In February we were making a decision about the AG ranges and were looking at American, Bluestar and Wolf. We did tons of research and looked and looked. At that time I was also thinking I wanted a color range rather than stainless, so that narrowed it down to Bluestar and American. We decided the American was a better value than the Bluestar and were ready to order until we did a final measurement and discovered that the extra depth of the Performer would not work in our particular configuration because a drawer on an adjacent wall wouldn't open. So, much as we would have liked it, that eliminated that possibility. Then, we found an AG Wolf floor model on clearance (one of the old models with the open burner) and bought that. I like it, but personally I wouldn't want the burners on the new model Wolf. And, there have been a couple times (maybe only 3 or 4) when I thought to myself I would have liked to have one of the more powerful burners from the Performer. In your shoes, I'd save the money and get the Performer. This doesn't mean I don't like the Wolf; it just means that I don't think it is worth the extra money now, especially considering the fact it has sealed burners.

I can answer the BS oven door question. My 36" BS RCS was installed two days ago (haven't used it yet, hopefully this weekend). During the burn off of the oven (high temp is 450 F for an hour) I checked how hot the oven door got, as that has been a big issue noted on these boards. On my range, the SS part of the oven door did not get hot, just a bit warm. The glass on the oven door got hotter but not that hot. What did get quite hot were the sides/edges of the oven door. I could touch the side but not for long. Definitely quite hot. Not instant burn/scald though. There are vents (or look like vents) right there so it makes sense that those areas heat up a lot. Your kids would have to press their hands up against the 2" side of the door for several seconds for it to affect them negatively. More likely a kid running around will touch the front of the door and that is not a problem, on my range at least.

I wanted to contribute my experience- we got the capital culinarian all gas 48" w/ the griddle (so we have 6 burners) within the past year and I have been using it for a few months. I LOVE LOVE LOVE our decision!! I too did a lot of research and did not read many negative reviews about it- and they are very well built, pretty, and simple design-wise (my husband is a contractor and thought they were most similar to the commercial ranges he has worked on, i.e. if something breaks it would be easy to fix). I probably wouldn't need 6 burners just for cooking- but it is nice to have. I also do a lot of canning/preserving, and do use 6 burners at the same time (simmer for warming lids, canning pot, pot for extra hot water, pot w/ stuff to be canned, pot w/ syrup for the stuff to be canned, one pot w/ dinner cooking). My husband loves the griddle- very easy to make breakfasts, hot sandwiches, etc. You could always do 4 burners and a grill/griddle as an option if you don't can/need 6 burners. Also, I really enjoy the big oven on the 48" (not sure how this compares in size to the 36" since the 48" has a large and small oven and the 36" one large oven). It can fit 9x13" pans side by side, and cookie sheets. The roll out racks aren't as smooth as some of the other brands we looked at (we liked the thermador racks the best- very smooth) but they work pretty well. Also, I haven't had any problems w/ the baking heat/evenness, and our oven is gas (which I think is typically worse than electric ovens?). I haven't baked bread yet- but have done a lot of other foods (cookies, casseroles, etc.). So if it were me I would definitely do the 36" over the 30" :-) It sounds like you would use it w/ all the cooking that you do. If you have any questions about mine please let me know :-)

It should be done as part of installation, but you can easily do it yourself as well. Take a look at page 38 of the user manual: http://www.bluestarcooking.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/BlueStar-FreeStanding-Range-Use-Care-Manual-750355-Rev3.28.19.pdf