Do a search of the forum using google. Hardly anyone here likes Viking.

have you considered bluestar?

One aspect I'd like to share is its no longer
A small company but is now owned by a corporation.

Viking.. That is

Viking.. That is

J: first off I have to ask, how did the list get narrowed down to these two units? They are very different. Different performance levels and very different looks.

On this particular website its going to be hard to find anyone who endorses viking. Most will cite the numerous posts about alleged troubles people have had with quality and customer service. Keep in mind however that most of these people citing the bad quality and cs on this forum have never owned a viking. Also keep in mind that viking sells a LOT of units. I remember reading somewhere that they sell as many or more than all the other pro style range manufacturers combined. I can also tell you that I have owned a viking in the past and it was completely trouble free for the three or four years or so that I had it. I am not making excuses for viking, I am only stating my own personal experience with them.

Having said all that....I personally wouldn't even think of a viking over a culinarian. I am not a huge fan of the exterior styling of the culinarian and exterior styling actually does mean a lot to me. However, the performance of the cooktop of a culinarian is in a different (much higher) league than viking. The only other brands in this league of performance are bluestar(which started this niche) and american range which is the most recent addition to the club. Another bonus about capital over viking is that if you are unfortunate enough to get a lemon, coming over here to this forum and voicing your problems will guarantee a resolution from capital. I don't think the same would apply to viking.

Following up on what jolb57 said, the corporation that bought Viking is the Middleby group. It owns 30 or so brands of commerical and pro-style appliances and food service equipment. The acquisition has left Viking in flux, and there may or may not be changes in product lines and support. Middleby's press releases say that they will be putting the company on a "fast track" to increase market share and profit margins. That sounds an awful lot like the strategy that got Viking into quality-control and warranty-support trouble in the first place.

Viking's reputation here is not quite as bleak as tyguy painted it, and there actually are a pretty fair number of Viking owners who have been pleased with their products. But for every one who posts about being pleased, there are numbers of very unhappy postings, too. I see the situation as being similar to what happened with GE fridges several years ago when GE outsourced production. GE fridges were running a 25% defect rate. While that means 75% of the customers did fine with their GE fridges, 25% had major problems. Who wants to buy something expensive with a 1 in 4 chance of it being lemon? GE warranty service started falling down, too, and that compounded the ire. Something similar happened to Viking except they were not doing much out-sourcing.. That is, they were shooting themselves in their feet rather than hiring somebody to do it for them. :>)

As for Capital's simmer burners, I think there have been some recent postings on that here. A search should turn them up.

I just purchased a CC but haven't taken delivery of it yet. Viking was on my list but I eliminated them for reliability reasons. Consumer Reports has a video that shows an electrical failure that they had with a unit they purchased so they purchased another. The second unit also had an electrical failure but different from the first. When I went to look at one at our local showroom I noticed that they were selling off the Viking line and replacing it with Thermador. That information in combination with everything else I read made me eliminate Viking. Good luck. It took me months to decide on which range to buy. I hope I made the right choice.

In response to gtadross and the bluestar... I did not like the star burner for heat distribution. the Capital Culinarian, in contrast, seemed to work better with the rings of heat on the large burners. I liked the Capital burners even more so than the Viking burners. does anyone have the new simmer burner from Capital? I am worried that the 23,000 BTUs are too much on high? if someone owns one, I would love to hear your opinion. thanks in advance

Heat distribution is a bs strong point. Not better than the culinarian but in the same league. If heat distribution is a factor to you, I find it very puzzling that you would consider a viking? How did the viking make it on to your short list?

Ooops, Grammar alarm.

I think tyguy meant to say "Heat distribution is a BS strong point" (BS meaning Blue Star as opposed to "bs" meaning bull*****.)

jsmoove:

' "23,000 BTUs are too much on high?" Say what? Think about it. You can turn it down to what you need. Nobody is going to come to your house and punish you for not cranking it all the way up. Also, if you have a suitably big pot of pasta water -- say a 12 quart or 20 quart stockpot --- is there really a problem with getting water boiling quicker?

Now, if the question is economics -- "do I really need to spend all this money on a stove with 23k-btu-hr burners?" --- well, that's something you need to figure out for yourself. If getting a big pot of water to boil in 13 minutes rather than 15 minutes is no big deal to you, if you don't care about the kinds of high heat searing and wokking that some folks do, wll then, you are on your way to answering your question.

This post was edited by JWVideo on Thu, Apr 18, 13 at 18:43

I don't have my CC yet but it is on order and will come with five 23K burners and one 8K "simmer" burner. I don't believe that too hot is going to be an issue but the resolution or how easy you can adjust the flame would change with the size of the burner. If the dial has a range of 300 degrees of motion, you are adjusting the flame from 0-23K in 300 degrees of motion. If the burner is 8K you still have 300 dgrees of motion to adjust from 0-8K. Whether or not this is an issue, I don't know because I haven't seen an installed CC. Going by the videos from Eurostove it doesn't look like this is an issue at all. It appears that the ability to adjust the burner over its full range is very good.

thanks for the reference to Eurostove videos... just checked them out the Capital Burner looks great on high and on low with the new simmer burner, but does anyone in the tri-state area know what dealer has the Culinarian hooked up live so I can see it in person? I have seen the Viking and Wolf live at some showrooms, but unfortunately thats about it... thanks for the advice

I did not know anyone was still buying Viking products... LOL.

Brad,

I was just teasing because Viking had become almost a curse word on GW, LOL.

Where I live, many higher-end appliance stores have special display sections for Viking appliances. When shopping, I have witnessed many time customers coming in and asking specifically for Viking.

FWIW, my KD advised me against a Viking fridge.

Comparing induction to gas is not fair (like "apples to oranges"). There have been many threads discussing pro's and con's and there are some passionate proponents of either.

Our local W-S has a Viking gas range and it cooks just fine (I have attended some Technique classes). I think the main issue with Viking is reliability. That is why I went with European brands.

Surely, not ALL Viking appliances break or they would be long out of business. I hope you never have any trouble with yours.

>>>"Surely, not ALL Viking appliances break or they would be long out of business.Good point. A large proportion of them work fine for years. I know somebody who has a had a problem free Viking gas range for 15 years.

Trouble is, there can be a lot of pleased Viking owners but the chances of having a problem and getting poor service have been high enough to persuade a lot of folks here that buying Viking is not worth the potential hassle. I mean, if you had a one in four chance of getting a lemon (which was GE's fridge defect rate a couple of years ago), would you buy one or recommend one?

The problem with Vikings has been similar, although we don't really have any reliable data. At one point, there were enough Viking stoves and products to be included in the annual reliability surveys by Consumer Reports, but the numbers haven't been there for last few years, so we don't have data. Viking fridges have been similarly problemmatic,

Apparently, some of this problem has been with support from distributors and dealers as well as Viking itself. Brad has written about the improved service and support for Vikings in the Bay Area when he bought his stove. And, overall, there seem to have been very few complaints about the induction ranges that Viking sells. The complaints have been about their other products.

Eleena , no worries just teasing back a little ...I knew goin in Viking's rep and in the issues around it .. Hard not to read the war stories here... I'm also the same guy who bought a Fisher and Payle dish drawer dispite reviews ... I did my due diligence ....Trust me ,for the prices of these appliances you need too !! So while my response may have felt to you defensive , it was just a way of saying its not all bad ... And yes their are more happy owners out there ... I , as JW knows , put my email out for those who had questions regarding induction and Viking... I've received more email than I could have ever emagined ... There is still much interest in Viking and products sold contrary to what these forums would lead you to believe... So I'm sorry you happened to have the remark I choose to pic on a little but that's what makes these forums fun to read .. A lil drama with a lot of knowledge ...
And to JW, much again the the elder statesman !!!! So while I don't comment to much here I'm always lurking .... Brad

I purchased a 60" culinarian with 6 burners and a 24" griddle. I t came with a small burner (left rear) which I was not expecting and they sent out a repairperson to replace it. In addition to that, I noticed that the burners are placed such that the grate surface is lower than the guards for the grille. They made up special rails for the burner grates to raise them about 3/16" and now large pots can be placed on the grates without interference.

I am very happy with their support. When our local distributor quoted 8-12 weeks for delivery, I was able to contact the company, explain that I had no ovens (our kitchen aid ranges electronics died for the final time!) and get a unit to my door on the east coast in under three weeks.

They have been very good to work with and I love the range, burners and griddle. The commercial sized oven is also wonderful, it can take a full sized cookie sheet as well as a Costco Pizza!

I own a 30" Viking Pro range and love it. The burners are very powerful. My wife loves that it boils water really fast (she is REALLY impatient). I absolutely love the broiler. I've broiled everything from fish to steaks with excellent results. It's the best I've used hands down. Also, the range has never needed a service call in the 6 years I've owned it. I can honestly say if I ever decide to get a new range it will be a Viking. Great product.

I know I am a little late joining this conversation, but I found this thread, looking up a comparison between Viking and Capitol. These are my two finalists, but things have changed a lot with these 2 companies in the past 2 years, since the last comments were made.

First of all, Viking, who was purchased by Middleby Corporation (approx. 3 years ago), has made significant changes to the entire product line at Viking. I am in the commercial kitchen equipment business, and Middleby Corp owns the finest cooking equipment companies in the commercial cooking business (Jade Range, Southbend Range, Wells Mfg., Lang Mfg., Pitco, Blodgett, Market Forge, TurboChef, Star Mfg., Magic Kitchen, Anets, Toastmaster, Nu Vu, Doyon, and more). I went to the big home show this past spring in Las Vegas, and spoke directly with the CEO of Middleby and asked him what he has done with the Viking line since he bought the company. He hired engineers to revamp everything in the line, and was very proud of his new 7 series ranges with their new burner design and chrome plated griddles.

He let me know that he inherited a lot of service issues that he has addressed, both on the manufacturing side, and on the customer service side. I can tell you that working with their commercial division companies, they are very committed to customer satisfaction, and expedited service. Some of Middleby's commercial divisions are making components and ovens for their newer product additions (such as TurboChef ovens in their wall ovens). I can't tell you how these changes have impacted the lastest product offerings, but I can't imagine that the changes have made them worse. I did have a Viking 48" gas range in a house I sold back in 2008, circa 2004, and there were a lot of features I did not like. Burners were not good in simmer mode, gas oven was not self cleaning, and was very difficult to get clean. Charbroiler smoked out the house, whenever I tried to use it. But it added a lot of value to the house when I sold it.

Now let's look at Capitol. The guy who owns Capitol, owned DCS, which used to be one of the "players" in the commercial range market. Their ranges were very attractive, performed well, but were not heavy duty enough for high volume restaurants (Wolf and US Range were the big players on the West Coast, where DCS and now Capitol are located.) As many companies have gone light weight, easy to clean, low maintenance, Capitol appears to be sticking with some of the old commercial designs, which pay off from a performance standpoint, but may intimidate some, from a maintenance standpoint. I am truly impressed with the open burners on the Capitol Connoisseurian and Culinarian ranges. I can tell you that not only the burner design, but the top grate design adds significantly to the performance of the burners. Their is a bowl/ring that is part of the cast iron grates that directs the heat back up onto the pans that is deflected down off the the bottom of the pan, containing the area. The open style grates, that are light weight and easy to clean, have no added qualities to the performance. I am impressed with the thermostatic griddle (which is also standard on the Viking). The old manual flame griddles got too hot and made them useless for breakfast items, and left the griddle only for meat and searing. The addition of a self cleaning oven on the all gas model is probably the biggest "plus" feature of the range comparing it to Viking. With Viking you have to go to Dual Fuel, which raises to price by a couple thousand dollars.

To me, the downside of both of these ranges is that they don't have a real good computer control for the ovens, like you see in a regular domestic range.

I would love some feedback from anyone who has bought these two products in the past 6 months or so, with the latest improvements, and the bugs worked out.

I never really looked at Viking, but just too a look at their series 7 range and it has some pretty impressive features. The Burners look to be an improvement over other sealed burners and they have a infrared broiler in the dual fuel oven. It does seem like they are making a big push, because 2 Best Buy stores I have been in recently were installing full Viking kitchens..yes most people on here would not shop appliances at BB, but it does give them a lot of visibility.

I purchased a Viking 30" 5 Series all gas range in May, installed 6/9/15. I love it! The high power burner is great for anything and all burners simmer. On my previous Jenn-Aire I couldn't use the higher burner for things like eggs it was just too hot but not the Viking. The oven comes with 2 ball bearing racks which I love. The infrared broiler is amazing and the oven is much better insulated than the Jenn-Aire it stays warm for a good while after you finish cooking. I would have loved to have a 7 series but I only had space for the 30". Happy Viking customer here.

I looked at various "High End" gas ranges before we remodeled our kitchen in 2012. I started off with looking at the obvious name brands such as Wolf, Viking, etc. (I owned an Electrolux 30" range before) The prices were very high for a 36 inch range ~ 8000+. IN all the models i looked at, the sealed burners and the very wide flame pattern threw me off. I wanted a burner pattern with no cold spots. The Thermador looked god till i actually saw one in real life - disappointment. The ranges were really nice looking and had all the bells and whistles i could possibly think of (Timers, alarms, clock, digital doodads, etc). Then i stumbled across the BlueStars and Capitals and American Ranges and saw the difference in the things that matter i.e. Heat, flame pattern, oven temperature evenness, BTU's, no circuit boards/electronics that die, etc. As soon as i looked into these parameters, all the Vikings, Wolf, etc were kicked out of the competition and I ended up with a Capital Culinarian 36" Manual Clean Range with 6 burners (yes, all 23K BTU burners).

The Range looked massive and intimidating when it was delivered - we were truly thinking if we made the right decision. However, we couldn't be happier with the purchase, the heat control of the burners is exceptional - from super low to Super Screaming HOT (i use a lot of cast iron in my cooking). And because of the concentric rings, the heating is very even.

The oven is very BASIC - ONE DIAL - really, that's it but it heats up very fast and temperature is very even inside without convection also. I guess that's the only thing needed from the oven - no ? As for other bells and whistles, i got a $10 timer from BB&B that does the job of telling me when time's up just perfectly.

Yes, the oven is a little small for the range size but so far we have been able to do everything without any issue or compromise. On the positive side, the oven is insulated really well and the oven door and all handles etc stay cool even when the oven is at 500 Deg.

Yes, the Capital Culinarian is a headache to clean - 6 grates, 6 burner tops, 3 drip trays.. aarrggh... it can take a good hour to clean the range in full. If you are scared of cleanup, this is not the range for you (or you can clean once in 2 weeks .. or more)

Capital does not do a very good job of marketing their culinarian range features but they do have certain features that are very good and the 'high end" ranges have been touting them to no end. e.g. Wolf was all over their "self igniting" burners in case they blow out but Capital has that feature standard in the Culinarian line - we just came across the fine print when checking out their site.

Just to close out the comparison, the Capital was about 2K less than the comparable Wolf range i was looking at - it ended up costing me about 5.5K in all.

Yes, by now its evident that I am a fan of the product but i have used several ranges both residential and commercial to know the difference in the build quality, usability and power of this range.