Have you looked at BlueStar?

The oven holds a full sheet, or two half sheets. It has an infrared broiler so really hot, but it is a smaller broiler. The burners come in several configurations and price ranges.

I am about to install a DCS 36" all gas. Price was good plus a $500 rebate or free dishwasher. I know two people who have one who both cook a lot, they seem happy. Sales guy said *taken with a grain of salt of course* he felt it was the best value for the price. They don't do a ton of marketing so I couldn't find as many reviews as some other brands. Not as many bells and whistles as some brands, but I was ok with that. I was like you - pros and cons with every brand, happy and sad people with every brand. I can't be of much help to you since I don't know how it will turn out, but I sure hope I can be a happy person!

BlueStar gets lots of love on GW. Google BlueStar and Gardenweb and many threads will come up. Old issues like supposedly hot doors have been worked out.

We have a Wolf 36" all gas with 6 burners and we have had no problem at all with clicking burners. The 15000 Btu aren't high enough for some but the simmer is fantastic! The deal breaker for me is that it's not self cleaning so I'm not getting it for the new kitchen when we move.

I am very happy with my Bluestar oven. I only have a single though.

Don't forget the needed ventilation for a high BTU range, and the make up air that will be required as well. That can cost as much as the range. If the range itself is a stretch for you, then you might want to back off of the presumed type and stick with a standard consumer grade that won't have such high priced ventilation needs.

mandy_elaine - I'm actually leaning towards BlueStar. Which model do you have? And, if you have an all-gas model, how is baking and broiling? Thanks

We have an all gas, Blue Star RNB (V2). It bakes and broils very well. I have never had a gas oven before so I was worried but it is great. I love it and my husband loves the wok cooking (he only grills and woks, ha ha).

I second @mandy_elaine's recommendation. That's a wonderful range. And wok cooking is great. We use our wok all the time, both for Asian and Western dishes. It's a convenient size to cook meals for a family with two hungry kids, it is literally smoking hot within 20 seconds, and once properly seasoned, it is super fast to clean. The only downside is that it is bulky. We store the wok in the oven, when not in use; and we keep the matching lid in the pantry.

In general, I find the very even heat distribution of the star shaped burners is awesome when cooking with cookware made from rolled carbon steel and cast iron pots. These are usually considered great materials for cooking, but on some other brands of stoves, they can suffer from hot spots. That's not really a problem with Bluestar burners.

I regular bake artisan-style sourdough breads in the oven, and they come out great. We also roast meats and bake other types of pastries, and I find the oven extremely easy to use. But you will inevitably have a learning curve; I find that every oven I have ever used behaves subtly different. An oven thermometer and a heat diffuser (i.e. a cookie sheet or fibrament stone on the bottom rack) is my fallback trick while learning how to use a new oven. I still do that with my BS, but find that it actually heats very evenly without that. It does have a long pre-heat time though. I figure it takes at least 20min to come up to temperature; preferably a little longer.

Another things that I really love about my BS is that it is so easy to clean. The open burners are very easy and quick to wipe down. And most of the time, that's really all they need.

Hi,

I’m in the same place of choosing a 36” gas range. We’re between Thermador and Blue Star RNB(Nova). I’ve read lots of negative about Thermador and mostly only good about BS. I’m so sick of reading about appliances - I have analysis paralysis. We are buying from a shop that services everything they sell and they find that most of the high end brands have similar above average reliability.

Are you all still happy? And Nadia did you go woth BS?

Also what did you do for hoods?

Thanks

We love our Blue Star and would do not regret the purchase at all. As for a hood, we purchased ours from a different appliance store and had it installed to vent through the roof (I cannor for the life of me remember the brand right this moment).

Hi there,

All excellent responses in this thread from several knowledgeable folks. The only thing I would add is that it is very easy to find bad reviews on appliances that are really good. It is incredibly rare to find nearly only positive reviews on any appliance from any brand. Bluestar is one of those gems. I own one myself. I wouldn’t count out some of the other ranges on your list just because of poor reviews though. For some who want to mix performance with a certain type of “look”, bluestar may not be the first choice. My sister in law has a Thermador and it has been flawless and a joy to cook on for years. My parents own a DCS range and enjoy theirs too. At the end of the day though their ranges feel like toys after I go back to my bluestar. I am a big proponent of bluestar on these forums, but do feel some brands get a bad rap when they’re actually not half bad if cooking isn’t your priority.

Adding to what catinthehat said about negative reviews, consider several internet tendencies which have been discussed here frequently. Summarized briefly, they are as follows.

One is that, except in sites like his one, disappointed customers are more likely to post than satisfied ones. With the volume in which appliances are sold, even a small percentage of problems can translate into a large number of negative posts.

A second is that every manufactured product line is going to have some lemons that get past quality control or break earlier than expected. That is what warranties are supposed to be for. More and more warranty service is mostly outsourced to low bidders with high turnover, overscheduling, less skilled employees who may not know what they are doing. There is nothing like slow and poor warranty service to turn a product disappointment into rage that translates into internet crusading

Third, consider the specificity of the negative reports and if there are patterns to them. When you see a lot of generalized "Nobody should ever buy anything form this @#$%^&*+! company again because their product(s) are $#!+" you may be seeing some postings by trolls and such. OTOH, if you see a pattern of specific reports of the same or similar problems, you may be looking at a product with significant design or manufacturing issues. One particular source of complaints is the increasingly prevalent electronics boards --- there seems to be a constatnt temptation to increase profits by cheapening out on the boards. In sites with long running threads, if you see an upsurge in complaints about electronics, it may be a signal of that symptom in a model to avoid.

Fourth, when sites have lots of reviews without disappointed customers, the site may be being managed to exclude critical reviews.

Finally, consider the age of the negative reports. Sometimes new models have teething problems that get sorted out.