My wife and I have been reading and visiting dealers for both the CC and BS for some time. We finally decided we wanted a 48" rangetop with 24" grill. Here's what key things we found (of course our opinion): 1. Appearance: CC has a really nice high-end residential finish BS has more of a commercial heavy appearance 2. Burners: CC: has open burners and all are the same size and big (23k) BS: has open burners with 3 different sizes standard (2-22k, 1-15k, and 1 simmer). BS also allows for custom burner sizes and locations (at a cost) 3. Grates: CC: one piece cast iron per burner (wok will need a wok ring) BS: 2 piece cast iron per burner (no wok ring needed - remove the inner grate) 4. Burner Cleaning: (both have drawers at the bottom of rangetop to collect spills) CC: also has stainless shields under grates to prevent spills from dropping down into rangetop (if spills drop past shields - all 4 grates may need to be removed to clean) BS: remove a single grate to access spills that drop into the rangetop 5. Grill: CC: 30k with ceramic rods over burners cased in stainless and has cast iron grates BS: 30k with stainless shields over burners and cast iron grates 6. Costs: Similar 7. Service & Support Neither has an authorized dealer close by where we need it installed. (However our local BS dealer put in writing they would support it even if they needed to drive the long distance) 8. History (this may not be exact but how it appears based on all the research) CC: some people have issues with simmer (adjustments may fix this) - others have stated they need a smaller burner BS: Garland is a long time commercial range and they sold the residential part which is now BlueStar. A few years back, BS seemed to have some quality and support issues, especially with the ovens. It seems these issues may have been corrected. 9. Reliability Overall both seem to be good. So what did we do and why: We purchased the BS 48". The key determining factors for us were the burner sizes, grill design, and support. We really liked having different size burners since we have a variety of items we cook, especially the small burner for lots of delicate simmers. The CC burners may be fine for simmer but with this amount of money, it was just too much of a gamble for us - especially since BS had a variety of burner sizes. Also, when I look into our outdoor Weber grill, which really does a good job, it has shields over the burners similar to BS instead of ceramic rods. Maybe others have rods or the rods may even be better - I don't really know but liked the similarity of the BS to the Weber. Conclusion: Both CC or BS would probably been fine for us. The CC looked better but we liked BS having variable size burners, a grill setup similar to our outdoor Weber grill, and the support our local BS dealer offered. We ordered the BS a couple weeks ago and 11 days later it arrived. Hope to have it operational in about a month. Maybe I'll post details and pics later.

Posted by trevorlawson I think its fair to say that the CC will out cook a thermadore due to open burners. Fair to say based on what? Please describe what this means. The high end is 22K BTUs-pretty close to Capital. This is the rating for the heat output, nothing to do with open or closed. The low end is 375 BTUs. We don't know what Capital has for that. I am sure everyone knows what I sell. What I sell does not detract from the fact that open burners outperform sealed burners. The difference between open and sealed burners is significant nothing nominal about it. We tested a wolf range with caps on and caps off using same pan same water side by side at the same time, the burner with caps off boiled water over 23% fast..... that is significant Here is the video. Outperform would be a mischaracterization of this "test". I see performance as more multidimensional than putting the most heat in the center of a pan. If you had a wider pan, or changed the metal it was made of, or what you are cooking, your results would be different. This falls under the category of showmanship rather than anything scientific. How can you say this-"the burner with caps off boiled water over 23% fast."without any supporting data? You are right it is not how big the burners are but how the burner delivers heat to the CENTER of the pan, so the base of the pan gets evenly hot. Sealed burner send vast majority of the heat to the outside of the pan, open burners send the heat to the center of the pan. Please explain using the principals of heat transfer how delivering heat to the center of a pan is allowing the base of the pan to get evenly hot. If you have a ring of heat on the bottom of the pan, heat will travel in both directions from that ring to heat the pan. The center will receive heat from more directions and heat quicker, until it comes to equilibrium, than the outside so it is optimum to have a ring with the maximum heat more towards the outside of the pan than the inside. It is much harder to get heat to the part of the pan outside of the ring. A sealed ring burner flame pattern is only slightly wider than an open ring burner, a little more if you have it wide open. If you use a pan with reasonably good heat transfer like copper or aluminum, the burner shape doesn't really matter as much, but I wouldn't want the heat in the middle of the pan. The only way I would see heat in the middle of a pan as a benefit is if I were using a very small pan or a wok. I use everything from a 7 inch pan to make caramel with no stirring to a 14 inch aluminum pan on my sealed burners. For any pan less than 7 inches, I have a "small pan burner" I can make fried potatoes in that 14 inch pan with even color all the way across. I use cast iron if I need a lot of heat as in searing meat.

"Posted by hvtech42 Have you considered replacing it with an AG range.... Of course, I'm sure you're super enthusiastic about buying another Wolf product after your experience with them." _____ Yes but I am not giving them another nickel. "Posted by Sahmmy I never understood the appeal of a dual fuel range.... The supposed superiority of an electric oven has been accepted as gospel via years of hard marketing and advertising." ____ I would agree that marketing often says "electric is better" but very few sales people know why this may or may not be. hvtech42 mentioned some differences and aside from the difference in gas(dry) and electric(moist) heat, these are features some find appealing in some electric ovens. -the performance of being able to direct the heat. It might be from the top for roasting but some ovens have many different modes -the boost of the third element when the oven is full decreasing the amount of tending and turning and switching -speed of fan(s) tailored to what you are cooking-lower speed and less drying for baking-higher speed and more browning for roasting -more control of the humidity-easier to keep added humidity in the oven cavity for bread baking and some other baking -less heat released in the kitchen -wider range of temperature available, some measure in 1-5 F precise increments - a more narrow range of temperature kept by the oven -self clean(present in more electric ovens than gas) -broiler might be wider and is often hotter than a regular gas broiler Admittedly, it is a learning curve and these things may mean more to those who do a lot of baking. benefits to gas ovens -simple controls and less to go wrong -dry heat good for roasting and the last half of baking for bread and cakes -might have an infrared broiler which is narrower but might be hotter "Posted by trevorlawson 1) Firstly if you leave your oven door open to long must expect to lose heat. " ___ Typically you will lose 50F each time you open the oven. Even if you only lose 25F, for me it is the cumulative loss when using the oven opening the door every 5 minutes. "2) if you do leave the door open would you not want the oven to recover to your desired cooking temp as soon as possible?." ____ Yes you would. Most ovens do kick on a more gentle preheat, usually the bake element as soon as the temperature falls below about 25F below the set temperature. The preheat only has to stay on to bring the temp up to the upper limit of the thermostat which is about 25F above the set temp. If you are losing heat and you have to wait until it drops 150F or more before the preheat comes on and the preheat is more intense, it is a problem for me. "I just tested this function on our 48" dual fuel unit and it took over 5 mins for the feature of rapid reheat to kick in. Can anyone think of a valid reason to leave an oven door open over 5 mins if you plan to use it again???????" Well I guess you will have to leave the door open for 5 minutes if you plan to bump the temperature up 50F, to meet the 150F threshold for the preheat to kick in. Either that or turn the temperature up by 150F and watch the temperature carefully and turn it back when it reaches the new setting. Again for me, it is not leaving the door open but the constant opening and closing I sometimes have to do. The oven can also cool off if you put something cold in the oven. Five minutes is a long time for the preheat not to come on with the door open. It takes even longer to come on when the door is closed most of the time but overall there is continuing loss of heat. "I will say the message about the moisture feature is a tough one swallow, having said that how many people put a dish of water in the oven when baking bread or roasting meats? why do you do this ?...Many recipes suggest this to increase moisture within a cavity for various reasons. While I am not saying its going to make a huge difference it does introduce a form of moisture into the cavity, if it was not beneficial why would it be recommended by many recipe developers for certain foods." ___ There are many things in cookbooks and even written by chefs that are not true. Adding moisture to prevent dryness in meat... Food Lab's Myths Steam is beneficial for some baking but Capital says this is not steam. Maybe it might be a benefit in keeping food from drying out when keeping warm or reheating. That is the only thing I can think of that would benefit from a small increase in humidity. It's been marketed all wrong! "I think we are missing a major point here from the OP...That being a Dual Fuel Capital open burner range costs less than the all gas BS Platinum which does not have.... Electric ovens, self cleaning ovens, rotisserie, 2 broilers, meat probes in each oven, Larger cavity oven, larger in oven broiler coverage, the small oven in the 48" range is far superior due to features, to mention just a few of the differences. And costs less than a Wolf DF with sealed burner range. ____ It has a given set of features, but there are many differences in the way electric ovens work and I think it is very important that cooks understand what the ovens will and will not do. I'm sure this range would be great for some but others might be better with another choice. There are times when the cheapest option is not the best value. Aside from the blue chipping enamel,here are going to be people that want all the features in the oven of a Wolf DF range and are very happy with sealed, capped burners. "In my experience people buy dual fuel ranges or wall ovens looking for better results in the ovens or they want the self cleaning feature. On the other hand some people buy open burners for better results on the range top forgoing the perceived benefits in the oven department. Capital now has an option which meets both criteria in one unit. At a price that beats the major competition that been BS and Wolf." ___ "Perceived benefits?" "Better results" "beats the competition" I look at that a little differently. I don't believe that the benefits of the choice of an electric oven are just "perceived". It is a much more complicated choice than simply getting "open" burners and an electric oven. I think there are all kinds of benefits in cooking appliances that have to be balanced to get what is "better results" for you. You have listed entirely different types of appliances as competition. Hopefully people would look at more than a cursory list of features and the price. People have all kinds of priorities and what one person sees as a benefit others see as a drawback. In the world of burners- -sealed vs open vs semi sealed-everybody has opinion what is easier to clean -capped vs uncapped -it is key to consider the pans you use -BTUS low and high-again it is key to consider what you cook -shape/configuration of the burner star vs ring vs multi ring vs dual stacked again consider size and type of cookware -configuration of cooktop -depth and spacing of burners, burners all the same or different oven -gas vs electric -simplicity vs being controlled by computer boards which may use a third element with the convection fan, direct the heat and make the fan speed variable. The big question is how it all works together -broiler-narrow gas infrared vs wider electric -self clean or not -rotisserie -size-How is the space usable? There are slightly more cubic feet in the CC oven but some might find the BS to be more usable in that it holds a full sheet. I don't think the CC does. It is key to look at the size of the racks rather than the cubic feet in the oven. People have to give weight to each option to come to a good fit. Other considerations would be level and availability of service. I have to say I am a little leery of new features like the gas burner in the back of the Platinum until they get worked out too.

How do you use your oven? I would look at Electrolux as well. It has been recently redesigned so no feedback from the new ones yet but they have gone to dual fans/elements and the racks can be left in for cleaning. They seem to be going the right way. They might not have as many modes as Miele or Gagg but the ones they have are highly usable. They have varying fan speeds, slow for conv bake and high for convection roast. I prefer a slower speed for baking and higher for roasting. Not every oven has this. They do not have pure convection mode but it is not missed and I do a lot of baking. It is also the hardest mode to get right. People do seem very happy with Bosch as well. It was a favorite on this forum before the redesign. Miele and Gagg are more complex so a little bit more of a learning curve but would give more options. Wolf seems to have gone to one fan speed in the M series as they have gotten rid if the conv bake which is the mode I used when using convection. I don't know if it can be varied in some other way, maybe in the gourmet program. You can hear the difference in the fan speed, so if you see an oven live you can tell. I think BS has one speed and they have a quirky thing where you preheat the oven and when you add food you have to press start or the heat turns off. I don't think they have a delay start either. I would read the manuals of any you are seriously considering. You can learn a lot that way.