Do you have a gas or electric oven now?

Ha...We moved into this home 2 years ago..currently electric cooktop and awful wall oven. In our last home we had an average Samsung gas convection which was fine. So this will be a huge step up for us all the way around.

I am fine with both burners as far as "cleaning" is concerned..that isn't my issue. It's what is the correct choice for our family. I truly feel like the FM is best on paper..and for our family. We bake a ton, our middle daughter is a budding chef/baker and we really enjoy cooking..This is our forever home and do not plan on moving again.

Bluestar's star shaped burners are amazing. I have never cooked on any surface that I like better (and that includes induction). And once you discover the built-in wok feature, you'll be sold. It is super convenient when cooking for family. We use our wok for Western cooking quite regularly.

And where capped burners always have some amount of hot/cold spots, the Bluestar is super even. That opens up a lot of possibilities for using cookware that wouldn't really work with other stoves. For instance, I love our Lodge carbon steel skillets. Dirt cheap, but best skillet I have ever used -- assuming your burners don't have hot spots. Works great on the Bluestar, doesn't really work on the capped Viking in the in-law kitchen.

Also, the open burner design makes clean up a breeze. I personally feel I can clean my Bluestar just as quickly as the induction stove that I regularly use when cooking at my relative's house. It won't after look factory new, but I don't mind the natural patina that has built up over 10 years of use.

We have an RNB, but everything I say also applies to the RCS only at lower power output. The extra oomph is sometimes very nice. But if after a few years you discover that 15kBTU isn't enough for you, then buy the after market replacement parts in upgrade one of your burners. Bluestars are built very modular and the upgrade is easy to do.

The oven is very predictable and your standard no-frills gas oven. I use it extensively for baking and cooking and I am quite happy with it. But it does take a long time to preheat. That's just something to keep in mind when planning your workflow in the kitchen. On the other hand, since it isn't dual fuel it also seems to be immune to flaking enamel problem that appears to plague a lot of electric ovens (cough, Wolf, cough).

The broiler is one-of-a-kind. As far as I can tell, nobody else makes anything like it. It took me a while to discover just how useful a powerful burner is. But we now use it at least once daily -- even if it is just to make delicious buttered toast.

On the other hand, if your cooking style relies on a feature reach electric oven, then obvious this won't work for you. We do have a Miele CSO wall oven, and I like all the advanced cooking modes. My Bluestar has none of that. But to the honest, the only advanced modes that I need are all the steam modes, and those wouldn't come with a dual-fuel range either. So, if you asked me, the Fulgor would be a downgrade. But your mileage can very much differ. A lot depends on what is important to your family.

@M Thank you for such a great response. I do love the built in wok feature that the FM does not have. The features that have me thinking are more bells and whistles, but we would use them...The bread proofing, the pizza 590 degree setting and just the electric oven in general. BUT that being said I baked just fine in my last all gas oven.

About cookware...We use Calphalon tri-ply SS and Lodge cast iron/cast iron enamal quite a bit..and of course a couple of cheap non stick. Does having "higher end" pans really make that big of a difference? For some reason I have a hard time wrapping my head around spending the money on All-Clad etc.

As I said, we are lucky and also have a Miele combination steam oven. It feels in a bunch of the gaps left by having a big gas oven. And yes, the proofing mode is nice. But before we had the CSO, I turned the Bluestar to minimal heat and cracked the door open. It's not quite as precise, but it works fine. What the Bluestar can't do is sous vide cooking, which is something my CSO excels at. But then, I do have a sous vide wand; so, there always are work-arounds in every kitchen.

Your pots sound perfectly fine. I don't think I would make any change to them. Although I do like my Lodge carbon steel skillet; it behaves like cast iron, but it is lighter and it adjust faster, when I change temperatures.

The reason people buy fancier cookware is often because their range doesn't heat sufficiently evenly. In that case, having a large copper disk embedded in the bottom of the pot does make a big difference. And of course there are minor details that all add up. Some pots have a tight turning radius from bottom to sides, others are more gradual. Some are really flimsy and others are a little more sturdy. Some people prefer aluminum, others would rather have steel, iron, copper, or glass. So, lots of parameters that you can tweak. And of course, surface finish can make a big difference.

But I find a good range is more forgiving. My big stock pot is a cheap Vollrath from the restaurant supply store. I works beautifully despite being such a basic design.

The BS burners will produce more even heat across the bottom of your pans giving you better cooking results.

They will produce more useable pan heat per BTU than the capped burners.

More of the heat goes to the food vs capped which produces a lot of wasted heat up the sides of the pan.

Capped burners produce more heat in to the face of the cook per BTU delivered to the food than star.

Star burners result in a more efficient burn (which is based on flame to pan distance) so less gas combustion by-products per BTU delivered to the food.

@M and @opaone thank you...So million dollar question is if you didn't have separate electric wall ovens would you still choose a BS? Or would you consider other brands?

I also have a cheap huge stockpot that I love to double batch soups in. Though I truly cannot wait to make a proper stir fry in a wok.

I owned the Bluestar for about 8 years before remodeling and gaining the CSO in the process. No regrets

@Mconn thank you so much for a great review. It is definitely helping me decide! I think we might be upgrading that burner as well when/if we go with bluestar. And sadly just the 30" as our footprint is quite small and a 36" would take up the whole span of that wall basically. Here in Canada the BS is quite pricey and I can't even imagine what the Wolf would be.

If I understand you correctly they did fix the new models to not allow the convection to turn on even if I set it that way?

You are correct @M. Abbott. The fan will switch off when the oven burner ignites to maintain temperature and switch back on when the burner shuts off. It's a bit disconcerting the first few times, actually, but I've grown accustomed to it.

I have a household of 5 and a large extended family that gathers often (wel,l used too. Someday again.), so a 36" made sense for us. Budget and space wouldn't let us go any bigger anyway.

At this price level, the decision is hard. Like you I'm a researcher and over thinker. It is easy to search the discussions here and find a lot on BS ranges, although a fair amount is dated now so watch the posting dates. The negative comments/reviews nearly spooked me off each time. The way I settled into thinking about it is that most happy people may not take the time to post, while it's in human nature to vent when frustrated and angry. I can only say that to date I'm overjoyed with our range. No doubt there are lemons out there like with any product, but my understanding is customer service is good and the ranges are easily serviced due to their simplicity.

I did a ton of research, much on this site, years ago, and ended up with a BS RNB 30. The burners are fantastic, and the broiler is heavy duty. Unfortunately, I am not a huge fan of the oven, the preheat time is very long, and in the summer, it heats up the kitchen quite a bit, so I very rarely use the oven, instead I use my combi. So long as you are fine with the long preheat, and for artisan bread are willing to use a Dutch Oven, the BS oven should work fine, though you can't do the ice in a pan with volcanic rock and expect any steam to stay in the oven.

Don't even think about the proofing setting in making your decision. I do a ton of baking, and you can get by with either a cup of boiling water in a microwave, or for $100 or less, you can buy a used wine cooler, a heating pad, and a digital controller, which will give you more precise control over proofing temps , good control over humidity because it is a smaller cavity, and the option to use it as a retarder. If you can't afford the wine cooler, you probably can make this work in your microwave controller and pad , or this set set. I haven't used either of those, but just to give you an ideal of what is out there, I just use a normal heating pad that does not have an auto shutoff, and of course, you would not turn the microwave on, just using it as a closed box, you could even use a normal cooler . Not to spend more of your money, but if you really like pizza, and can make it outside, you can pick up an Ooni gas pizza oven for under $350 that will blow away any home oven.

@Mconn sounds like we will definitely be getting a BlueStar. Yep, I pay attention to the dates on the posts for sure. We are a family of 5 as well. Sadly the 36" is about 8-9k here in Canada so even if I wanted to squeeze it in its totally out of our budget. But I am sure we will be happy with the 30" and switching out a burner...I'm trying to decide if I should upgrade the oven rack as well to a roller rack..I did love mine in my last oven. Did you order your burner upgrade when you purchased or is it cheaper to do after market?

I don't think, Bluestar allows you to order the upgraded burner in combination with the RCS. In fact, they'll probably verify the serial number before "allowing" you to order the burner head.

But your dealer might be willing to let you navigate that situation. And if that doesn't work, then there are online parts dealers that can get you the burner head and the gas orifice

Sadly, Bluestar does not let you customize or change anything on the RCS models, at least in the US. So, I purchased my burner and jet from an independent seller. And I imagine the roller rack would be wonderful, but no go on RCS.

For a roller rack and burner customization you are forced into the RNB models and higher. Essentially, making it a $2000+ increase fee for those 2 options when moving up from an RCS (honestly, I don't know if there is any other difference between RNB and RCS models. Oh, color customizations which many find important I'm sure, but was very low on my priority list due to budget.)

I debated ordering another standard rack separately from BS or my local dealer because the RCS only comes with 2 and we were used to 3. However after learning they cost $400 a rack, I've held off. And so far, haven't been bothered by only having 2 racks - the width of the oven is so much larger than our old one that we are fitting as much or more as we did into our old one (the BS will hold two ½ sheet pans side by side on one rack).

As I said the burner swap was easy and tutorials can be found on Youtube. Be aware that changing a burner on an RCS likely voids some of the warranty.

I think I still have the third rack somewhere in storage. Our RNB is 10 years old (and going strong), but I have never needed the third rack. As @Mconn said, the oven is so big; two racks are plenty.

@M. Abbott

i asked about which ovens you have used because there are some differences that people say in the baking and cooking pages I read. I did not pay all that much attention to it in all the ovens I have used and often attributed to other things like the brand of the oven or the recipe. These are not good or bad because what might be good for one, might be not as good for someone else.

In reading cooking and baking forums over and over there are things people say over and over.

-Gas ovens are better for roasting or they brown better.

-it is very hard to keep added steam in a gas oven, for something like bread baking or even a pan of water used to add humidity

-Electric ovens are better for baking

-going from electric to gas,” my cakes don’t rise as well and they look dried out”

-going from gas to electric,this oven has too much steam

-There is a lot more heat and moisture from a gas oven in the kitchen.

For a long time it was taught that gas ovens have moist heat because water is a byproduct of combustion. This is still taught and is even on some manufacturer’s web sites. This is not the only source of moisture in the oven. There is moisture produced by the food cooking. Because you have combustion, a gas oven has a much bigger vent and it’s purpose is to get rid of these products of combustion, moisture and other gasses and some heat goes along with it. Added steam and the moisture from food cooking are all vented at a much higher rate than in an electric oven which has a small vent.

As for better browning in gas, we started understanding more about the Maillard and other chemical reactions that cause browning, we can see that you must have drier conditions to increase browning. As long as you have moisture on the surface, there is evaporative cooling. As soon as the superficial moisture finishes evaporating, then the temperature rises to allow browning. This the same principle as you have when using a wok. If you have too much food, the liquid can’t evaporate so it won’t brown until it can evaporate.

Why would people say electric ovens are better for baking? Some say it has better temperature control. Meh, some have a lot worse because of the way the temperature is controlled by the computer boards.

With some electric ovens, you have modes that direct the heat from different directions, maybe more from the top for roasting and more from the bottom for baking. some electric ovens have the ability to control humidity. These would be some of the best combination steam ovens that can vent steam out or add moisture to provide the optimum humidity. They are also built to withstand steam. Thermador is the only one to have it in a range I believe and it is 48”. Some have “true” or European” convection which is oversold on evening out the heat in an oven. Some cause a direct, high fan speed air current with a heating element around the fan so causes over browning on the side facing the fan. This can happen with any type of fan assisted convection so manufacturers use dual fans, baffles or even fans that reverse periodically to break Up the air flow. Most electric ovens have the hidden bake element so You do not get the same radiant heat that you get with the open element on the bottom.. you can read the manual to get some idea about how the ovens you are considering do any of this.

As far as the increased humidity in an electric oven, this promotes Starch gelatinization. It can give things that rise a little bit longer time to do that. It also changes the type of crust. This is why bread bakers add steam.

Check the broiler size on the ovens. The infrared gas is hotter but may be a lot smaller than the electric one.

I will I’ll try to post on burners after while.