After reading so many polar opposite, and very conflicting reviews on BS ranges, I have decided to post my perceptions and experience with our RCS304BV2 open burner range.
First of all, this range is all about gas flame cooking. If you are reading this, you most likely prefer flame cooking to electric cooking. If so, the BS burners are the most amazing burners available! Again, its all about the burners, and this unit is not equipped with other bells and whistles like a timer, clock, or any other circuit board related features. There are burners and knobs, an oven door, and a broiler. Thats it.
The beauty of this type of range is in the simplicity of its design. You turn the knob, and start cooking. We were not prepared for how much hotter the open burners are compared to our old KItchenAid sealed burner range with comparable burner output ratings! You better have your cooking ingredients handy, because you are going to be working faster than ever as these burners put out the heat!
Now here is where I believe the negative reviews originate...these units are "old school" and are designed to be user serviceable. A homeowner with a toolbox could probably disassemble and reassemble the entire unit in a couple hours. Love it! And so, it REALLY HELPS to read the owners manual to familiarize yourself with initial assembly and setup! Ya gotta get the burner gas tubes lined up and installed properly BEFORE use. So easy, but its tempting to skip these details and fire the thing up. Don't do that. Read the ENTIRE owners manual and you are in for smooth sailing.
Now that you are up and running...the top burners may require some adjustment initially and periodically. This is easy to do, but many users are not used to performing any adjustments or maintenance to a range and therefore jump to the conclusion that this is a defect. It is not a defect, this is a feature that allows a user to fine tune the flames to match their cooking expectations. Next, the oven temp may need to be calibrated at initial setup and periodically in the future. This is a great feature if you are willing to get a thermometer and make the adjustment with a screwdriver. You do have a screwdriver, right? Once all the burners are fine tuned to your liking, you are good to go...for a while.
At some point, the burner igniters will fail. This is normal. Typically they last around 3 years of daily use. Good news though, they are cheap and easy to replace. Again, this range is quite simple in design, simple to repair, and most parts can be purchased online and replaced by an intelligent homeowner with some tools. Not a bad idea to keep a spare igniter handy...cuz maybe you got a bad one and it burned out in the first month or maybe you spilled cold water on a hot igniter and it cracked the porcelain. It happens.
The not-so-good: The oven body gets quite warm, and down right hot in some places when in use. Seems like there is less insulation surrounding the oven than anything we have previously owned. A good ventilation hood carries most of the heat away though. This has not been an issue for us, but then again we don't have Toddlers at our ankles either. This may be a consideration for a house full of kids...maybe do more research on that. We like the heat though, it warms our dinner plates by setting them on an unused burner.
Initial quality MAY be a problem here and there. Maybe an igniter got banged by a cast iron grate and broke it....or like our range was delivered with a small gas leak at the pressure regulator. All it took is one call to CS to have it repaired under warranty. But seriously, why wasn't this defect caught at quality control?? Don't they do ANY testing before shipping out?? Ugh!!
I would also strongly advise you to download the installation instructions prior to purchasing this unit. There are very specific requirements for outlet and gas valve placement that may require an electrician and/or plumber to sort out that may involve significant additional expense. However, this is the case with many/most appliances these days. But if you are handy, and know a thing or two about running gas pipe and wiring outlets, this is a non-issue.
In summary, if you truly love cooking over a flame, desire simplicity over complicated electronic menus, and are willing to take the time to setup and adjust the burners to your liking, and make basic repairs yourself, then this is a great range that will last many years. But if you are the "plug and play" type that expects everything to work with the turn of a knob and need a repairman for every little adjustment, this may not be the range for you.
We love our BlueStar RCS range, and now that we have been through the learning curve, I doubt we will ever trade it for anything else!
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courtyard
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