We bought our Bluestar RNB less than a year ago and have had it installed since Feb'12. Ours is the 36" with 4 burners and griddle. So far, my experience has been mostly positive. To address some of the issues you've mentioned: I have never seemed to need more than 1 simmer burner at a time, so that has never been an issue. Aside from major holiday cooking, I seem to use that burner most often (almost daily) for cooking rice and reheating... Love being able to walk away and not worry about things boiling over or burning. I suppose number of simmer burners will come down to cooking style and preferences. I LOVE the ease of clean-up with my Bluestar! The cast iron is a cinch to clean... a little scrub while still slightly warm and it's done. Often, I will let a few days pass before cleaning and I suppose part of the reason i can do that is because, even when dirty, it doesn't look that bad! Clean-up was a huge factor for me. My last oven had black porcelain top and I was NEVER able to keep it clean or smudge-free, especially with as much heavy use as I put my ranges thru. I also love the size of the oven AND the full extension rack. It has made baking, basting, roasting, etc so much more efficient! Now, to address the oven heat issue... I, too, did a lot of research prior to buying our Bluestar. I believe the door locking problems due to high heat has been resolved. We have not had this problem and I use our oven several times each week, some weeks being daily. That said, the door does get pretty hot during use. While the oven door handle always stays completely cool, the oven door, oven window, and oftentimes, the knobs and front portion of the range (in front of the burners, where you stand right up against) do get pretty hot. It's never hot to the point of burning where it would be dangerous to touch, but it definitely is uncomfortable and even I avoid touching or leaning against it during those times. It appears door insulation is pretty much nil. I would like to point out, however, that I do have 2 small children (20mos and 3yo) who are often in the vicinity when I'm cooking. They know they are not supposed to come near the range while I am cooking and definitely not to touch the oven door when it is on. On plenty of occasions, their curiosity would cause them to wander close and touch it, despite our warnings. Never once have they screamed or gotten hurt. Usually, they touch it, draw their hands back and walk away. I am not in any way trying to defend Bluestar's heat issues, nor am I suggesting you let your kids touch things that are potentially hazardous, just telling it like it is in our experience. Does the heat bother me? Yes, sometimes it really does and makes me wish BS would address this issue and fix it for residential use. If I could get the same exact range/oven without the heat problems, would I? Without hesitation. Does it make me regret my decision? Not yet! Lastly, I do appreciate that the Bluestar has no bells & whistles. Little to no electronic means less break-down in my book at least. I've met 2 people who have Wolf ranges and both have had problems with the electric portions of their units, requiring lengthy service calls and repair/replacement. Though, since time keeping is important to me, I have had to put a clock in my kitchen when I used to rely on the digital ones on the range. Also, no electronics mean no built-in timers, which hasn't been a problem b/c I have one within reach. Also, despite having a manual oven control knob, the temperature settings have been pretty accurate, confirmed by my oven thermometer. One final comment about my Bluestar experience... I've been waiting for years to cook with a wok and now that I have the range (and, more importantly, the vent hood), it has been a dream! I absolutely appreciate being able to remove the grate and just fit my wok into the bowl-like space above the burner. The quality of certain dishes have definitely improved just due to the availability of high heat alone. For someone who loves cooking and experimenting, this has added to the fun in my new kitchen. Hope this helps!

You have gotten confused on the details of the cabinets you were looking at online as rta the face frames are 3/4 thick and the plywood boxes are 1/2 thick. I own and operate a kitchen and bath store in orlando. I specialize in the affordable products as well as having high end products to offer. I often wonder about those that post on here as to why RTA is not considered more. I can ship out directly to anywhere in the US 75 different RTA cabines that are assembled by the company that stocks them before they are put on the truck! You do not even have to put them together. I also have several domestic brands that are in the same price range. Many do not even use cam locks any more they are to be glued and stapled like most domestic brands are that are not in the Wode Mode business model as cabinet makers. I have one brand that ships out assembled with a lifetime warranty. They even do inset door styles that everyone seems to want on here. I have another brand that imports 60" wide by 66" wood hoods with raised panel arch vallance over the cook top and pull out spice racks in the towers. They are not as nice as stanici but they are not the cost either. Both have their place in society. I offer out of my store 20' of cabinetry in any configuration with 30" 36" or 42" wall cabinets with crown and light rail 10 level 1 granite stones to chose from removal of exsisting kitchen, installation of new kitchen and appliances painting of the kitchen area and any knobs you want from my supplier which has 25,000 different ones for $7,000-$10,500 I have inset door styles, flat slab bamboo, raised panels, applied moldings, painted cabinets, glazes, shakers, no name I have at least 1 of everything some will be looking for. When I am done with their kitchen only someone in the industry will be able to tell if the cabinets are imports most of the time. The trade offf is you are dealing with in stock product. No 2 companies stock the exact same cabinet list. It is just the nature of the beast. You can be a smart shopper and find the best price that gives you what you like or you can go for brand name recognition for bragging rights when compnay is over and conviently forget to tell your friends you look wealthy but have no retirement funds cause you buy everything on name brand to feel more important. RTA will not suit everyone but the truth is it fits most Beaver Cleaver neighborhoods very well. Which is where most of americans live that can afford to remodel thier kitchen

OK> So, I'm reading this post due to a recent experience with the plumber my GC is using for our renovation. I got a babysitter to watch my toddler so I could go look at fixtures at their showroom with my baby. So, I get there and they don't have many of the nicer brands on display- they want to show me everything in a catalog!! Well, thank you but I can do that at home. So, fine- I briefly look at the catalog and pick a few things to get prices. They gave me some pricing and I left. So- wouldn't you want to see products in person if you plan to invest nearly $2000 on them?? I dragged my two small children to another local plumbing outfit to see the higher end stuff I got quoted for at the previous place. The prices were more than $500 different!!! I mean to do I have stupid written on my head b/c I have a newborn? Do they just think I don't have time to research and will just take their price?? This mother has an MBA thank you very much. Fine. So I talked to my contractor and he said to approach them on the issue. I did. They claim their product is better quality and that you can get the same things from other dealers but they aren't as heavy... blah blah blah. That may be true for some Kohler fixtures, but not Rohl!!! And I don't even believe them at that. For the amount of money saved I can buy a whole new fixture in a few years if I decide to change it or it goes bad!! Can someone please tell me if these people are just jerking around with me?? I thought about how they may try to pad the rest of the bill if they adjust the fixture prices, so I'm not really sure what to do with this mess. This is why I do NOT trust vendors like this- b/c of dishonest people who try to make excuses for their ridiculous prices.

Itucker80, Appliances are difficult. You spend a lot of money, use it frequently and have it for hopefully a long time. You can get paralyzed for fear of making the wrong decision. Some people do not notice much difference in gas and electric but you might notice a couple of things. Gas ovens have more ventilation because it needs to exhaust the products of combustion. This means more heat and moisture into you kitchen. I think this is why you see so few gas wall ovens. You probably want ventilation over that oven. Some bakers say that their cakes set a little quicker so don't rise as much. Most people report better browning when roasting meats and vegetables. If you bake bread, and steam it at the beginning, it is harder to keep the steam in the oven with gas. There are work arounds for that Another thing to notice is the broiler. Gas broilers are either the blue flame which is not that great because heat goes up, and not so much toward what you are cooking underneath it or infrared which is really hot but can be small. I will say for a dishwasher, I had a Bosch 800 series for 11 years and it has been a workhorse. It did develop an issue with the pump and I am not fixing it but replacing it with another Bosch. Good for you alex9179! I like to hear that someone is happy with their oven. Have you made use of all the different modes? Appliance Educators, You realize we try to do that free here. We have people that have been in the industry for a long time as well as long time cooks with many years of experience on different appliances.