New 30" Self-Clean CC range

9 years ago

Christmas came early to our house this year. My new 30" self-clean Capital Culinarian arrived last Monday.

Thanks to you folks I had a good check list, but the installers and I found no problems.
Because there have been questions about what it may look like, here are some pics:
Here it is with the wok grate on the left and a Chef King 14" x 23" griddle cooling down from breakfast on the right.
Notice that the center grate is the old cast iron. The dealer said his distributor said there had been so many complaints about the stainless steel scratching that they were being withdrawn.

Here are the burners on high. Note that the back left is a simmer burner. Also that the new igniters are very visible. There is an occasional lick of orange in the flames, but they usually burn blue.

Here all burners are on simmer.

This shows the wok grate on left front and the Chef King griddle on the two right burners. I have just started the seasoning process with it. It soon should look uniformly dark.

Finally, here is the griddle ready to slide into the oven. I was very pleased that it DOES fit on a shelf (barely), as I had read that it would not fit in a 30" range oven.

As of now, no problems with the roller shelves. The installer showed me how to pull them out and reinsert them. They move in and out easily.

I have not yet baked in the oven or used the rotisserie. I am eager to do both. This morning I warmed the griddle on medium heat and I fried eggs and potatoes and cooked bacon--all at once on the same surface. Wonderful expanse of griddle real-estate! The greased and wiped down griddle is currently in a 400 degree oven for an hour or two, giving me both a chance to check the range temperature and season the griddle a bit more.

I could not be more pleased. My friends could not be more underwhelmed! My husband just smiles benignly and says to enjoy my new toy!

If anyone has questions, I'll try to answer them.

Comments (5)

PRO
Trevor Lawson (Eurostoves Inc)
9 years ago
The center cast iron grates were never taken away on the self clean ranges, only the manual clean ranges had the stainless steel center strip, but as you say that has now changed.
bellsmom
Original Author
9 years ago
Thank you for the correction, Trevor. The local dealer told me it would come with the steel strip. I am pleased it did not--although I think Capitol should redesign the center grid. It could be made more attractive, but at least it is functional and won't scratch. The burner surrounds (or grids or whatever they are called) are gorgeous.

I put the griddle in the oven this afternoon, set it at 400 and let things mumble on for about 90 minutes. The temperature of the griddle read 395 according to my infrared thermometer when I turned the oven off.
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SparklingWater
9 years ago
What a joy that will be to use, Bellsmom. Nothing like an open gas range, to me at least.
breezygirl
9 years ago
So glad you are happy with it so far! I enjoy my 36" CC rangetop.

You have two toys I've been considering for my rangetop: the wok ring and the griddle. How is the wok ring? How is the heat distributed around the wok? I have been too cheap to spring for the ring, but would like to heat a wok properly. Right now I've just been using my 12" fry pan for stir frying. I'd love to have a proper wok. (Never could before on my old coil burners.)

My DH says he can get me a Chef King from work so I should just go for it. Mainly I haven't gotten one because I'm not sure where I would store it. I know I could leave it out, but I'm a little bit OCD when it comes to clean surfaces. Plus, I know when not in use it would be another flat surface for catching the cat hair that flies around my house. I'm curious to know more about how you season the griddle.

Enjoy!
bellsmom
Original Author
9 years ago
Sparkling Water
This is my first open burner range. So far I could not be more pleased. I have always had gas for my home stove, but this is a fair step up from the wimpy burners and "simmerers" I had before.

Breezy
There is a somewhat smaller Chef King that would be easier to store. You might check it out. It will still fit over 2 burners, I think.
I just can't wait to fix pancakes on my big one!

I used the wok ring tonight for the first time. I really like it. It is designed to contain the heat on two opposing sides and vent extra heat out the other two sides. This maintains cooler places you can pull foods that don't need the high heat. You can also position the wok so the handle(s) are protected by the high sides from heat.

It heated wonderfully, of course, on the CC. I am very pleased that I ordered the wok ring with the range. I love stir fry, and this works better than a skillet. And much better than my wok used to on my old JennAire. You do want a good sized wok, not a 10 or 12 inch one. I think they recommend 14". Trevor, I think, has a nice video on using the wok grate.

This post was edited by Bellsmom on Mon, Aug 4, 14 at 9:50