I know you asked about range tops only, but I believe the range has the same top. After six months with my 36RNB with griddle, I would give the range top portion of it five stars, or a ten out of ten.

Since I only have experience with my Bluestar 36" RNB 6 burner range, I can't speak with any real knowledge about the CC.
But, allow me to echo what "ctycdm" said.
I've owned my Bluestar for something just shy of 3 years and couldn't be more satisfied.

AFAIK there is only one GWer that has owned both BS and CC.

Amcook. He owns a 48" CC with grill.

I can't find one of his latter post but be he likes the CC burner better than the BS and CC overall but by a small margin.

Below is one of his first post on the subject.

BTW Both the CC and BS offer 30k btu 24" thermo-griddles. While there are significant differences between the grills I don't there is much difference between the griddles.

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I have to agree with Billy here and say that until the Culinarian, Bluestar was the only game in town when it came to open burner for the home in the high end market. The excitement that we are seeing now has nothing to do with the BTU rating of the burners or the fact that Trevor is behind it frankly. Sorry Trevor. :) It has to do with the fact that those of us that have been on the side of open burners have been starved for so long. Yes, Capital is a new comer in this market and yes I will grant that BS should be given some credit in providing the only open burner on the market when everyone else jumped on the sealed burner bandwagon. That said, you can't blame those of us who have been die hard open burner "followers" for being excited that there is another player on the field.

In Bluestar's defense, I have never observed any edge boiling or edge heating affect with my BS cooktop. To answer foodonastump comment about the apparent change of opinion by some here, I submit that it's not so much as a change but a re-evaluation of expectations. The Bluestar burner *was*, hands down, the most even burner in the residential market. I've said in the past that I feel that has less to do with the star shape and more to do with the fact that it's a true open burner design.

Frankly, I went into this very skeptical of Captital. When I first heard about the Culinarian, I was quite skeptical and basically told Trevor that I'd have to have to be absolutely sure that the CC burner was at least as good as BS. It's hard to argue that the BS oven and build quality is better than Capital so for me it came down to the burners. I exchanged probably two dozen emails with Trevor asking questions, requesting tests and pictures, and making suggestions regarding what I'm looking for. I was still skeptical enough to want to look at it first hand before making my decision. Once I saw it in person, I felt that the the burners are indeed at least as good as the Bluestar. I would say it is a bit better with regard to heat distribution and efficiency. I'm sure Surjit Kalsi would love for me to say it was a blowout but I can't. Having said that, I think BS set a pretty high standard and meeting it without sacrificing in other areas is not a small feat. I'm not talking about the extra 1k BTU or the faster boil time. I'd be buying induction if those are my primary concerns. I'm looking at a complete package, and yes, that does include fit and finish as well as cooking ability. Personally, I'd throw fit and finish out the window if cooking ability was significantly better but in this case, I think the Culinarian beats the BS on all points with the sole exception of the wok grate. Since then, I've gotten personal assurances that this is a top priority with Capital and they have a solution in mind that sounds pretty close to perfect IMHO.

Let's face it, no home range will compare to a true commercial range so comparing Bluestar to Garland is a bit naive. Just as comparing a range with a spouse is a bit of a stretch (and perhaps more than a bit sad). > It's an appliance. A tool. Just an object in the house to make life easier and more enjoyable. Don't know about anyone else but my wife means a bit more to me than that. So, yes in the case of an appliance, sometimes newer is better. Sometimes, older is stagnant. A company that never had any competition in it's niche has the option not to improve. A new comer has to prove they are better and in many cases, the succeed because the incumbent has ignored complaints or problems.

I speak from *no* personal knowledge but it is certainly possible that Trevor has had problems with BS with regard to issues that has caused him to look elsewhere. He has proven that he's loyal to his customers first and even those who are not his customers (like me at first). If he doesn't feel a manufacturer is taking his customers' issues seriously then I, for one, blame the manufacturer for that. Keep in mind that even after they cut him off, he has not bad mouthed BS or aired his grievances except to say that they decided not to keep him as an authorized dealer.

To put this in perspective, the logo badge on my cooktop broke off after about 3 months and I contacted BS no less than 5 times through their online comments page and email. They never once acknowledged my request for a replacement badge. This is probably a one dollar item for them. On a whim, I emailed Trevor to see if he could give me a number to contact and his response was, "I'll take care of it for you". This was before the holidays and I didn't think about it until a couple of months later but it still hadn't arrived. I sent Trevor another email and he immediately sent an email to Matt Schutte (copying me) saying basically "please send one out like you promised" A week later, I got it. Now keep in mind, I did *not* buy the cooktop, or *anything* from Eurostoves. Don't know about anyone else but to me, it was obvious who was doing the right thing here and who wasn't. It certainly shouldn't have taken 5 emails from me and 2 from Trevor to take care of something as simple as dropping off a small part in the mail for a customer under warranty. Say what you want about the known risk vs unknown risk but I'll put my trust in Trevor's proven track record of exceptional support above any manufacturer be it Bluestar, Capital, or otherwise.

In the end it's for each of us to make our own decisions.

Good luck with whatever you choose and happy cooking.

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Thanks for the replies ctycdm,willtv, deeageaux. I take it that amcook likes the fit and finish on the CC slightly better than BS and is not to focused on the simmer debate between the two.
I don't do a lot of simmering but when you need to something this expensive should be up to the task.

The CC's 23k btu burner will go down to 145 degrees F which is more than adequate for 97% of your simmering.

When making beurre blanc for two there is the new 8k btu small pot(simmer) burner.

Capital has not released performance stats on the new 8k btu burner but no point in making it unless it can beat Bluestar's 130 degrees from its 10k btu simmer burner ;)

It looks like I was missed quoted on the price. The difference is only 400 on a 7k price tag.
So I will probably stick with the CC.
Thanks again for the responses and I will post my comment's when I get it installed.