kitchen

Reply to: a few were in the process of converting those 22's back down to 15's. My God who is dumb enough to do that? There is a post on Appliances forum right now asking how to hotrod an Bluestar RCS 15K btu burner to an RNB 22k btu. It is like saying you don't need an oven that reaches a temperature of 550 degrees. You want to convert it so it can't get higher than 400 degrees. Because it is "too much." There is no such thing as a range "being too much" for somebody. You don't have to turn the buners to high, and the 15K btu sealed burners,unlike open burners, don't give you even heat across the pan. And you need the power of induction or open gas burners to give you a proper sear or saute. When I watch Chopped on Food Network I feel for the chef's that are used to high output open burners strugling to sear or properly brown something with those residential sealed burners. Here is a thread readers here might be interested in. Here is a link that might be useful: Most even heating gas burners? - BlueStar Champ?

Q

Reply to: Hi Diego, I should remember before I quickly post something about appliances over here on the easy going kitchen forum that someone from the often more contentious appliance forum would have a comment! ;) Seriously, I've read many of your posts & have always respected your level headed opinions/comments. I think the point I made about the Bluestar knob calibration is precisely why HOME cooks (not professional chefs used to cooking on commercial open burners) might want to turn down the BTU's. Certainly the hotter the flame, the better the sear, but when I can't tell how high/hot my flame is burning, the higher the likelihood I'm going to burn my dinner, LOL. We're definitely foodies, and my husband is a passionate home cook, but we're not professional chefs. Certainly a 15K BTU burner is going to give us a better sear than our 15 year old kitchenaid ceramic range. And certainly a 22k BTU would give us a better sear. It's easy to get obsessed with THE BEST, and objectively-not having cooked on a Capital for comparison-I would say the Bluestar is objectively the best. But I realized we didn't need THE BEST, that merely amazing---and more user friendly---would suffice. :) And for any lurkers to the conversation: Wolf's all gas burners were described to me as "semi open" burners-easier to clean and more even heat than the fully sealed burner model (the sealed burner Wolf models are the ones with the "cool" red knobs instead of the red plastic ones that come with the all gas, ha ha) but yes the Wolf burners are definitely not fully open like the Bluestar and the Capital. And I don't think there is any argument that superior results are to be had with open, as opposed to sealed, burners.

Q

Reply to: I don't think the Appliance Forum is more "contentious" just more male. Kitchens is more female. Neither is better or worse just different. I have not had any user interface problems when testing the Bluestar/Culinarian and swithing back to my Kenmore that I am currently using before my remodel. No burned food on the Bluestar/Capital. I think an obsession with the best is a problem if you are paying a huge premium for that extra bit of performance. Wolf/Bluestar/Capital ranges are all in the same ball park in terms of price. And I find Bluestar/Capital more user friendly because it puts the heat in the center of the pan as oppose to the edges. Intuitively the residential cook with no cooking experience would guess it is hotter in the center of the pan than the edges. It is hard to get used to worse like professional chefs using standard appliances. I find it is easy getting used to better like a home cook using commerical grade equipment. From personal experience living here in West Los Angeles where there are lots of foodies and high end ranges and watching shows like House Hounters on HGTV I don't see people paying premiums for homes with Wolf/Sub-Zero appliances. The last two times I remember seeing a Wolf range on that show the couples did not pick the house with Wolf. People pick homes and pay premiums on location,school district,layouts,size of yards,number of rooms/bathrooms. Appliance choice is really off the radar. Like I said all else being equal I think people would pick the recognizable "better" brand. The only time I have seen appliance choice being an issue is the super high end house with low end appliance. I would imagine Wolf/Sub-Zero would be a real significant draw If a potential homebuyer saw these in a lower middle class neighborhood. Service. All these companies sub-contract to independent shops. All-Gas ranges are rather easy to service.If there is not a service provider already in your area Bluestar/Capital will just call and establish a relationship with one of the service providers in your area. If you live in Moscow Idaho and want your Gaggenau steam oven serviced that might be a problem. Miele has their own network with their own employees in limited areas but that is neither here nor there on this topic.

Q