Decision time for Range as one is 6months!!! Lacanche or Blue Star
Claire Pope
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
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Fori
6 years ago_sophiewheeler
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoRelated Discussions
Blue Star, Viking, Wolf, Lacornue, Lacanche, too many options!
Comments (13)A couple of thoughts to clear up a bit of confusion. I saw a comment above (don't remember who) that said La Corneau was the same or close in price to a Lacanche when you add in the extras. That isn't correct for a La Corneau, but perhaps is for a CorneauFe (built by Aga and MUCH cheaper than a La Corneau). La Corneau starts around $30,000. Molteni (anotehr fabulous range you should consider if you're at that price point) is going to start around $21,000 for a traditional model and Lacanche (a 55 1/2 inch version with duel fuel and a warming cabinet) will be around $12,500. That is comparable with a 48" wolf (DF) with much more style and two more burner options. I looked at all three of these and went with Lacanche. La Corneau and Molteni are identical in quality, no debate (ask Wolf Gang Puck or someone who can afford both) :oP Molteni is cheaper now because they're trying to break into the american consumer market. They're traditionally a commercial product. I didn't go with Molteni because of the dealer. We would have had to purchase in Portland OR and I was not treated well by the dealer. After making an appointment with them (I had to fly then drive several hours) they still didn't even have prices available. If that's the type of service you get with a purchase...can you imagine what you'd see afterwards? I passed and purchased a Lacanche. The construction is fabulous, but if you kick a Lacanche and kick a Molteni at the same time....the Molteni will hurt your foot more :oP They're heavy. Lacanche is not light!!! But not a Molteni. Run as far as you can from a Viking. They're crap. The people we know with them hate them. We only have one friend with a Blue Star and they haven't been happy, but it's a few years old. I didn't spend much time on it because we couldn't see one anywhere we visited locally or otherwise. We originally (Before GW) were set on the Wolf (great stove) but considering a Lacanche and wolf are comparibly priced...you get so much more from a Lacanche so we went with that....See MoreWolf R364G range vs. Blue Star RNB
Comments (25)I am going to go ahead and chime in here for the OP although I fear may be flamed by Bluestar enthusiasts for what I'm going to say. Bluestar's flame pattern and BTU power on their high-powered burners are exceptional; that is without question. However, unless you are a frequent stir-fryer or need water to come to boil super-fast, I don't think it's fair to imply that a Wolf won't do an excellent (in fact, exceptional) job cooking and should only be chosen for its build quality/looks. I have owned a Wolf AG range for two years; I prepare 2-3 meals a day for our family of five on my range every day and consider myself to be an excellent cook although I'm not a professional chef. I don't remember thinking at any time, "Gosh, this thing doesn't have enough heat/power" but then I'm not a stir-fryer. I know that it performs much better than anything else I've ever cooked on/ owned, sears meat, etc., very quickly, and performs other high-power feats admirably. I never encounter "hot spots" in my pans so I think its flame pattern (double concentric rings) does a nice job of distributing the heat although I do agree the Bluestar's star pattern is probably superior, especially on low heat. I personally like having all my burners the same power even if they're "only" 16K. There are other considerations besides burner shape/power when selecting a range. Some prefer ranges with closed burners from the likes of DCS, Capital, and American for their ease of cleaning. I have a DCS AG range at our beach place and would prefer my Wolf AG's open burners for any task except maybe simmer where I can't see much difference. The fact that the DCS has 17.5K BTU's is insignificant for me as I find myself using the DCS on low/medium low setting most of the time in order to keep the flame under the pan, not coming up around the sides. I'm willing to do a little extra cleaning for the open burner performance and won't buy a closed-burner range again. Another consideration is which part of the country you live in. I'm in the South. When we built our house, I really wanted to go with the Bluestar. However, we didn't have a local showroom although there was one local company that could/would be willing to order it for us. My husband and our builder both questioned the wisdom of buying a lesser-known company's product sight unseen and were concerned about getting service on it if/when we needed it as Bluestar didn't have much of a presence state-wide. I ended up driving to Asheville (5 hours away) to see one on the floor in a new showroom and was turned off by the build quality. However, I was impressed with the star burners. Anyway, the point of this is that I ended up going with Wolf because the local dealer was well-established and I knew I could get good service through them. The stories I've read on this forum seem to bear out the wisdom of the decision I made for our situation. There are lots of threads on this forum where people are having trouble with their Bluestar ranges. Mostly small issues but issues. If I called a service person in Raleigh to come work on my range, I know that he would have worked on before and be familiar with Wolf ranges. I asked my regular service person (who came out to calibrate my oven temp) if he'd ever worked on/seen a Bluestar. He works on most appliance brands but specializes in the higher-end repairs. He said he'd never seen one. I know they are straight-forward machines but I still believe this should be a consideration for some of us. If you live in California or the Northeast, service for Bluestar should be readily availiable by a person experienced in working with Bluestar. However, for someone like me, it would be a concern. Experiences of others on this forum bear out this theory. I know that with Wolf I have a local dealer who can have a local repairman at my house within 24 hours to work on my range and he will have worked on Wolf many times before. I also know Wolf is consistently easy to work with and accommodating if I have any problems. My only problem has been the oven temp being off - this was fixed within the day. Also, after a year and a half, the rubber feet were falling off my grates (I put them through the DW when they get grubby). I called Wolf and they immediately mailed out a new set of grates (the newer model has metal feet) without charge. My experience with Wolf has been top-notch and I'd choose the same range again today. So do I get flamed now? I hope not ;-)...See More30" Gas Range Decision - Blue Star/Five Star/Etc
Comments (15)Also, in regard to the hot oven door on a BS, it's pretty relative. I caught my 4 yo sitting on the floor w/his back against the oven 'warming up' while it was on ~400 deg. It's hot but no hotter than the bottom panel of my Wolf 30" wall oven while it's running, in fact, that oven has surprised me in regard to the 'hot' panels as I've never heard 1 complaint about a Wolf oven door (or panel) getting hot. To me neither are 'too' hot....See MoreDecision...decision...Blue Star or Culinarian?
Comments (4)You have plenty of time. But if you are interested in color, and you are interested in Blue Star, suggest you build in some lead time to order a color sample before placing the order for the range. If you start soon you can certainly do this. I ordered a color sample and it came pretty true to the swatch book -- but just slightly lighter. It was definitely worth the time to do this sample process, because as a result I ended up ordering a different, darker color. The Blue Star and Capital ranges look quite different, especially in color. But both are very attractive!...See MorePatricia Colwell Consulting
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