The appliance store is frustrated with the customer service level of Blue Star. They have one range out now that needs to be replaced because it arrived damaged. They've been trying to get a replacement for it for 6 months and still don't have it. They love Wolf's customer service. Of course, they may get a better commission or better pricing on Wolf so it's hard to tell whether they're telling the truth.

Has anyone looked between Wolf and Blue Star? Suggestions? Good, bad or ugly about either brand?

dnacingsams......What dealer in Central Cal? I live in Fresno and will be looking in about 90 days.

I spent a lot of time looking at the contruction quality and there is no question Wolf pays better attention to details. Look at the door gasket on the oven on BS and Wolf. You notice that the one on BS half way down the two sides of the door. On Wolf and other competing brands, it makes a near complete circle as to contain the heat better. End result? A number of complaints here about how much the bottom of the oven heats up on the outside as to be dangerous to children around it. Mind you, this wasn't a concern for us since we are getting a rangetop but does show attention to detail/quality from the company.

Also keep in mind that I love the performance of the BS so I was quite reluctant to go with Wolf. But after going with my wife, and disassembling both units, there is no question that Wolf spends more money on manufacturing a better built product than BS (just look at the sharp edges of the sheet metal versus rolled edges on competing unit). My wife remained super concerned and just didn't want to deal with the BS.

All in all, the statements given by your salesman matches my read of people's experiences here.

So if burner performance is more important than service availability and reliability, then by all means, BS is the right solution. Otherwise, I think Wolf is a safer answer.

What I do know is everytime I look in, I see a BS service issue. Just now, we have another: http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/appl/msg0317584714366.html?1

And you are right on the observation that it is the service process which leads to horrible feedback more than the issues themselves. Yes, they changed management and that seems to have helped but still, these are luxury products and require luxury level service. And BS service seems to be anything but from what I have read here.

As for wolf having less problems if you hit the link below you will see on Wolf's own website they had or are having a recall on 24000 sold units, with potential burn hazard. Bluestar also has problems we all know about the module clicking issue which is covered under warrant for 2 years, this has now been resolved. Bluestar say that are now getting only what is expected failure rate. one of the nice things about a module problem (if that's possible) is that if you are out of warranty I am convinced I can spend 40 mins on the phone with any of my customer and they can fix a module problem with out the cost of a service call.

I also agree with capecodcook if you look again you will find several individual unrelated problems with Wolf.

As for service in the past 5 years we have sold over 2000 Bluestar ranges / cooktops in every state in the USA, I have NEVER failed to get any of my customers service, so Service is not a problem even in remote areas.

As with everything consumers buy you get good and bad the fast majority are good with some bad ones, in the end it comes down to personal choice between Wolf and Blustar....look or cook....IMO

I will second Trevor's sentiment that, having owned both for extended periods of time, the Bluestar definitely outcooks the Wolf.

I would also agree that the attention to detail and precision build of the Wolf clearly surpasses that of the Bluestar.

There are other considerations besides burner shape/power when selecting a range. Some prefer ranges with closed burners from the likes of DCS, Capital, and American for their ease of cleaning. I have a DCS AG range at our beach place and would prefer my Wolf AG's open burners for any task except maybe simmer where I can't see much difference. The fact that the DCS has 17.5K BTU's is insignificant for me as I find myself using the DCS on low/medium low setting most of the time in order to keep the flame under the pan, not coming up around the sides. I'm willing to do a little extra cleaning for the open burner performance and won't buy a closed-burner range again.

Another consideration is which part of the country you live in. I'm in the South. When we built our house, I really wanted to go with the Bluestar. However, we didn't have a local showroom although there was one local company that could/would be willing to order it for us. My husband and our builder both questioned the wisdom of buying a lesser-known company's product sight unseen and were concerned about getting service on it if/when we needed it as Bluestar didn't have much of a presence state-wide. I ended up driving to Asheville (5 hours away) to see one on the floor in a new showroom and was turned off by the build quality. However, I was impressed with the star burners. Anyway, the point of this is that I ended up going with Wolf because the local dealer was well-established and I knew I could get good service through them. The stories I've read on this forum seem to bear out the wisdom of the decision I made for our situation.

There are lots of threads on this forum where people are having trouble with their Bluestar ranges. Mostly small issues but issues. If I called a service person in Raleigh to come work on my range, I know that he would have worked on before and be familiar with Wolf ranges. I asked my regular service person (who came out to calibrate my oven temp) if he'd ever worked on/seen a Bluestar. He works on most appliance brands but specializes in the higher-end repairs. He said he'd never seen one. I know they are straight-forward machines but I still believe this should be a consideration for some of us. If you live in California or the Northeast, service for Bluestar should be readily availiable by a person experienced in working with Bluestar. However, for someone like me, it would be a concern. Experiences of others on this forum bear out this theory. I know that with Wolf I have a local dealer who can have a local repairman at my house within 24 hours to work on my range and he will have worked on Wolf many times before. I also know Wolf is consistently easy to work with and accommodating if I have any problems. My only problem has been the oven temp being off - this was fixed within the day. Also, after a year and a half, the rubber feet were falling off my grates (I put them through the DW when they get grubby). I called Wolf and they immediately mailed out a new set of grates (the newer model has metal feet) without charge. My experience with Wolf has been top-notch and I'd choose the same range again today.

So do I get flamed now? I hope not ;-)

1) Pinched wire on oven igniter led to failure of oven gas valve. Bluestar replaced it under warranty in a quick, competent, courteous, and helpful manner.

2) One missing leveling screw for burner grates and one missing nut on roller of drip tray. I had the nut and the "White Glove Service" tech replaced the leveling screw.

3) Some occurrences of the electronic igniter starting to click when only the simmer burner is going on its lowest setting.

I was upset when the oven failed (I had risen cinnamon rolls ready to bake), but Matthew at Bluestar service was so friendly and helpful that I quickly got over it. He was good enough to supply me with the range wiring diagram (I'm an EE) and I can see that it's simple and straightforward with little to go wrong. When the service tech did the replacement of the oven gas valve it took only minutes and didn't require moving the range. The very competent tech shined everything up and left with a note of sad finality saying that "these don't break". So yes, there can be problems with the Bluestar, but they are easily fixed and overall the range seems essentially indestructible.

When it's working, which I think will be 99.9% of the time, the RNB is fabulous. The open burners deliver exactly the heat you want where you want it. The very first time my wife used the 22K burner with a wok she was amazed. She made a simple fried rice and declared that it was like restaurant cooking and completely different from what she could make on our previous stove. Now our wok stays on one front burner pretty much full time. If we'd gone with the 5 burner Capital that we considered then we couldn't do this. In fact, using the center wok burner on the Capital would make the other burners pretty much unusable. The RNB convection feature has made all our baking better and faster and the broiler does Japanese fish dishes just right.

So, will the Bluestar be 100% perfect? No. Will it be an absolute delight 99.9% of the time? Definitely. Will Bluestar take care of you when you do have problems? In my experience, yes.

I've never cooked on a Bluestar but I have cooked on Garlands in various cooking classes and they're fine ranges - I'm sure the Bluestar is similar. However, to say that you can't cook properly on other ranges is just absurd. I make eggs and omelets on my sealed DCS burners as well as excellent stir fries and other assorted items. And although I've never simmered on a Bluestar, the simmer on a DCS can't be beat in my opinion.

At this level, all of the ranges will more than meet most people's needs and it really comes down to a matter of personal preference. Get opinions, check them out for yourself and then buy what you want.

I am brave enough to post under my own name, it would serve no purpose to post under two names.

Maybe Guadelupe guides people with Bluestar questions or seeking advice on Bluestar appliances to Eurostoves because of the following reason.

1) We have sold over 2000 Bluestar ranges and cooktops. Dramatically more than any other dealer in the US.
2) We are regarded as experts by many who post on this site when it comes to Bluestar appliances.
3) We are the only appliance dealer who has taken the time to provide consumers with slide shows.
4) We are the only appliance dealer with extensive informative videos on the Bluestar appliances which help people in making decisions, fixing minor problems, maintaining a Bluestar range or cooktop.
5) We are open 13 Hours a day 6 days a week (only 10 hours on Sunday's) to provide information and service to our customers. You will of course note that no other Bluestar retailer, Distributor or the even factory are open that many hours.

You could ask the moderator to run an IP check to see if foul play is a foot :) or you could participate in this thread constructively.

You will note i have not asked any questions in my reply to you, so let's not hijack this thread from a consumer trying to make a decision.

For what its worth, I don't believe TrevorLawson & Guadalupe are one and the same. Trevor more or less seems inclined to want to help people with problems out. Guadalupe seems to want to "out" them with hysterics that only he can see ;-)

My Blue Star shipped with a defective simmer burner. It was really slow to ignite, like over 30 seconds. I called the service depts 800 number and I had a replacement burner in two days on my doorstep, shipped across an international border I might add. I installed the burner in seconds myself.

I spent a lot of time researching and trying out stoves here. I looked at the wolf, which were offering very, very good deals here. I then visited a local repair shop and spoke with them. They said the Blue Star is usually very easily repaired. They said if you are a cook, there is no question the Blue Star wins (I agree now after having used it). They also say the red knobs on the Wolf can't be beat (however, the 150 colours or whatever the number of colours you can order the Blue Star in I think out due those knobs).

I tried a Wolf so called open burner, DCS, Dacor, Thermador, Miele, bunch of Italian stoves I can't recall, GE's top line whatever that is called. They were all more or less identical in their cook performance. Only the Blue Star stood out. How often do you need to put a napkin on a simmer burner and watch is not burn? Who cares really. If you want to cool off a burner on the Blue Star, take a circular grate from a neighbouring burner and place it on top of the simmer burner, effectively raising the pot 1.5 inches further from the flame. Done.