My personal opinion is that any dishwasher over about $650 will get your dishes clean and sanitized and be very quiet. Dishwashers are not something I would break the bank over. At least for me, I use them a lot, and have bought a new one about every 6-8 years.

A range however, involves you standing there using it and has a big impact on what you can do easily in the kitchen. A range in a custom kitchen will be something you repair, not replace like a dishwasher.

We remodeled 10 years ago and I have the old style (before the star burners ) thermadore all gas range with infa red broiler. It is a fantastic range and I really like it.

I think if you have narrowed your choices down to these 2 ranges you should not think about the brand, or how they look, but think about what they can do. Features and benefits. Oven Size, BTUs on the burners, Broiler type, ease of cleaning, Can you fit multiple things in the large oven at the same time? will sheet pans fit front to back in the oven, or only side to side?

Have fun, and there is no wrong choice.

We went with a bluestar range top (doing electric wall ovens this time). I went to a demo and was sold on the BS when I saw a piece of chocolate in the pan that was on the simmer setting. The rep had to turn it up after 20 mins to get it to melt. I was sold and so was my dh at that moment.

I understand your frustration with your local store. Did you see Trevor at Eurostoves is selling BS again? He posted this on the Appliance forum when asked if he could ship them:

"The states we are allowed to ship to are as follows.
NY,NJ,CT,RI,MA,ME,NH,VT,OH,WV and KY"

If you are in one of these state, perhaps you can contact him?

Bee

I am not Bee. I'm in Louisiana. I wasn't frustrated about the Bluestar. It was other things. I was dealing with them at first for flooring and cabinets. But their customer service was horrible. So I moved on. I probably would have been fine just ordering the range from them. But after dropping them for the other stuff I really didn't want to go back there anymore.

OK, let's compare:

OVEN
CAPACITY: both are 5 cf
Both have convection
Racks: BS: 2. Therm: 3
BTUs: BS: 30,000. Therm: 27,000
Interior sizes:
BS: 29w x 20d x 15h. Therm: 28w x 18 7/8d x 16 1/4h

Burners:
BS: 2- 22,000; 3- 15,000; 1- 10,000. Therm: 6- 18,000 click on-off simmer that my friends love because they can leave pots of gumbo on all day and it keeps it warm without burning it. I was doubtful from what I'd read because I wasn't certain how it worked. Now I feel better. Says it simmers as low as 100 degrees. Bluestar simmer burner simmers as low as 130 degrees.

BS: open nova burners. This seems nice for ease of cleaning. Even heating.
Therm: star shaped pedestal burners with quick clean base. Even cooking with easy cleaning for a closed burner system.

BS: Iron surface
Therm: Porcelain cooking surface

This is hard.

Are you sure the constant clicking of the T'dor wouldn't bother you? It would drive me stark, raving, flaming, murderously, completely, utterly, horrendously, entirely, thoroughly, insanely, over the edge bonkers. :)

Aside from that, I'd go with the BS. I've read about more happy owners of those ranges than T'dor over the past couple of years. I think it was fate you ran into a dealer today.

Have you though about searching eBay, CL or other discounted ways for any of your appliances? I bought my Sharp MW drawer on eBay for about half price, and scored deals on all the rest of my appliances also.

This seems silly, but what sold me on Thermador was a trip to Williams Sonoma, where DH noticed they use a Thermador range. All day, every day. We live in an area where service may be tricky, and I needed to stay a bit more " mainstream " .
My range is not installed, so I cannot comment on its use, sorry.

Best wishes,
Nancy

Are you looking at all gas, or G/E?

How do the broilers compare?

Is there any exposed element on the oven bottom to clean around if electric?

Mine is all gas, and I love the infa red broiler, and how the oven floor is a flat piece of metal that you can very easily wipe down if something boils over in the oven.

Also, will a full sheet pan (lunch lady sheet pan) fit in both? 18x26. It appears they will fit in both. In my Thermador, I can use them on the oven racks, or they fit if you want to just hang them from the rails by themselves.

The fact that these big pans would not fit some ovens is what led me to the TDore in the first place Since I only have the 1 oven, it needs to hold a lot at Thanksgiving. I have had plenty of room. (we do also have a warming drawer in the island under our microwave)

All gas. I can't find specific info on the broilers to compare. I don't know why they don't include that on the specs.

Breezy, I've not heard the clicking. Is it super loud? I've read that it bothers some while it doesn't bother others. My friend likes it and didn't mention it making noise but rather just cycling on and off for things that simmer a long time. I wonder how loud it is. I'll call her today.

I haven't heard the T'dor clicking, but imagine it has to be like every other clicking gas burner I've heard. Some do say clicking doesn't bother them. Like I said, I. would. kill. someone. if I had to listen to that for more than about 3.25 mins. I annoy easily. Not everyone does. ;)

The Thermador doesn't click constantly. It clicks once and the burner comes on. It goes off silently and then clicks once the next time the burner comes on. It isn't loud and it isn't like the constant clicking that happens when a burner won't light.

That said, I can see where it could annoy people. Doesn't bother me in the least. We're all different.

I love love love my Blue Star. It is my favorite thing in my kitchen. I love that it does NOT have a porcelain top, and the cast iron top I can clean this to my heart's desire.

you will not regret a blue star.

We were back and forth between the CC and the BS. And then back and forth again between the two but decided on BS.

Like Beekeeper I was able to cook on the BS and it was love at first cook. The high open burners are awesome, burner and grate design, full sheet pans and that simmer was amazing.

Ours won't be installed for months so can't speak to day to day usage but I am quite sure there will be no regrets.

Good luck with the decision.

I've been using my 36" BS for over 2 months now and I continue to find reasons why I love it. It is most definitely a range built for those who love to cook. The high BTU is excellent and I finally bought my wok 2 weeks back and it's simply amazing on the 22K. But that simmer burner... I have yet to burn rice and it makes warming up small amounts of baby food a breeze, even if I walk away and completely forget about it (which seems to happen quite often with the kids). From what I've read on the appliance forum, there really isn't another simmer burner that works like this.
I also must comment about how easy it's been to clean. The cast iron grates are a dream compared to my old porcelain and enamel tops. A few wipes or a dry scrub and they are done. I've yet to use any cleaners aside from a soapy sponge on it.
Lastly, my oven does come with 3 (not 2) racks, one of which is a full-extension roll-out.

My one complaint is that the oven door and knobs get quite warm to touch, hot even, when the oven is on full blast. This topic has been discussed to death over on the appliance forum, so I won't go into it.
I really wanted to get the Bosch 800 plus series, but we had to compromise somewhere. If you can trim 1K somewhere else, this is the package I'd go for.
Good luck!

I love my Blue Star range. I have had great support from Blue Star and have had a good experience in every way. Love the broiler, love the burners, love the cast iron top. Love the way it looks because it just fits with my vintage kitchen. I love the solid hunky feel of it. I love how easy it is to live with and to clean. And I confess that I was swayed by knowing these star burners were just like the ones on the Garland range that Julia Child had. Have had it for about a year now and so happy I chose it. In fact, love it so much I talked the remodeler who did our bathroom into becoming the first rep for Blue Star in our city. He had never heard of it.

I could have written almost every word the same as Sayde. Love the cast iron!

Dragonfly08, curious what you meant about the Bosch 800 series. Are you saying you would have preferred that range to the Bluestar, but that it was more expensive? If that is what you meant, what did you like about the Bosch over the Bluestar??? And it appears to be less than the Bluestar so I am really not following you! Thanks for any clarification.

Sorry for any confusion. I meant the Bosch 800 plus dishwasher series. OP was considering purchasing BS range with Bosch dishwasher vs Thermador range and DW.

I don't own either range and so can't fairly comment on that (although I would probably pick the BS for the burners). As for the DW, Bosch changed all their DW models in late 2011. I scored the prior model number top of the line 800 plus DW for over $1,000 off MSRP. It would be worth hunting online to see if any sellers are still trying to unload old stock.

For Bosch dishwashers don't forget the on-line factory/dealer outlets. I bought an 800+ fully integrated from Sears outlet delivered for under $800. Got my WP Duet gas/steam dryer from Whirlpool factory on-line outlet w/white glove delivery for under $600 (less than half the cost of new w/delivery and warranty). Lots of ways to shave some coin by checking around a bit. For the most part the higher end appliances will rarely have 'deals', however they too are available @ dealer outlets or from showroom demos (floor models). It helps if your not under the gun.

I hope I don't jinx myself by asking this question, but after five long years, we may be getting to remodel soon and my biggest concern is the range. I was soo excited to see you were from Louisiana and wanted to ask who is the new dealer of BS. I have contacted three of the dealers on the BS website by email asking for info with none of them contacting me back. While two of the dealers websites are no longer operable so I am extremely excited to see who the new dealer is as currently Bluestar is at the top of my list. Also, if by initials or the town that they are located in do you mind telling what dealer was the one that was a headache so I will try to steer clear of them? If not I undertand. Ohhh, I am sooo excited to hear of this new dealer!

Shannon