We have a 13 year old BS 30" range with the defective hinge problem. With weekly application of spray Ultra-Lube (Non toxic, available at the orange big box store), the door hinges will operate freely, but not close tightly at the top. Heat escaping from the top of the door has fried the spark control module a few times. BS wanted $900 for the new door, which I wasn't going to pay. Handyman (me) solution: 1. Light stove top burners with Bic barbeque lighter - no big deal. 2. Install adjustable Stainless steel toggle latch to side of oven door to pull it tight - no more heat escapes from top of the door. Oven now works as it should. (Latch from ebay - @ $12.00. To install the latch, I needed 8-32 oval head SS screws, drilled and tapped holes for screws). 3. Continue to spray-lube the hinges weekly. So far, so good. We use the oven 3 times daily, bake bread once a week. WE love the BS stove, especially the open burners and commercial baking sheet capacity, but will seek out another brand when it comes time to get a new one. Cannot abide a manufacturer which denies it's responsibility. Can anyone recommend a RELIABLE dual-fuel 30" unit with open burners?

Here I am again, for those of you who might still be interested: Yesterday morning, at 7:20AM, the service contractors came back to fix the problem I had with my simmer burner. It is one month since I first called Bluestar about the problem. They agreed to do the repair even though it was more than a year since I had purchased and installed my range. They called back promptly, answered all my questions and sent the service company out without delay. When the first team couldn't correct the problem another part was ordered and in a few weeks I was called to make an appointment. I was offered an earlier appointment but I wasn't going to be available for that time so another time/date was offered, which was yesterday morning at 8. I was called to confirm on Friday afternoon, and called yesterday at 7:15 to be warned that the men would be at my house in 5 minutes. The team included one guy who had come the first time around and another, who said he was the service supervisor. I didn't hover this time around, (it was before my first cup of coffee.) But I know they changed the ceramic igniter, opened and made some adjustment under the front panel, switched positions of the 2 rear burners (my request for which I agreed to pay $75), switched the gas nozzles (I know that is not the right term but its all I can think of calling those right now) so that the BTUs were correct for the switched burners, and adjusted all the flames. The stove is working like a charm. There's no more clicking, the simmer burner simmers and all the burners have a full flame range. They also tightened one of the knobs, that has recently begun to slip off. It is all good. I now have the pro-style range I have always wanted, and just in time for a houseful on Thanksgiving (20+ family and friends). There will be 2 turkeys, all the usual sides, more pies and cakes than we can possibly eat and some decent wine and beer to wash it all down. Hurrah! Thanks for listening. I am quite satisfied with the response I got from the people at Bluestar and the local service company.

So far just a brief update. Our move-in was delayed and then we left for a week so we've only made a few meals but DH is impressed. He loves the simplicity of the design and the open burners. We did the initial burn off and I'm happy to report the odor was minimal. You could hear the fans cycling on and off but it wasn't distracting, we could carry on a conversation. We've only used the oven once to make an Ina Garten apple cake and it came out great - it was evenly browned on the top. We also installed a Prizer hood with an inline blower and the exhaust fans work well and I really like the light in the hood. We haven't made anything exotic or used the grill/griddle yet. We're still unpacking and setting up the kitchen. But DH couldn't wait to try out the BlueStar. He made veal and peppers in a 15" Calphalon skillet and was pleased with how evenly the bottom of the pan heated. I made a huge pot of minestrone last week and after bringing the soup to a boil reduced the heat and it simmered beautifully - I didn't use the simmer burner since the soup was in a 15 quart soup pot but the larger BTU burner simmered perfectly. He's hoping to try the Thermador rotisserie soon. Here's a photo from the install day - this was before we moved in so everything looks bare and sterile. It's a small kitchen in an over 55 community and we managed to squeeze in all of our favorites - the Bosch dishwasher is so quiet you wouldn't know it was running except for the red light on the floor. I'm getting used to the 42" Sub Zero too. In our last house we had the 36" all Frig and 36" all Freezer but our kitchen was 28x20 - so we definitely downsized. We're having the family here for Thanksgiving so that will be our first real test of our appliances and design. Have you made a decision? Maire

I loved my six-burner Bluestar RCS range at first, but it has caused a lot of headaches, and then the convection fan recall pretty much ruined it for me. It's a whole different oven; the convection feature is useless now. I worked in restaurants for years, and on most residential ovens the convection feature is pretty sad because they use a weak little fan, but the Bluestar convection fan was serious and really improved cooking results. I realize the recall happened out of an abundance of caution (probably with the help of a lot of lawyers), but now the fan will only turn on when the gas is not lit. It's a part time convection fan--maybe on 20% of the time, depending on the cooking temp. If you're roasting a chicken at 500 degrees for nice crispy skin, the convection fan will turn on when the oven is up to 500, but once the fan is on it cools the oven down quickly and the gas kicks on and the fan turns off. It's a joke now. IF YOU HAVEN'T DONE THE CONVECTION FAN RECALL REPAIR, DON'T DO IT. JUST USE YOUR OVEN CAREFULLY. Other problems in the 5 years of owning this thing: The bottom pan fell apart because they used rivets that melt (they replaced that for free, with a stainless steel riveted pan, even though it was after warranty, that was nice). I replaced the first convection fan, under warranty, before the recall, because it was vibrating like crazy. I replaced the oven ignitor once. I currently need a new spark module for one of the burners ($100+ for the part). If you attempt to replace one of the burner ignitors, which I did, the cheap screw holding it on will break, so be ready to drill and tap a new hole and put in a better screw. The stovetop is definitely better than anything out there, but that's about the only good thing I can say. The broiler stinks. Customer service has been decent, but not great. I wouldn't buy Bluestar again, but I'm not sure what else I would buy.