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!

Well, that puts a whole different cast on things. And, no need to apologize for being "long winded." Nobody ever accused me of being brief. Being explicit often helps get the information you need. If I were looking to sell and move in a couple of years, my own inclinations would come from working on my own houses and working with and for remodelers and renovators. (The video business sometimes gets pretty slow so I've had a checkered career over the last couple of decades.). Let me just say that I would be reluctant to spend any more on the kitchen renovation than I had to. It is very difficult to predict buyers' tastes, HGTV to the contrary notwithstanding. Simply put, some buyers will love what you do, some won't care one way or the other, and some will start gutting your kitchen the day after closing. I'll offer these thoughts for the things I'd consider for renovation for a near term sale. (a) wherever you put the new stove location, run both a 240v line and a gas line for maximum flexibility. You or anybody who comes after you can put in whatever kind of stove they like, gas, duel fuel, coil burner, radiant smoothtop or induction. Around here, that seems to matter more than the stove you leave behind. YMMV, of course. (This advice assumes that you do not have a slab-on grade house or major difficulties in running either new electrical or new gas plumbing.) (b) I'd skip the counter-depth fridge. As with slide-in ranges versus freestanding ranges, you may be paying a very large premium in price (and diminished storage capacity) for what may be mostly an aesthetic advantage. Again, YYMV, though. I don't know the specifics of your kitchen or the market for your house. There can be places where a CD fridge might be the only practical choice for the space and places where hardly any buyers care about refrigerator capacity. (c) Unless I were planning on taking the stove with me, I would skip consideration of any of the more expensive induction ranges. Actually, I would seriously consider that Samsung FTQ induction range simply because of the price. Assuming, of course, that the burner layout is not too weird for you. Like most induction ranges, It should be very easy to keep clean for showings. (Read the cleaning tips here, buy some microfiber towels, and get some cermic-glass cooktop cleaner/polish.) FWIW, Consumer Reports had the FTQ on its list of recommended induction ranges through the end of last year, two years after Samsung discontinued the model. As long as yours was made after 2010, it shouldn't have the cooling fan problems that generated most of the adverse comments. You might be using it only for next two years and it very likely will outlast that time. (It might last for decades. We just don't know.) At a clearance price, it should be far and away the least expensive choice, down there with coil burner ranges. It will likely beat the pants off any other inexpensive range you might put in there, both in terms of cooking capacity and ease of cleaning. Depending on your neighborhood and your real estate market, it could give you a bit of additional cachet -- "gourmet kitchen with induction range" and all that. Meanwhile, If "hubby" is doing his Mario imitations with Batali branded cookware, so much the better. The Batali enameled cast-iron (made, I think, by Dansk) works very, very well on induction. A final comment from a couple of posts back. You are in the NY area? Have a look at AJ Madison. The freestanding GE is currently $1709 there. If you can wait to the Labor Day sales, the least expensive Kenmore induction range will likely be under $1300. I've seen the current lower-end Samsung induction range, the NE595NOPBSR, down around $1200. (More conventional burner arrangement and pretty highly rated by CR, for what that is worth.) Since the Samsung FTQ has been discontinued for a couple of years, I'd offer $700 for it. Maybe have a look at what Sears is asking for ranges on the clearance pages.

Wow, you've had almost exactly the experience we did with Samsung and we also switched to the same Electrolux. We had three replacement Samsungs (same model as yours) as various problems could not be either properly diagnosed or fixed over a three year period (all under warranty). The last one had the top explode and at that point we took Samsung to court. They paid and we bought the Electrolux which has been great. Only relatively minor complaints about the Electrolux which by the way has been totally reliable. I'd prefer to be able to directly choose a heat setting rather than turning on to medium and then going up or down. I love the large burner at right front but the right rear is too small to use on anything but a six inch pan when a 12" pan is on the front. Overall we are very happy with the Electrolux. We're going to replace it but only because during a kitchen remodel we opted for a 36" range and nobody makes a 36" so will move to gas. Overall though I'd give 5 stars to our Electrolux experience and about 2 stars to Samsung.

I don't have many clients who use induction cooktops or ranges nor do I recommend them very often. Seems to me that the more electronic/computerized appliances become, the more apt they are to go awry. Getting to the point where we'll need Geek Squad IT support for our kitchens and that is not a happy thought! But to answer your question, you basically have two options: Get Wolf to refund your money and buy a different model from a different manufacturer, or ask Wolf to exchange it for a gas or electric model. If you bought this unit via a reputable appliance dealer, enlist your salesperson to help you navigate this situation. They certainly don't want to risk the chance of bad Yelp reviews or miss the opportunity for you to be a repeat customer. Oh, and one other thought: if you happen to have purchased this item with a credit card, the credit card companies sometimes have purchase protection services. If the product is unsatisfactory, you might be able to get some or all of your money back.