Good to have your feedback. I am sorry the range did not work out for you.

To be fair, the ranges that Bluestar sold 10 years ago are not what they are selling now. Many design (and quality control) improvements have occurred, especially in the latest shipping models (e.g. RNB v2).

I hope people who are familiar with Blue Star's improvements chime in then.

Would like to hear from others about newer models as well. We and some friends were thinking BS for our kitchens but the unevenness of the griddle has us thinking probably not. Problems like the above would, sadly, make the decision a bit easier.

For those interested here is a thread on newer Blue Star ranges.

http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/3165533/do-you-still-love-your-bluestar

Use Google to search for more information on GW about Blue Star (the search function on GW itself is not so great.)

the sharp edges I was talking about are those stamped metal pieces under the grates. if the manufacturing process does not grind them smooth, they are sharp. did I mention those exposed sharp screws? since it's an open burner range, I see everything under the top.

just took a peek at Blusstar site, I guess RNB has become Nova now? new version may be better, IDK. but WTH, it costs $6300 now? it better be better than what I have. well, at least their web site is much informative than it used to be.

If you are referring to the stamped metal pieces that the burners sit on, those have been replaced with smooth, round rods. I just took the grates off of my RCS and could not feel any sharp metal edges. The grate support rails have square edges but they are not sharp, There are no sheet metal screws with exposed sharp tips. The only screws that I can touch (e.g. the grate leveling screws) have squared off tips.

Here is a photo:

wow, it sure looks very different from my old RNB and it's brand new.

I guess Bluestar knew how rough their products were and improved.

One thing the OP mentioned: "the cast iron Burner heads "rust and rustier"".

Rust has been eating away at the cast iron burner parts over my 11+ years with a RGTNB36" range top. The early (terrible) igniters got rusted in place when the steel screws became perminantly rusted into the cast iron. Now, they've since changed the screw type, but I've had to drill and re-tap four of the six - and those four don't sit quite right. Gave up on the other two. And while I'm fine with how the looks have held up, and it performs like a cooking beast, the cast iron rusts from the inside and bottom. Don't know if that's due to being propane or they simply rust out.

So I've been waging my own internal battle: do I order all new burners for these for the sake of mating up functioning igniters, do I spend almost double what this one cost and upgrade to a BS platinum range top, or are the new burners going to be just as prone to rusting as the old? I can deal with the once in a blue moon replacing of a faulty igniter, but I hesitate to upgrade the old, great cooking but clicking BS if the new parts will be in the same shape in several years.

Current generation BS owners, do you find rusting on the burners/gas ports or underside?

Blue Star is our current top choice. Thinking about getting the RCS. Though we could afford the RNB, I just don't know that the extra BTU matters that much to us. (Though feel free to convince me otherwise.) We are by no means chefs. We just like to buy Made In USA products that have no digital parts. We live in Philly and like how ultra local and small travel foot print this appliance would be. We can only fit at 30" in our kitchen. Questions:

1. Have the changes John listed above for the RNB also been made to RCS?

2.For either the RNB and RCS Curious about the sound level of the convection fan and the cooling fan. Is one louder than the other or do they sound the same, and how loud are they?

3. We are heading to an appliance store in Jersey this weekend that has a hooked up model that we can test out. Anything else I should think about or look for?

Stevep, I have had my BS for about 5 years, so it is not the newest version, but the cast iron is holding up quite well. I don't mean in any way to offend you, but wonder if there is something about the conditions of your home or cooking or cleaning that are contributing to the problem. I had a Viking with cast iron grates and my MIL bought one a short time after I did. She complained about rust on the grates as well, though mine were fine. I never did any real investigation to find out why mine were fine and hers rusted, but it is possible we treated them differently. I treat mine like a cast iron pan, I put a little oil on them when I first got them, and as soon as I am done cooking, I clean them with a damp sponge, but they have enough heat that they dry off any moisture. It may be that you do short bursts of cooking, so the grates don't heat very thoroughly, and the humidity from cooking stays on the grates, or maybe the humidity in the house is much higher than mine. I have no rusting on the gas ports or the burners themselves, the ports I don't wash, on the few occasions that I have washed a burner, I put it right back on the stove and run it for a few minutes to drive off any moisture, sometimes I oil, sometimes I don't. I suggest you brush off any rust, and try treating it like a cast iron pan - oil occasionally, and put heat to it any time you get it wet to drive off the moisture , and see if it helps.

barryv_gw, good line of thinking but the grates and bowls don't have a lick of rust on them. It's just the gas ports and the underside of the burners - not subjected to cleaning. And whenever I have worked on the burners, I dump a good amount of powered rust 'stuff' out. I do live four houses from the Atlantic and am running propane. I don't know if that is enough to account for the accelerated burner decay. I can only hope that the newer burners are made of a higher grade iron (such a thing as with SS?) or have some sort of treatment to impeed what I am seeing. I love the cooking performance on the BS and can't really see being happy switching to another brand after a dozen years with this cooking powerhouse. I just would hate to spend the $ to upgrade if new iron burners start breaking down after four/five years.

Stevep2005:

My 1.5 year old propane RCS shows no signs of rust yet. The burners are porcelain coated the same as the grates. Is that also true of your 11 year old Bluestar?

Kendrah:

My understanding is that the three, currently shipping, open-burner Bluestar range lines (RCS, RNB, and Platinum) all now share the same fundamental internal chassis design and parts list. For example, the top burner section of the RCS, RNB and Platinum 30" ranges are now identical in every way except for the replaceable burner heads and gas orifices that determine the BTU output of each burner. Likewise the internal oven parts and interiors are identical except for the oven burner of the Platinum which uses a back wall, European, convection-only ring burner instead of the more traditional under floor burner used in the RCS and RNB. Also, some of the exterior sheet metal parts (e.g. plate setter bull nose, kick panel, etc.) have differences that visually distinguish the different model lines. There may be other differences, but that is the basic idea.

The convection fan is definitely audible but not obnoxious. It is about half of the loudness of my Zephyr Napoli hood at its lowest setting. I just measured the sound output of the the convection fan in my 30" RCS with two different sound level meter apps on my iPhone, and both read it at approximately 10 dBa above the ambient noise level in my kitchen (30 dBa with fan off, 40 dBa with fan on).

There is no cooling fan in the Bluestar ranges since they do not have any electronics that would need cooling. The only electronics in the range is the igniter spark module for the top burners, which is designed to work without the need for fan cooling.

When you go to the appliance store, see if they will actually let you cook stuff on it. If so, bring various sized pans and ingredients so your can get a feel for the way it would perform for the way you like to cook. If you have a round bottom wok (14" is a good size) try it out directly in a burner bowl with ring grate removed. Also, try simmering a small amount of water in your smallest, covered pan (with and without the ring grate rotated in its elevated position). They might even let you use the oven to check for evenness of browning (with and without the convection fan on).

Kendrah:

I just noticed that you are from Philly. I heard that Bluestar moved to a giant new factory a couple of hours away from you in Blandon. They might have (or know of) a setup where you could get a much more complete evaluation experience than you could at an appliance store.

I wonder if they give factory tours? If so, take pictures and post them here!!

Kendrah - are you heading to H&H appliance in West Windsor? That's where we went to see a working BlueStar. We had a cooking demo scheduled with the BlueStar area rep this past Feb but a heavy snowstorm canceled it. At the time BlueStar didn't have a working set up at their factory location - I wonder if they have one now. Karl's Appliance often has demos - but they're closer to NYC than Philly.

Check out the evenness of browning convection fan on and no rotation (Bluestar wall oven). Except when broiling, I almost always use the convection fan since it takes a lower temperature.

Ingredients: (water, fresh ground hard red wheat berries, honey, olive oil, molasses, yeast)

I echo Andy's sentiment. DO NOT BUY BLUESTAR. We received a malfunctioning, broken RNB unit from Bluestar 6 months ago. The gas lines were busted on several burners. We asked for help after delivery. We asked them to take it back. We never should have accepted it. It has been the biggest appliance blunder. It arrived mis-assembled, 3 burner gas lines busted, missing a 22K burner, the front bullnose gouged, the enamel in the oven worn away in spots because they didn't care to pack the metal shelving correctly. On top of that we fear the range is leaking gas. Don't be fooled by the celebrity chef endorsements and BTU count, go with another brand that stands behind their product. We've been asked to live with a refurbished range when we paid full price. I'm ashamed to say this is an American product and an American company. In my experience, with Bluestar, you do not get what you pay for.

brand new BlueStar RNB gas line:

Aside from the missing 22k burner, the damage looks and sounds like the range got dropped on its back or sides sometime during shipping/delivery.

Bluestar sent a repairman our way. Because of the shoddy assembly, missing 22K burner, and worn away oven enamel - he thought we bought a second or dealer floor model. He went so far as to check the serial number and he was surprised it was new, not a refurbished unit. Maybe we got a refurbished model, someone else's return ? If it was just one thing or a cosmetic problem we could live with it - but the litany of problems, the countless deliveries of spare parts and the poor customer service we've received from the dealer and BlueStar has us at odds. In October a BlueStar rep agreed to take the unit back and replace it. But haggling between the dealer and BlueStar has the process at a stalemate.

If not blue star then what would you recommend as an oven choice?