc., very quickly, and performs other high-power feats admirably. I never encounter "hot spots" in my pans so I think its flame pattern (double concentric rings) does a nice job of distributing the heat although I do agree the Bluestar's star pattern is probably superior, especially on low heat. I personally like having all my burners the same power even if they're "only" 16K. There are other considerations besides burner shape/power when selecting a range. Some prefer ranges with closed burners from the likes of DCS, Capital, and American for their ease of cleaning. I have a DCS AG range at our beach place and would prefer my Wolf AG's open burners for any task except maybe simmer where I can't see much difference. The fact that the DCS has 17.5K BTU's is insignificant for me as I find myself using the DCS on low/medium low setting most of the time in order to keep the flame under the pan, not coming up around the sides. I'm willing to do a little extra cleaning for the open burner performance and won't buy a closed-burner range again. Another consideration is which part of the country you live in. I'm in the South. When we built our house, I really wanted to go with the Bluestar. However, we didn't have a local showroom although there was one local company that could/would be willing to order it for us. My husband and our builder both questioned the wisdom of buying a lesser-known company's product sight unseen and were concerned about getting service on it if/when we needed it as Bluestar didn't have much of a presence state-wide. I ended up driving to Asheville (5 hours away) to see one on the floor in a new showroom and was turned off by the build quality. However, I was impressed with the star burners. Anyway, the point of this is that I ended up going with Wolf because the local dealer was well-established and I knew I could get good service through them. The stories I've read on this forum seem to bear out the wisdom of the decision I made for our situation. There are lots of threads on this forum where people are having trouble with their Bluestar ranges. Mostly small issues but issues. If I called a service person in Raleigh to come work on my range, I know that he would have worked on before and be familiar with Wolf ranges. I asked my regular service person (who came out to calibrate my oven temp) if he'd ever worked on/seen a Bluestar. He works on most appliance brands but specializes in the higher-end repairs. He said he'd never seen one. I know they are straight-forward machines but I still believe this should be a consideration for some of us. If you live in California or the Northeast, service for Bluestar should be readily availiable by a person experienced in working with Bluestar. However, for someone like me, it would be a concern. Experiences of others on this forum bear out this theory. I know that with Wolf I have a local dealer who can have a local repairman at my house within 24 hours to work on my range and he will have worked on Wolf many times before. I also know Wolf is consistently easy to work with and accommodating if I have any problems. My only problem has been the oven temp being off - this was fixed within the day. Also, after a year and a half, the rubber feet were falling off my grates (I put them through the DW when they get grubby). I called Wolf and they immediately mailed out a new set of grates (the newer model has metal feet) without charge. My experience with Wolf has been top-notch and I'd choose the same range again today. So do I get flamed now? I hope not ;-)

Thanks to you both. I went to a Universal Appliance (in LA) at lunch today, and saw that the 69" KA/JA FD refrig doesn't have freezer space large enough for my needs. I could do another SxS I guess, but I'm in the mood for a different look. That means I have to go with either the JA JFC2290VEP for $3049 or the identical KA model KFCP22EXMP for $2600ish. Both are before tax (8.75% in LA county) and rebates. I can only hope that they will fit, or that I can sand a bit off the cabinet frames to ensure they fit. The JA DW JDB3600AWP runs $1299 here, but no matter since it's the N/C item. If I opt to go the KA path depending on the range I get, the identical KA model is KUDE40FXSP that runs $1189. I haven't completely walked away from American Range, Blue Star and Capital-Precision yet. As much as I like the Jenn-Air Pro, I can't get by my fear of that electronic window on the front fizzling out. The salesman today said that if it goes, it's about an $800 (plus labor) item. Yikes. I knew this wasn't going to be an easy decision process, but I wish I could stop making it so difficult for myself, LOL Your input is valued more than you could guess. I am most appreciative here.

Wow! Great info. I know that I can't go treasure hunting for too much for the build given that we now live in Houston, but I'd love to hit an architectural salavage place to find some door knobs, hinges for French doors and old tiles for the fireplace. I'd be happy of I could just have some old door knobs & not just reproductions. Of course, they may not match up with the way the modern doors are drilled, so it may be a pipe dream for a new house. I think y'all are convincing me to hold off on doing conventional built-ins by the fireplace and hope I can find some unique pieces to be fitted in, later. Eastern European really piqued my interest because I have a collection of Matryoshka dolls, lacquerd boxes and "laser" crystal pieces that I picked up on my trips to Moscow (in a famous flea market on the outskirts) which I would like to display. Have any of you used soapstone & where did you find it? The websites for Slabco, Classic Granite & G&L Marble show pretty slim pickings. I know there is a place up in VA where some is still mined & they have imports. Is there anywhere closer than that? I forgot about the rock slide, but it should be cleared by the time we would do any serious hunting for items. If anyone thinks of a neat place I should look at, just pop it on the thread. Ummm, I looked at Mapquest & Knoxville is only about 150 miles from TR, so that is a fairly easy daytrip (plus, traveling through the mountains should be lovely.) We're only finishing the main level and my sewing/crafts room on the lower level for now. Once we get there, I can take my time to find stuff for the rest of the lower level. Good to know that one can buy furniture at High Point and not have to take immediate delivery. Years ago, DH & I took a little day trip down there when we were up to Raleigh for Thanksgiving. DH grew up in Wadesboro, NC & went to school at NC State. Mom lived in Raleigh before she passed in 2006. We've been to Winston-Salem a few times to visit Reynolda House and to go hiking in the general area. As a matter of fact, several of the daughters of my 6 times great grandfather moved with their families from PA to NC to help found the Moravian settlement in Wachovia, so I must have distant kin in the Carolinas. OK, its late & I'm rambling. We talk to two more builders tomorrow to go over their preliminary bids. Its finally starting to seem real & we could be in our "forever" home by the end of the summer.

Many things have changed in NC furniture shopping, and my first foray was probably at least 35 years ago. One of the main ones is there are many fewer stores since so little furniture is made there anymore. Another is sales tax. Furnitureland South charges sales tax now, eliminating some of its former savings. We still travel to Furnitureland South because it's fun, and we can sit in and touch all our potential purchases. I have found Furnitureland very receptive to problems, and they replaced a damaged living room chair, and later, 2 damaged kitchen chairs without batting an eye. However, the outcome of our last trip there for outdoor furnishings was they were $275 higher PER CHAIR for the Lane Venture chairs we wanted than Lexington Furniture in Lexington, Ky. Lexington also charges no sales tax. But, recently, I wanted to purchase 2 more, and they were only $150 or so less than the same chairs on Onekingslane. I think the proliferation of online dealers is minimizing price differences between furniture sellers. Even the prices in our local furniture store are not that much higher than NC.