I have a CC that is also about a year old and have had numerous problems--surprise, surprise.

both of my ovens were extremely uneven front to back. there was a 30 degree difference and the intensity of the flame burnt the bottom (left the top side completely uncooked) of just about everything we put in there. my local service tech order new burners and this solved the problem. when we pulled the old burners you could clearly see a difference in temperature from the coloring of burner. we also noticed that the new burners were slightly different. the new burners have made a huge difference. we are no longer burning the bottoms of cookies, nor do we have to turn our food.

we originally reported this issue to service and got no love. lots of talk and no action. they did not follow up and in one instance didn't have any record of our complaint. very frustrating and a waste of time.

hopefully you can at least get your burners replaced. it can be fixed. capital service on the other hand needs a lot more help

Peasblog, I'm also in the DC area. May I ask where you purchased your CC and were you satisfied with them?

golfergirl29, M and M appliances in NW DC also sells the Capital. I am doing a complete kitchen renovation and was pretty sold on the CC - but now not so sure. I really want a self-cleaning oven and Capital seems to be the only game in town on an open burner range. And I was willing to consider the Thermidor because even tho technically a sealed burner, the star shape permits the flames to come straight up. But the range is sooo deep - about 6 inches deeper than the CC and I have a galley shaped kitchen so depth is of concern. Recommendations welcome!

Thanks winonelson, I hadn't heard of them. Will definitely check them out.

I am waiting for us to close on our current house next month so we can start the new house. The first thing I get to do when that is done is fiiiiinally pull the trigger on a Culinarian 48" I have been researching for months (bugging Trevor to death is more like it.. lol) and I called Captial at one point to look into who services them. I got sent to a local distributor to ask, they gave me two phone numbers. I called both numbers, they said they never heard of the model stove and do not service them. I called the distributor back, they again gave me another number. I called them and they said the guy that worked on stoves quit and they no longer service stoves.

So, I am about in the same boat going, ok.. who the hell services them because if I have to get it serviced from Dallas, 3-4 hours away, no way in hell is anyone going to drive that far to service a freaking stove, even if I did pay 10k for it.

So, before I PAY that invoice, I am going to want to talk to someone around the Austin, TX area that actually agrees they work on this dang thing :P

Russ

I stopped by a local appliance store to see their CC rangetop but they only had a CC range. They wanted to steer me to the BS because it was cheaper and they said the stainless steel drip pans would scratch easily. I had been considering the BS because the BS and CC both seemed excellent for open burners. I've had to baby my current stove's top because the SS scratches easily. Is this a concern for the CC rangetop?

I would suggest finding a sales person who knows what there talking about. A sales person who does not sell on price or throws out stupid statements.

The stainless drip pans are made from the same stainless steel that the entire Capital and Bluestar ranges and range tops are made from.

I would think that scratches would be considered patina on a commercial style range. They show that you love it enough to use it. :)

kas

All SS scratches easily. If it is a concern, one should really learn how to remove light scratches. The drip pans are the least concern. One does not usually touch them. I put aluminum foil over the pans for easing the cleaning. I haven't changed the foil yet so far more than half of year later. And one does not normally see them either.

I just called and I got lucky. I found a place that will warranty them, but not modify them or install them. They state that a person has to be licensed for that, i.e. a plumber or a propane person. But, if it is broken, they can work on that... so.. will have at least one company that will handle them.. possibly two, waiting on a call back.

Russ

Wow... I spoke with Capital...just asking them for numbers to people local that will work on their stoves...right?

Well.. I found one, possibly two.. so no big deal.

Out of the blue, a guy named Bob that works for Capital calls me and reassures me they have folks in the area, makes sure I have his number, tells me they are going to take care of me and make sure I get the right stove the first time etc.

I did not even complain to them, just called asking for a number and they went the extra mile to call me back and let me know they will be taking care of me.

I just think this will work out fine and...not trying to be rude to the OP.. your problems sound legit, but he sure did sound like he wanted to make sure I was taken care of.

Russ

Maybe not quite out of the Blue ( wink wink)

Yea, I figured it was you.. not to worry.. I told him I already checked and had a local person.. but I loved the call! lol

My only problem is I cannot order it fast enough. We have been in a holding pattern till the house sells. Now that we have a contract on it, we have light at the end of the tunnel.

I did tell him I am CDO... that is OCD in the right order *wink* and I would be getting an invoice with the right model # etc and calling him back to make sure the right one shipped, just to play it safe.. heh.

I am not really worried in the slightest, I am just having fun finally getting closer to getting the stove I want.

But thanks Trevor!

I ALSO told him the order would be placed through you because you are on top of stuff as much as I am.. heh

Oh, and my mom loved the garlic mincer and peeler I got from you guys but I would not let her have mine so she will be getting with you to get one too :P

Russ

reading all of these comment a few years later - I've owned a culinarian 36" cookktop and loved it. in new house, new state and getting ready to redo kitchen. really have my sights set on a 48" connoisseurian open burner dual fuel and i started to hyperventilate reading all the reviews on the net about horrible oven performance. If any of you are still out there let me know how it's been. dying to know and coming up on the timeframe to order...hoping all my good karma juju is at work for this purchase! thanks!!!

There are a couple of long posts about this a few years ago and one of their engineers came on one of the posts to answer questions. He admitted the ovens are not for everyone. I looked on their manual for the DF ranges and it has not changed. I will post a couple of excerpts from the manual they have online now.

It works in a a odd way. I had a Dacor walloven and range that worked the same way and Dacor bought them back. The preheat comes on and heats the oven cavity.

After the preheat completes, it switches to the element going on and off to maintain the temperature. When in this mode, it can’t raise the temperature in a timely manner. If you open the oven and lose temperature, it takes a long time to come up. If you open it frequently as in baking cookies, the temperature drops. It has to drop 150°F for the preheat to come back on.

The result is the temperature is all over the place. It might work ok if fully preheated for casseroles. It’s the same thing if you turn the temperature up. It will take a long time to go up.

To illustrate the length of time it takes to move in temperature, this section talks about how long it takes to preheat the oven without the preheat.

This is time in addition to a normal preheat time. 20 min would be for lower temperatures and 40 min for higher temps.

There was one poster who said that she liked that it worked that way but it would not work for me. I would buy the rangetop if you like it and use separate wall ovens.

We’ve had the conosurian for 2 years. Gas range works well, if not a bit overly powerful for my needs.

the griddle is problematic - it’s very inconsistent with hot spots, and pancakes stick every time. Worst part is it goes off midway through cooking - thermostat or igniter problems? I use a pan now instead

the oven is ok - not great. We’ve had problems with the display blanking out and oven not working- hoping it’s an easy fix, but not something I’d expect so soon of an expensive machine

aesthetics are great

would i recommend- no

I have had my capital cullinarian for 4 years now, and I agree with the very first post...don't waste your money. The knobs break, the small oven turns on sometimes and then won't turn off, again the knob is messed up. The grill has gone out once so far. The oven bakes unevenly and does not go to the temperature you set it to. I have some really expensive calibrated Thermometers in each oven so I know what temperature it is at. I have had a technician out numerous times and he didn't fix any of the problems, called another service company and they never returned my calls. Really not worth the money. If you spend this much on something it should work consistently.

We have had our Culinarian for six years. Powerful gas burners. However, two years in, the oven wouldn't turn on. A repair person came and left without running a test of the thermometer. The oven temp is off by 45 degrees. So a recipe calling for 400 we have to set at 445. We've gotten used to it. Then last year the broiler stopped working unless the oven was already hot. The broiler by itself does not kick on in a cold oven. Then the red oven light button on the front of the oven popped off and cracked in two. All that said, my husband really likes this stove because of the incredible gas burners.

Our front panel hasn’t worked for a year - which means oven won’t go on. And Capital is not around to fix (and no one local has been able to figure it out). Word is Capital has folded - but son started a new, similar biz - avoiding history of poor quality and service. a shame they wouldn’t stick behind their products

I’d stay away

@bdesch well that's discouraging! We've made due with our range's quirks and figured out some workarounds.

Hello all..

I bought a 36" duel fuel culinarian as a last stove I will ever buy and done vast amount of research...

Top burners...no problems work great....griddle absolute "POS" 100-150 degrees temp difference when burner reignites.. capital did send new igniter but igniting isn't the problem....even temp is issue...

Where I purchased after I had it installed said " we won't send someone out you live 100oles away!!". They didn't tell me that when I gave them $8500.

Oven is another story.....temp is uneven and unpredictable..

I would not purchase again.

We bought our kids a GE Cafe of there choice....I have used both......griddle cheaper but flawless in ever way..

Smaller yes but it works great for $5000 less.

Shame on my sales place and I must be to blame in some regaurd as they didn't make me buy capital.

Where to begin. I posted awhile ago that I was considering a new Capital purchase for our new house kitchen redo. We ordered the 48” connoiseurian dual fuel from a company who has commented in this thread. Long story short they took our $$ with no stove to show for it. Files a claim with our bank and finally got our money back, found our stove at the distributor’s warehouse and repurchased thru a reputable seller. We’ve had it now for over a year and it definitely has quirks. I’ve used delay cook for things that need to go in a cold oven, the griddle definitely has hot spots and to date I’ve only used it for reverse searing sous vide meat. The probe is my sore spot. Sometimes it works and sometimes, after following the instructions, it assumes the meat is already to temp and goes in a HLD pattern and drops the oven temp to 150. Tried it 5 times on Thanksgiving and no go. Oh- our gas is propane and since propane burned hotter than natural gas (didn’t know that going in as last time had natural gas) we rarely cook anything over a hi simmer. The only time I use med or high is for the wok grate or boiling large pot of water. Otherwise I’ve learned how to adapt. The draw for me was the open burners. Still is.

I searched for Capital Culinarian just to see if others had the same problems I have had, and lo and behold it all sounds about the same.

I’ve had my 36” gas range for 5 years. The griddle is terrible. I had a service person out three times the first year, but it never helped. After waiting forever to heat, the temperature dives 150 degrees before relighting. The oven is uneven, all recipes take much much longer to bake than they should. I called and emailed the company many times with no reply. Yes, the burners are great, but I end up cooking on med low all the time. Getting a true simmer is pretty impossible.

I’m so 😤. I’m fed up enough that I’m looking for a new range.

I hear you all and I feel for you, I really do..but I have had the 48 for 4.5 years now and while there are things about it that are quirky, I assume they are due to it being so much more than a "standard stove"....so I adjust my cooking to match it and, honestly do not see why people hate it so much.

Again, I am in no way slamming anyone here or their issues, just saying to those that find the thread that... yes.. it is loud....if you are used to a super quiet house. The fan stays on forever... but then again, so does my Frigidaire wall oven. I just ignore it.

The griddle is not all it's cracked up to be, unless you factor in it is there, when I want and need it and... it cooks like a griddle is supposed to cook. I have not seen temperature swings, but, honestly.. I do not use it a lot.. I just cook pancakes etc on it and it does them perfectly. It reminds me of a griddle on a Navy ship, lol.. so I am good.

It cooks differently than my electric wall oven, but.. it cooks, and I adjust my cooking to match it, not the recipe.

So, people here....very very valid points, all of them...that I have read.. heh.. but if you love to cook, you cook with what you have, what you know... and adjust to fit the environment you are given.. or.. that you buy.

Don't shy away due to bad reviews, the bad reviews are folks that have concerns and rightfully so.. but there are far more without them.

And buy from someone that handles the support for you.. a 3rd party... save yourself the hassle.

R

Russ - quirks are fine. For a 10k appliance, however, it should work. My oven hasn’t turned on for a year and a half. Service guy hasn’t been able to fix. Company hasn’t helped. So, pretty hard to give Capitol any benefit of the doubt, or chalk it up to quirks.

it does look nice

To “save myself the hassle” I intentionally bought locally from a company who has been in business forever. While they arranged the first service call, they did nothing after that as they said it was Capital’s warranty. And Capital would not even answer any calls or emails for 2 years. The griddle has a terrible design, it is unusable, and it sounds like many people have had the same problems as me. It‘s actually reassuring that I am not alone - haha.

When I purchased the range, I read all the reviews here. The open burners were the cat’s meow and people said the company was responsive to fixing anything that went wrong. I have not found that to be the case, so I wanted to put my experience out there. I’m glad you like your range Russ, I truly am!

I feel for you, I really do. Like I said, your issues are real and important. I hope they resolve them for you and you start liking yours again.

I was curious if they were even still in business as my last emails bounced and on some other Houzz thread the poster thought they were gone. They do still have their website up. I noticed on their website they say they have a BBB accreditation that is “A+”. Going to the BBB website, their rating is actually “D-“ and that they are not accredited. Just FYI.

@zerzurax

Someone bought them. This is their FB page.

We purchased our cooktop, 4 burner with 24" griddle 3 years ago with our new home. The burners are awesome, but he griddle has never worked properly. I am somewhat relieved that we are not the only ones with the problem. We have had a technician out to "fix" the problem with it not relighting when it needs to come up to temp. probably 10 times. The first 5 visits he changed out the thermostat as Capitol told him it was probably a bad batch of thermostats. It seems that this is a known issue that they have no fix for. I just called their terrible contracted service department again to find out what we can do and they informed me that Capitol has been bought out by a corporation and he wasn't sure what they were going to do with the old "unresolved" service issues for appliances that are now out of warranty. That was two weeks ago, so evidently they aren't doing anything about those issues. After reading this thread, I am glad that we didn't buy the oven. Good luck everyone and thanks for posting!

Bad batch? We got our Capital Culinarian in 2014 and our thermometer has been off by 40 degrees from day one.

The latest quirk of our Capital Culinarian: a loud bang that sounds like metal flexing or contracting about a half hour after we turn the oven off. It's not a big deal, but it is a new thing and it happens after any temperature, including low temperature.

The other quirk is kind of major. The broiler doesn't turn on unless the oven has been heated up for about a half hour. Also: it goes off in the middle of a broil. I have learned to adapt by cracking open the oven door while something is broiling. This causes the flames to re-ignite. The other day I properly broiled some cheese on top of a dish by opening and closing the oven door every 10 seconds or so for two minutes straight until the cheese was browned.

I’m sorry @nycmom, that is super frustrating. My broiler takes forever to ignite as well, like every time I figure it is just not going to light and the last time it worked was its final gasp. I found if I preheat the oven on 500 first, it seems to take a little less time to ignite.

Update: It's important to have a repair person in your area who knows these stoves and can get the parts. In July 2021 our 7-yr-old Culinarian oven and broiler stopped working. I got the name of a repairman on Yelp. He replaced the oven igniter and unclogged the broiler's valve. (The broiler had been acting up like yours @zerzurax. ) The bill was a few hundred dollars but we're to blame for having a high-end range in the first place. I don't think this is unique to Capital; high end ranges are quirky. The cheaper stoves that we used to have never needed service but they weren't as powerful.

Bought ours rom eurostoves - that is now gone. Have not had real issues except recently small oven stopped working. Ignored it for months (something you can do when you have 3 ovens). Then called capital to find a local repair place, they gave me several names which when I called said they don’t service - great!. Let’s debug ourselves - have narrowed it down to faulty hot surface igniter. Online price showes as around $250 and can be had for about 1/2 that. Realize this is a coorstek 501A part should be $20-50 and I would not complain. Have a shorter “universal one showing up Monday but also found the Robert Shaw catalogue that gives dimensions. Looks like you can get the real thing for lots less if your willing to crimp your own terminals to the leads or use wire nuts. Will post part number once I’m sure. An actual users group would be good for cross referencing parts if they have stupid high mark ups.

Robert Shaw is distributor of correct hot surface igniters. Made by coorstek/Norton model 501A. Catalogue is here https://www.robertshaw.com/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=2147496739. And correct part number for range from Shaw is 41-204 available from Amazon for about $30. You will need to crimp on your own fast on connectors or cut wires and use wire nuts. My pref is correct connectors. Have not checked but assume the other oven and broiler ones are the same , if not cross ref in the Robert Shaw catalogue by measuring length.

my maestro wall oven is not preheating , oven gets hotter than temp set and burns everything, preheat stays on, had a guy come out and diagnose the bake element which there are 2 of so i questioned if he knew what he was talking about. i pulled the oven out myself and diagnosed good bake elements and a bad temp sensor. ordered the part and replace it. new temp sensor is testing good now, but oven does the same, so after a bit more troubleshooting im down to the circuit board/relay. its a thousand dollar part, i think it time to take this garabge to the dump . there are no schematics for this anywhere, no parts diagrams no wiring diagrams. its a shame i am close to fixing this and cant find a valid part at a decent price, I am not guessing its the board for a grand. i wont buy capital again,

I bought my 48" Capital Connoisseurian on October 14, 2014 from Trevor Lawson at Eurostoves. I liked it so much I have purchased another, a 36" for another kitchen redo. After researching many stoves I chose the Capital for the stovetop. The open burners have the best flame distribution and heat levels of any stove i can find. And the stove has performed quite well since until a few months ago the thermostat for the oven was not working. I called their service company and new thermostats were sent straight away. However a service person is not to be found. I went on the Capital Cooking website and searched the "Find a Dealer". I called dealers in New England, they were not really dealers, they don't have a stove in their showrooms. If they don't sell them, they don't service them. So I called dealers on the west coast to see if they were ghost dealers too. I only found one, a large design center that stated they carry the Capital stove line. I did find a local guy that said he could replace the thermostats for me which he did. They do not work properly. Yesterday was Thanksgiving, I had 24 guest relatives from around the country. I did a lot of math figuring out what to set the oven controls to in order to get the actual desired temp inside the ovens. There were a lot of adjustments throughout the 5 hour cooking time. I was really lucky, because the fire behind the back panel didn't start until after the turkey was done. Now I have a $10,000 stove with no service person to call. And another I hope does not break anytime soon. What a dilemma. I see that most recent chatter is 2 years old. So have the service issues been solved, or have folks just given up, purchased other stoves, and moved on? I like to get this one fixed. Located in CT. Has there been any success finding a service person?

I cannot figure out why Capital cooking is stuck in neutral. They have a great product with a fixable problem, the ovens. What is it that you need to get back in gear. Sell the company to someone that cares?

@Donald Vail I found an excellent repair person in the NYC area who fixed our Culinarian in 2021. Don't know if he's still in business: Luke Tuske <luke@allcareappliancerepair.com>

@nycmom . Thanks, just emailed him

I have run into the same thing. Seems like no place that they list actually Carrie’s the stoves or does service. I gad a problem with the small oven on a 48” range not working. Ignored it as we have a total of 3 ovens 🤪 so the small one not working was no big deal. When I called around I could not find a dealer, so realizing a gas oven is really simple. I did some debugging on my own. Turns out the igniter went bad. The official capital part is about $150 - but don’t buy one of those!!!! If you take the part out you can see it is a coorstek standard part that gets sold under “Robert Shaw” part number 41-204 as I remember it’s about $20 via Amazon and other sources. It’s easy to change yourself if you are a bit handy or any general repair place can do the swap but you will pay$$ for a service visit. I now keep a spare in the house as both main ones have needed replace it and a 48” range has at least 3 - main oven igniter, small oven igniter, broiler igniter, and then if you have grill and or griddle those will have the same part as well.
Customer service is totally lacking!! My latest is the burner that gets the most use - the cap (removable part with all the holes) is warped and I get a small line of flame at the joint. Tried contacting the factory - zero response, contacted their FB page and they responded there that they respond to requests - but zero actual response. For now I just swapped it with a seldom used burner. Debating if I should put it on my lathe or mill to make it flat (99.99% of people won’t have this option) or see if I can get them to eventually replace it.
They would have a great product if they could fix customer service!!!

@Paul In MA The service center will have open burner rings, I don't think you can buy those anywhere else. 866-402-4600 . m-f 8-5 MT. And if parts are available elsewhere they will be cheaper as you point out. I am finding that all stove manufacturers bend metal, and outfit with parts made by others. I am not sure what is happening with Capital, but they could have the best stove in the marketplace if they would get their act together with service. Dealers don't like to carry them without strong service capability.

I have a 60” range that I bought from Trevor at Eurostoves…. The range burners are “okay” at best…the burners def do NOT get as hot as advertised. We bought the wok burner adapter which was an additional waste of money - it just doesn’t put out enough BTUs. The ovens take forever to get to temp, are wildly inaccurate, and don’t hold their temps. The oven controls are super finicky to set and feel so cheap. We have a 24 inch griddle that we can’t cook on because it burns everything in every spot at the lowest temps. It took a year to get someone to come look at it - and they said we have to learn how to navigate the “hot spots” on the griddle, and I shouldn’t expect the ovens to hold a temperature. Ridiculous. I don’t know how Trevor sold me on this hunk of very expensive JUNK. We are looking to replace it now with a LEGIT manufacturer. I really thought I was buying a quality piece of equipment at a good price. DO NOT BUY ONE!