Capital Culinarian is the most even. There is a video on Eurostoves dedicated Capital Culinarian site comparing Capital to Wolf and DCS. Bluestar is a close second, but Eurostoves no longer sells them so it is not in the video.

Thanks - I'll check it out. Is CC supperior in other ways to Wolf, BS, Ect.?

The broiler gets hotter than BS and Wolf The fit and finish is better than the BS, but the Wolf is excellent too the burners are 23,000 BTU the BS are 22,000 BTU so not much differance there, but the Wolf are only 16,000 BTU. If you buy the self cleaning version you get a motorized rotisserie in the oven. After viewing all the videos and reading the comparisons, and the posts here on Garden Web, and looking for any posts of problems on the Culinarian or the Capital Precision, their older line which is the same except fot the burners, I purchased the Culinarian form a local appliance dealer who has a great reputation. I couldn't be happer with my decision.

A couple of things to consider --

on the Culinarian all the burners are the same. No simmer burner. On the Blue Star you get a simmer (8000 BTU, one or more 15000 BTU and two 22000 BTU. I find I use the simmer and 15000 BTU more than the big burners and would not want to be without them.

On the Culinarian if you do not get self clean you can not get the rolling oven racks. Blue Star has nice rolling racks.

The Culinarian uses a donut burner and the Blue Star has a star -- check them both out and decide for yourself which has more even placement of heat across the bottom surface.

For all these reasons I chose Blue Star. I also like the fact that you can take off the center ring and seat a round bottom wok right into the flame. It's just a cool design and I stir fry a lot!

Oh, and I chose a color that I could not get on the Culinarian -- and there was no upcharge for color when I purchased.

There is no video comparing Bluestar's burner to the CC burner so I'm curious as to how one can assert that CC "wins" and the Bluestar is second. I remember the video that was put up when Eurostoves was selling Bluestar and the boil pattern was fantastic. Frankly I still see a bit of a dead zone in the CC burner due to the doughnut shape. 0:14 - 0:16 of the video. Yes, the CC certainly does infinitely better then the sealed burners.

I'm also dying to know how people assert that the fit and finish is so much better on the CC. My Bluestar fit and finish was 100% flawless when I received it, including powder coating job. Everything lined up properly. One of the burners had a tiny casting defect (Lord knows someone around here is doing a search as I type) it was replaced on short order.

As for the broiler I will gladly disagree that the Bluestar broiler is inferior. Smaller, yes! It is a smaller unit but the blazing heat it puts out (1850 degrees versus what?) is more useful to me.

-Stooxie

Here we go again.. :)

I've owned both. BS for about 3 years before I moved and CC since it came out back in Nov. I'll keep this short by saying I loved cooking on both. I like the CC just a bit more overall. The two part design is easy to clean and provides nice even heat. I have not experienced any dead zones personally. Frankly, I like both burner designs and would be happy cooking on either. With wok cooking on the wok grate, I like the CC a bit more because it feels like more intense heat is concentrated on the bottom of the wok.

Keep in mind that when I made my decision last spring/summer, the BS V1 wasn't out yet and BS didn't have a good explanation of what was wrong with the jammed doors. Replacement doors didn't seem to help everyone so I was a bit wary of that. Personally, I still haven't heard a clear cause for the door problems but, to be fair, I also haven't kept up with any posts about that.

Ultimately, I'm glad to say that I don't regret my purchase and would likely choose the CC again.

DEAD ZONE FACT.....

The so called dead zone on the CC is 3"
The so called dead zone on the BS is 2 7/8"

Which is a difference of 1/8" from hole to hole (not to much in my mind.)

The Flame from the center of the BS goes directly upwards.
The flame from the center of the Culinarian is angled inwards by 60 degrees, this was designed this way to reduce a dead zone.

Which means in my mind....the CC delivers more heat to the center of the pan.

FACT...........

Trevor, I cannot tell from your post whether you are trying to debunk the notion of the "dead zone" or trying to argue that there is such a thing, and it's bad, and it's smaller on the Culinarian than it is on the BS RNB. I'm open to the idea that there's no particular defect in the hole in the center portion of the Capital burner. As an owner, and a big fan of the BlueStar burners, I've no particular conviction at all that there's something missing in the way that the Capital range applies heat to the center portion of the pan, at least not in a way that would make any appreciable difference for my cooking.

On "facts," it seems to me that there are only four points along the circle at which the holes on the BS burners are actually or approximately 2 7/8" apart. Closer to 2.5 otherwise, innit? (A quick measure -- please forgive me for not seeing the point to doing this with any precision). Really, I'm not sure that it makes much difference, or any appreciable difference, but I wonder what "FACT" (love ALL caps as an expressive device, but nOt NEArly as mUch as arBiTRary caPS) you're trying to note, if it's not simply that "in [your] mind" one thing does better than another.

A 22k or 23k open burner fully open will just behave differently from a 15k sealed one. For certain cooking purposes, that can really make a difference. For some others, maybe not so much. At the other end, some ranges fail to provide what one wants in a simmer -- too much, rather than too little, either in the form of too much heat or in the form a flame pattern that's too hard to control. Again, I've no particular conviction that the Capital is deficient in this regard -- I've never cooked on a Culinarian, much less found it lacking.

I like the idea recommended above, that a person might seek out one or both of these ranges (or several others) to try. There's always the question of familiarity, but at least a hands-on trial gives one an overall sense of the thing and what it's like to interact with it. These other things -- the facts that are facts, the "facts" that are not, or are nearly or approximately true. One is left wondering what matters, even in this fairly special context, and what all the argument could possibly be about. But maybe that's just me.

I can't really comment on how the ring burner on the CC performs but here's the Eurostoves video talking about the Bluestar burner and how it directs heat inward toward the base of the pan:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJvKZiOQesg

Probably not new to most here, sounds like Carson has seen it. Best way to solve a problem is not to create the problem in the first place.

-Stooxie

djg1.

The whole idea of an open burner is to get even heat across the base of the pan. Both the BS and the CC do this very well.

Stooxie posted

"""I still see a bit of a dead zone in the CC burner due to the doughnut shape. 0:14 - 0:16 of the video. Yes, the CC certainly does infinitely better then the sealed burners.""""

I was pointing out that in fact the BS has a larger dead zone (if it matters) than the CC due to the way the inner flames on both units are angled. So the posting should now read ....Yes, the BS certainly does infinitely better then the sealed burners because the CC has a smaller dead zone""""

At the time of filming the video linked above it was the best range for even heat distribution, now we have the CC which has reduced the so called dead spot so one would assume the CC distributes more heat to the center of the pan.

I do feel very confident that the CC burner is better than the BS burner, we must remember that only 2 people that I know of have used both the BS and the CC extensively, those people are Amcooks and myself, and the opinion of both of us seems to be the CC is the over all better range.

As for the simmer I agree that is one area I think Capital should re-address, when the range was sent to me for testing prior to production it arrived with all 23k btu burners I reduced two of those burners 1 x 8k and 1 x 15k I felt that was a nice mix.

Capital has over 1000 units delivered and been used in the US at this time, I only know of one customer who informs me that the range will not simmer as they would like. So does the simmer work on the CC yes it does, would i personally like to see a smaller simmer burner on the CC yes, if for no other reason to remove this as an issue to someone picking a CC over a BS or Wolf.

All in all both units will out cook every other range on the market with ease. In my mind if you love to cook its a two horse race, CC or BS. When it comes to the CC or BS on this site its like the government you wont find many people crossing the isle...... lol

Thanks to the Eurostoves site and the discussion on this forum I bought a CC and I love it, but I do wish it had one burner that went down to less than a simmer. I guess I could get a simmer plate for when I want a little less heat.

even heat belongs to bluestar

It seems BlueStar and CC are both pretty good for even heating. I feel the decision point between them lies elsewhere. The Culinarian is a bit of a larger range (it sticks out 2" more than the BlueStar to the edge of the oven handle, the range itself is about an inch and quarter deeper). I personally like the look of the CC better than the BlueStar, but that's purely subjective (the BlueStar has a lot of available colors, but I wouldn't really call it a designer stove). Something about the design of the BlueStar seems clunkier to me (although I think the Wolf is a lot cleaner design than either of them). How the grates and cleaning works is somewhat different, but I couldn't really say which is better. I somewhat prefer having all the burners be the same (Capital), but can understand the desire for a dedicated simmer burner as well (BlueStar).

I'm not sure you would go wrong with either choice. For me the extra two inches of depth for the CC is problematic for my cabinet layout (the range is close to a corner).

Even heat belongs to the CC.

It is easier to clean a two-piece lift top burner than a one piece. That is not subjective.

Then there is the matter of exposed ignitors and hot sticky doors.

Allegedly there are more design updates for the BS door coming. If so that would leave one to conclude the VI has not completely resolved the issue.

I posted a complaint about simmering problems with the CC that I would like to note have been fixed. A couple folks from Capital spent several hours tinkering with several issues on my machine and when they left, the burners no longer clicked (among other fixes) and the simmer worked great, far better than it had formerly.

When properly tuned, the CC's actual simmering performance is stellar, IMHO.

In another post it was said there are allegedly more design updates fro the BS door. Is there any more information available about this? Have the V1 doors not resolved the issues?

d'oh, honestly, buy the CC range already. You want it. You think it's the best thing in the world. It's probably terrific. You should buy one and start cooking on it.

"Easier" is indeed subjective -- in your case I'm guessing it's actually just imagined. Spent a lot of time cleaning both sets of burners? Found one difficult? Measured your kilocalorie consumption, with an adequate n, and under rigorous controls, and found one "easier" to clean than the other based on the delta in energy consumption or some such nonsense? I have no conviction at all that it would be hard to keep the CC burners clean. At the same time, I know from personal experience that it's easy to do with the BS -- no special tricks or procedures, no hard labor.

Even heat "belongs" to one of the ranges? With which techniques, pans, and dishes, did you find uneven heat to be a problem? I haven't noticed it myself, not with a 4" butter warmer, nor a 1 quart saucier, nor 10, 12, or 13" skillets, etc., blah, blah, blah, but maybe I've missed something.

Careful, djg, you're going to get the armchair commandos all riled up! :)

-Stooxie

I find this whole p!ss!ng contest amusing. Frankly, I think any differences between the BS and the CC are negligible. Both are fantastic ranges.

When I first started looking for ranges, I had one requirement. I wanted to be able to do wok cooking in addition to conventional cooking. So much so that I even contemplated installing a wok burner right next to a conventional range or cooktop. One by one, I started ruling out Wolf, Viking, Thermadore. Until I zeroed in on the 48" Capital Precision with four sealed burners and a hefty wok burner that can be used as a stock pot burner. Plus it came with a rotisserie! I thought it was perfect until I found the BS cult here. What? I can wok cook AND grill indoors? But I had to lose the rotisserie. Let's just say I happily drank the Kool-Aid.

But then my kitchen plans stalled due to unforeseen circumstances. A year later, I started revisiting my kitchen reno. To my surprise, there was a new cult in town. And this time is was another product from Capital, the Culinarian, but it was still in pre-release. It was everything the BS could do and I get the rotisserie back! Then I had to stall my project again for another six months to find a new contractor. By the time I restarted my project, the CC was already in production. Without hesitation, I plunked down the cash and now it's in my garage waiting to be installed.

In the end, I would have been thrilled with either a BS or a CC. I wouldn't rate one as better over the other. Features and aesthetics are all relative. The Culinarian was the best choice for me. And that's what's most important. I think they're both in a class of their own. They both represent great value in a cooking appliance, especially for a cooking enthusiast like me.

We have a CC, when we went to Eurostoves to demo the unit my wife made a burre blanc sauce - she had to turn the 23K CC burner UP to bind the butter & wine! She has repeated this on our 36" at home. Simmer is NO PROBLEM with the 23k burners! Only big issue I saw (out side of the cleanup for a boil over & CC wins that hands down) is the temp on the outside. Both the CC & BS were fired & ready to go, I went over to the BS to look at the drip tray design & burned my fingers trying to pull out the drip tray, the CC drip tray handle was not hot at all. I am not a wimp, in a previous life I worked as a furnaceman in a foundry & I weld frequently - I am used to hot metal. The BS was unacceptably hot.

Carson2 -
I have a BS. Would you like to buy it so I can get a Capital?

Performance wise - I have NOTHING to complain about with the BlueStar. High heat, low heat, 'dead space', broiler... all fantastic. From what I have determined, the Capital is, for all practical purposes, at least equal to the Bluestar in performance, possibly better in an area or two.

Quality wise - you can do much better than the BS. I am on my 3rd door due to sticking shut. I've had the oven thermostat & glow plug and all four top burner values replaced in the last 2.5 years. The outside gets very hot.

When I bought my BS, it was the best out there. However, if I were to buy again, it would be a Capital.