Burner covers? Do you mean the grates?

No issues at all here with a 36" RNB, although we've only had the range for about a month. For daily/minor clean-up I just wipe the grates with a dish towel. Pulling the grates to clean them is easy enough, although they are heavy -- might be an issue for somebody with a serious case of cts or the like. When I do remove them, I just go over them quickly with a plastic-bristled brush, rinse, and pat dry with a dish towel. I haven't tried the dishwasher yet.

Hi Roxy,

I have a 48" RNB and I can't imagine anything chipping off the grates. I've had it for 9 months now and they are fine.

The best thing to do with the cast iron grates is treat them like... cast iron! I don't bother with detergents, I just wipe off anything that gets on them with a dry paper towel, or at most moistened, and let the oils bake on. This is a hard working appliance and I treat it as such. Frankly it looks more beautiful and homey (lived-in) with that patina on it. People look at my stove and think "wow, some serious cooking gets done on that thing." That's distinct from "wow, it's so shiny and new looking, I wonder where their take-out menus are."

Cleaning the rest is really easy, too. You have the grate, burner, and drip tray, that's it. Very simple. The stainless steel cleans up easily. A sponge with dish detergent gets rid of all the oils and then a single wipe down with a paper towel and your choice of cleaner (Simple Green, etc) will get off any streaks.

Just to say it again, though, if you're OCD about cleanliness then nothing much may make you happy. A proper commercial type range (Bluestar) is designed FIRST for function and form is be a close second, but it's not the other way around which is the case with 99% of "pro style" ranges.

Hope that helps!

-Stooxie

4 years no chips

I can shed some light perhaps. I have the old model Bluestar. Back last Fall Mandy sent me a new set of grates because my old ones had always been wobbly. The new grates are the ones by Vermont Castings that come with the new V1 model. New set were chipping all over the place right out of the packaging....loose bits of black everywhere. Apparently they had a bad batch and Mandy immediately replaced them but I suspect they were still not over their troubles because I recently had trouble with the center filler grate chipping for no apprent reason and Mandy kindly just sent me yet another new set of grates and reassured me that they are now over their bad batch of grates/bowls. If the range you saw at the dealer is the new V1 it is possible those grates were from the early bad batch they experienced. If you have a question I would call Mandy at Bluestar. I have had NO problems with my original grates from the old model except when I have accidently either dropped something VERY heavy on them or dropped the inner ring back down on to the bowl. Then you can get minor chipping. However, like Stooxie, I have now gone over to hardly ever seriously cleaning this thing....just a quick push of any bits down into the drip tray and a wipe over with a damp cloth in situ. I will note that Bluestar has definitely stepped up its customer service in the last several months and Mandy has been superbably responsive with replacing my grates etc and a few other issues that were lingering. I am now very happy with my range and the current level of customer service.

Just curious, why did you choose the RCS model? Isn't that a closed burner model? I'm considering the 30-inch RNB with a black colored door.

Roxy, I've had my RNB 36" since October 2010. No chips.
As Stooxie and buffalotina have already said clean up is a snap.
I just give it a wipe down with a damp cloth and if necessary clear out the drip tray.

jddar, here's a shot of my Black RNB to give you some idea what yours will look like.

No, RCS is open burner, also. But they do not equip RCS models with the Ultranova 22K burner. Current RCS models are all 15K burners with one 8k simmer, but you can contact Bluestar (if you are in the USA) and purchase an "upgrade" kit to the "Supernova" burner. This burner is identical to the 22K burner but with a slightly smaller 48 gauge orifice yielding 18K BTU/hr.

USA RCS models also do not have the convection fan oven and are not available in the colors and finishes that characterize the more expensive RNB line.

Canadian RCSs sport the convection fan like the RNB, unlike the USA models.

The RCS and the RNB have the same oven burner and infrared broiler, but I understand that the racks in the RNB are much nicer than the RCS, though I could be wrong. The racks in mine are just old school steel, albeit about 10 times heavier than the racks in a Jennair, for instance.

I have an older RCS with which I have hotrodded the single big burner to 24K. I call it the "Bossanova." It is awe-inspiring.

Thanks everyone for the responses! So glad to hear about so many happy customers.

buffalotina, THANK YOU for easing my mind on this! I am going to mention your issue to the sales guy at the store to give him the heads up that it's probably a bad batch.

mojavean, I think the RCS here in the States comes with one easy-glide oven rack. I believe additional racks are $300 each! Any chance you know how much the upgrade kit is? Thanks!

Will, your range looks fantastic. Seeing it, I'm more determined to go for the color instead of all stainless. Thanks for posting.

It's about $115 including UPS ground shipping assuming you live in the US. They will not ship, according to several reports, to Canada. Thanks for the info on the EZ Glide rack. That did not exist when we bought ours, not that it matters too much. I usually just reach in and grab stuff out of it with my Ove-Gloves.

I have had a 30" rangetop for about 9 m. No chipping probs. But you do get a patina on it. As prev posts said, treat it like cast iron. You're not going to eat off it. You're cooking with it.

no chipping here. I have a 30" RCS. Mojavean is right on, the RCS doesn't have convection, pretty rudimentary "glides", actually more like rails, and no 22k burner. Mine came with 1 18k burner, 2 15k burners, and 1 simmer burner. It also didn't come standard with the cast iron center pieces but a stainless steel plate instead. I ordered the cast iron center pieces as an option. You can wipe down the top, but I would use some kitchen rags. The surface is a little rough and if you use a sponge it can shorten the life of your sponge pretty quick. About once a month we put every piece in the dishwasher and they come out pretty clean. Keep in mind that the best the top will ever look is the day you set it up. After that let's say the top will develop a patina from use, but I've never had a chip. I have had other issues, but that's on another post.

Sometimes, even in the States, the RCS model will come with different specs. That is because a distributor could buy a large batch of RCS, and spec them as they wanted as a promotion. That is obviously what Costco in Canada is doing, and they are getting a discount for buying them in advance and then passing it on to their customers.

Usually, if you go to a dealer, he just orders it from Bluestar, and you get the usual specifications and no discount. But if a group of dealers got together and placed a confirmed order, they could get the same deal. Of course they would be committed to warehousing them and turning them over (selling them). Costco has that ability.

My old distributor in California used to do the same thing- place a large order of RCS's and try to load up the dealers.. but since the recession, that distributor is no longer around.

Our 30" RNB V1 has arrived, awaiting delivery/install after more of the kitchen reno is complete. I've spoke and met with our regional BS distributor rep (Northern CA) several times, and most recently asked about upgrading an RCS with one 22K burner. He said there was no way to do that. A follow-up with BS directly had them referring me back to the regional rep.

mojavean, are you sure those kits are still available? Perhaps they changed their rules with the V1 rollout?

I didn't deal with the distributor at all. I called Bluestar, gave them the part numbers:

Burner #729801

Gasket #734301

Orifice #709548 (#48 Orifice -- 18K BTU/hr -- "Supernova")

and ordered them shipped to me.

If I were looking to upgrade an RCS burner, the very last place I would turn would be the distributor's rep, though. That strikes me as something like asking the Rottweiler to give you his bacon.

RoxySD - I hope it really was a bad batch. Seems that Stooxie and other newcomers to the V1 have not had chipping problems so I guess the "new" grates really are fine. I had my fair share of Bluestar "blues" but now that everything is cleared up with my range I really love it and am happy with my purchase. I had no idea I would love the burners this much! I am currently in Europe cooking on a puny AEG Euro electric cooktop....it is like a child's toy relative to the Bluestar. Cannot imagine serious cooking now without open high power burners - they really spoil you. Good luck!

36" RNB for almost a year. I am not gentle with the grates by any means (sliding pots around, etc) and there are no chips.

mojavean- i was wondering whether you had part numbers or BS offered a 'kit'. it would have been a *very* customer-oriented company to offer build-to-order commercial ranges which circumvent their pricing and marketing models.

no bacon for me.

Vinjah, I think you make a good point. Just an opinion but I would not expect much support from any company regarding the homeowner "upgrading" his gas appliance for more power. Try explaining that one to the insurance adjuster.

If Bluestar says "no" they might sell you the parts but I certainly would not hold it against them.

-Stooxie

Still trying to decide whether to go with Bluestar so I went to another showroom today. I wanted to clarify my earlier post to state that the RCS *does NOT* come with an EZ glide rack, as I had originally stated. They are all standard racks. The salesman had a brochure that illustrates that one burner is 18k (36" model) but then had other paperwork that said all were 15k (minus the simmer burner). I'm going to called Bluestar on Monday to clarify if the burners are all 15k or if there is in fact an 18k burner like their brochure states.

Regardless whether there's a 18k burner or not, I'm pretty sure that I'm going with the RCS and may get the upgrade kit. Will keep you all posted.

A little real world clean up story here. I was sauteing a huge pile of onions in a 12" pan, flipping them away happily. I got a little too carried away and a good pile of them onions landed right in the dang burner bowl. I somehow feel obligated to say this is pretty unusual for me :)

I have to say, the clean up was a snap. I let it cool, cleaned up 90% of it with some paper towels, wet-sponged the cast iron and washed the drip tray with soap and water. Done in about 4 minutes.

Really only three parts: the grate, bowl and drip tray. Maybe the burner head if you need to. So four at most. 3/4 just get a quick wipe down.

-Stooxie

That is great to hear Stooxie. Thanks for sharing.

I had a Bluestar 48" installed in January (2011) and the grates are all chipping and rusting. I just received my second set of grates and am hoping to have better luck with these. Strangely the top part of the grates were fine on all 6 burners - only the base of the grates were affected and every single one had spots where the black had come off. Obviously some kind of problem with the application of the black coating. Great customer service from BS! Grates arrived on my porch less than a week after I complained.

Jill,

Can you post a picture? I'd love to see the difference between the new and the old. Almost sounds like the glaze was too thick on some of them.

Great to hear that BS sent you a new set pronto.

-Stooxie

Mine are old style, and I think by the sounds of it they are way superior. In fact the grates, and the entire cooktop in fact are something I LOOOOVE about my Bluestar. They are very industrial. Just let them season like you would cast iron pans.

Mine are the old style too, not sure they're superior, because I've seen the new ones and they seem slightly better to me- just a bit cleaned up in style.

The older bowls have a notch (for a pilot?) (probably from the Garland days) that they just kept producing until recently. I use it to grab onto to remove the bowl.

@stooxie: Sorry to revive this thread but the story of the newer Bluestar grates chipping issues is topical for me. My original "old style" Bluestar grates were somewhat wobbly. That, at the time, was actually the least of my worries....After much patience and the new "customer service religion" at Bluestar, specifically the apparation of the wonderful Mandy, I resolved the longstanding problems I had with the range. Mandy was wonderful and also replaced my old style wobbly grates with the new and updated Vermont Castings version. Problem was the new set were visibly chipping and shedding paint right out of the box. Add to that the finish was very uneven and instead of looking like an even black sheen they looked sort of thin and rainbow like in the coating. Not to worry, Mandy immediatley replaced with another set. Those were not chipping as such but still looked uneven. I elected to continue with my originals and kept the replacements, except the center grates which are a great improvement over the original, in service. Lo and behold my center grates eventually chipped, with apparently no reason. I then suspected that ALL the replacement grates I had received were from the supposedly bad batch at Bluestar. Mandy was good enough to replace yet again...but again....the finish was uneven. At this point I have given up as I have grates that are not actually chipping (the orginal ones). However, a friend of mine received a V1 with center grates that suddenly chipped for no reason. Bluestar V1/Vermont Casting folk please chime in!! I am wondering if it there is any point in my trying to get yet another set of grates that may be free of chipping/uneven coating issues. Have the V1 owners in general experinced chipping of the porcelain? The photos on the Bluestar website show V1 ranges with grates with lovely even coatings, much better than the coating on the replacement grates I received. I am loathe to request yet another set of grates unless I can be sure that they will be fine as there seems to be little point in filling my entire attic with defective Bluestar range grates....

BTW, apart from this, once my Bluestar issues were fixed I am very very happy with this range. I have also seen the new V1 and the improvements such as the broiler ignition, the drip tray mechanism and the individual ignitors seem to be extremely worthwhile. I would have been happy to have them for sure.

Hi Buffalotina,

I dunno what to tell you, my V1 grates have been fine since I got them with no chipping. Here are some pictures. Nothing here I didn't expect or are not happy with.

BTW, wobbling in the grates is fixed by adjusting the screws underneath. At least that's what I did.

-Stooxie

I still want to see a picture of what is happening with your grates.

-Stooxie

The bowls are adjustable with the screws beneath the four corners . The inner grates are subject to a lot of heat but if they do rock inside the bowls, there's a great way of fixing that as well.

Curious -- must have been a bad batch. Just for a quick update -- now into month 4 of steady use and not a chip on them anywhere that I can see.

I hope it all works out.

Had my 30" RNB V1 delivered 5 days ago. Today I noticed this:

And, a chip on another grate in precisely the same spot, so it definitely seems like a production flaw. And, found a third chip in one of the center grates. We're still in the stage where we're totally babying this thing, pretty disappointing. Looks like I'll be calling up Bluestar. Do you all recommend calling them direct vs working through my dealer?

I believe I'll have more to say about BS once I've digested this a bit.

I had a chip on my center grate that looked like the picture ninepoundjammer posted. Called Blue Star direct -- they sent new center grates right away. The replacements were chipped when they arrived! Called again and again they sent new center grates immediately. These are good so far. The burner bowls and grates are fine -- no chips. This is a V-1 30 RNB.

Hello Mojavean,
Quick question: did you "hot rod" the one burner to 24K EASILY, or did it take a lot of modification of the various parts to install it? Do you have a list of parts and/or pics to show how the installation worked?
This is a fabulous forum, and I like what I hear about BS ranges. We have one (an RCS) on order NOW.

I've had my Bluestar 36" RNB since 2006. The convection oven has died but I will replace it myself next month. Before I bought the range, I found this forum and lurked for months reading all the reviews and experiences. I decided to order my range without having seen it, just from the reviews it was getting, and the fact that it was the only range at the time to offer 22,000btu burners.

I have not regretted my decision for even one second. I LOVE that i can stir-fry on high heat using a round bottom wok. I LOVE how many batches of cookies i can cram in the oven at once. I LOVE how easy the grates are to clean. i LOVE how many pots and pans i can get going at the same time. i LOVE the low tech nature of it--no motherboards to fry or replace, no fancy electronics to mess with (i use my microwave's electronics for timer). i will have to say i am a better cook using this range because it inspires me and delivers the food quality that satisfies me, my family and my friends.

caveat : i am an unfussy person. all the ignitors click on sometimes when i am lighting one burner......and the convection oven motor burned out in year 3. but other than those issues, i've had no need to call customer service. and no, my grates have no signs of chipping anywhere, and believe me, they get banged on quite a bit.

I have a 36" range - I've had it for 2 months and have only used it a handful of times bc we just got our hood vent installed last week. I've noticed today that my bluestar logo is chipping! the 2 bottom legs of my star, is gone! anyone else have this problem???

My star fell off completely after I had my door replaced due the the color chipping off. I'm on my second set of grates due to chipping. I've had the range a year last August. I should call and have them send me another set, but they will probably have the same problem. I think I will Monday...now you guys got me riled up! Lol!

We're renovating our kitchen April 2014. Just went to the Bluestar factory and test drove the RNB. Seared some jumbo scallops with a balsamic glaze, perfect brown sear. Also tested the oven with a batch of granola. Both came out perfect. The scallops were the best I've ever made.

Love the RNB ! ! ! Can't wait to complete the reno and start using this machine. We're getting an RNB 36 with 6 burners in Stainless Steel. Would love a painted BS but can't convince my wife.

I was hoping the new Platinum would be out in 36 inch but was told it was not an immediate option, so in other words, go ahead with the RNB and maybe down the line the 36 inch platinum would be available. That's ok for me, purchasing the RNB is at the top of our budget and I imagine the Platinum would be another $1000-2000 over the cost of the RNB.

This post was edited by Joseph_P on Mon, Dec 30, 13 at 6:42

Congrats! I love my rnb....but have to admit that I am very intrigued with the platinum.

Oops....delete accidental duplicate post.

This post was edited by tyguy on Tue, Dec 31, 13 at 16:59