This has happened to me too.

Salesmen pushing Monogram. Not the first time a read about it here too.

Monogram must have the highest spiffs for salespeople.

Anyway,Monogram just started making their own ranges.

They used to subcontract that out to a company called DCS.

They were bought out by Fisher and Paykel.

The contract ran out and that is that.

I think Monogram would be last on my list.

If you want the best performance Capital Culinarian.
In addition to SS comes in about 8 different colors and optional cranberry knobs.

If you want the most prestigous(outside of uber expensive French/British models) Wolf. Optional red knobs.

If you want the prettiest Bertazzoni. Comes in about eight colors plus SS too.

Thermador has pretty cool looking star burners with optional blue knobs.

Another favorite of GW is Bluestar. A high performance model with an almost infinite number of color options as well as 8 knob colors. Has had quality and customer service problems. Company says those are resolved now. They say that every two years. This time they say they mean it.

I am about 80% decided to buy the Capital Culinarian.

deeageaux is right. Monogram is very well marketed and probably a bit over priced for the features. I think people buy it because of the GE name and heavy push by sales people. IMHO, there's nothing that really sets them apart from other players in the market other than a big name. That said, many want a big company to back their appliances and that's certainly hard to argue against. I certainly have not heard many complaints about availability of service.

The prospect of selecting a range is daunting so I'd suggest narrowing the field by deciding if you want open or sealed burners and whether you want a gas or electric oven. I'm assuming you want gas burners but if you want electric burners, then decide if you want induction or ceramic/halogen/etc. Once you make these decisions, I think you'll find your list narrowed greatly. For instance open burner options basically include Bluestar and Capital. I've seen specs for a Fivestar open burner but don't know much about them. If you want dual fuel with open burners, then it's a very short list.

If you can wait a few weeks for the feedback, the Capital Culinarians are just beginning to ship. I'm supposed to get one in the next few weeks, but my kitchen probably won't be ready for it; I hope to have it up and running by Christmas. But some people will probably have theirs functioning in a few weeks and you can get their input.

The problem is finding one to check out. I saw a Capital Precision in a store, and the only difference between it and the Culinarian is the open burners. But I felt comfortable enough with what I saw of its quality to order the Culinarian.

Why did I choose it? 6 powerful burners (23,000 BTU each) plus a grill. Two ovens, one big and one small. (Sometimes you don't need a big oven.) The kicker: a rotisserie in the big oven. And, the fit & finish seemed exceptional. That's not putting any other models down; this just seemed right. And I'm getting one in glossy black--essentially, it's the second picture in the first post in the thread at the link.

Here is a link that might be useful: culinarian thread

Thanks all for the input I really appreciate it. We won't have to buy the stove until Feb so I thank I am going to wait on the feedback on the capital. Any other feedback is welcome.

GE Monogram would not be a bad choice if you want sealed burners and a dual fuel range. They used to be manufactured by DCS but GE Monogram does that themselves now. I believe the burners are still the same dual stacked design as the DCS which provides a fantastic simmer. There have been a number of good reports on this forum - do a search. Also, GE Monogram has a better service organization than GE.

For the kind of money that you're talking about spending ($8000) you very much ought to consider the Eurostove offer for a demonstration.

I'm way behind in posting my trip report from my own trip to Eurostoves, but I learned a lot on the trip and I came away with the feeling that you owe it to yourself to try out this Culinarian range. Along with the feeling of "reward yourself!" because it's a lot of fun.

My wife and I had a great time. We cooked. We asked questions. We ate. We cooked some more. We learned a lot. Granted- we had already decided on a culinarian cooktop, so we were more trying to learn about how to use it, than trying to decide if we should buy it, and we didn't pay much attention to the oven portion of the range.

But if you're in the market for a high-end stove, treat yourself to a day with the Culinarian. It was a joy. It was a blast. The Eurostoves staff were knowledgeable and helpful.

I don't want to gush, but the trip was everything Trevor said it would be: we got picked up at the airport and delivered to the store. We did several kinds of food (and I learned a lot about cooking over high heat) and we were returned.

Considering that I very much hope to be in this house for 10 more years, the price of a plane ticket and a day away from the office were totally worth what I learned.

At the end of the day I was more convinced that the Culinarian was the right choice for us, and that Eurostoves was the right dealer for us to work with.

When was the last time that "doing your homework" was so tasty and so much fun? It may not work for you, but you should really consider the offer.

Really looking forward to working with this cooktop.