I never heard this brand -was dreaming to purchase WOLF DF - but based on the report- they are having chipping problem during the self cleaning.

Now I might consider the 48 inch -BLUE STAR- does it comes in LPropane ( no natural gas on my street)- Will purchase the wall oven,too- not sure which brand. Where should I see this range in MA?

I'm giving this topic a re-fresh. Any one have any updates? We are going through the same dilemma now, trying to choose between BlueStar and Wolf. The BlueStar RNB series seems to hit a sweet spot for us at price and features, but there's something about the Wolf that just looks so damn good. The Wolf DF is probably out of our price range, and we don't read as much about their straight gas convection oven range.

My wife is worried about cleaning, too. It seems the BlueStar has easy access to the underpinnings for cleaning, but she's worried that means she'll always be having to pull out trays, racks, etc. On the Wolf, the sealed system seems to keep everything right there but we've heard it can be hard to clean when stuff does spill and burn on to the enamel.

Would appreciate any thoughts!

I have used both and I think that the BlueStar is far easier to keep looking nice.

The sealed burner Wolf has a smooth, shiny, black enameled drip surface that immediately shows every little drip and speck. That surface gets hot during use so drips can burn on and discolor the finish (possibly permanently depending upon the drip). It is not removable so must be cleaned in place around the burners and it scratches relatively easily so you have to be careful when wiping it. To get to it you have to remove the top grates which are rather large and heavy (one grate for every two burners).

The open burner BlueStar has individual porcelain coated cast iron grates and bowls for each burner with a matte black finish that doesn't show drips nearly as much as a shiny surface does. They have the surface quality of cast iron pans that respond well to a casual, quick wipe without removing anything. They can also be individually removed very easily for external cleaning in the sink or dishwasher (this very rarely needs to be done though). Any large spills go down past the burner into a slide out drip pan that can be covered with aluminum foil for quick and easy removal/replacement.

Both brands have top stainless steel surrounding surfaces that are equally susceptible to scratching and discoloration. The Wolf is a bit more annoying in this regard because the top side rails have their grain going left and right instead of front to back like the BlueStar does. This means that to wipe the Wolf side rails clean without scratching them, you have to repeatedly wipe them side to side, two inches at a time, for the length of the rail. The BlueStar has the grain going along the length of the rail so you can wipe it down in one stroke.

My MIL got a BlueStar and she had the same concerns about cleaning. After one spill she said that the cleaning was easy. She's had it for almost a year now and so far, she likes it very much.

I ended up with a BS Platinum and LOVE it! I have never had a Wolf so I can't compare cleaning issues, however cleaning my BS is relatively easy and I tend to make a mess sometimes with cooking. I line my drip trays with aluminum foil and I change those out weekly. I also use my oven quite a bit and just wipe it down after each use when it cools off (it still looks brand new at 6 mos old).

BS is very good stove-it is a chef dream stove-I did go see in our local showroom- not too crazy-cant explain it :( . Just dnt to deal with any aluminum foil to cover the tray -so I am still switching b/w Miele and Wolf cook top. My double oven and steamer oven are from Miele

Thanks everyone for your comments. All very helpful! We will let you know what we decide and how it works out.

I recently installed a Bluestar Platinum 48", and so far I'm quite happy with it. I just thought that I would add, in contrast to some of the comments above (which might come from RNB owners) that the oven heats up extremely quickly -- ready to bake in 15 minutes or less. I bought the range for the cooktop, but didn't expect to like the oven as much as I do.

My choice was between a Capital and Bluestar, and consider the Wolf to be a different product segment. The Wolf is prettier and more user friendly and convenient to use. If you are a very enthusiastic cook and willing to make the tradeoffs for open burners, go with the Bluestar (or Capital). If you want easy cleanup and ease of use, and want something that is pretty good to cook with, but without the hassle of open burners, go with Wolf.

I've been using my BS 36" RCS, propane, just less than a week... but was able to roast 8 prime ribs in four tins.. 2 in each and it beautifully did them med. rare in 2.5 hours. The little cooking I've done so far... LOVE it and can't imagine ever cooking on anything else. ( previous range was a Jenn Air, retrofitted for propane)

I'm evaluating 48" Wolf AG, Blue Star RNB and Miele DF. I know they are all very different in terms of burners, gas vs. electric oven, etc. However, how about reliability? Ease of cleaning? Service/customer service? I want a product that will be reliable and that will function as advertised. It would also be nice if it is easy to clean.

I am not considering Wolf DF due to price and also complaints about the oven chipping.

I am getting the Miele 48 DF since Wolf has the oven chipping. I heard Wolf is going to have a new range with WOK range in the middle. RNB is nice too- just dnt like to clean and the look of open flame. It was a very hard decision not buying my Wolf range-I heard both of them have excellent customer service.

My in-laws have a Blue Star..One concern was the cleaning of the open flame setup, but apparently it's a breeze. There is a tray underneath. You can adjust the burners (can use a wok by modifying the setup of a burner). So far, after over a year of heavy use, it works great and no problems with cleaning.

Regarding Blue Star ranges: I purchased a new 30" Blue Star gas range in 2009. I used it in our last home from 2009-2016 until we sold out home. It was professionally installed in 2009. Based on my experience and a few design flaws that I found very annoying, I am going with a Wolf 36" this time around, for our current home renovation. I liked the look of the Blue Star range and it did a decent job overall. However here are the flaws with Blue Star that got to me and I caveat my review with the assumption that Blue Star has most likely worked some of these design flaws out in their latest models... So if I was going to purchase one today, I would go through each of these items in a demo with a salesmen or product rep..

First and foremost: 1) the open burner may be described as an advantage, but I found it to be just the opposite... the open burner port has the distinct problem of allowing fluid spills into the opening where the flame needs to come from... I cook a lot and there are times where I or someone inevitably lets a pot boil over or else some liquid spills... Once an open burner takes on a little liquid, it will not allow an open flame from that opening or sometimes from that entire affected burner. So until that opening has dried out or you have used a toothpick or something to allow the gas/air and flame to pass through once again.... you igniter will keep attempting to light that burner... This feature accelerates the aging of the igniters as well, and I did experience a number of igniter burn outs which I replaced. The more annoying part here, is that I was sometimes forced to use another burner until I could get the igniter to stop trying to unsuccessfully light it... So as you can tell, I am no longer a fan of open burner designs.

2) The oven door would sometimes not open after I put a dinner in the oven... This one presented a slight issue... I learned that this issue was due the oven door arms/hinges heating up and essentially warping or expanding. The oven door was bent by this problem but a repairman said that Blue Star would give me a new door for about $500, Blue Star confirmed this in the end. So I elected not to go that $500 route and instead chose to oil the oven door hinge when ever was going to bake something for a prolonged period.. This worked pretty well but still caused the entire door and frame to permanently bend in the end not the best design or approach to handling a product defect.

3) The control nobs came off and specifically the oven knob; never fully stayed on after I received a new replacement knob from Blue Star.

4) The control knobs and oven door heated up considerably when cooking in the oven. The door and kick plate became too hot to touch when cooking things in the oven.

5) While I chose the Blue Star for the high BTU rating, I found that lack of a consistent low simmer burner to be a big set back. The small simmer burner does not allow the flame to go anywhere near how low you need it to go for a good low simmer.

Cheers - just trying to help fellow gas range shoppers.

Jake

Jake, thanks for the feedback. You're the only pro Wolf guy - though from your description it seems you are more anti BS. I've never owned either but have always wanted a Wolf. I'm remodeling my kitchen and have decided to go with a wall oven instead of the 48" and then get the 36" gas range--not the dual fuel. Wolf is $7,200 while the lower btu BS is $3,999. The price difference is huge. I used to think if you were looking to buy a home--walked into two identical kitchens, one with a Wolf and then another with a BS, that most would be more impressed with the Wolf. But after reading all these posts, now I don't know. I found a Wolf floor model that is discounted by $1500 and thought when I first heard about it that this would be the one I would buy until I went to look at it in person. Truthfully, I wasn't that impressed. Think I'm now leaning toward a BS.

Fellow gas range shoppers please note:

The Bluestar ranges that are being sold today are not the same as those that were sold in 2009. Design changes have been made to address several of the problems that Jake (legitimately) describes concerning the older models.

Warning: Long post.

I had a Wolf all gas 30" range for several months in 2015 before I got my current Bluestar 30" RCS v2. In the end, without regard to price, I much prefer the Bluestar over the Wolf.

The Wolf is, indeed, an attractive range with excellent fit and finish and great customer service under warranty. It also has a showpiece mystique that has traditionally been favored by real estate agents as a selling point for high end homes. Although it has the same brand name as Wolf commercial ranges, I don't think that its current design was actually derived from them (Edit: I could be wrong on this).

The Bluestar has a heritage coming from the opposite direction. The Garland commercial range company wanted to get into the residential market for pro style ranges and sub contracted Prizer-Painter to manufacture them (under the Bluestar brand name), based on Garland's commercial designs and, as appropriate, commercial parts. After a time, Garland lost interest in that market and sold it entirely to Prizer-Painter.

Having owned and used both, my feeling is that the Wolf is fundamentally a residential range that has been visually "butched up" to look more commercial/professional while retaining a feeling of refinement.

The Bluestar is, on the other hand, a commercial range that has been "gentrified" enough to be legal for use in a residential setting and have added features and polish that make it more suitable and attractive for home use.

Before buying the Wolf, my wife and I had the same discussion: Form vs. Function. If you can't have the entirety of both at the same time, do you buy a long term, built-in appliance primarily for the way it performs in daily cooking or do you invest in it more for its aesthetic appearance in your home and possible increase in home resale value? Me, being an engineer and primary cook, considered function to be primary and she, being an artist and primary home decorator, leaned toward form. We decided to go with the Wolf mostly because, at the time, the offerings from other companies (including Bluestar) had lots of negative reviews in terms of reliability. The safer bet was to go with Wolf's reputation for excellent customer service and also get its attractiveness and potential resale advantages at the same time.

A very long story short: We had an unresolvable trouble with the Wolf that ended with the company replacing it and then, later, buying the replacement back (really excellent customer service). The trouble represented a weird, potential safety hazard that multiple service calls could not figure out and, to be fair, was never proven to be a fault in the Wolf range itself -- it's possible it had something to do with the gas supply which was later changed out before finally getting the Bluestar.

We have been very happy with the Bluestar. It has a simple, "old school", commercial, bolt together design that anyone with a semblance of mechanical ability can adjust or replace parts if necessary, without specialized knowledge. A lot of the parts are generic commercial (e.g. surface igniters, spark module, gas valves, gas orifices, thermostats, etc.) In general, simple => reliable. The open top burners can be used at full power on pans as small as 6" for regular burners and 3.5" for the special simmer burner. The simmer on each burner can be adjusted to be able to go very low. This one-time adjustment is supposed to be done at installation time but is sometimes skipped, which may be the source of some complaints about simmer not going low enough.

The Wolf has a dual level burner design which makes it really good for low simmer capability but its closed burners overshoot small pans at higher than medium flame settings.

I have found the cleanup on the Bluestar to be much, much easier than on the Wolf.

The Wolf has a shiny, enameled, non-removable drip pan surrounding the base of the burners that shows every drip and scratches very easily. Cleaning it is made difficult because the top grates are double burner in size and very heavy. They have to be removed to wipe the drip pan pretty much after every cook since the food drips can burn and permanently mar the drip pan finish.

The Bluestar has porcelain coated cast iron over the entire cooking surface which cleans like a seasoned cast iron pan. Since it is already a rough black texture, it takes a lot to mar its appearance so just a quick wipe of a wet paper towel make it look nearly new. Big spills go down into the foil covered removable drip pans below the burners. Like a commercial range, everything associated with the top burners easily comes apart for separate cleaning if necessary.

I decided not buying WOLF due to several unresolved issues=Almost buying the newest BS- but not too crazy with the open flame and cast iron looks :( - Ended up with 48" DF Miele, XXL steamer oven and wall oven- They will be installed next month- I am quite happy with their product, quality and most important is the customer service- the store Manager in Wellesley MA- has been awesome

hkwan, can you comment on how you like your 48" DF Miele? Thank you

I love all of the gadgets in the Miele's 48 inch DF range, The full size steam oven, the speed oven- microwave combo ( the smaller oven) and the warmer plate underneath it. Beside that the grates are dishwasher safe -makes the cleaning up easier. I have not tried the XXL Steamer oven nor the wall oven yet.