I've been researching the same and was pretty sure I was getting the performer. I went and looked at the residential model and was quoted a price on a 36" Performer w/an 11" griddle. I had previously been all set to get a BlueStar RNB but for the assumed price difference and the AR oven I figured I was all set to get the AR. I then went and looked at a 36" BlueStar RNBV1 and priced it out too. When it comes right down to it, adding backguard and color it's nearly a wash. Color on an AR is $750, it's $349 on a BS. You can't move the griddle location on an AR (center), you can on a BS but it'll cost you a little over $300. It's about $500 difference for the base SS models, add color and the difference is negligible once you see the BS in action. Finish on the BS is much nicer, I like the way it all comes apart, the catch tray on the BS has 3 compartments so you only have to clean the dirty one, the AR is just one tray. I'm ordering my 36" BS RNB w/griddle on the right in color #6024 tomorrow w/a matching canopy 42" hood.

Gotta say I'm more than happy with my 36" RNB. I have been using it for just about a year now and have not had 1 issue. I did break the thermostat for the griddle while installing the hi-back guard and shelf but it was replaced very quickly, my fault. I replaced it too, no need for a service guy w/these machines, I adjusted all my burners too, easy. I also have a 30" Wolf convection and a Wolf steam oven but do use the BS oven for pizza, big hunks of meat and anything I want to use a big sheet pan for. The BS oven is the quietest when using convection mode and I love the ability to turn the fan off w/a switch, the Wolf fan stays on for quite some time after the oven is off and is LOUD. The steam oven fan is also relatively loud, we use that oven the most of any of them. I would absolutely purchase another BS range. I hadn't even heard of them until I was starting my new construction and ended up on this site. I read all the horror stories but with all the stellar reviews I figured I'd take a chance. Got a moss green range and matching pro-line 1200 cfm hood (talk about loud). Initially I was interested in the AR performer, the place I purchase from had Capital, AR and BS all right next to each other (didn't even consider a Wolf). I had looked at an AR at another place by itself but when I saw it next to the BS I didn't even look at it again. I may have been equally happy w/the AR but am very happy with my BS. Really the only thing I was remotely concerned about was the hot door as I have young twins (5 now, 4 when we moved in). When I saw my boy sitting on the floor in front of the range with his back against the door while it was on my worries were over, he was 'warming up'. Heck my Wolf lower panel gets hot enough to be quite unpleasant when it's on which surprised me as no one has ever complained about that. Having the 'known good' Wolf in the same kitchen as the BS oven I can say they've both been brilliant. However it does make the Wolf seem 'not soo special' since the BS is equally 'special'. I do most of my bread baking in the BS just cause I can fit more in there but have used all 3 (steam oven only goes up to 445 deg though), they all work great but the end product is slightly different in each which is kinda cool.

FYI Standard drywall is not a combustible item. from Wiki When used as a component in fire barriers, drywall is a passive fire protection item. In its natural state, gypsum contains the water of crystallization bound in the form of hydrates. When exposed to heat or fire, this water is vapourised, retarding heat transfer. Therefore, a fire in one room that is separated from an adjacent room by a fire-resistance rated drywall assembly will not cause this adjacent room to get any warmer than the boiling point (100°C) until the water in the gypsum is gone. This makes drywall an ablative material because as the hydrates sublime, a crumbly dust is left behind, which, along with the paper, is sacrificial. Generally, the more layers of Type X drywall one adds, the more one increases the fire-resistance of the assembly, be it horizontal or vertical. Evidence of this can be found both in publicly available design catalogues, including DIN4102 Part 4 and the Canadian Building Code on the topic, as well as common certification listings, including certification listings provided by Underwriters Laboratories and Underwriters Laboratories of Canada (ULC). "Type X" drywall is formulated by adding glass fibers to the gypsum, to increase the resistance to fires, especially once the hydrates are spent, which leaves the gypsum in powder form. Type X is typically the material chosen to construct walls and ceilings that are required to have a fire-resistance rating. Fire testing of drywall assemblies for the purpose of expanding national catalogues, such as the National Building Code of Canada, Germany's Part 4 of DIN4102 and its British cousin BS476, are a matter of routine research and development work in more than one nation and can be sponsored jointly by national authorities and representatives of the drywall industry. For example, the National Research Council of Canada routinely publishes such findings.[21] The results are printed as approved designs in the back of the building code. Generally, exposure of drywall on a panel furnace removes the water and calcines the exposed drywall and also heats the studs and fasteners holding the drywall. This typically results in deflection of the assembly towards the fire, as that is the location where the sublimation occurs, which weakens the assembly, due to the fire influence. When tests are cosponsored, resulting in code recognized designs with assigned fire-resistance ratings, the resulting designs become part of the code and are not limited to use by any one manufacturer, provided the material used in the field configuration can be demonstrated to meet the minimum requirements of Type X drywall (such as an entry in the appropriate category of the UL Building Materials Directory) and that sufficient layers and thicknesses are used. Fire test reports for such unique third party tests are confidential. It's important to consider deflection of drywall assemblies to maintain their assembly integrity to preserve their ratings. Deflection of drywall assemblies can vary somewhat from one test to another. Importantly, penetrants do not follow the deflection movement of the drywall assemblies they penetrate. For example, see cable tray movement in a German test. It is, therefore, important to test firestops in full scale wall panel tests, so that the deflection of each applicable assembly can be taken into account. The size of the test wall assembly alone is not the only consideration for firestop tests. If the penetrants are mounted to and hung off the drywall assembly itself during the test, this does not constitute a realistic deflection exposure insofar as the firestop is concerned. In reality, on a construction site, penetrants are hung off the ceiling above. Penetrants may increase in length, push and pull as a result of operational temperature changes (e.g., hot and cold water in a pipe), particularly in a fire. But it is a physical impossibility to have the penetrants follow the movement of drywall assemblies that they penetrate, since they are not mounted to the drywalls in a building. It is, therefore, counterproductive to suspend penetrants from the drywall assembly during a fire test. As downward deflection of the drywall assembly and buckling towards the fire occurs, the top of the firestop is squeezed and the bottom of the firestop is pulled. This is motion above that caused by expansion of metallic penetrants due to heat exposure in a fire. Both types of motion occur because metal first expands in a fire, and then softens once the critical temperature has been reached, as is explained under structural steel. To simulate the drywall deflection effect, one can simply mount the penetrants to the steel frame holding the test assembly. The operational and fire-induced motion of the penetrants, which is independent of the assemblies penetrated, can be separately arranged.

I was looking into ILVE and La Canache but decided to go with 60" Thermador. Several forums noted random issues with each. We live in the midwest and I was very concerned about service support and installation. The Thermador has a nice look and nickel finish to knobs which I like vs Wolf or other more commercial looking ranges.