I know I am a little late joining this conversation, but I found this thread, looking up a comparison between Viking and Capitol. These are my two finalists, but things have changed a lot with these 2 companies in the past 2 years, since the last comments were made. First of all, Viking, who was purchased by Middleby Corporation (approx. 3 years ago), has made significant changes to the entire product line at Viking. I am in the commercial kitchen equipment business, and Middleby Corp owns the finest cooking equipment companies in the commercial cooking business (Jade Range, Southbend Range, Wells Mfg., Lang Mfg., Pitco, Blodgett, Market Forge, TurboChef, Star Mfg., Magic Kitchen, Anets, Toastmaster, Nu Vu, Doyon, and more). I went to the big home show this past spring in Las Vegas, and spoke directly with the CEO of Middleby and asked him what he has done with the Viking line since he bought the company. He hired engineers to revamp everything in the line, and was very proud of his new 7 series ranges with their new burner design and chrome plated griddles. He let me know that he inherited a lot of service issues that he has addressed, both on the manufacturing side, and on the customer service side. I can tell you that working with their commercial division companies, they are very committed to customer satisfaction, and expedited service. Some of Middleby's commercial divisions are making components and ovens for their newer product additions (such as TurboChef ovens in their wall ovens). I can't tell you how these changes have impacted the lastest product offerings, but I can't imagine that the changes have made them worse. I did have a Viking 48" gas range in a house I sold back in 2008, circa 2004, and there were a lot of features I did not like. Burners were not good in simmer mode, gas oven was not self cleaning, and was very difficult to get clean. Charbroiler smoked out the house, whenever I tried to use it. But it added a lot of value to the house when I sold it. Now let's look at Capitol. The guy who owns Capitol, owned DCS, which used to be one of the "players" in the commercial range market. Their ranges were very attractive, performed well, but were not heavy duty enough for high volume restaurants (Wolf and US Range were the big players on the West Coast, where DCS and now Capitol are located.) As many companies have gone light weight, easy to clean, low maintenance, Capitol appears to be sticking with some of the old commercial designs, which pay off from a performance standpoint, but may intimidate some, from a maintenance standpoint. I am truly impressed with the open burners on the Capitol Connoisseurian and Culinarian ranges. I can tell you that not only the burner design, but the top grate design adds significantly to the performance of the burners. Their is a bowl/ring that is part of the cast iron grates that directs the heat back up onto the pans that is deflected down off the the bottom of the pan, containing the area. The open style grates, that are light weight and easy to clean, have no added qualities to the performance. I am impressed with the thermostatic griddle (which is also standard on the Viking). The old manual flame griddles got too hot and made them useless for breakfast items, and left the griddle only for meat and searing. The addition of a self cleaning oven on the all gas model is probably the biggest "plus" feature of the range comparing it to Viking. With Viking you have to go to Dual Fuel, which raises to price by a couple thousand dollars. To me, the downside of both of these ranges is that they don't have a real good computer control for the ovens, like you see in a regular domestic range. I would love some feedback from anyone who has bought these two products in the past 6 months or so, with the latest improvements, and the bugs worked out.

First, you'll want the bigger hose for that range. Figure out the max btu - it probably says on the back of the range - or just add together all the burners and the oven. You'll probably need a 5/8 hose and not too long of one - 3 or 4 feet at most. Buy something like this (menards link) and it comes with two different sizes of connector. There's a chart on the back to show you how many BTUs you should try to feed with each length and diameter of hose. Use the fittings you have to figure out the size you need before you return them. There's probably only two sizes. If your fittings are too small, you need the 3/4" ones. At our local hardware store you have to work down to what you need: First, pick the diameter hose (you want the thickest one) Second, pick the length (you want the shortest you can reasonably install) Third, pick the connectors (at Menards they just put both size connectors in the bag) Make sure you're attaching to the right spot on the range. Mine has a cap to access the regulator that has threads that look like you could use them. Then on the bottom is the "real" spot for gas hookup. You have to screw in the adapter piece, with threads on one side and a taper on the other. Use the sealant paste for the threads. Then you attach the hose to the taper - no paste here. Same on both ends of the hose unless the adapter piece from the last range got left on the pipe stub. so it goes: floor/wall -> pipe -> valve -> taper adapter -> hose -> taper adapter -> range.

Neither range will present significant impact to your power situation on a generator. They simply do not draw that much current. The only resistance elements in any gas range will be the oven and broiler ignitors, which do use resistance but are not that power intensive. 250 - 500 watts only during the lighting phase of oven or broiler use, and any lights you have running inside. And you don't need any of it. Leave the oven alone, cook on the stovetop and you won't impact your power budget at all. In fact, you can leave it unplugged and light it with a match like we all used to do back in the day.

We have 2 of these units. The door has a constant gap at the top which causes heat loss and heating of the knobs. Both units have had the hinges serviced/replaced however the problem continues. The units are about a year old or less.