I'd take a serious look at BlueStar. We bought a 30" BlueStar range a few months ago and LOVE IT! We had considered Wolf and a Viking, but our gas company tech told us a few horror stories about owners being unable to get the burners adjusted to the high altitude where we live. I was also looking for an open burner stove like what I cooked on in the food industry, and BlueStar was pretty much the one to get based on all the research we did. We were concerned about the altitude issues, but when our stove finally arrived, it adjusted beautifully and this same gas company tech remarked on the build quality, the close similarity to actual restaurant stoves he maintains at local Ski Resorts and how easy it was to adjust all the burners for a perfect burn ratio. In addition to that aspect, I personally think that Wolf and Viking are FAUX professional ranges, not truly in the same league as a BlueStar or other restaurant caliber ranges. The BlueStar, although it doesn't have pilot lights and such like a restaurant cooktop, still reminds me the most of the Garland stove I cooked on when I worked as a line cook at a steak house many years ago. They are not cheap and have few if any bells and whistles, if you are used to consumer brand prices and features, and we had to wait almost three months from the day of the order till delivery, but it was worth the wait and every penny we paid for it! And contrary to some of the older posts I read on this forum about customer service, the few minor issues we had with our unit when it arrived were resolved with a single phone call to the factory, who express shipped at no charge to us, replacement parts the same day we called. I couldn't be more pleased and satisfied with my decision to go with BlueStar. A true JOY to use! Hope that helps. GG7 Here is a link that might be useful: BlueStar WebSite

I am in the same boat, ecwv. I have ruled out Fratelli Onofri because we are only considering all gas ranges due to electrical/budget considerations. I had a chance to look at the Berta and a 24" Fisher Paykel today. I like the looks of the Berta and I am not too concerned by the oven size--with the rack at the lowest position, you have 10" (height) until you hit the heating element. I measured my old Kenmore range when I got home and it seems to offer the same height to me when I set the rack at the second to lowest position which is where it almost always positioned. I also rarely have more than one thing going in the oven at a time so I don't need a huge oven. The salesman told me a couple of things worth passing on--only when I pressed him did he admit preferring the Berta because it is more substantial, and there is no doubt about that. While it is true that the FP does not have the heft of a Wolf or a Blue Star (those things are tanks) or even the Berta, it is a home range--nothing commercial about it and I think it would suit me just fine plus I like its European look. He also told me that Fisher Paykel and Delonghi are made by the same manufacturer and just glancing at their specs, they seem to be the same except for cosmetics. He cautioned that FP and D have recently switched their manufacturing to Mexico, Bertazzoni is still made in Italy as it has been for generations. My primary interest is in purchasing an all gas range with some significant BTUs within my budget. I also do not want a lot of electronics--no more motherboards for me. All three fit the bill. And the same salesman told me that while he doesn't sell many FPs, the ones he has sold seem to be doing well--not too many repairs, he said the same for Berta and then added that he has sold many of those so he has more to draw from in terms of repair history. I left undecided and called a friend who has been a Berta owner for 2 years. She said she would not do it again--the oven size is too small for her cooking style and the burners perform inconsistently for her. There are several Berta fans on this forum, I'd love to hear first hand about FP and Delonghi.

Thermador is an excellent unit with sealed burners. Good quality and reasonable pricing for what it is. Go with an all gas unit (dual fuel is more money, plus less reliable). Bluestar gets rave reviews and having used them personally they cook well. I don't love the company per se but the product is solid and very simple so reliability should be ok. They have open burners with a little more power.

Oh geeze, here is my anal retentiveness rearing its ugly head again but here we go again. Hang on... Probably due to the terrible review that Consumer Reports gave Bertazzoni years ago on an older model people are shying away from the new model. Does the new model make up for the sins of the last model? So how about this comparison, The Bertazzoni MAST366GASXT vs. the Fisher & Paykel OR36SCG4X1? Off the top, I can get an extra burner with the Bertazzoni. The Fisher & Paykel offers only 5 burners. The Bertazzoni has better btu numbers, going from 750 btu's to 19,000 btu's. Fisher & Paykel goes from 1,000 btu's to 18,000 btu's. One of Bertazzoni's burners goes down to 750 btu's but the rest of their burners have higher btu's. What if you want to simmer more than one sauce at a time? Fisher & Paykel's burners only go down to 1000 btu's but all of their burners go this low. I am not worried about the btu's at the high end but the low end I am worried about. Are Fisher & Paykel's 1000 btu's low enough for a gentle simmer? The Betazzoni doesn't have a storage drawer. The Fisher & Paykel does. The Betazzoni seems to have a thin rubber door seal which can wear out faster than Fisher & Paykel's more robust woven door seal. Also, on the Bertazzoni, I can easily see sauce spilling into those rear air vents at the back of the oven. Is there a way to clean these vents if this happens? The Fisher & Paykel doesn't have this problem. The Bertazzoni has a 11,000 btu infrared gas broiler. Is it similar to the ceramic infrared broiler in the BlueStar Pro range? Though infrared broilers are preferred, is Bertazzoni's 11,000 btu broiler better than Fisher & Paykel's conventional 13,000 btu gas broiler? I finally found a stat that is the same on both ranges. The baking/roasting power on both ranges have a maximum 17,000 btu's. The difference is that Bertazzoni's oven is always on and kept at a constant temperature. I've never cooked with a range like this before and I wonder how much of an advantage it really is over conventional oven that turn on and off to regulate the temperature. Finally, at least of this writing, Fisher & Paykel is offering an extended 5 year warranty on all of their products, unheard of in the industry. Bertazzoni's warranty is the conventional two years so you will have to purchase an additional warranty for peace of mind. There are other questions I have too but this is a start. The problem with appliance dealers, blogs, and reviews is that no one really seems to be a consumer advocate. Has anyone addressed the issues I brought up here? I think potential customers would like to have answers to these questions.