After all my research, I went with the 36" Bertazzoni though mine is induction.

Do you want to put a full sized commercial sheet or half sheet side by side? Monogram and BS hold full sheets

What at type of cookware do you have? The BS star burner has better heat dispersal for cast iron, steel and some stainless. Thermador also has a star burner but the burner ports are not as dispersed.

Not as important for heavy aluminum, copper or clad cookware with good heat transfer properties

Do you use convection? Monogram has a reversing fan so the air is not always in the same direction creating hot spots. It also has separate convection roast and baking setting. I would ask if the fan speed varies which is a very good thing. Often the conv bake is a slower fan.

Do do you plan on a built in griddle? There are big differences brand to brand.

Did if you look at broiler size? They are infrared but size varies.

Do you have any preference about burner BTUs in which case a burner cap may or may not be important. A 25K capped burner puts the flame in a different place than a 25K uncapped burner on high heat?

Is self clean important? Monogram and Thermador have that.

Read each user manual online to see if there are any features you don't like. Check highest and lowest temperatures that each oven will produce.

Thanks.

No griddle--I want 6 burners

Cookware--mostly stainless, some Le Creuset but I use that on lower heat and it transfers heat well

Half sheets are fine for cookies

Broiler size--never thought about it and used to have a 30" oven so I suppose (?) any 36" range will do on that front?

BTUs--I do not need to light the ceiling on fire. I don't know if I need 20K since I have never had anything like this. Had electric and induction in the past. Would like capable but I do realize that some of the high BTU argument is related to marketing to the caveman in all of us :-)

Self-cleaning? how well does that work on these ovens? again I do not have experience with gas self cleaning ovens. Feedback much appreciated!

Some have been surprised at the size of an infrared broiler. This is from the BS website.

Manufactorers don't show them too much in promotional pictures.

Wolf

Just something to check out if the size is important.

what am I looking at in those photos? is one bigger than the other? they both look fairly small.

Trying to remember the oven I was looking at last week with an IR broiler at an appliance store...It thought it was a pretty good size

The first one is BS and shows the whole oven so you can get an idea of the size of the broiler.

The second one is Wolf but they don't really show it in the contest of the whole oven to show size. It's a cropped picture. I just wanted to show the metal strip too.

If you look up infrared broilers you can find this but it is unidentified. I tried a reverse image search but it didn't come up.

The point is look at the broiler if it is important. Sometimes the pictures are tight shots so you can't really get an idea of the size.

Love my 36" Thermador. Its dual fuel, but my friend has all gas and loves hers too...

I don't have a range, but I've had my Wolf cooktop since 2003 with no issue whatsoever. Love the power of the burners and the extra low simmer option of each one. The cleanup is also easy.

I have had good experience with Wolf, and so have just replaced Thermador double ovens with Wolf double ovens. Again, not a range, and I have only had them for days....but have LOVED cooking in them. LOVE!! I really liked my old Thermador ovens (had to replace after they could no longer be repaired due to outdated parts from 2003), but the Wolf interior capacity is much larger than what Thermador now offers so Thermador was out for my replacement since capacity is a big priority for me.

What I can say for certain about these brands after having experience cooking in these ovens: Wolf, Thermador, Dacor, Bosch (at a cottage) and the GE at my mom's...is that the Wolf is by far the most solid oven I have ever seen, touched, used, or cooked in. I open and close that door and can't believe how solid it is...and when door is closed and oven is on - even using convection - it seems almost silent!?! Don't know if that is true with the range, but I am blown away by the Wolf wall ovens and am thrilled I went with them.

I have not ever tried out Bluestar- never even touched them because I wan't getting a range and my appliance store also doesn't carry them - but I know people absolutely love their Bluestars too!

After posting on Houzz myself trying to narrow down a choice, I promise you are going to get conflicting opinions on here, I know I did and it made me very confused. So your best bet is to see them in action. If you had the luxury of time, being able to DEMO the oven would be ideal because being able to see/use the burners would probably give you an immediate answer. That's what sold me on the Wolf all those years ago...actually turning the cooktop on. But if time is no luxury (which it seems it is no in your case), at least go to the appliance store to open/close/try out cookie sheets for size, take note of grates, oven capacity, lighting, etc.

Finally, be sure to check these things in the event of needing customer service with ANY brand:

-call the brand's customer service...ask about warranty and what their protocol is for you acquiring service should you need it

-what the warranties are for each brand (there are absolute differences between them). The warranty is great added security of course, but it also says a lot about the company's confidence in their product.

-ensure you have local repair service available nearby (some repair places don't service certain brands, certain brands require only authorized techs, etc.)

-ask repair tech if there is one brand they recommend and why, if one brand has issues, if parts are readily available etc.,

-note the customer service call of each and see if it was a good or bad experience, see what the hours are for customer service accessibility

Sorry if I gave too many details, but I just went through my purchase and these are the things that helped me ...good luck and enjoy :)

FYI - I can tell you that Wolf gives one more additional year warranty - on top of their standard 2 - if you use an authorized installer. They also gave me $100 back for install because I used authorized installer.

Also, the day I received and was wiping down oven before the "burnoff" process, I noticed I had a rough patch on the grate that came on the included broiler pan. I called about it and they immediately ordered me a whole new pan..it arrived the next day.

The Wolf gas range is at the bottom of the list on the high end of BTUs at 15K. This may be enough though. I have the exact burners on my Wolf DF. It is enough for most cooking I do and stirfry for two. Some people that do a lot of stirfrying or need heat fast like for boiling water rapidly might want more but you would also most likely need to go to an uncapped burner to keep the flame more to the center because a capped burner has more flare. On the low simmer side of BTUs, Monogram claims 140 BTUs, Thermador and Wolf are around 325 BTUs on one burner at least. BS is unknown.

We bought Wolf because of their supposedly great service. Wolf does provide good customer service if you need it while it is under warranty. After the warranty you must use their service so you can't get bids or compare pricing. In my case I had the chipping blue enamel which has been a problem for 10 years as noted by multiple posters on this forum. Some have had three ovens in a row chip. My range was out of warranty. They would not tell me how much the repair would be and would only guarantee a new liner for a year so as a person who actually needed service, I was very disappointed.

The chipping is mainly in the Wolf ovens (DF range and wall ovens) with blue enamel but the gas range is named in one of the class action lawsuits I believe. It does not have the blue enamel and most cases reported here are with the blue.

It is kind of hard to determine reliability of appliances or service. Those that were good in the past, may not be going forward. You can also get different stories depending on who you talk to. With the blue chipping you hear from the sales people "Never heard of it" But when I inquired about it from the service people who were to fix mine "we do this all the time, it takes 4 hours" Wolf at the corporate level refused to give a price for repairs stating we don't know how long it will take or what we will find. I had an Electrolux oven with the same problem and the sevice people were able to give a fixed price.

To to determine usable space in an oven, look at the rack size and height above the lowest rack. Cubic feet does not tell the true usable space. The ones named above all hold 1/2 sheets which is what islandgarden stated they wanted to use. BS and Monogram hold full commercial sheets (or two half sheets side by side).

Bluestar is the 2:1 favorite for a reason. Simplicity of build makes it easy for someone without a lot of skills to work on it. Almost no electronics ensure that it doesn't need working on very much outside getting everything dialed in and set up on the front end.

But its the high BTU ability and true Pro cooking experience that really sets it apart from the rest. It's origins are the Garland range company that produced the old commercial ranges. Like the Garland in Julia Child's kitchen in the Smithsonian.

Michelle...I completely agree with you regarding Thermador (in general!) I think Thermador is being foolish trying to price themselves into the "higher-end" appliances with products that are inferior to what they used to offer....they got distracted by focusing on appearance being what customers want when these kitchen machines are supposed to be performers first and foremost. They used to ba at a great mid price point for a great product, now they are a high price point for a product that offers less. Can't figure out why they think having a sleek appearance and wifi connection would outweigh the need for capacity and some unique convection ability (that other high-end ovens have). Their website speaks volumes about how they've abandoned what led me to them 15-16 years ago....now it is all about their "sleek appearance" and I couldn't even figure out what the ovens I was looking at did that was so special they thought justified an insane price jump! Was disappointing because I really liked my old Thermadors...maybe as more people actually use the brand new series I will be proven wrong, but still not impressed with the more narrow true capacity

OP islangarden may have already decided (if so, let us know what you picked and how you like it :) but in case you haven't .............. as I mentioned before and Michelle did as well, a real-life demo/use will be the best thing you can do if you have that luxury. So I wanted to mention that you can call Wolf and see where that is an option near you. Not sure about other brands(?) offerings, but their customer service will direct you. Even if you have to slow down your decision, it is a worthwhile exercise for such an important big-ticket item

Just curious why nobody mentioned the Capital Culinarian, since it's quite similar to the Blue Star in target market (i.e. high BTU and open burners)?

I considered Capital early on but some of the dealers in my area dropped it and I don't want to end up with an appliance that is harder to source parts for etc. Plus not the biggest fan of its appearance. If I were committed to open burners it would be more of a consideration.

@greendesigns--which Bluestar are you recommending?

ps I bought myself the weekend to decide (yay! I think...)

I would not choose a range based on it having a "self cleaning" oven. We've seen many stories here in the past of ovens failing the first time the self-cleaning feature was used. Easy-off will get any oven clean (except some Miele steam ovens that should not be cleaned with easy-off per their instructions).

I love the open star-shaped burners on our Bluestar 30" RNB. They are much easier to cook with than the capped burners on the Viking in our in-law unit. Even heat distribution makes so much of a difference. I also like that they regulate down quite nicely, so I don't need lots of differently-sized burners (we reconfigured our range to remove the simmer burner).

The other part that I really like about this range is ease of cleaning. But you need to come to terms with how this type of stove is different from others. We seasoned our grates in the oven (wipe with a very thin layer of oil, then stick in the oven at high heat for an hour or two). This is something you can easily do during initial burn-off for the oven (something you should do with any new oven anyway).

Once the cast iron grates are seasoned and have a natural patina, future cleanup usually just requires a quick wipe with a cloth and you are done. You don't need to scrub, as you always have a small residual protective amount of fat. It's just the same way how you season cast iron or carbon steel pots and pans. Clean up takes mere seconds after cooking. And while the grates will never look factory new, they will look clean, albeit with a naturally developing patina.

The drip pans under the burners should be lined with aluminum foil and need to be cleaned every couple of months. In fact, I usually don't do that more than twice a year.

If you ever need to give the grates a really thorough cleaning, you can stick them into the dishwasher and then season them again afterwards. I just had to do that after our remodel, as our contractors got the stove super messy while in storage. After going through this process, it looks almost like new, even though it's now eight years old. The old patina is mostly gone and replaced with a new and very even one.

If I had to buy a new 36" stove, I'd probably still pick the RNB model, but could be persuaded to get the Platinum. In my very biased personal opinion, I feel that the RNB is actually the better appliance. And it's cheaper to boot! I like the oven design better, and I think it has a better griddle (in case that's important to you). The smaller BTU is a bit of a let-down, but not devastatingly so. 22kBTU makes cooking a pleasure, and while I wouldn't mind more power for wok cooking, most home chefs wouldn't feel that strongly about it.

High BTU is fun, when you discover that you can actually fry food instead of accidentally sauteeing it all the time.

Currently have a 36” all gas Thermador. Previously had a 36” all gas Viking. Like them both but find the Thermador easier to clean. The control on the various burners of the Thermador is excellent but took a bit of trial and error to determine which burner and which setting works best. The oven cooks very evenly especially with the convection and the rolling racks are very smooth. All in all very happy and would recommend.