Bluestar 36” drop-in cooktop

7 years ago

There isn’t a lot of discussion about this model, so I thought I’d share a bit. I bought a brand new spec house that had a JennAir appliance package, including an induction cooktop that I hated. I’ve always wanted a Bluestar range or rangetop, but didn’t have the stomach for the cabinet and countertop modifications that would have been required. The cooktop required only a couple of stone cuts by the appliance company, so that’s where I ended up. It’s also significantly less expensive than the rangetop.

A couple of photos are attached. For a single guy, there is plenty of cooking power - I use mostly the front two 22K BTU burners. Personally, while I’d rather have had a range with a full cast-iron top and cleaning drawer, this is fine. It’s not that difficult to clean - less problematic than a sealed burner gas range, in my opinion. I’m really glad I did this.

My one caveat is something people have been complaining about regarding Bluestar forever. Their quality control is terrible. They delayed initial production and delivery several times. The cooktop was installed with grates that didn’t have rubber corner bumpers - they just left them off, so the corners were scratching the stainless steel. They wouldn’t ship just the bumpers and sealant, they wanted to ship whole new grates. Supposedly they were overnighted, but never showed up. It was a week before I finally got put in contact with someone who would focus. Clearly they had never been shipped. They then overnighted me a full set of replacements. Two of those arrived broken, and all had a much rougher finish than the originals. They then overnighted two more replacements, which were smoother so I put them in the front. Also, the top stainless top panel is warped slightly, so that it doesn’t sit flush with the countertop in the front left. They‘ve shipped a replacement panel to the appliance dealer, who will make an appointment to come replace it. Not as big a deal, but IMO also the flame height came adjusted much too low. The burners sit much further from the grates on the cooktop than on a range or rangetop, and I wasn’t getting much power for stir fries etc. even when turned up to high. Easy enough to figure out how to adjust the flame height with a small screwdriver, but most of the instructions online focused on lowering the flame height for simmer purposes. I’m not sure most people would have the patience to track this stuff down.

In other words, really nice cooking machine, but getting it in final working order has been and continues to be a real pain. Be prepared.

Happy to answer any questions anyone has.

Featured Answer

chazas
Original Author

7 years ago

I might have liked a better induction cooktop, but the Jenn Air was not it. Not a good design IMO, for several reasons. Anyway the hood is fine for the cooktop, which has smaller rear burners. It’s 600 CFM and they installed make up air. I am usually on 2 burners max at at a time and even with me and a Chinese friend both stir frying on the front burners didn’t need to set the fan on high.

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Comments (8)

Shannon_WI
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
Excellent write-up! Thank you!

I am glad to read someone come out and say they don’t like induction - me neither! But it’s hard to fight the tide here of induction fans.

I realize your house came with the appliances package - just wondering if the Jenn-Aire hood is up to the demands of the Bluestar burners?
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chazas
Original Author
7 years ago
The second stainless lid was also defective - not warped but mis-cut and not even on the bottom edge, so it had a gap to the countertop in the same corner that was warped in the earlier one. They’re sending a new one and apparently there are special notes in the installation instructions with the appliance company - sounds as if they’re getting as tired of dealing with it as I am. Some of the finish popped off one of the cast iron bowls while cooking, and they’ve overnighted me a new one. This thing is great to cook with and meets all my expectations in that regard and Bluestar customer service is very nice but they need to smack someone upside the head in their quality control department.
mrxin
5 years ago
How easy is it to clean the cooktop?

Also do you ever find the knobs becoming too hot during cooking with large pots/pans? Thanks.
Faith H
5 years ago
As I am considering getting a BS cooktop, anyone keen on sharing on how they clean their BS cooktop since there is no drip tray? And is it possible to do the integrated woking as the picture shows?
chazas
Original Author
5 years ago
No integrated wok cooking, the grates don’t have the removable rings. Cleaning is fine, I move a couple of the grates and wipe with a damp microfiber dish cloth.
Faith H
5 years ago
Chazas, really appreciate your feedback, it helps to clearify things for me, thank you!
chazas
Original Author
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
I just realized that this thread doesn't have the entire repair saga.

I was sent several defective lids over the course of the original warranty. Each one had the same uneven edge problems noted above and I rejected them all. It was like groundhog day. Finally, a service person said the mounts that held the lid were also welded unevenly, which was part of the problem. About that time I got a call from a senior customer service rep at BlueStar asking me if I thought I could ever be satisfied - an outrageous question, which I answered by asking whether she'd seen the photos. She said no, I told her to look at them. After that they sent me a whole new cooktop with a whole extra year's warranty. When it finally arrived and was installed, it fit.

But almost immediately I started having spark problems in the rear left and center 15K burners - intermittent spark failure and sometimes continuous sparking even when lit. There were several service visits for that where they fiddled with wired, changed out ignitors, etc. No dice. Finally a service person said, I think you have two issues, a defective spark module and wiring shorts - so he ordered everything he thought could possibly be contributing, including two whole new burner assemblies, new wiring and a new spark module. When they sent the parts - one 22K burner, one simmer burner. I emailed, wrong burners. They sent an extra 22K one. About that time I got a "courtesy" call from another Bluestar rep asking if the unit was performing, and I read him the riot act. That very day they shipped out the proper 15K burners and - get this - a totally new spark module retrofit. On the cooktop originally, there was one module that sparked all burners at the same time. On this new one, which apparently is like the ranges, there's a separate spark module for each burner. A service person installed (well, more like rebuilt) the whole thing today.

Almost 22 months after I first ordered this, and I have no idea how many service visits, it finally appears to look right and work correctly.

So many unanswered questions. Was an entire run of the stainless lids defective, and if so why did they keep sending them even though they knew I'd reject them? Why did they take so long to notice that I might need their retrofit spark module? Or is that even a thing - the service person had never seen on before so he thought they actually might have built it just for me. Who knows.

At the time they replaced the whole unit they also offered me my money back so I could buy a different brand cooktop. I declined - there still isn't another gas drop-in that cooks like this. But TBH had I known I'd have another 10 months of repair drama after that, I would have taken them up on it.