I cannot comment on these individual cooktops. I only want to say I am not a fan of the knob layout where the knobs are along one side. I prefer the knobs to be in the center. When they are along one side, it means that to operate the knobs for the rear burners you need to have your forearm stretch alongside what could be bubbling, splattering pots and pans. Also, what if someone in your household is a leftie.

I think as long as the knobs are on the cooking surface, there is a risk to be splattered. If one really worries about that, he/she should consider a range top, whose knobs are on the front. No mess on the knobs too.

Bluestar will IMO out perform the other two range tops. Especially for Wok Cooking

Thanks to everyone for their comments.

trevorlawson and cookncarpenter, I would get the bluestar but the closest authorize dealer is 55 miles away and I am not sure if I trust the reliability after reading all the horror stories. That's why I was hoping to hear some first-hand recent experiences with the cooktop. There is a local CC retailer, but the cheapest CC 36" open burner is $3600 and I am not sure if I can/should spend that much money on the rangetop..

Provided BS has service available local to you, it would still be at the top of my list out of the 3 options given.

I use a wok on our Blue Star all the time -- both for Asian and Western food. The built-in wok ring is amazingly convenient. And it brings the wok so close to the burner, it really heats up super quickly. It never takes more than 20 seconds for the oil to start smoking. This is with the regular 22kBTU burners.

We have had our Blue Star for a couple of years now, and I really love the experience of cooking on it. And it is such a basic design without any complicated electronics, that it isn't particularly prone to breaking, and if it does break anybody can fix it.

There were only a tiny number of service issues that I ever needed done. When I first bought it, I didn't like the default burner configuration. My dealer said they could either special order the configuration I wanted, or they could replace the burners in the field. The latter option would not only cost less but also take a lot less time, as they had all the parts in stock. I decided for that, and replacing burners and orificies only took a few minutes.

A couple of years later, I called Blue Star to inquire about an unrelated question and mentioned that my oven door was starting to be harder to operate, even after lubricating the hinges. They volunteered that this was a known defect and offered to send a free replacement door. I popped out the old door and installed the new one. Took about 60 seconds of work.

More recently, the oven igniter finally burned out. Given how much I bake, I am amazed how long it lasted. It took me about 30min to replace the igniter myself. I am sure I could have called any random technician to do the job, but it didn't seem worth the trouble. Replacement was so easy to do.

Finally, a friend of mine told me that their Blue Star range top didn't work reliably; a couple of burners would click and/or light even though they seemed to click. They had the same problem that you have, where they live too far out in the middle of nowhere, so they have trouble scheduling service calls. The next time I visited, I took a look. A few screws needed tightening in order to give a good electrical connection. I was able to fix it for them, but any service technician could have done so too -- it didn't really require knowing anything that was specific to Blue Star.

I'm 50 miles from the nearest dealer. I'm 50 miles from the nearest Subzero, Thermador, Miele, you name it dealer. If you need service, you can find it. It just requires a little effort. I wouldn't let that distance stop me from getting what I want. The BS is a pretty simple unit. It's almost do it yourself.

We got a Lacanche and love it. I learned about them here. Worth checking out if you haven't already (www.frenchranges.com) and lots of info on this forum under Lacanche. Highly functional, well-made and beautiful.