Hi all,

I've posted here a few times over the past 4 years since I bought the 36" Capital Culinarian. In the first months I had it, I had a few issues with the oven running hot or cold, turning itself on, needing to replace the thermostat, the igniters sparking constantly etc. Then I put it aside for a year+ while we renovated the kitchen, then reinstalled. Now I've had it back for 18 months or so, and have continued to have periodic problems. Most recently I've noticed that when using the broiler only half of it is active--half of the pan remains uncooked, and half of the broiler itself is dark, not red.

Over the course of my three years using this stove, I've had probably a dozen service calls, generally related to the oven. Capital itself was not particularly helpful in the early months and at some point I gave up on them. When I called the store where I bought it last year and asked for a buyback, they more or less snickered and said to speak to Capital.

To be honest, I'm worn out by all of it and starting to worry about the upcoming holidays. The oven has been the real Achilles heel and we had a raw turkey episode at Thanksgiving last year that I do not want to repeat. Now that this broiler issue is surfacing, I'm feeling as though that sounds like a more expensive repair and am wondering how much more good money I will throw after bad. So here are my questions:

1. Do I have any options other than sucking it up, throwing it out and buying a new stove?

2. Am I right in thinking an infrared broiler repair sounds larger or could it possibly be very simple?

3. I know there are extensive debates on Viking/Wolf/BlueStar/Capital and all have their pros/cons. I waded through all that when I bought this range and just don't have it in me to jump back down that rabbit hole. Does anyone have any recommendations, especially with an emphasis on reliability and customer service over bells and whistles?

4. Where is my best bet to buy a new range without ending up back in the same place I am now? Do any stores support the end customer or are you always just shunted back to the manufacturer and good luck?

I know a lot of these are questions I probably either know the answer to or need to just do the work to make a decision, but I'm feeling worn out and paralyzed and hopeless about this whole thing and would love any input you can offer. For a long time I thought I would feel too guilty to buy another range when I already spent so much on this one, but after a few years of constant service calls and suspense about whose birthday class cupcakes would be half raw and half burned, I'm just looking for the best way to move on. Thanks so much for any help.