Welcome to the forum. There aren't really any professional reviews out there of high end appliances. I agree with you Consumer Reports is a joke. There is also Reviewed.com but I think that's a joke also and neither of them do high end stuff. If you're looking for user reviews, though, you've found yourself in the right place. A good starting point is to do a search for discussions that have already happened here about that brand. I guarantee you pretty much every appliance brand has been mentioned at least once on this website. And of course, post a list of the appliances you want for us to give feedback on. We'll tell you if it looks good or needs work. Good luck!

I've had both the Viking gas range open burner (6) and the Thermador cooktop (LP) sealed burner (6) both 36 in. I prefer the Viking but I understand they are not making the open burners any more. I have one retailer looking for one for me because I'm replacing the Thermador (It died after 2+ years in a lightning strike). But (not to throw a monkey wrench into the mix) I think I'm gonna spend the extra money and get the Bluestar (because it has the open burners that I prefer). The Thermador had problems with the low simmer feature from the day I got it. The burner would shut off automatically even when on high or medium. Very frustrating. Its actually more difficult to clean than the open burner viking I had. And even the low simmer feature couldn't get low enough to simmer stock properly (my Kenmore gas grill burner did a better job). And if you have a problem with thermador, their customer service is lousy (Had the freedom fridge/freezer columns with mult repairs never really fixed). The Viking open burners I had in my old house for 7+ years NEVER had any problems. The range had a problem with the ignition ( the door would blow open because the unit would fill up with too much gas before sparking) It was fixed in short order (2or 3 days if I remember) and I never had another problem with it. Good luck with your decision!

If you look closely enough you will find bad reviews for any brand, including KitchenAid. I wouldn't feel buyer's remorse at all. Normally I'm not a big fan of buying appliance packages, I like to pick and choose from each manufacturer. But there are advantages to a package, and you can save a lot of money if you get a brand with good rebates (which Thermador is). If you're going to get a package, I think Thermador is one of the best choices, definitely better than KitchenAid (and I say this as a KitchenAid fan). Going through the products... the columns are really nice, come out of the same factory as really high end brands like Miele and Gaggenau, and have gotten lots of good reviews on this forum. The fact that people regularly compare them to SubZero says a lot about their quality. The wall ovens are nice bakers, and have been out for 10 years now, so are proven, unlike many other brands which seem to keep coming out with new ones every 2 or 3 years. They had some electronics issues early on, but they've had a lot of time to work out the bugs. The microwave is just a rebadged Panasonic. Fine, but nothing special. Not really worth the money unless the matching look is really important to you, or you're getting it for the rebate. As for gas cooktops, Thermador is actually my personal favorite. The Star burners are probably the best out there in terms of range. They're more powerful than almost all the other sealed burners on the market, but they also go way lower. Now, do be aware that the to get that super low simmer, the burners will cycle on and off automatically at the lowest "xlo" setting. The noise of this really annoys some people, but when I tried it, I didn't mind at all. The quality of the simmer far outweighed any additional noise from the ignition, in my view. For dishwashers, Thermador is just rebadged Bosch. Bosch has a good track record for reliability and washability, and the design has been perfected over many years. There isn't really anything better about the Thermador branded units compared to the Bosch though, other than matching looks with the rest of the Thermador line. Overall I'd say if someone was just buying a dishwasher alone, Thermador is a waste of money, but since you're getting it for free as part of the package, it's a no brainer, and it's quite a nice unit.

We purchased a Thermador convection cooktop with a popup downdraft vent last year. The blower on the downdraft had a strange vibration. We had Thermador out to fix it. The blower had to be replaced (it must've sustained some sort of impact either at the warehouse or in transit to my house.) It did take a couple of days for the new one to come in but they replaced it without any hassles and were very friendly. I will say that they were aware that I was still within the return period for the store from which I bought it. I haven't really been keeping up with the comments on these forums so I was completely unaware that there were perceived service issues with Thermador.