Bluestar cooktop mod ideas...

17 years ago

First, I'll say that I love this cooktop. I was limited to drop-in cooktops and Bluestar was the only one I could find that offers an open burner drop-in cooktop. I have come up with a few ideas for improvements however and want to share them and see if anyone else has any other ideas to share.

1. Rear left and rear center burners were reduced in BTU (about a year ago I think) due to UL certification. The way they accomplished this is to replace the nozzle in the venturi tube to a smaller diameter. This can be bored out with a titanium drill bit but that would void the warranty. The thing that bothered be wasn't so much the max BTU on these burners because I rarely if ever need high power burners in the back. What bothered me is that they changed the nozzle but the burner itself is the 15k burner so you end up with a very wide but low flame. That's fine if you want to use larger pots and pans on a lower flame but I find it more useful to have all of the heat concentrated in the center ring (much like the simmer burner) for smaller pots. My solution here was to use 3/8" - 1/2" #4 machine screws to plug the holes. Simply drop them in starting from the outside. Now, I can use smaller pans in the back on high and have very little loss of heat around the edges. If I want to use a larger pan, I simply remove some or all of the screws.

2. Wok cooking on the drop-in cooktop requires a wok ring unlike the range where you can remove the inner part of the grate. The grate of the drop-in cooktop is a single piece. The sales guy suggested that I can remove the grate completely and a wok does fit into the burner bowl but it worried me that there was no air gap between the edge of the wok and the bowl. That means the heat and flames is effectively trapped inside the bowl possibly causing dangerous heat buildup under the cooktop. My solution was to take one of the grates (I actually ordered an extra one) and cut off the four "fingers". With the original grate, a wok is unstable without the use of the ring and rested slightly high. With the ring, it was so high it was kind of uncomfortable to cook on. By removing the 4 protruding parts of the grate, the wok now sits firmly and slightly in the bowl. There's a nice gap around the edge for the heat and flames to escape. Wok cooking with this mod is a dream! I assume this would be similar to a stock slide-in cooktop or range with the removable center grate ring.

3. It would be nice to have a cover available for the nob area. See picture below. The knobs are right between the two most powerful burners which I noticed with my, wok mod above, gets very hot. Even without that, I've noticed that the knobs get pretty hot using any pan around 12" in diameter on high. There's been no problem with scorching or melting but I didn't like it too much. My quick and dirty solution was to take a piece of foil and fold it over a couple of times. Then I just slipped it between the knobs and the edge of the wok resting on the cooktop right next to the grate. That worked like a charm. The knobs cooled right down and doesn't get hot anymore. It occurred to me it would be nice to have a cover made of the same stainless material that fits over the knobs. This would be great for both keeping the knobs cool and preventing oil splatters. Plus, it would be nice to have a place to rest a bowl or something while cooking. Does anyone make a cover that would fit?

I'd love to hear any other ideas people might have.

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Comments (5)

User
17 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
O.K., First the positive. I love your solution in #2. That's simply awesome.

#3, I sympathize with you about large diameter pans and the knobs getting hot. That's always the trade off with a cooktop versus a rangetop. I don't know of an elegant solution, a little surrounding stainless lip might work, but be harder to clean- a cover is a working solution for high heat, but might be a drag for some people to lift on and off every time they want to turn a knob. They could put the center top knob right in the middle and bring the other 4 slightly closer together, but it may not 'look' as cool, or buy much relief. Also smaller knobs placed closer might have helped... hmmm..

However, I think your working solution, a barrier or a cover,if it works for you (and possibly others) is great.

# 1 - I'm less enthusiastic about, I'd probably ask for an extra simmer burner if it was obtainable.

I don't know what they downgraded the 15K burner to, perhaps 12K? but I like that pattern a lot, even when I have my 15K burner set very low (putting out much less than 15K or even 12K when set on medium/ or low. I don't have much trouble even with small diameter pots. But that's me.

Your dropping screws in the holes is pretty interesting... but I can imagine some unburnt gas leaking past the threads of the screw,.. probably not anything to be concerned about, but then I don't know- worse case? .. So I veto #1.
amcook
Original Author
17 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
Thanks for the feedback.. The wok grate is my favorite as well. It really does make a difference. With regard to the knobs, I agree with the cover blocking the knobs. I don't know why I didn't think of it earlier but I guess all I need is a strip of sheet metal or something like that. Then I can use it when necessary and put it away when not in use. Foil works fine for now but just looks bad and sometimes moves around when I lift the wok. I'll have to look into getting a piece of sheet metal and bending it to my liking.

With regard to the burners.. the burners were tuned down to around 9k btu (I read somewhere that it was rated at 8.5k). The 15k burner with such low volume is really just silly IMHO. The flames only go about 1/2" (maybe 3/4") off the burner. That's what led me to try and concentrate the flame. I'm confident that there is no leakage problem since given the low density of natural gas compared to air, it would have to be at a pretty high pressure to force any of the screws up enough to leak by. Just to be safe, I ran a lighter (the long bbq kind) across each of the screws with the burners turned on high and there was nothing to indicate any sort of leakage. That said, this is *not* proscribed by bluestar in any way so anyone reading should judge for themselves whether this is a good idea or not. I certainly find things on the internet that I would never try even though someone says it's perfectly safe.
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quilly
17 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
Would a square or round cake pan inverted over the knobs help? My first thought was a small skillet because then you'd have a handle- but the handle might be in the way when you're cooking.
tommmy2007
17 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
Make it fancy. Since it's a BlueStar get a blue glass casserole dish that fits or even a bit bigger(so you can set things over the knobs).Use a diamond coated hole saw (look on amazon) drill from the inside of the pan with water in it to keep the bit cool and not to break the glass. Sandpaper works on glass to smooth the hole.
quilly
17 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
I don't think I'd be comfortable using a glass casserole even though it's not going directly on a burner grate. Pyrex warns against putting their products on a stovetop. Pyrex used to be made of borosilicate glass which can withstand thermal changes better than regular glass but they don't use that any longer.