Have you looked at the Bluestar yet? I was able to look at both Wolf and Bluestar in the same showroom. I loved the Bluestar the most...but Wolf would have been my 2nd choice out of everything. I Loved the Platinum. I am doing the RNB because I wanted a 24 inch wide unobstructed griddle on the larger rangetop. That is the only reason I am not going with the Platinum as I really wanted the 25K option. (which is not available on Wolf by the way).

Personally, I would not do an add-on like Wekick is suggesting due to it being aluminum. The Wolf griddle is cast iron, and the BlueStar is stainless steel, both of which are an option for alternative health.

@B Carey @wekick Thanks for the great info. I have looked at both and aesthetically I like the Wolf more but that isn't too much of a consideration. I wish we had more room for a 48" range but we do not. We would do exactly the same (RNB, 24" griddle).

Can I reconfigure the burners/griddle layout of a bluestar? This interests me a lot

@wekick I use a large cast iron pans often, will the bluestar burner work well?

On the Platinum, you can put the griddle on any of the sections. You can also build to suit on the platinum and put the burners how you want.

@B Carey On the RNB, can the griddle be placed anywhere by factory?

I don’t think so on the RNB. They just put the griddle in the middle

@Rachel Lindy Brady

BlueStar star burners are great for cast iron unless you mean a 16” pan. Cast iron doesn’t conduct heat as well so the star disperses the heat.

There are other choices for an overlay griddle if you don’t like the aluminum. As I mentioned Chef King is steel and it comes in a 4 burner, 23x23” Or 2 burner. It is much heavier. The aluminum and steel are the same thickness..

https://www.dvorsons.com/ChefKing/Griddles.htm

There are some brands that are a little more fitted so smaller.

There have been people who have ordered the griddle in a customized position In the past on an RNB and the burners are customizable too. Call BlueStar directly to check how it works.

@B Carey

These are the materials that the various brands are made of.

Wolf built in-rolled Steel

BlueStar RNB built in- rolled steel, per Trevor Lawson who used to sell them and was well known on this forum. The cover is stainless steel. If this has changed, one of the benefits which is the ability to season is gone. I doubt that it has because the user manual gives instructions about how to season it to avoid rust.

BlueStar Platinum which is an add on, cast iron

This explains the advantages of the thermodynamics of aluminum vs cast iron or steel.

http://www.cookingforengineers.com/article/120/Common-Materials-of-Cookware

Each person has to weigh benefits vs risk for themselves though and these are my thoughts. Usually the thing that gets you is something you never thought about. Most people are worried about aluminum and Alzheimer’s disease.

As far as safety, once it has seasoned a little, your food isn’t really in contact with the aluminum. This is also true of aluminum bakeware. You build up a layer of polymerized or carbonized oil that gets in the pores and surface of the metal like cast iron.

I mix materials in my cookware/bakeware because you can find something that could be toxic about any of it except pyroceram. It is pretty inert but horrible cookware. Cast iron? New ones are made from recycled materials which can be old engine blocks. Some people think stainless leaches toxic metals out. Have you ever seen pitting in a stainless pan? Where did that metal go? Do you know how to hopefully avoid it? I try to buy cookware from the US or Europe and avoid it from China. I have a lot of vintage cookware.

Aside from that I’m a nurse so very interested in the safety of cookware. I’ve read quite a few papers on this and they can show that Alzheimer’s patients have more aluminum in their brains but cannot show why. They are really looking at many other things.

.

This is from the Alzheimer’s Society of Canada. People who have a high intake of Aluminum don’t have an increased incidence of Alzheimer’s.

https://alzheimer.ca/en/Home/About-dementia/Alzheimer-s-disease/Risk-factors/Aluminum

The Alzheimer’s Association is even more dismissive.

https://www.alz.org/alzheimers-dementia/what-is-alzheimers/myths

There are known risk factors and some are modifiable.

https://alzheimersprevention.org/alzheimers-

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/alzheimers-disease/symptoms-causes/syc-20350447

I look at these and try to control what I can with these.

I am sort of in the same boat, but torn between the Wolf 36 inch with Wok burner (36K btu) and a bluestar, likely platinum (25k BTU vs 22k, not that much i know..). You can get the platinum without the interchangeable grill/griddle, and it's like 1000 $ (in canada) less.. I felt it's not cost effective for a griddle option as I can use my cast iron lodge griddle which i got for less than 100$. it would do exactly the same thing. combining this with the RNB would add to the savings. The grill option on the other hand is tempting, but i was advised against using that by many people (including showroom folks from Miele, wolf, gaggenau, etc. and people on this forum) as it causes a lot of mess (greasy smoke, often beyond the capability of range hoods, splatter) and the clean up is a pain (multiple components to clean, often all hand wash). The only reason why I am still considering the Wolf, is that humongous wok burner in the middle (36k btu), which could also be used as a regular burner for large pots (would boil water super quickly!).

Anyone here has insights?

@larazb I am going through a similar dilemma. I am getting a wolf 48" range with double griddle, and then I am getting the wolf wok grate and then I am going to get something like this:

https://www.wokmon.com

Problem about spreading flame on Wolf power burner solved...kind of.

or this:

https://www.amazon.com/Kitma-Gas-Wok-Range-Performance

What kind of venting are you going to need with a 35K Btu wok burner in the house? Better to do outside IMO with 110K Btu...which is kind of nuts.

@randy I ended up getting the 48 inch wolf with wok burner (4 regular burners and one wok burner in the middle). We're putting a 1200 cfm remote blower (likely bluestar or thermador) going straight into the roof. This will be an island rangetop

@larazb That sounds pretty awesome. There are a couple of good venting threads in case you haven't seen them.

https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/5161173/hood-faq

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/5745986/commercial-range-hood-install

I think the commercial range hood is a bit overkill, but maybe not if you are doing a 35K wok burner?? Gets a little bit too technical for general consumption, but an interesting read. I think the summary would be:

1. CFM isn't the only factor...
2. The hood area over the range matters. i.e. A hood that extends past 48" in width, and as deep as you can go (which seems like it is 27" for non-custom) will perform better for a fixed CFM
3. The capture volume of the hood. I don't recall the correct terminology, but this is essentially the total volume in the hood prior to air going into to the baffles. Think of it as a staging area to getting sucked up the vent. More volume allows the hood to perform better for a fixed CFM.

At any rate, I think the statements are generally correct. I think there may be some special considerations for wok cooking given the amount of grease and other crap produced from that technique....but I may be wrong. It is all in those threads if you have 2 hours to kill :)