Capital Culinarian vs. Bluestar RNB ranges?
kstallbe
8 years ago
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Adam
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agokstallbe
8 years agoRelated Discussions
Pro Range (Viking vs. Capital Culinarian)
Comments (24)I know I am a little late joining this conversation, but I found this thread, looking up a comparison between Viking and Capitol. These are my two finalists, but things have changed a lot with these 2 companies in the past 2 years, since the last comments were made. First of all, Viking, who was purchased by Middleby Corporation (approx. 3 years ago), has made significant changes to the entire product line at Viking. I am in the commercial kitchen equipment business, and Middleby Corp owns the finest cooking equipment companies in the commercial cooking business (Jade Range, Southbend Range, Wells Mfg., Lang Mfg., Pitco, Blodgett, Market Forge, TurboChef, Star Mfg., Magic Kitchen, Anets, Toastmaster, Nu Vu, Doyon, and more). I went to the big home show this past spring in Las Vegas, and spoke directly with the CEO of Middleby and asked him what he has done with the Viking line since he bought the company. He hired engineers to revamp everything in the line, and was very proud of his new 7 series ranges with their new burner design and chrome plated griddles. He let me know that he inherited a lot of service issues that he has addressed, both on the manufacturing side, and on the customer service side. I can tell you that working with their commercial division companies, they are very committed to customer satisfaction, and expedited service. Some of Middleby's commercial divisions are making components and ovens for their newer product additions (such as TurboChef ovens in their wall ovens). I can't tell you how these changes have impacted the lastest product offerings, but I can't imagine that the changes have made them worse. I did have a Viking 48" gas range in a house I sold back in 2008, circa 2004, and there were a lot of features I did not like. Burners were not good in simmer mode, gas oven was not self cleaning, and was very difficult to get clean. Charbroiler smoked out the house, whenever I tried to use it. But it added a lot of value to the house when I sold it. Now let's look at Capitol. The guy who owns Capitol, owned DCS, which used to be one of the "players" in the commercial range market. Their ranges were very attractive, performed well, but were not heavy duty enough for high volume restaurants (Wolf and US Range were the big players on the West Coast, where DCS and now Capitol are located.) As many companies have gone light weight, easy to clean, low maintenance, Capitol appears to be sticking with some of the old commercial designs, which pay off from a performance standpoint, but may intimidate some, from a maintenance standpoint. I am truly impressed with the open burners on the Capitol Connoisseurian and Culinarian ranges. I can tell you that not only the burner design, but the top grate design adds significantly to the performance of the burners. Their is a bowl/ring that is part of the cast iron grates that directs the heat back up onto the pans that is deflected down off the the bottom of the pan, containing the area. The open style grates, that are light weight and easy to clean, have no added qualities to the performance. I am impressed with the thermostatic griddle (which is also standard on the Viking). The old manual flame griddles got too hot and made them useless for breakfast items, and left the griddle only for meat and searing. The addition of a self cleaning oven on the all gas model is probably the biggest "plus" feature of the range comparing it to Viking. With Viking you have to go to Dual Fuel, which raises to price by a couple thousand dollars. To me, the downside of both of these ranges is that they don't have a real good computer control for the ovens, like you see in a regular domestic range. I would love some feedback from anyone who has bought these two products in the past 6 months or so, with the latest improvements, and the bugs worked out....See MoreCapital Culinarian 36" 6 burner vs American Range 36" 6 burner
Comments (3)I was between the same two but in 30" and chose the American Range. I found that the fit and finish was better overall, the cleaning seemed easier and the price was lower by $300. That said, I was looking at the older model of the Culinarian which had a smaller oven that didn't fit a full sized baking sheet and had poor igniter placement. The Culinarian was recently updated to make the oven bigger and the igniters have been significantly improved....See MoreBluestar platinum vs Capital Culinarian
Comments (56)Hi Everyone, We are upgrading our kitchen and I am interested in. 48 inch open burner stove. I am trying to decide between blue star and capital. I am wondering about evenness of the burners. I currently have a midrange GE stove and I cannot stand it because the burners heat unevenly. The rear half of the front left burner is significantly hotter than the front half. Is there a significant advantage to the star shaped burner vs capitals round burners with respect to evenness? I am also interested in how easy it is to control burner output. By this I mean how gradual are the burner attenuators programmed. On my current stove basically most of the control between high and low is actually between 2 and 3. From 3 to high there is not that much change in heat output. Also how low are all of the burners able to go. Any time I need to cook something on low do I have to move it to the summer burner or do all the burners get quite low? Last question is about how powerful is the griddle on the capital stove and do you find it particularly useful? Thank you in advance for any insight you can provide....See MoreAR Performer, Capital Culinarian, BlueStar RNB
Comments (11)@wekick - thanks for the info. Commercial ranges - no thanks! They require a large gas line and more venting than I can have in my place, plus the always-on pilot. To say nothing of probably illegal. I like the way that unsealed burners work - I've been known to take the caps off of "regular" stoves in order to use my 33-year-old wok - and decided that since the pro-styles are available and hopefully refined by now, that's it time to spring for what I truly want. The first reviews I read about BlueStar were dated (I think) 2010 or so. Lots of complaints about the hot exteriors, uneven baking, etc. The most recent I've been able to find (2014-very early 2016) seem to show that improvements have been made and it's finally ready for prime time. I don't recall any complaints about the burners, though, except for an occasional rant about the igniters' fragility. The Culinarian reviews have been largely positive, and for some reason, I can't find much of anything about the Performer. As for my cookware, I have some tri-ply and have begun to pick up a piece of copper here and there. Because those are very dearly priced, I will be sticking mostly with the plied stuff. I have a few pieces of All-Clad that I've had for well over a decade and am very happy with. And thanks for the info about the star burner. This may sound a little odd, but the BS burner looks more "complete" than the CC. I must admit that while I'm leaning towards the BlueStar, my budget is much less enthusiastic about the idea. And that's why the Performer and Culinarian are on the list. And thanks for the info about the star burner. This may sound a little odd, but the BS burner looks more "complete" than the CC. I must admit that while I'm leaning towards the BlueStar, my budget is much less enthusiastic about the idea, which is why the Performer and Culinarian are on the list....See MoreTrevor Lawson (Eurostoves Inc)
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agokstallbe thanked Trevor Lawson (Eurostoves Inc)eshmh
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8 years agoTrevor Lawson (Eurostoves Inc)
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8 years agoeshmh
8 years agoTrevor Lawson (Eurostoves Inc)
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7 years agoAdam
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