Five Stars for my Fivestar Ranges!

13 years ago

We have been using our Fivestar ranges for a month now and love them. They are fabulously powerful, easy to clean and look (imho) good.

Just called customer service to get help figuring out the self cleaning oven. Got put through to a real person right away. The man was spoke in a soft southern drawl and really gave me a lot of time. I told him how I love my ranges and he excitedly began talking about how it is a company owned business that has been around since the 30's. It was a very sweet over the phone service call.

Just want to say that I am so happy with my ranges and want to put a positive review of Fivestar out there into the internet ether.

Comments (8)

sayde
13 years ago
Those ranges look great! Can you please tell more, like how you decided on Five Star and why two 30 inch instead of one 60? Are yours the closed burner, and how did you decide which style burner to get?
flwrs_n_co
13 years ago
What a great way to creatively and economically get TONS of cooking power! What kind of ovens do you have? You mention self cleaning, but gas/electric and convection? I'm trying to figure out what cooking appliance(s) to get and am completely confused right now--can't even decide between range & cooktop! LOL! Thought I might do induction but am having second (and third) thoughts and may switch back to gas as I originally intended (currently have 30" ceramic top range). I've been told that on this forum that at least some people don't pull their ranges out to clean, may I ask if you can pull yours out (too heavy to move)? TIA for all information!
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Okay, not apples to apples, but I'll share what I saw at a local "closeout/scratch and dent/over-run store" on a 30" range. I've no experience actually using the unit, so take what I say with the proper grain of salt. The unit I saw was open burners@ 15,000 btu, no convection, 120v. Remember, this is a closeout store. Knobs were not secure, loose, plastic, ready to fall off. Backguard attached with sheetmetal screws, evident, 3/4 of the screw facing front. Bottom drawer a bit finicky. Have to pull up just right to close easily. No drip pan. Dis-assembly of the top fairly simple, but lots of nooks and cranies that would be a pain to access. On the other hand, lack of electronics means if I can't fix it, a buddy of mine that does appliance repair can. For 900.00 it's attractive. I really can't afford the close to 4,000.00 my ideal Bluestar would cost. I could see it as a work in progress. I could adapt knobs, re-do the backguard, re-engineer the latch of the bottom drawer. Can not add a drip pan under the top burners. Could minimize cleaning with creative tinfoil application. My opinion, worth exactly what you payed for it, is a question. How much are you willing to compromise? At least that's the question I ask. Other companies make products that are more tactily rewarding, better engineered, user friendly, ergonomic, etc. Will they cook food any better? I'm guessing that's still up to the cook. Sorry, no answers here. Mark
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Hi: Call up Russ at selectappliance and talk to him. I just purchased a New American Range from Dvorson's after looking at all of the prosumer/quasi pro ranges including the ones you allude to above. The FiveStar is notably absent from consumer commentary. I do know they are made by Brown Stove Works and the sheetmetal is nowhere near the quality of BS, AR, or Capital. As far a performance goes, can't find much. That's ok AR is better in all regards and bake/cooks like a real champ IMO. hope this helps, Psient
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Cant hep but I wonder if you can since you own a Fivestar. It seems like there is not alot of fivestar owners posting as to ther experiance. I wonder if you might share your opinions . There is a thread for those of us looking at fivestar. http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/appl/msg0115325012438.html Thanks. JAK
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Five Star is the pro-style brand of Brown Stove Works. Five Star was the least expensive line of pro-style gas and dual fuel ranges until the recent emergence of import-based competitiors such as NXR,Thor, Ancona, etc. You don't need a retailer to work on them. Like the NXR/Thor stoves, the Five Stars use simple, mature technology with minimal electronics. Pretty much anybody (including homeowners) can fix just about anything on them. Try googling "Five Star + ranges + repair + Chicago" and you'll probably find somebody reputable who works on them and/or can get parts. Also, you might call the Five Star "800" customer support line to find servicers who are in the Chicago area and who stock any Five Star parts which aren't readily available generic parts. The stove factory is in Tennessee. Brown has been making stoves there since the 1930s. Five Star is a sideline for Brown. Most of Brown's business seems to be supplying very basic gas and electric ranges to operators of subsidized housing projects and making stoves under contract for the likes of Summit. Brown got into the pro-style lines by making some stoves for Viking for a while when that company first started up. After Viking created the market for pro-style appliances and got big enough to bring all of its stove manufacturing in-house, Brown launched its own Five Star brand. IIRC, that was around 1981. Because the Five Star brand has always been a sideline for Brown and has always had a small share of the market for boutique and pro-style stoves, there haven't been many threads here on the stoves. The longest write-up here on the brand was this one from last year: [https://www.houzz.com/discussions/5-star-range-review-dsvw-vd~4379186[(https://www.houzz.com/discussions/5-star-range-review-dsvw-vd~4379186) There were a couple of threads here about the 48-inch model from a decade ago: [https://www.houzz.com/discussions/five-star-48-range-dsvw-vd~2309192[(https://www.houzz.com/discussions/five-star-48-range-dsvw-vd~2309192) [https://www.houzz.com/discussions/five-star-48-dsvw-vd~2286955[(https://www.houzz.com/discussions/five-star-48-dsvw-vd~2286955) If you haven't already seen them, other threads here on Five Star have been: [https://www.houzz.com/discussions/five-stars-for-my-fivestar-ranges-dsvw-vd~2671320[(https://www.houzz.com/discussions/five-stars-for-my-fivestar-ranges-dsvw-vd~2671320) [https://www.houzz.com/discussions/30-gas-range-decision-blue-star-five-star-etc-dsvw-vd~2326023[(https://www.houzz.com/discussions/30-gas-range-decision-blue-star-five-star-etc-dsvw-vd~2326023)
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sabjimata
Original Author
13 years ago
Oops! Meant *family* owned business.

Sayde--I started out the range hunt looking for a good deal on a 60". Mainly looking at Viking, Wolf and Thermador. i was calling shops in Orlando and Jacksonville (about 2 hours from me) to see if anyone had a 60" they were looking to move.

No chance. Time and time again it was suggested that I get two 30" once the sales people heard my budget. One sales person even said to me--"Oh, with a budget like that, someone will probably recommend you get a Fivestar. I wouldn't."

So i became curious, yet hesitant about Fivestar. Turns out that shop didn't sell Fivestar, so I wasn't sure how to take that salesman's comment.

But I did start looking online about info on Fivestar. Lots of negative comments, but none of them from an actual Fivestar owner. A lot of people didn't like how they looked or the way the knobs felt (I don't know what is wrong with the knobs).

I read one review of Fivestar by someone on Chowhound saying that it had no digital parts so any appliance repair person could fix it. Wow! Our Kenmore Elite range just blew up, so I found that really appealing.

Then I saw the BTU's--all 21,000! Wow. I didn't see such high BTU's standard on any other range.

So, in short, two 30"s because cheaper than a 60"...although, with Fivestar, not that much cheaper. All sealed burners. The unsealed have a lower BTU output (I think 14,000) and i didn't have the mental energy to research to see if there was some reason the lower BTU would be counteracted by the open burner and thus all cooking heat would be equal in the end. I just went with the bigger number.

Flwrs--the ovens are electric convection. At first I was like *whoa* because they are small inside. The heating elements are exposed, so there is not a ton of room. You can only use 2 racks comfortably (3 for cookies, but for other stuff, two).

We have pulled our ranges out a few times for work associated with the tile. I definitely think it would be more difficult with a 60".

I also like getting two 30's because I wanted all burners. We are vegetarian, so the grill is not really that important to us and we figure we can always pop a griddle on top of the burners.
roger_kathy
10 years ago
Sabjimata, I read your review of the FiveStar posted in 2010. Three years have gone by. Do you still feel the same? Would you buy FiveStar again? I am considering them and are a little unsure, any input would help. Thank you so much!
roger_kathy
10 years ago
Sabjimata, I read your review of the FiveStar posted in 2010. Three years have gone by. Do you still feel the same? Would you buy FiveStar again? I am considering them and are a little unsure, any input would help. Thank you so much!
gigigiggles
8 years ago
Roger_Kathy, Sabjimata: any update(s) / new views on Five Star please?! It's sooo difficult getting info on this made in USA range & nearly impossible trying to locate one on a sales floor in the Northeast.
jason_glendale
5 years ago
I would also like to hear an update on this install?
davidhunternyc
5 years ago
Ditto. Would you choose FiveStar again?

Five Stars for my Fivestar Ranges!

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sayde

flwrs_n_co

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Five Stars for my Fivestar Ranges!

Comments (8)

sayde

flwrs_n_co

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