Ok, not to bore everyone with the details... but I'm gutting my kitchen in October and need new everything. In my research, I found this forum (yeah!). However I became somewhat more confused about the reliability of higher-end appliances. This was further confirmed by reading this forum and speaking with the sales people at several appliance stores. I had narrowed it down to Wolf, DCS and BlueStar. Major concerns with Wolf was the problem everyone seemed to have with the AG version; everyone seemed generally happy with the DCS; and the Blue Star had mixed reviews (but it has 22,000btu burners!). I drove 3 hrs to the nearest Blue Star dealer to take a look at their ranges and knew that was the one for me. It had everything I wanted, Power, Steely good looks and best of all it was significantly cheaper than the DCS and Wolf. My only concern was service, I'm actually one of those people who buys extended warranties on everything, so to me having an extra warranty was important, but it wasn't possible with the BS so I took the leap.

Fast forward today... it was finally installed this morning. As they promised, any trained gas fitter can actually do it. The guy who came by never heard of a BS, but had it up and running in 15 minutes. But after spending hours agonizing over getting the right range, would I be happy? (fyi - I'm very high maintenance and very difficult to please, plus I worked for Fairmont Hotels and I'm very demanding) Well after the oven burn off, I faxed in my range information to the BS fax number, and within 2-3 hrs I had an e-mail back from them acknowledging that they knew I was alive (I really doubt Wolf or DCS have this type of customer service). Wow, great first impression.

Now lets get to tonights meal. Steak under the broiler, sauted mushrooms, with steamed asparagus. In one word AMAZING. The water boiled in no time whatsoever, and the heat was fast and intense. In fact it was so fast I almost had a premature meal. I actually found things were cooking twice as fast as they had before. And don't even get me started on the broiler. I'm a outdoor grilling type of person, but this was one of the best steaks I every had.

FYI - I have the 30" RCS model with 4 burners. In the end I only had 3 - 15,000 btu burners and the 1 simmer burner.

Pros:

- Easy to setup.

- Everything was calibrated and did not need any further adjustments.

- the burners are fast and hot. It boils water twice as fast as my parents Maytag gas range.

- built very solid (& heavy).

- great customer service.

- Most importantly... it worked flawlessly!

Cons:

- Installation was a bit of a pain, they should really have a large cavity in the back bottom so it can easily be flush against the back wall. The gas inlet (including the shut off valve) has to be less than 3" high in order to fit under the range.

- The 30" range requires a 36" wide range hood, and the space from the top of the range to any combustible cabinets must be at least 36" (vs standard 30" high cabinets).

- The sides and the front of the oven run very hot. This is significantly hotter then my old oven. If you had small children, it could be an issue.

- No local service people (but it doesn't look like there are really any moving parts, so hopefully this won't be an issue, and if it is I let you all know!)

Well, one appliance down, now all I need to do is find a range hood (ventahood?), dishwasher (Miele?), and a built-in 36" wide counter depth fridge (Thermador Freedom bottom freezer?)!