blue star new to all gas...excited but scared

13 years ago

my husband and i are in the market for a new range...we have always had electric and have always dreamed of a gas range. price range $2k + or - a little bit. we have read a lot here about the blue star, nxr and other ranges. we liked what we read and yesterday found a 30" blue star floor model for $2,000. it looks, feels and sounds great plus it seems like a great price! a couple of problems that i was hoping you could help me with...

1) i'm a little scared about the gas oven. we've always had electric ovens and so i enjoy the beep when it tells me it's hot and also like to see the temp right there on the face of the oven. i have two little kids so i am easily distracted. i know it's a silly thing. we need a range as there is not enough room for a wall oven and a stove top.

2) also a little scared that it is too much stove for us. my husband enjoys cooking a nice meal once a week. the rest of the week i cook family friendly meals...lots of pasta and i use the oven to bake on an average of once per week.

3) my mom and dad have a jennair dual fuel that they love. i haven't found anyone else on the internet that loves their jennair so it scares me a little bit. also considering the kitchenaid. my reservation here is things that i've read on this site plus our current ovens panel went out and cost a lot of money to replace.

any thoughts, suggestions? thanks so much.

i've also posted this on the appliance forum but thought i would try here too. i hope that's not an issue.

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (3)

rhome410
13 years ago
I am not sure this is the help you're looking for, but in our new kitchen we had a gas rangetop after having cooked on electric all my life. It was a little intimidating at first to have all the power and flames, especially with my kid cooks. But we soon adapted and love it. We have a Wolf rangetop with 16K BTU burners, so not quite like BlueStar's 22K, but close in comparison to electric.

So if you get this and are overwhelmed at first, hang in there and I think you'll love the possibilities, and the much faster reaction time. Something starting to boil over? A slight adjustment to the burner will bring it under control. Not like electric, where even if you turned the burner off, the pot would likely boil all over before calming down.

I still haven't ever baked in a gas oven, so I have nothing to add for you in that regard.

Best wishes.
0
ramses_2
13 years ago
I've had a blue star for years now and love it. A long time ago over on the appliance forum a blue star owning chef mentioned he turned the oven on to the degrees he wanted and didn't wait for the light to indicate it was up to temp..in other words he passed over the preheat stage and claimed cooking time was pretty much the same. I tried it, found it to be true and have been doing it ever since.(I've never had anything result in being dried out, or overcooked)

The temp also seems truer than any electric oven I've had in the past.(I'm a big baker and worried about gas vs electric....at this level, the Blue Star owns the electric....results are amazing)

Don't worry about too much stove. Think of it as a big toy. A big man toy. It's a joy to work on even if you're just boiling water for pasta. But all sorts of fast delicious meals will now be withing reach....and you may find your husband fighting with you to do the actual cooking. My DH went from occasionally cooking to pan searing steak, making stir frys,home made pizzas and other stuff just because cooking on a blue star becomes so viseral.(Of course you can never go out to eat again for fear of insulting DH:) ) In short, it(the stove cooking experience) stops being completely utilitarian and becomes fun.
0
Related Discussions
Blue Star (all-gas) vs. DCS (dual-fuel)
Q
Comments (26)
I am also debating between the DCS and the Bluestar. (30" AG for either) I had a DCS in the house I just sold and found that I often used the simmer feature on several burners simultaneously since I find timing to be my biggest challenge in cooking. It looks like the Bluestar only has one burner with the simmer feature. Is it possible to turn the rest of the burners way down low to "hold" a dish or two while I finish up cooking the others? I found the grates on the 30" DCS unwieldy -- impossible to put in my Bosch mid-level DW. That is one of the great appeals of the Bluestar...easier to keep clean. I found the sealed burners on the DCS to be real gook magnets! Love the idea of pulling all the parts and popping them in the DW. I will be getting a fancier Bosch since I want fully integrated panels...maybe it will take the DCS grates?? Last issue is that my DCS (LPG) did not bake evenly. I had to turn things half way through and the muffins in the back of the oven were always trying to be popovers! That was even using the convection feature. This oven was a pre-Fisher-Paykel model and I kind of hope a newer one will deliver a better baking experience. That is, if I don't go for the Bluestar. Any thoughts on my pros and cons? Thx!!
...See More
New BlueStar RCS Report
Q
Comments (19)
My first post! Long time lurker. I wish I saw more threads like this on the RCS when I was researching. I was in the same boat as OP. I had just crossed the AR off the list because I didn't like the grate height (it probably isn't a big deal) and it cost more than an RCS. I had my mind set on the RCS since it seemed like the best deal. $3200 with a 36" 760 CFM hood included. It kept eating at me whether I needed the extra power of the RNB for wok cooking even though I knew true wok cooking would need well over 30k BTU. After an inconclusive test at the showroom, my wife convinced me to just pay the extra $ for the RNB. After living with the RNB for about 6 months now, I don't think I NEEDED the extra power, but I don't regret getting it. Here's why I don't think I needed the extra power. When I try to cook with a real wok, the amount of smoke generated easily overwhelms the hood. Using a stainless steel flat bottom wok on the 15K burner sufficiently sears whatever I throw at it. There's no overloading and stewing the meat like on my old GE Caloric. I try not to think about the giant cost difference between the RCS and RNB for basically getting larger orifices on the burners, more holes on the burners, one ball bearing rack, nicer drip tray, and speckled oven finish. It's enough to switch to an inline blower for hood, that's for sure. But it's a nice luxury to be able to boil a big stock pot a few minutes faster when we have a bunch of friends over to make jam each year.
...See More
Duel fuel or all gas??? Capital, blue star, ilve, American range?
Q
Comments (1)
There is a difference in evenness in the oven of a $1k gas range and a good $4.5k range. I don't think there is a meaningful difference in the baking ability of the Capital gas oven and the typical electric even in pro-style range. The Wolf electric oven is atypical. You can bake three full racks and have consistent results. But the burners are not so great. Mediocre in this class. Can a Culinarian oven make a soufflÃÂ©? See link below. Here is a link that might be useful: Souffle in a Culinarian Video
...See More
New home (BlueStar, Kobe instead of Viking)
Q
Comments (15)
The Miele Miele Futura Crystal Series G5175SCVI is panel ready and sells for $1399 in the USA.Miele Futura Classic Series G4275SCVi is also panel ready and sells for $1099 in the USA but I know prices are higher in Canada. The Classic lacks the water softner and that is a problem if your water has a hardness level above 4 gpg. Every time I put a heavily soiled dish load into my Miele La Perla II and open the door after wash I am shocked We won the war.Serioiusly:)These are really great dishwashers. If price for Miele is too high Bosch 800 Plus Series SHV7ER53UC is really the best of the rest that is definelty under $1500. Unlike Miele, Bosch does not have really strict price controls so you should be able to find a deal without too much searching. The very best freestanding French Door IMO is Liebherr CS2062 but it is ~$5000. Counter-depth no ice. Really a top-notch food preservation unit. Great crispers and meat lockers. Gives you semi-clear high quality ice but not a lot of ice. About 2.5 12 oz glasses worth. If you are an ice-tea family or full glass of ice with soda at every meal type family the Liebherr will not give you enough ice. It can be supplemented with countertop clear ice maker($220) or built-in ($1500). About 3 years ago when it first came out the very first units had ice-maker reliability problems as well as door alignment issues. Fixed 2.5 years ago.The new ones are top notch in terms of reliabilty and effiency too. Other than that you are looking at the mainstream brands.
...See More
eandhl
13 years ago
I went from electric to AG DCS. I was concerned about the oven but happily report meats are more moist and what baking I do has been fine too. Don't be afraid, enjoy.
0

blue star new to all gas...excited but scared

Comments (3)

rhome410

ramses_2

Related Discussions

eandhl

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US