I've been lurking here reading everyone's experiences for several months and finally narrowed it down to a Blue Star or a Capital Culinarian. Called Trevor and he recommended the Capital for me. However, when I went to go look at the only dealer a few cities over to check it out (even though they didn't have the Culinarian line on the floor, only the Precision line, but I figured the oven would be the same and that's what I wanted to look at). Lo and behold, they had a floor model Blue Star RCS 30" marked down to $2700, and that made up my mind in a hurry to "settle" for the Blue Star RCS, since most of my stovetop cooking is simmering things. It looks in lovely condition, no scratches or other obvious blemishes, and they don't have working models set up in-store, so it's a brand new stove that's just been sitting on the floor a while, with full warranty and they also service in case we need it.

Sorry for the long backstory there, but I'm sure I will absolutely love my new range. Haven't had it delivered yet, but I have a couple questions for all you Blue Star owners so I can make any additional purchases and be ready to go.

What do you use/recommend for a broiling pan for the infrared broiler? My current pans all warp under the rather wimpy broiler in my current range as it is. Would a cast iron grill/griddle stand up to it or is steel better? If so, can you recommend one?

I understand "seasoning" the cast iron top of the stove, but what do you use to keep the lovely stainless body and trim looking lovely? Sorry to sound dumb, but I have not had stainless appliances before. My other appliances, for now, are black, which I think blends just fine in my older eclectic kitchen full of black fridge/dishwasher/black-and-stainless small appliances.

Any favorite cookware suggestions? I'm thinking of upgrading that as well from my bottom-clad-only stainless cookware (and I do have a few cast iron pieces). Currently considering All Clad or penny-pinching and getting Cuisinart Multiclad Pro tri-ply.

Any other helpful tips to share for a newbie? Not new to cooking, but I'm coming from electric for the past 20+ years (I have cooked on gas before that, so not totally unfamiliar, but certainly not on a range of this caliber).

Thanks so much to you all for your postings to these forums. It helped me so much in deciding on a range. I had even considered just going with a cheap Chinese Thor for the time being until we move in a few years, but I think I'll be glad I didn't compromise, especially if that "few years" winds up being longer than we plan before we can move and build a new home on our "up north" cabin property.