andy47 writes: "i think your problem is your range is recessed too far back against the cabinet as per your photo." _____________________________________________________ I believe you're right... Ours is set out a from the wall. That keeps the oven door away from our cheap HomeDepot cabinet fronts. Can't afford to damage them. ; ) From the picture it looks like the door gasket ~might~ have been damaged causing it to leak as the darkening is coming from the gap between the door and the range rather then from the door vents.. That's closer to the cabinet fronts than the oven door vents. This post was edited by tinyhomebuilder on Sat, May 17, 14 at 18:56

Excellent news! The Dutch dealer is going to know a lot more about what you can get there, and what installation requirements you'll have, than any of us in North America. It sounds like he has great selection of the higher end ranges. And if he has used ones, you might actually get to see them in person. You didn't say if he has a showroom, but if he doesn't, he has to have the used ones somewhere, and you might get him to let you in the warehouse. :) And you can look up the specs online. I do know some about many of the brands you mentioned, but from spec sheets or second hand. The ones I'm familiar with are residential models. Even Wolf, nowadays, only sells fully residential models with closed burners, et al., rather than the one foot in residential, one in commercial that they used to be known for. I don't know if any of them would let you go back to the cooking style you had with your Garland. Have you tried induction? It's a total 180 from what you said you wanted, but a great choice where electricity is plentiful and fairly cheap. I have both induction and gas and rarely bother with the gas. The cookware matters more with induction--it not only has to be induction ready (stainless steel, steel or cast iron), but you can notice the cooking difference between pans more, since it's the pan that's doing the cooking, not the "burner" (which doesn't burn, so we call them elements, rings, or hobs). The other day, I was searing lean burgers in a Demeyere multiply stainless pan. I didn't want scorch them, so only put it up to number 7.5 on an 1800W element. Beautiful caramelization! Lots of power to spare. Anyway, it's an alternative that many are choosing. I have a couple of gas burners I rarely use because I like the induction so well. Gaggenau oven and combi-steam. Lots of utility. And no pilot lights, though maybe Summers aren't hot where you live. :) As to the rest, go to the manufacturer's websites for all the lines that the appliance guy carries and see if there's any thing that suits you, make lists of questions about any that do, and take them with you when you go. If nothing suits your fancy, go anyway, bring sweets, and chat up the guy for all he's worth. He might know of a range that's meant for a small cafe or something that wouldn't be a firetrap if installed in a residence.

I understand that the oven door on older versions of the BlueStar RNB could get quite warm (I've heard this described as "very warm" and "surprisingly warm" by two personally-known owners and in various ways by folks posting on the internet). My range is from this spring, 2011 -- I wouldn't say notably warm for either the door or the knobs. I can place my hand flat on the oven door, while the oven's in action, without any discomfort -- half a second, ten seconds, it just doesn't matter. It's not hot. Three kids and two small dogs and it's a non-issue. The culinarian is probably a very fine product -- certainly the specs look good and far be it from me to dispute anybody's happiness with his or her purchase. Folks should keep in mind that problems and praise for that range or any other on this board -- for all of this board's virtues -- represent a very small number of reports that may be more or less representative (or wildly unrepresentative) of the larger universe of consumer experience. With the culinarian, especially, we're talking about a very small number of reports on a fairly new product. Reported problems have not been many, but they have not been zero. Reports on Trevor's interventions have been very, very favorable, but not everybody has been instantly pleased by the company itself. I really don't mean to suggest that there are any major problems with the product or the company -- not at all. And for any particular person, for all I know, this may be an excellent choice -- maybe the best one possible. But surely folks know that the record is limited?

In answer to the question about getting other companies colors mixed into top-quality paint.... I have always been very happy with having this done in Ben Moore. 10 years ago, most BM dealers had a computer list of other companies colors (I got a lot of Martha Stewart colors mixed in BM back when she was the only one with interesting, complicated colors available!) and sometimes it was trial-and-error after they did the initial mix. Now, most BM dealers have a computerized color matcher... so they actually feed in a chip (photo, old paint chip, piece of pottery you like, etc) and the computer generates a match. I had this done with an old paint chip, 5-year-old paint I wanted to match- and it did a great job. BM paints are a dream to work with. I will never use cheap paint for anything other than the chicken coop again!! I've been using their low-VOC Aura lately and like that as well.