Something worth mentioning for the DIY-inclined is that Bluestars are highly self-serviceable. Replacing an igniter is a 15 minute job that just requires the right sized wrench socket and phillips head screwdriver. The igniter itself is just 20 bucks. Adjusting the air/fuel ratio is even easier, just need a screwdriver. All screws and fasteners are standard sizes and head types that can be bought from a local hardware store. Replacing whole burners/venturi assemblies is similarly easy. A nice breath of fresh air in a modern product.
Thank you for this comment. I've cooked on electric my entire life but building a house next year and want to go gas since I cook a lot and always hear it is superior. However, in the video when he mentioned more than 10% of burners require maintenance in the first year my eyebrows raised.
I chose the 48" Platinum and glad I did. The burners are outstanding. There is finesse when using the open burner, where the heat is targeted over the entire pan as opposed to the targeted area of sealed and electric options. Forget induction, that's a contact sport compared to the BlueStar; even induction has hot spots that are intense and inconsistent.... and cooking on glass... forget it.
You are missing something important about Bluestar ranges. They are one of the few ranges that will give their full rated BTU output on LP gas. Most cook tops will lose THOUSANDS of BTUs when rejetted for LP. The Bluestar is ordered from the factory for LP or natural gas.
I really wanted the RCS 36” for our new house. But it just wasn’t in the budget. Luckily I had trim pieces added in the cabinet’s so it is a doable upgrade down the road when we can afford that pricy of a stove
Adorable! 5:15 I think a lot of people who’d buy a BlueStar live in homes so large they wouldn’t hear a timer alarm on their range front. I don’t, and I still prefer to set multiple alarms on my phone for the various dishes I’m timing. I hope Y’ale have a great MemDay, lots of happy events and good numbers at the store.
Former Bluestar countertop range owner with many years in the food industry here and this is my two cents worth of advice. Few, very important, details missing here. I’ll share them with you and potentially save you some remorse and aggravation. 1. The most important advice is that you “the home cook”, even if you are a pro, do not need a open burner high BTU range. High BTU’s purpose is not to cook better, but rather to cook faster which is why it is used in commercial settings. Unless you have to plate 100 orders/hr you do not need or want this. Most of you will want to put on a tune and enjoy the process of preparing a meal while sharing a bottle of wine with family friends and guests. When you get a chance peak inside a restaurant kitchen during peak hours, does the chef look like what you have envisioned yourself doing surrounded with guests, is he/she having a leisurely enjoyable time? 2. As mentioned above speed is the essence. The pan will reach very high temperatures very rapidly so you have to move fast. If you want to get an idea of how fast watch some Chinese wok chefs in action. Few seconds of distraction will be the difference between cooked and burnt. Would you buy an F-1 car for a leisurely drive on a country road? 3. Speaking of burning food, which you frequently will, one of the biggest omissions here, when considering a high BTU range is the hood. If you buy this range you will need a commercial quality very high CFM hood, otherwise get ready to hear all your fire alarms go off at the same time. This next point is very serious, the amount of smoke, fumes and oil splatter you will create, especially when you add alcohol in the recipe will combust. If you don’t know how to control flare ups then get ready to say goodbye to your eyebrows and possibly your home. 4. This range will punish all your cookware. All those Teflon and nonstick pans you have will be trash since they can not cope with the high temperatures. You will need new high end cookware. 5. Cleanups are a chore. These grates are heavy!! You will have to remove and stack up all those grates somewhere to get to the guts of the range to clean the boil overs. You will ding and scratch every surface of your kitchen as you move them around for cleanup. 6. Most commercial kitchens are tiled from floor to ceiling with drains on the floor. You can literally scrub and hose down a commercial range. Not these! Any water or moisture that gets in to the guts, especially boil overs, will wreak havoc on the igniters and the electrics. I know from first hand. Make sure to stock up on extra wiring and igniters. 7. The only way to overcome the issues above is to dial down and not max out the BTUs which voids and nullifies the whole point of buying these in the first place. Go buy a good quality closed burner range instead. 8. The kind of people most likely to buy these will be: a-) those who believe the hype and buy them for good intentions than regret it. b-) those who will never use them to its full capacity but want a show piece they can brag about in the kitchen. 9-) Who should get one? No one, as it fails in being both a good home or a good professional range for reasons above. If you have a professional kitchen in your house then you want a real commercial range like a Garlan, Southbend, Imperial or a Vulcan some of which can be bought at a fraction of this poser. If you have a professional kitchen setup then you probably have a chef under payroll as well, in which case the chef ,not you, should be making this kind of purchase decisions.
I guess I am not like the "most" people :). I need my food off the stove fast. If I can save 15 - 30 min making dinner, heck I will take it in a heartbeat! I don't own it yet, but hopefully should in 6 months or so, will be curious to see how much food I will burn :) and how much cleanup I will regret. I can't stand my old cooktop right now for many reasons and I never liked regular gas stoves either as they would constantly under deliver. I like to cook on cast iron and regular stoves just don't do justice. Anyways, from what I understand these stoves are able to exceptionally regulate heat, so it is always up to you how much heat output you want to work on.
Good rant. I have been cooking on a sealed burner-type Gas stove for over 40 years my mom and her mom cooked on the common open burners of the day. I learned to cook on open burners. There is this device on usually the front of the stove called the burner control valve that lets you control the flame thus the BTU's. I hate cooking on the sealed burner type. Try doing French toast you have to constantly turn the toast or only one side cooks, stake the same. Pasta water boils from up the side of the pot. No. Open burners are original and are far superior. I picked the Capital culinaryan 36 in Range for availability and slightly less $. The first meal will be a prime rib roast beef cooked in an extremely hot oven and maybe 6 to 8 minutes a pound turn the oven off. Then let it stand to a perfect medium rare. No peeking. This is where a remote thermometer would be good. It may take over an hr. PS if a family or guest member finds that too rare. Well just place their portion in the simmering sauce until their doneness is achieved. Yorkshire puding. Mix ahead be sure to keep batter in a nice cold fridge. Add to a well-oiled muffin pan that is smoking hot. Be careful to not burn your self and get it back in that nice hot oven till nice and golden brown. Keep an eye on them it can happen quickly. By that I mean it's not the time to pour yourself a drink LOL. Have a guest do that for you.😉
I don't know... for me personally, I'd really rather have a timer and clock than a picture of my family on the door. Different strokes for different folks...
The issue with Viking for us was always service. That said, there isn't too much that could go wrong with a rangetop so they could be worthy of consideration.
It was price and availability that drove me to Capitol Culinary and I have been going back and forth for quite some time now. Hope I went the right way because my new Capital Range is on its way.
Do not buy the Pro Blue Star gas range 6700 piece of junk MODEL #RCS36SBV2 knobs loose, thermostat replaced within a year and not does not heat. I guess it heats when it wants to and today will not reach the preheat level.
One could always go Bluestar and purchase separate kitchen timers/clocks. Very inexpensive, come in many colors, and much less expensive to repair/replace if they malfunction...⏲
My dream range…
It's a really unique product!
Something worth mentioning for the DIY-inclined is that Bluestars are highly self-serviceable. Replacing an igniter is a 15 minute job that just requires the right sized wrench socket and phillips head screwdriver. The igniter itself is just 20 bucks. Adjusting the air/fuel ratio is even easier, just need a screwdriver. All screws and fasteners are standard sizes and head types that can be bought from a local hardware store. Replacing whole burners/venturi assemblies is similarly easy. A nice breath of fresh air in a modern product.
Thank you for this comment. I've cooked on electric my entire life but building a house next year and want to go gas since I cook a lot and always hear it is superior. However, in the video when he mentioned more than 10% of burners require maintenance in the first year my eyebrows raised.
I chose the 48" Platinum and glad I did.
The burners are outstanding. There is finesse when using the open burner, where the heat is targeted over the entire pan as opposed to the targeted area of sealed and electric options. Forget induction, that's a contact sport compared to the BlueStar; even induction has hot spots that are intense and inconsistent.... and cooking on glass... forget it.
You are missing something important about Bluestar ranges. They are one of the few ranges that will give their full rated BTU output on LP gas. Most cook tops will lose THOUSANDS of BTUs when rejetted for LP. The Bluestar is ordered from the factory for LP or natural gas.
I really appreciate these reviews, awesome job on the videos.
I really wanted the RCS 36” for our new house. But it just wasn’t in the budget. Luckily I had trim pieces added in the cabinet’s so it is a doable upgrade down the road when we can afford that pricy of a stove
Adorable!
5:15 I think a lot of people who’d buy a BlueStar live in homes so large they wouldn’t hear a timer alarm on their range front.
I don’t, and I still prefer to set multiple alarms on my phone for the various dishes I’m timing.
I hope Y’ale have a great MemDay, lots of happy events and good numbers at the store.
Thanks so much, Doug!
Former Bluestar countertop range owner with many years in the food industry here and this is my two cents worth of advice. Few, very important, details missing here. I’ll share them with you and potentially save you some remorse and aggravation.
1. The most important advice is that you “the home cook”, even if you are a pro, do not need a open burner high BTU range. High BTU’s purpose is not to cook better, but rather to cook faster which is why it is used in commercial settings. Unless you have to plate 100 orders/hr you do not need or want this. Most of you will want to put on a tune and enjoy the process of preparing a meal while sharing a bottle of wine with family friends and guests. When you get a chance peak inside a restaurant kitchen during peak hours, does the chef look like what you have envisioned yourself doing surrounded with guests, is he/she having a leisurely enjoyable time?
2. As mentioned above speed is the essence. The pan will reach very high temperatures very rapidly so you have to move fast. If you want to get an idea of how fast watch some Chinese wok chefs in action. Few seconds of distraction will be the difference between cooked and burnt. Would you buy an F-1 car for a leisurely drive on a country road?
3. Speaking of burning food, which you frequently will, one of the biggest omissions here, when considering a high BTU range is the hood. If you buy this range you will need a commercial quality very high CFM hood, otherwise get ready to hear all your fire alarms go off at the same time. This next point is very serious, the amount of smoke, fumes and oil splatter you will create, especially when you add alcohol in the recipe will combust. If you don’t know how to control flare ups then get ready to say goodbye to your eyebrows and possibly your home.
4. This range will punish all your cookware. All those Teflon and nonstick pans you have will be trash since they can not cope with the high temperatures. You will need new high end cookware.
5. Cleanups are a chore. These grates are heavy!! You will have to remove and stack up all those grates somewhere to get to the guts of the range to clean the boil overs. You will ding and scratch every surface of your kitchen as you move them around for cleanup.
6. Most commercial kitchens are tiled from floor to ceiling with drains on the floor. You can literally scrub and hose down a commercial range. Not these! Any water or moisture that gets in to the guts, especially boil overs, will wreak havoc on the igniters and the electrics. I know from first hand. Make sure to stock up on extra wiring and igniters.
7. The only way to overcome the issues above is to dial down and not max out the BTUs which voids and nullifies the whole point of buying these in the first place. Go buy a good quality closed burner range instead.
8. The kind of people most likely to buy these will be:
a-) those who believe the hype and buy them for good intentions than regret it.
b-) those who will never use them to its full capacity but want a show piece they can brag about in the kitchen.
9-) Who should get one? No one, as it fails in being both a good home or a good professional range for reasons above. If you have a professional kitchen in your house then you want a real commercial range like a Garlan, Southbend, Imperial or a Vulcan some of which can be bought at a fraction of this poser. If you have a professional kitchen setup then you probably have a chef under payroll as well, in which case the chef ,not you, should be making this kind of purchase decisions.
What closed burner range would you recommend instead?
Excellent points…so if I may ask, what range would you recommend? I’m swimming in lack of information and reviews from the everyday at home cook!
I guess I am not like the "most" people :). I need my food off the stove fast. If I can save 15 - 30 min making dinner, heck I will take it in a heartbeat! I don't own it yet, but hopefully should in 6 months or so, will be curious to see how much food I will burn :) and how much cleanup I will regret. I can't stand my old cooktop right now for many reasons and I never liked regular gas stoves either as they would constantly under deliver. I like to cook on cast iron and regular stoves just don't do justice. Anyways, from what I understand these stoves are able to exceptionally regulate heat, so it is always up to you how much heat output you want to work on.
Good rant. I have been cooking on a sealed burner-type Gas stove for over 40 years my mom and her mom cooked on the common open burners of the day. I learned to cook on open burners. There is this device on usually the front of the stove called the burner control valve that lets you control the flame thus the BTU's. I hate cooking on the sealed burner type. Try doing French toast you have to constantly turn the toast or only one side cooks, stake the same. Pasta water boils from up the side of the pot. No. Open burners are original and are far superior. I picked the Capital culinaryan 36 in Range for availability and slightly less $. The first meal will be a prime rib roast beef cooked in an extremely hot oven and maybe 6 to 8 minutes a pound turn the oven off. Then let it stand to a perfect medium rare. No peeking. This is where a remote thermometer would be good. It may take over an hr. PS if a family or guest member finds that too rare. Well just place their portion in the simmering sauce until their doneness is achieved. Yorkshire puding. Mix ahead be sure to keep batter in a nice cold fridge. Add to a well-oiled muffin pan that is smoking hot. Be careful to not burn your self and get it back in that nice hot oven till nice and golden brown. Keep an eye on them it can happen quickly. By that I mean it's not the time to pour yourself a drink LOL. Have a guest do that for you.😉
Wow. We love our Blue Star and have literally never burned a thing on it. And who would buy this stove who cooks with Teflon?
I really like your interviews with admins of companies; would you all consider getting these guys in for an interview?
Stay tuned... Will be out in a few weeks
I don't know... for me personally, I'd really rather have a timer and clock than a picture of my family on the door. Different strokes for different folks...
That's it, there's no perfect range for everyone
The open burners are THE selling point for BS ranges. The customization is just for rich hausfraus who'll never actually cook on the thing.
Hey thanks - great presentation, excellent delivery
Much appreciated!
Are there other brands that make open burner cooktops & rangetops you would suggest? Viking 7 series?
The issue with Viking for us was always service. That said, there isn't too much that could go wrong with a rangetop so they could be worthy of consideration.
the only other brand in the US selling true open burners is Capital
Capital and American Range. Bluestar's burners are the best.
It was price and availability that drove me to Capitol Culinary and I have been going back and forth for quite some time now. Hope I went the right way because my new Capital Range is on its way.
Do not buy the Pro Blue Star gas range 6700 piece of junk MODEL #RCS36SBV2 knobs loose, thermostat replaced within a year and not does not heat. I guess it heats when it wants to and today will not reach the preheat level.
Had 1 4 10 years great stove . Had a viking good stove but broke down alot .
One could always go Bluestar and purchase separate kitchen timers/clocks. Very inexpensive, come in many colors, and much less expensive to repair/replace if they malfunction...⏲
Very true!