What sort of cooking do you do? And how much do you do? Are you more interested in function or form, or ??

I realize you're looking for 36" not 30", but I would take a look at the 30" Bosch and BlueStar ranges available at Costco.ca, which are all under $4,000 CAN each,

https://www.costco.ca/ranges.html?brand=bluestar+bosch&sortBy=PriceMin|0&refine=ads_fbrand_ntk_cs%253A%2522BlueStar%2522|ads_fbrand_ntk_cs%253A%2522Bosch%2522|

If you decide to consider 30" ranges research and check in person induction. Bosch 800 or Benchmark models are often recommended.

I don’t do a ton of cooking on be stovetop, other than pasta sauce, boiling potatoes, simmering sauces and things like that. Occasionally I may sear a piece of meat. I cook a lot of my meats in the oven or grill them. I think we decided to do a 36” because it will look best and most proportioned. Do you think we should consider a 36” BlueStar over the other options? I don’t love the idea of open burners for cleaning reasons.

BS makes a range with sealed burner tray. They are ring capped burners though. You might do fine with that type of burner but I would look for dual stacked burners. The cap can cause more flare on high heat but splitting it into two stacked burners seems to help that. I’m not sure what brands you can get or will be serviced. Look at at the lower number of the burner rating to compare simmers.

I think you will be fine with all gas, but look for an infrared broiler. Look at its size. A 36” oven does take awhile to preheat and usable size varies a lot. Look at the size of the rack and height over rack instead of cubic feet.

Meg, where in Canada are you? If you have a Trail or Coast Appliance store near you, I'd go there and see what's available in your size and price range. I'd also go through the Appliance and Kitchen forum archives to see what people have to say about the various 36" ranges and their roasting/grilling capabilities since that's what's most important to you.

I don’t do a ton of cooking on be stovetop, other than pasta sauce, boiling potatoes, simmering sauces and things like that. Occasionally I may sear a piece of meat. I cook a lot of my meats in the oven or grill them. I think we decided to do a 36” because it will look best and most proportioned. Do you think we should consider a 36” BlueStar over the other options? I don’t love the idea of open burners for cleaning reasons.

With your cooking style, you absolutely should investigate induction cooking. It would solve all your cooktop needs including cleanup.

Water on induction boils in 90 seconds and you can go from a roiling boil to a simmer just by turning it down and it's instantaneous. If you need a boil, you turn it to the highest number. If you need a simmer, you put it on #1.

Cleanup is a breeze since the cooktop never gets hot. Only the pots so nothing ever bakes onto the surface. Cleanup is with a paper towel and Windex. No grates to remove. No burnt on food.

And if you have kids, it's much safer to teach them to cook because as mentioned the stove doesn't get hot.

If you decide to stick with gas, then the Bluestar open burners are substantially easier to keep clean than any other design. I have owned and used lots of different gas stoves, and I would never consider anything other than open burners and cast iron grates. So much easier to keep clean.

But as @cpartist said, induction is even easier to clean and might fit your cooking needs even better. So, that's why I would consider in your particular situation.

The oven in the Bluestar range is a great no-frills oven. And it has a amazing infrared broiler. It's about the closest you can come to a salamander in a residential setting. The downside is that the large cavity takes a long time to preheat properly. For our 30" Bluestar, I usually expect at least 20min of preheating time, possibly longer if I need it to be perfectly even. I'd assume a 36" oven to take even longer.

That's one of the reasons, why I prefer using the 24" Miele combination steam oven. It preheats in no time, and the addition of steam makes sure that heat is transferred much faster. I can significantly shorten cooking times. I can also generally get better results, as a combination steam oven does an amazing job at sous-vide cooking. The only downside to this appliance is that the broiler element is not even in the same ballpark as the one in the Bluestar.

But if I was in your situation and a lot of my cooking happened in the oven, then I would that a very long and serious look at Miele's combination steam ovens. This might be outside your budget; but if you can afford it, you'll love it.

Thank you lots of great info.
I will definitely consider the blue star. But just wondered if you had to choose out of one of the 3 options (brigade, kitchenaid or fulgor milano) which would it be?

I believe Brigade is the label that Viking uses in Canada. In general, most people on Houzz don't really like this brand. It traditionally had lots of problems but amazing marketing. Ownership has changed a few years ago, and they promised that they turned things around. But so far, I have not yet seen any glowing reviews of the new Viking ranges.

Kitchenaid is a good middle-of-the-field range. It isn't really known for high-end appliances though.

Don't really know anything about Fulgor Milano. There are a couple of Italian brands out there. Some seem to be pretty nice -- others reinforce the stereotypes about Italians and engineering. I have absolutely no clue which side of the scale Fulgor comes down on.

I would avoid Brigade if it's made by/like Viking and I don't know enough about the other two to make a choice. I don't think I'd pay too much for a KitchenAid. I might consider a Bertazzoni over a Fulgor Milano, but I'd have to do a lot of reading.

Where do Bosch, Thermador, and Miele come in pricewise? If they're over $6,000, I'd consider getting better quality at 30", rather than lesser quality at 36". Plus there's the cost of the range hood to consider.

In addition to the GardenWeb archives, I find the blog posts at Yale Appliance very helpful,

https://blog.yaleappliance.com/best-36-inch-pro-ranges

https://blog.yaleappliance.com/best-30-inch-professional-gas-ranges-reviews-ratings

Bosch, Thermador and Miele are definitely above our price range. Will look into some 30” options. I just like the look of a 36” range better.

I’ve read some positive reviews on the fulgor so still considering it.

For $6,000 CAN I would need more than just some positive reviews lol. Good luck, meg : ) .

Haha thanks i think I’m more confused than before

: ) . I feel your pain. It took me years of research and I still felt nervous when the time came to sign on the dotted line and hand over the $$$. And it seems we pay more and have fewer choices in Canada, sigh.

Meg, like said above, if you can get into a trail or coast appliances, see what they have on clearance. When I was last in there there was some Thermador, dacor, and jenn-air on sale. I picked my Dacor up for 6999, but if I didn't want dual fuel I would have JUMPED on the thermador all gas. They also had a Wolf Dual fuel on clearance for 13k, but I could not justify the price of a new car in my kitchen.

Having an all-gas stove, albeit one built in 1948, I don't see the infatuation with dual-fuel. I rarely roast meat, but I do bake and my oven does so beautifully and evenly. Perhaps today's gas ranges don't...I have no experience at all with them.

Think about forgoing the range and get a wall oven plus induction cooktop. No bending over, no fumes, cooler kitchen, and lots of energy saved. This is what we did for our kitchen and it's worked out really great for over two years now. Cooking is now fun rather than a chore. Wall oven is Bluestar Induction is Wolf, but next time it will be Bluestar because Bluestar has knobs. Note that the 30" Bluestar will take a full size baking sheet.

“I don't see the infatuation with dual-fuel. I rarely roast meat, but I do bake and my oven does so beautifully and evenly. ”

Baking is such a complex interaction that gas and electric ovens even though they provide different environments, can both work. If you have one type or the other, you self select recipes that turn out in your oven.

In reading baking/cooking forums, I’ve noticed that people tend to make the same comments That give clues to the differences That may be due to mainly to the ways the ovens are constructed. Bakers that add steam say they have a hard time keeping it in a gas oven. This is because the vents are much bigger on a gas oven to vent the products of combustion heat, water and mainly CO2. Added moisture and moisture from the food are vented out as well. Electric ovens hold onto the moisture produced from food and added moisture. The higher the humidity in the oven, starch gelatinization is promoted. This can give a little longer rise in some things and give a different texture and appearance to the crust. A lower humidity promotes browning by more rapid superficial evaporation of moisture, allowing the temperature to rise and browning reactions to take place.

Electric ovens can have more attempt at control of the environment in the oven. The epitome of this is a combi oven that is able to add and remove moisture, able to control the direction of heat and fan speed. The next step down could be some convection ovens. Even the most basic electric oven can hold added humidity much more effectively. Some people may not care at all about this because what they do with their gas oven works for them. Bakers going from electric ovens might notice the difference a lot more. I’ve mostly seen comments with people baking cakes and they comment that the cakes don’t rise as well and looked more dried in appearance.

There are are so many factors though, it can be hard to pin down. I recently decided to try some homemade cake strips around the pan that even out the top of the cake, which they did, but I got a higher rise and the top didn’t brown at all even with convection the last 15 min. Something like that might totally outweigh the differences in the ovens.