Hi!

This comes from a personal experience: We've purchased a custom model - BlueStar by Marcus 36" six-burner range with oven. It leaked gas since day one. Sometime later the range had caught fire while I was cooking. We returned the range to our distributor. BlueStar had never bothered to pick it up and bring it to their factory, so that the cause of fire could be discovered. The distributor ended up scrapping it. We didn't appreciate the way we had been treated by the factory while this went on and decided to purchase a different range by a different maker. We settled on a six-burner range by Capital and we've been happy ever since. More powerful open burners, shielded igniters, a rotisserie in the oven, easier to clean. What's there not to like?

Do your research before buying! Google is your friend.

I love my 36" Blue Star RNB range with grill. The big oven is great and bakes beautifully. The broiler is fantastic although small. I don't use it very often because I find myself using the grill instead for most things I would otherwise use a broiler for. The oven takes a good 20 minutes to get to temperature so I plan around it. I love the fact that there are no electronics to break, no self-clean, no clock, nothing. Some people might miss all the different oven functions that electrics have, but it don't. The fan can be a bit loud. The powerful burners are also gorgeous to look at and easy to clean. The simmer burner is fabulous. The grill is great. Some people think it does not get hot enough but I don't find that at all. I heat it for 20 minutes and it does a steak beautifully. While sometimes I wish I would have had room for a 48", mostly because it would be nice to have a couple of extra burners and the real estate they would provide, I am not sure that I would have been totally happy with an 18" oven as my only other oven. I am actually happy with the 36" because I have the giant oven plus a 24" electric oven (Miele speed oven). I actually think that is a perfect combo in my small space. I think the 48" would have looked disproportionately large in my space. I use the Miele for baking small things.

The BS is one of the best things about my kitchen. Is it perfect? No. But it's pretty close.

Like the poster above-- I have the Miele speed oven and a BS range but my range is 30, not 36. Sometimes I wish I had gotten the 36 because I like the looks of it but the 30 is quite big enough! I do recommend the combination of the large gas oven on the BS and a Miele electric oven or speed oven. I also have a Breville counter top convection oven. It is very handy to have three separate ovens of different sizes for different applications. The Miele Speed Oven is very versatile and great to have as a combo with the gas BS.

What if I get steam oven? Would that be enough? Steam oven + 36 range?

YuliaO-

I don't have any experience with BS, but i have used both gas and conventional (nonconvection) electric ovens. From the prospective of a novice home cook/baker, i would say there isn't a huge difference in how they perform. I do think baking is a tad better with the electric oven - especially cookies, but i've had great results with my current very horrible gas oven once i figured out its idiosyncrasies (50 degrees too hot!!) Perhaps I am remembering baking cookies as a child in my parents' simple electric oven and glamorizing the memory, cause i swear they were better!!!

BTW, I am looking for 36 inch AG range (wolf or BS) and separate wall oven too and have been following a lot of your posts since we seem to have a very similar thought process. Really thought i wanted that Miele combi-steam oven too, but i have hard water and am afraid that will cause problems.

Good luck.

I think a steam oven + 36" range would take you very far. This is one option we are considering. The other is a double oven (one steam, one electric) + 36" cook top. I like the latter option more because I don't recall ever needing a 36" oven and would rather have an oven that heated up more quickly, but we'll see. We are only in the beginning of our remodeling journey.

I can't comment on actual usage yet, but I will have the 36 BS range and 27 electric Electrolux wall oven. I can't wait to put them through the test...