"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.

Sorry, just took a look at this thread again and noticed your question...by the time I got to Miele, I had decided on induction, so I didn't give the Miele an actual test drive. I did give it a pretty thorough inspection at the Miele place, though, and thought it was a very sexy range -- and the performance seemed very similar to the Wolf dual fuel. I say that b/c the Miele also has the stacked burners, which I really liked, but the BTUs are higher than Wolf (which top out at around 16k, I believe -- Miele was closer to 20k or so -- I can't quite remember). The Miele ovens on the 48" range were very nice -- the smaller one is a speed oven, and the bigger one is a regular convection. The speed oven wasn't a big plus for me personally, since I really wanted a steam oven as a second oven, but there are people on this forum who love their speed ovens. One thing I really liked about the Miele oven, which Wolf doesn't have, is the burst of steam option, which is great for baking (you can program up to 3 bursts of steam for up to 6 min. each during cooking). I didn't care that much about the MasterChef options on Miele, but again, others love these. At any rate, the Miele seemed very similar to the Wolf, I liked the steam option on the oven better and liked the Miele burners better (also, if you're interested in a grill, theirs was excellent and seemed very similar to the Wolf, which I think is the best in the business). If I had stuck with a range, I would have been very tempted by the Miele.

Hi All- Well it has been two years since since we received our BS Platinum (and started this thread) and I would have to say we have a love / hate relationship with it. To summarize... What we like: - The burners work great, love the open burners (although the extra Platinum BTU has no value for us) - The stove looks terrific - The integrated wok feature works well, I love this What we don't like: - The grill/griddle is a useless gimmick in my view (sorry to be so direct), why? Because the heat is inconsistent and the handling / replacement is cumbersome. I see no value in these features better to use an outdoor grill and a $20 Lodge cast iron griddle over the burners which is what this really is - The oven has been a disaster to be honest. We have had 4 service calls, first the retrofit for the defective design which melted an oven rack, then once fixed we have struggled to get the oven to maintain a consistent temperature. Too hot or too cold. For the $8k we paid it is totally ridiculous we had better performance with our cheap GE gas range we had before. Bluestar support has been fine but we are out of warranty now and it seems we may be stuck with owning an overpriced lemon. My wife is a professional chef and the lack of temperature control is making her crazy. In conclusion I would say we love the look and burners and really want this to be our special centerpiece appliance but feel that the oven is mediocre and that we overpaid. If we could do it again we would probably buy an RNB or a dual fuel Wolf for better oven temperature control. Come on Bluestar you can do better than this!

Also do not recommend a Blue Star. Had a Lacanche for 11 years and loved it. Moved to a new home with a 36" blue star and it is really terrible. The burners flame out, the oven is 36" wide but not that tall making it a pain to put dutch ovens in it and out, takes FOREVER to heat up, roast veg just don't turn out that well (typically undercooked), it's hard to get a low simmer. Yes, the burners are powerful but they have no meaningful range and the power isn't necessary. My Lacanche made great stir fry. Also have to rotate food more in oven to prevent burning. Some of these problems may be oven size and not blue star specific but I've cooked on other 36" ovens in rentals long ago and didn't have as much trouble with the oven. It seems to be made with solid materials but the putting together of those isn't that well done. I'm glad I got a Lacanche all those years ago when we remodeled out first kitchen. Our new home wasn't as lucky. Missing my Lacanche Volnay.