I can only comment on the Bluestar RNB, which seems not to be a front-runner for you. But as you ask about the hot doors . . . it just has not been any sort of problem for us. The door gets very warm under certain conditions, and you might be surprised if you were to fall against it with palms flat. Surprised, but not injured at all -- our door just doesn't get hot enough to burn somebody. Moreover, if I'm baking, or roasting (or braising, etc.) while working at the range, I'm not especially aware of heat coming through the door at all. And the oven door handle stays just fine -- don't need a potholder to open the door at all. Our two younger kids had just turned 9 when we bought the range and I'd had similar questions, and had them resolved before we bought place our order. They've never had problems getting getting burnt, and neither has our small dog. Of course other kids may be younger, and things happen, but I don't see a danger from the door itself. With our range, a little kid could fall against the glass door, or poke it with a finger while looking at cookies, and not be injured at all. Startled, perhaps, but not injured. The far more significant risk seems to me to be common to any range at all: little kids need to know that a stove is not a toy, but something to be careful about. They need to know that they oughtn't to go crashing into it or leap up and grab things. They need to know that whether you buy a BS, or CC, or NXR, or GE, or a 20 year-old whirlpool from a garage sale. An open flame is an open flame; a hot coil is a hot coil; and a pot full of boiling water can scald anybody.

We are actually looking for the third range since 2007. I have a Wolf Df that has failed after 4 1/2 years. From my experience with my revolving appliances, the old idea that appliances show their faults the first year is no longer true. If you do have a problem the first year and it is fixed, the problem may be recurrent and not covered in subsequent years. In years past, an appliance had a problem because a part was bad and you could fix it and it was ok. Now it just seems like the whole design is bad or a part is made cheap and that makes many problems recurrent. Some problems can just show up later. A component that used to last 30 years now fails after 3 or 4 years. We considered BS before we bought the Wolf and drove 250 miles to see it. The fit and finish is more industrial and there were issues with the door and the service at the time. I think that that is better now. Now the main issue for me would be complaints by some that the door is "hot" but of course this is very subjective. We chose Wolf because at the time they were known for reliability and I wanted the DF. HA! As much as I liked my Wolf electric range oven, I have given up on the idea of DF range now but I do have an Electrolux wall oven. We are back to considering BS again. I also considered the AR Performer but the glass and enamel are not covered at all under warranty, not even the first year and with my track record... The main issue that I have read with LP is if you have to use a conversion kit for a range that is natural gas you have a loss of BTUs. but the BS has a model that comes made for LP so no loss of BTUs. I have used many different gas and electric ovens over many years and of course you can bake in a gas oven. You can not make an arbitrary statement that one is" better" or more even than the other. There is much more to it. Evenness of heat can be increased to some extent by the convection fan and when you add the third and even fourth element, it helps even more but the mass of the oven with radiant heat also contributes a lot. Convection is not optimal for everything so when you are not using it, you are reliant on the design of the oven. I have had plain conventional ovens gas and electric that heated pretty evenly. I had a convection oven with multiple modes that was a nightmare in that respect, very uneven. The Wolf and Elux function well but have the issues with the interiors. It all boils down to the engineering and when you start adding all the different modes, it is harder to get it right. Wolf and Electrolux do have it right as far as function. Some considerations about gas and electric ovens. These are just some differences and they may or may not be important to you. In a gas oven because there is combustion, there is much more ventilation so more heat in the kitchen. It also allows the moisture from the combustion of gas to be vented out of the oven so you have a dry heat but also moisture in your house. This is great for roasting and browning and for baking after the rise is completed, but not as great for the first half of baking breads and other things that have to rise. An electric oven is more of a closed system so will hold the moisture from what is cooking. This allows more time before the exterior of cake/bread sets and allows a longer time to rise. It also allows for increased starch gelatinization making a crispy and glossy crust on bread. It also holds on to added steam that many use in bread baking. Many commercial bakeries do use gas ovens but they have steam injectors if humidity is crucial to what they are baking. If you read some of the baking forums, bread bakers at home have a harder time keeping steam in a gas oven. You can increase "drying" in an electric oven with a convection fan. Look at the broiler. Some gas ovens have an infrared broiler it can be very narrow. The number of passes in a electric oven can also vary, but they are much wider. We use that wide broiler because I am always doing big trays of things like appetizers. Other people like the infrared broiler because they are doing a couple of steaks more than big trays. The swing of temperature in the oven is regulated by the thermostat. The normal swing is 25F on either side of the set temperature. There are some that produce a much narrower swing and usually this is with an electric oven. It is often a selling point but does it actually matter? I can't say. One thing I would avoid is the type of oven that will only allow the preheat or fast recovery to come on if there is a differential of 100-150F between the set temp and the actual temp. This is some times disclosed in the handbook but not always. Some electric ovens have a third and maybe fourth element and dual fans. This is supposed to help create even heat when the oven is full if it works the way it is supposed to. I often cook for 20-35 and sometimes for as many as 60 so I loved that I could pack my 36 inch Wolf and have everything bake evenly. I really miss that. Check out the size of the ovens on the interior. Check the actual size of the rack. Notice the height of the oven in relation to the racks not the bottom of the oven. Some electric ovens have computer boards to produce all kinds of effects form combinations of the elements and fans. I do like being able to direct heat from the top for roasting or the bottom for baking. There is a bit of a learning curve with these features and vary brand to brand. Some consider computer boards a liability. My biggest worry was that the electronics in my ovens would go out. It was kind of funny that it was the structure that failed. It just goes to show that the things you worry about aren't the things that actually happen. One thing I have found helpful is to read about appliances how appliances work from from actual users. It is one thing to look at a list of features and another to say how the appliance actually works. You can also learn a lot from reading the user manual. Have you seen this thread below from some who have the Performer? There are many posts on BlueStar as well. Have a look at some of the videos on youtube. Some are marketing videos but you can get an idea of how the burners work. Deegeaux , I am curious about this statement in your post. "The only electric oven, IMO, good enough to even consider paying the premium is Wolf. Since you own the Gag and often recommend it, have you changed your mind about this? Why don't you recommend it now? How do you recommend Wolf, which you don't own especially with all of the ongoing blue porcelain issues?

I would if possible choose a range top and separate wall ovens. That way you can choose each component rather than picking the burners you like and having to take the oven. I think that people have a bad opinion about Viking due to past problems. Middle by bought it but I have no idea if it is better or not. I always liked the look of them too. There was newer poster yesterday giving her opinion about Viking. Scroll to the bottom Viking vs capital As far as simmer Wolf and Thermador are very low BTUs and I would ask Viking what their BTU rating is if not listed on the website. Just as you compare the high end BTUs it is the same with low end. There are usually some kinds of issues that can arise for most brands but you have to look at how pervasive the issue is which is very hard to determine but when one person has the same issue with three of the same appliances it gives you an indication. Look at how the company handles the problem. There are all kinds of reviews here. In the end can you stomach the issues if you have pay yourself? Consider an extended service plan but read the terms carefully noting exclusions. As far as an oven, that to me seems to be the difficult thing to get right. I would try to bake in the ovens to see which bakes the best. Take an oven thermometer to see how close it keeps to a set temp. If you have a gas oven it can be on the "requiring more frequent tending" end of things anyway. Look at the size of the broiler. As far as a griddle most are steel which by nature are uneven. This is not all bad as many people like zones of heat. Some are thicker which makes the heat more even but they take longer to heat up and cool down. They should be able to tell you the thickness. I use an add on heavy gauge aluminum griddle when I need even heat, like for a large amount of grilled sandwiches because it has much better heat conduction so much more even and heats and cools quickly. It is also 15 inches wide so a lot more room. There are add on steel and cast iron griddles as well. You can even buy them that are fitted. Even if you like the built in, you can add an overlay if you need it, as they are very inexpensive. Cathi33 is right in that you have to look at how you cook now and consider what interests you will have in the near future. Some might tout something as a feature but it might not have any meaning for you and vice versa.

We owned a 48” Thermidor for 14 years and regretted it for 12 of those years. We put at least $2,000 into replacement parts over that time. And yes the oven fans were very loud and near the end they would stop working and then my oven would stop working. I spent over two years researching ranges and reading hundreds of reviews. Finally we decided on the 48” RNB. We considered the Platinum but I had the same concerns as M concerning the heat coming from the back of the oven only and the constant fan blowing. Convection isn’t always the best for baked goods, bread, cakes, cookies etc. After reading some reviews on the pros and cons, I decided to go with the RNB. I have no regrets. The ovens are so quiet that I had to check to see if I turned them on. I was so used to hearing a loud fan that at first I thought something was wrong. Took a little getting used to the quiet. I love these ovens! My Christmas cookies all came out perfect; nicely browned outside and moist on the inside. Cheesecake, brownies, bread, and pizza have all baked beautifully. Meats and casseroles bake evenly and on time. My old Thermador has not baked evenly in a very long time and often stopped in the middle of baking. The RNB small oven does a wonderful job. Both ovens heat up quickly. My old small oven was useless. It took nearly an hour to heat up and twice as long to bake. I baked two 9 x 13 dishes at once in my small RNB on Christmas day and they were both finished at the same time. I could never do that in my Thermador. The ovens clean up easily, if you just take a few minutes to wipe up after a spill. I did want the higher burners of the Platinum but the oven made the difference. Also I did not need to move the griddle around. I would have like a grill to but we grill outside whenever we want so that isn’t an issue. The rolled steel griddle is like a restaurant and so much nicer than I expected. You can turn it on and leave it while you prep with no concerns. I went to a restaurant store and purchased a cleaning pad like they use in restaurants. Cleanup is easy. Something else I love is the removable steel trays underneath the burners and griddle. I just stick them in the dishwasher every couple of weeks and the look like new! I would never go back to a Thermador. I hope this helps.