Interesting to see the heat of the griddle. Was that preheated for a period of time? Just want to know because its an interesting selling point (or perhaps something to sell away from. Also are you using the IR camera attachment for an IPhone from Flir? Just curious because I am considering making the investment!

Yes this is a FLIR iPhone IR camera which is pretty cool.

The grill had heated up for 20 min. I also ran it longer and used an IR thermometer to double check and it measured the same large heat gradient.

Basically like any cast iron surface the lateral heat transfer is relatively slow so you end up with hot spots over the burners and the heat never gets uniform as far as I can tell.

Thanks for the feedback. Interesting to see through the IR lens!

Very interesting, and thanks so much for your post! I have to admit, I didn't quite understand the two IR photos. What is the conclusion from the one showing the Demeyere vs. Lodge vs. Bluestar griddle?

(as an aside, I have one of those plug-in electric griddles from West Bend or Presto or some such for about $40. Love it! I stick it on the counter, do pancakes on it, which come out great, and simultaneously use fry pans on the stove for eggs).

Your findings confirm the doubts I've had about that add on griddle of the platinum. I suspected it was a sales gimmick with no merit.

I have an RNB with the old school built in cold rolled steel griddle, and I love it! It gets daily use, often more than the burners.

Hey Matt- I'm in the Bay Area and looking at a Bluestar. I don't know how to message you directly (first post on Houzz here), but am curious about the dealer where you had the bad experience and what happened. Can you share? Thanks.

For the Demeyere vs. Lodge vs. Bluestar griddle comparison it is mainly that the Bulestar griddle and the lodge both have nonuniform heat distribution compared with the Demeyere (like any stainless steel tri-ply) which I guess is no surprise. My conclusion is also that a built-in griddle or a $50 skillet would be better than the cast iron griddle!

For the dealer it was Airport Appliance which has several locations in the bay area. Basically they struggled with their logistics operations. With us it took 5 deliveries to get the range installed:

Delivery 1 - the range was delivered with our hood when the delivery was just supposed to be for the hood so we sent the range back the warehouse (they incorrectly shipped we weren't ready for the range)

Delivery 2 - they delivered the range but refused to bring into the house since there were a few steps (which was never told to us as an issue) - range went back to the warehouse

Delivery 3 - I hire movers to bring in the house and take a day off work to supervise - the delivery is confirmed twice but the truck never shows up (and we wait for 6 hours), and it is impossible to get a hold of a person at Airport to find out what is going on - apparently the range was on the truck but the truck ran out of time and never made it, very hard to get anyone to answer the phone

Delivery 4 - I take another day off work and this time they say they will bring the truck with a crew of 4 to bring in the house - the truck does actually show up but with a crew of 2 with no notes of needed a larger crew - the two guys refuse to bring it the few steps into the house due to their delivery policy (liability I am sure)

Delivery 5 - by this point the frustration is off the charts and the manager gets involved he agrees to hire a professional installer to deliver and install the range - the guy comes with a worker he picked up off the street and they bring it in the house in about 10 minutes they install it quickly but didn't get it level or flush to the back wall, they charge $425(!) - but Airport reimbursed us for this

Then with everything installed the slide out rack was missing and had to be ordered from Bluestar (which did arrive quickly).

So 5 deliveries a dozen trips to the store 2.5 days off work and a stove which is not flush & level! To be fair apparently Airport recently fired their logistics company and have a new one so we may have just had bad luck and the manager tried hard to make things right and was very nice. Just lots of time and frustration coming at the end of a long remodel.

To contrast we had a terrific experience with Pacific Sales (in Best Buy) scheduling delivery was a breeze and they brought a crew who professional installed our built-in sub zero for free and did a great job. And I bought it with a best buy charge so got about $600 worth of store credit by getting it there. Too bad they don't sell Blue Stars! The other bay area dealers with blue stars like standards of excellence I found good but kind of snobby (and they pushed the Wolf over the BS) or another we went to had pretty aggressive sales people which we don't like.

Ok just to add to the thread I was making breakfast this morning and was warming up the oven and was shocked to see that the bottom shelf had deformed due to the Power Oven and was red hot! Wow the BS engineering department should be fired how in the world would a design defect like this escape the design and testing of the product.

I work in product design/development so feel at liberty to say this is amateur engineering...

IIRC, there was another member of this forum showing the problem and bluestar created a heat shield type gadget that fixed it.

I asked the very same question of BS two months ago... "How can you possibly achieve even heat on a griddle plate with burners", the answer apparently is noted in the manual.

USING THE 15K—25K AND THE 15K—22K BURNERS

1. To achieve a 350 degree cooking surface. Turn both burners to the high position for 2 minutes, then turn both burners to the low position for 7 to 10 minutes. This will create an even 350 degree cooking surface.

2. To achieve a 400 degree cooking surface. Turn both burners to the high position for 3 1/2 minutes, then turn both burners to the low position for 7 to 10 minutes. This will create an even 400 degree cooking surface.

3. To achieve a 500 degree cooking surface. Turn both burners to the high position for 6 minutes, then turn the 25K burner to the low position and the 15K burner to the medium position for 7 to 10 minutes. This will achieve an even 500 degree cooking surface.

USING THE 9.5K SIMMER AND THE 25 K BURNERS

1. To achieve a 350 degree cooking surface. Turn both burners to the high position for 3 1/2 minutes, then turn both burners to the low position for 10 to 12 minutes. This will create an even 350 degree cooking surface.

2. To achieve a 400 degree cooking surface. Turn both burners to the high position for 5 1/2 minutes, then turn both burners to the low position for 10 to 12 minutes. This will create an even 400 degree cooking surface.

3. To achieve a 500 degree cooking surface. Turn both burners to the high position for 8 minutes, then turn the 25K burner to the low position and the 9.5K simmer burner to the medium position for 10 to 12 minutes. This will achieve an even 500 degree cooking surface.

@ Mattc1223... strikeraj is correct the first Platinum units that were delivered to customers did have this issue. The fix was a shield that was installed to prevent the rack and parchment problem. I am pretty sure if you call BS they can retro the shield to your unit in house. All the Platinum ranges I have sold have been issue free...

Thanks that is more or less the procedure I followed but I will try it again exactly as listed above. I am skeptical since I think it is just the physics of having two burners but we will see.

For the cover plate thanks I will contact BS, I assumed I already had it since it is a brand new stove just delivered but maybe they didn't bother to make sure new sales were equipped with the retrofit...

@ mattc1223: Any updates on the BS platinum. I am debating between the platinum and the RNB. I'm thinking that the RNB will be fine, as most guys, I'm drawn to the platinum, it has more power....you never know when you'll need it. If you had to do it again would you get the RNB? Also do you think a cast iron lodge griddle would be better than the BS griddle?

Hi WPS1122

I would probably go for the RNB, we put our BS griddle/grill in the garage (probably forever!) and use skillets or a Lodge griddle. I don't know if a Lodge griddle is better than the BS one but it is of course much, much cheaper. I don't think the BS griddle was well designed (but the grill which we haven't tried seems like it may be more useful)

The feature we like with the Platinum is the power oven with a quick heat up time, that comes in handy a lot. If that isn't important and you want to save the money I would go with the RNB.

In terms of burner BTU on the Platinum I don't think the higher BTU has any value at all, it is just a marketing gimmick (in our own opinion i know others feel differently). My wife is a professional chef and has never used the full heat in the 6 months we have had the unit, it quickly overheats the pan beyond the smoking point of all oils and the RNB level BTU is plenty for that "sear" that everyone seems to use as justification for high BTU.

We both love our Platinum and would buy it again but we went all out to create our dream kitchen sparing no expense, if we were on a budget we would have gone to the RNB or the one below it for sure.

Thanks for replying. That helps out a lot. I'm not concerned too much about the oven. I might even go for a rangetop, so the rnb is looking like all around best choice, or a even a heavily discounted rcs.

Anyone that has the platinum with a serial starting with 1412 or prior is encouraged to call Bluestar and ask for Tyler as he is heading up this revision to the platinum powr burners. This will be covered whether in warranty or not by BlueStar

I use the 25K burner for heating hot water, fast. I agree that you will not use the burner's full capabilities if you are frying or sautéing. If you do a lot of stir fry or wok cooking, it is a great burner for those techniques. If your cooking requirements don't encompass these applications, the RNB would be just fine.

Does anyone (Trevor possibly) know if you can upgrade the 22k RNB burners to the 25k units on the platinum?

Will need to double check but I think you might be able to swap one of the 25 to a 22, but that would be it

Im sure its possible but IIRC Bluestar makes it hard to get the 25K burners....ie. they make sure you have a Platinum before sending you the part.

George. Give me a call so I can go over the options

@mattc1223

Was about to purchase a 36" BlueStar Platinum range which is a floor model and they are selling at a discounted price. I have also located a BlueStar Platinum rangetop that is also a floor model and will be sold at a discounted price. I am trying to decide between the two. If I purchase just the rangetop, I would add a wall oven in our island. I love the open burner rangetop of BlueStar, but not at all sure about the gas oven. I do a lot of baking...cookies, pies, breads, etc. Can anyone comment on how evenly the convection on the BlueStar bakes anything with a crust? I feel like it would do fine with meats, casseroles, etc. But wondering about how evenly it cooks and browns anything with a crust.

@mattc1223

Also, if I purchase the range, they will make a curbside delivery only. We are renovating a beach house, and our yard is total sand. Haven't quite figured out how to move it into the house! We only have two short steps going up onto the porch, but am guessing this would be quite an ordeal! Does anyone have any suggestions on how to make this easier?

When I read the posts here, most issues were with the gas oven in the gas range. So I went with the rangetop + electric wall oven route just to be safe. Another reason is that it seems there is no local authorized service for the rangetop. In the events of a couple small issues in the rangetop, I just did the adjustment myself and, in some cases, repaired it using the parts sent by the manufacturer as the rangetop is so simple.

@catherinetaylor

Probably a little late as I assume you have made your decision. I currently have a 30 inch platinum range from Bluestar. I'm actually a huge fan of the range, but if I had to pick it's weakest quality it would probably be baking. Not that it's bad at all, but it excels at everything else moreso than baking.

Food definitely has to be rotated to get an even bake, and even then it's less even than many ranges I have used. Perfectly acceptable, but not perfect.

It's very strange also that I've found some items cook way faster than a traditional oven, but also some things need way more time than a recipe calls for. Obviously, the recipe plays a part in that as well.

Just some general comments on other things from above as well. I completely disagree about the griddle. I think its fantastic. It does not heat evenly, but most don't no matter the type. I previously had a 48 inch bluestar rangetop with integrated grill and griddle. The griddle was great, but waaaaay more uneven than this cast iron one I have now. The back was nearly 175 hotter than the front most of the time. Also, it took quite a while to heat up. The new platinum ones are relatively even over the burners, and are at temp in just a few minutes.

The u burner on the integrated grill also needed a long preheat time, and was under powered. It would barely mark a chicken breast after a 30 minute preheat. The new platinum grill is a beast. It gets hotter than any outdoor gas grill I've ever used. I rarely go over medium on the burners. The integrated one was worthless on anything other than Max.

I would recommend either to anyone, but I prefer the platinum features over the rangetop I had. Going in to the platinum purchase I thought for sure I would prefer the rangetop, but just didn't have the room in my new kitchen.

Having owned both a bluestar rangetop and platinum range, feel free to ask any questions. I'll do my best to answer.

Jay - Thanks for the review. We'll be installing a 30" Platinum when the kitchen in our new place is finished. DH can't wait to start using it and I'm in complete agreement - he can do all the cooking. I'm used to having double ovens so we're also installing a 30" Thermador Pro Oven. I think it will interesting to compare the electric and gas ovens. In our current kitchen we only have 15,000 BTU burners on our rangetop with a pop-up vent system so we've never cooked on a wok.

I'll take you up on your offer to answer questions ---

How long have you had your Platinum? Which hood did you select and how did you handle the MUA? Have you tried wok cooking yet? Is it difficult to move the grill/griddle unit? I tried picking it up in the store and was shocked at the weight. Did you need to make any adjustments? I know it comes with a 9000 simmer burner but how well to the other burners simmer?

Thanks - I'm sure there are more - but that's all I think of at the moment.

Maire

We moved in last August, so going on 8 months for the platinum. We have a zephyr hood. Not sure on the cfm, but unfortunately the kitchen is not far from our bedroom fire detector. The grill has set the fire alarms off many times. Never had a problem with anything other than the grill. Even smash burgers made with short rib on the griddle, no problem. The open flame on the grill in conjunction with the proximity of the fire alarm seems to be the issue. We had dual 800 cfm fans in a broan hood in the old house, and never once had an issue. I hardly ever had to turn it past a quarter of Max, and the fire alarm never triggered. The grill on the platinum creates alot more heat which is part of the issue, but I believe they underestimated the power need for the newer zephyr hood. I guess the short answer to your question would be I doubt make up air is absolutely necessary, but make sure you have enough juice in your fan(s) to get the smoke out.

I never had specific make up air for the ventilation. The hvac guys suggested cracking the patio door if I was going all out on the rangetop, but they seemed like they were not well informed on the situation either as they did not deal with built in grills, griddles, etc much. The dual fans on the broan sounded much like jet engines at takeoff. The zephyr on max sounds more like multiple hair dryers trying to free up frozen pipes.

I don't wok cook often as my wife is not a huge Asian food fan, but I deep fry almost exclusively in a large wok. It works amazingly. I can drop twice as much food in as a Dutch oven with virtually no temp drop whatsoever. So I'm very familiar with the functionality of a wok on the cooktop, just not with the traditional stirfrying, etc. It's a fantastic setup for that style of cooking, as well as the deep frying type that I use it for.

The griddle and grill are mildly annoying to swap out, but certainly not a pain to me weight wise. I think my annoyance mainly comes initially having an integrated grill and griddle, and now having to swap out if I want one or the other. I don't know if this is normal or not, but I leave the grill on about 95% of the time. I have the other two burner housings and the griddle sitting in my pantry when not in use. The grill can be used in a similar fashion as a burner in a pinch, and I use the grill almost daily so it makes sense to just leave it on. The griddle can be swapped in less than a minute. The components are heavy duty and greasy, but not overly difficult to deal with.

The dealer I bought from both times had everything dialed in, so I haven't needed adjustments.

The simmer burners are deceiving. They are a much smaller flame than the big burners, but depending on what your are cooking you need to make extra adjustments to make sure you are low enough. The cast iron grate can be rotated so that it is raised an inch and a half or so from the flame. For things like rice, pasta, large pots of soup, marinara, etc this works great. For things like chocolate, BBQ sauce, and other delicate smaller portion items the grates need to be stacked sometimes 3 high to get enough distance from the flame to get the gentle simmer that you are after. It can almost always be accomplished, but sometimes it's comical at the height you have to cook things at to maintain an actual simmer even on the simmer burner. Depending on the amount of liquid you are simmering and the size of pot you are simmering in, the larger burners work fairly well on low with the grates in the raised position. I typically don't go past medium on the larger burners with smaller diameter pots. The flames shoot up the sides otherwise, and make for uneven heating and some disappearing arm hair moments as well.

Jay - thanks for all the information. However your comments on the ability of the simmer to simmer gently is disappointing. I contacted the Blue Star area rep to see if he had any suggestions. We regularly use a simmer plate on our Dacor 15,000 BTU's burners. It does simmer beautifully but we use the diffuser when we have a large pot and want to insure that the heat is spread out. I think the BlueStar larger burners will work well for that.

We seldom deep fry but your comment about using the wok for that is interesting

We plan on buying the BlueStar pro hood with a remote blower motor - I'm not sure if it's 1200 or 1400 CFM. But since we're going with a 30" hood over a 30" range and while the duct run is only 12' it may have 1 or 2 90 degree bends we wanted to have sufficient CFM. DH's theory is also that we'll seldom need to turn it on high. Once our contractor opens up the wall we'll have a better idea of what we need.

Thanks again, Maire

I put a RNB 36 in my kitchen about a year ago and I have really liked it. My wife and I have four kids and we cook just about every day, oftentimes twice a day! I did a lot of research and visited many appliance stores (most more than once) and decided on the BlueStar 6 burner. We bake, sauté, broil, make stocks, pan fry, stir fry and occasionally deep fry and have no complaints. Now...the open burners get dirty and debris certainly gets in but I brush them down into the crumb tray and once a month or so I give the whole thing a good cleaning. To me, it is a cooking machine. No timers, no fancy gadgets or self cleaning function. It just cooks; oh, and it looks great.

The amount of gas going to a burner when the knob is turned to it's lowest position, can be set so low that the burner barely has enough gas to light and keep all the holes lit. The flames will almost float from one section of holes to another, because there isn't enough gas to keep them all going at once.

Of course the igniter may 'click' more if you set the simmer this low, but it can be done. Simply remove the knob and adjust the low with a small flat screwdriver. You can decide how low to 'set' the low with this procedure.

Thanks for the link Alexrander - DH recently discovered the BlueStar videos and with all his years in the chemistry lab feels quite confident he can do most of the adjustments. Our order for the 30" Platinum goes in on Monday.

@maire_cate Did you ever order the 30" Platinum? If so, how do you like it? I'm considering my options for a kitchen remodel and one thing I'm thinking about is replacing the cooktop&wall oven with a 30" range.

I'm particularly interesting in the baking performance. I bake a lot of bread and pizza. My current cheapo electric oven goes to 550 degrees F and with a pizza steel, bakes extremely good pizzas. I have no experience with a gas oven.

My Bluestar electric wall oven bakes great bread and pizza. The french doors make it really easy to insert and remove baked good. The broiler is first class too.

Scott - Yes I ordered it and it's waiting the installation of my kitchen cabinets and floor . We also ordered a Prizer Incline hood but had to go with the 1200 CFM inline motor instead of the remote one. My HVAC guy who is also working on the MUA said that it's a good motor and that I won't be annoyed with the noise.

This kitchen is significantly smaller than my current one but I still wanted double ovens so we're also putting in a 30" Thermador electric wall oven. I'll report back once everything is up and running. I haven't used a gas oven in nearly 30 years so it will be interesting to compare them.

Maire

This particular gas oven (the Platinum)is unique among gas ovens in two ways. All of the heat in the oven comes from the back of the oven instead of the floor. As a result, the convection fan always comes on when the element comes on, so it can never be completely off even though it has an on and off switch. A gas oven is ventilated more than electric ovens so is already more drying superficially to what you are baking,making things brown quicker and set a little faster. The fan running is also more drying. If you use steam for your bread, it can be harder to keep the steam in the oven. You might have to use a cloche, but it depends on what you are going for. I would think if the oven is well preheated, it would make less difference with things that cook quickly if the heat comes from the back so pizza and cookies might fare better than bread. I think cakes and pies do much better with heat from the bottom. Have you looked at the RNB? It has the heat in the bottom of the oven and the fan truly goes on and off. It might be a good idea to try both out if you can.

Here is a detailed review about baking by Moby Ick if you scroll down. The only error is his statement that he thought the heat comes from the bottom of the oven. If you search platinum in the search box there are other threads as well.

http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/2925279/bread-baking-in-the-blue-star-range

@jaygremaux We're renovating a townhouse in Brooklyn and it's down to the wire where i have to decide on the range. It's between to the 36" Bluestar either Platinum or RNB. I would never use the griddle or grill. I sautee a lot and look forward to the wok option. in the oven i roast and broil (fish and poultry, veg, potatoes, beets, chips etc) and bake only occasionally. We're considering getting a small steam/combi wall oven too. An outlier is the 36 Wolf DF because of the controls and i think my husband feels it will be more of a standout when we would sell the house. Between the two Bluestars, I like the looks of the Platinum better, and I hear the oven heats up faster, and the 25k burner is neato, but it's almost $2K more expensive. Is the simmer burner the same BTU on both? Do you have a recommendation between the Platinum and RNB? You seem knowledgeable on the difference. thanks!

If your not going to use the interchangeable grill or griddle, i don't see any value in purchasing the Platinum range. Sure the oven heats up faster but that not a big deal. The difference between the 22k RNB burner and the 25k Platinum burner is minimal when using it. If your renovating your townhouse now can I assume you wont be selling / moving for at least 5 years in which case that does not matter IMO. So for me it comes down to is the look worth $2k ???????

@cityrat, I would pretty much agree with Trevor. The grill was a must for me, and I thought it was kind of crazy that I only had the option on the super expensive platinum. With what you have planned to cook, I see no reason you wouldn't be happier with the cheaper option.

As far as the wolf goes, I think several years ago your husband was probably correct that the wolf would have carried more name value. Now, bluestar floods the high end market with star chefs, print ads, social media, etc. I think they have pretty much caught up in name recognition, especially with the younger demo. Unfortunately, the cash it takes for the stars to say "this is great, wink wink" is passed onto us and at least for me means nothing. But it has upped their visibility, and you can't really argue that.

Get the colored knobs if you want a shot of color to impress, and you aren't stuck with red like wolf.

Hi All-

Well it has been two years since since we received our BS Platinum (and started this thread) and I would have to say we have a love / hate relationship with it.

To summarize...

What we like:

- The burners work great, love the open burners (although the extra Platinum BTU has no value for us)

- The stove looks terrific

- The integrated wok feature works well, I love this

What we don't like:

- The grill/griddle is a useless gimmick in my view (sorry to be so direct), why? Because the heat is inconsistent and the handling / replacement is cumbersome. I see no value in these features better to use an outdoor grill and a $20 Lodge cast iron griddle over the burners which is what this really is

- The oven has been a disaster to be honest. We have had 4 service calls, first the retrofit for the defective design which melted an oven rack, then once fixed we have struggled to get the oven to maintain a consistent temperature. Too hot or too cold. For the $8k we paid it is totally ridiculous we had better performance with our cheap GE gas range we had before. Bluestar support has been fine but we are out of warranty now and it seems we may be stuck with owning an overpriced lemon. My wife is a professional chef and the lack of temperature control is making her crazy.

In conclusion I would say we love the look and burners and really want this to be our special centerpiece appliance but feel that the oven is mediocre and that we overpaid. If we could do it again we would probably buy an RNB or a dual fuel Wolf for better oven temperature control. Come on Bluestar you can do better than this!

@jaygremaux

Thanks for your detailed thoughts on the Platinum and in particular, the grill.

I'm currently considering a 48" Bluestar rangetop. Was the RNB the model you felt had an underpowered grill? -I could see that being the case since the specs indicate a single 15k burner for both front/back of grill, but wanted to confirm.

I'll probably try to cook on both at a showroom, but appreciate any thoughts. I do a lot of sauteeing, wok cooking, and grilling. Seems worth it to get the inbuilt grill on the RNB, but only if it gets really hot!

Thanks in advance for any input.

There was a mention about the Wolf colour knobs; Wolf gives you a choice of their red, black or stainless knobs when you make your order.

@jaygremaux thanks for your reply--guessing you had something like the RNB or similar before getting the platinum.

Like you, I'd rather have too much and dial it back when it comes to grilling. Glad the Platinum at least delivers. How do you find the ergonomics of the grill on your Platinum? -I was concerned about sliding pans around with that thing sticking up so far. And do you ever place the grill on the burners at the side edge of the range? -I assume that might be an issue for hood capture, but would give me a lot more usable area for other burners.

Good notes on the griddle as well. I don't anticipate using it as much as the grill, but you never know. No problems with the venting hole in the corner being right where your hand is?

Thanks again for your thoughts!

@jaygremaux this is incredibly helpful. As much as I like the aesthetic of the built-in, performance trumps that and the Platinum looks like a big improvement for the grill. It pains me to use an underpowered gas grill, and I feel your pain with the steak pic!

Your input has made my decision easy. I'll probably go with 48" platinum (rangetop) and leave the grill in place. I'm also inclined to park it over on one side to have 6 contiguous burners to move things around, so good to know it's at least theoretically possible. Will have to see how my planned hood supports that, and may influence my decision to go for 6" overhang instead of 3" per side.

Thanks again for all your advice!

Collin