NWR: stove recommendations, please

originally posted by Andrew Zachary:
originally posted by maureen:
This thread is of great interest to me as i am gutting and redoing my kitchen as part of a larger renovation. Lots of decisions to make throughout the house (tile especially as i am getting not only a new kitchen but three new bathrooms) and the only decision i have made is which range - the 36 inch capital culinarian. I like the way it looks although i have only seen it online.

The comment about the grill interests me. I want one but everyone seems to think i won't use it much be ause i will find it tedious to clean it. No?

Maureen I've never been a big fan of indoor grilling: too much smoke for me, even with the best available ventilators. And it is a huge mess to clean. Never tried the Capital Culinarian, though you can tell I'm a huge fan of the Blue Star cooktop.

One other point about the Blue Star range/oven - with the oven on, the knobs for the stove get quite hot. Looks like they've corrected this fault in the latest models.

They are metal. If you leave the door closed you should be fine but if you leave the door cracked, you are in for it. Beware the Beast!
 
originally posted by maureen:
This thread is of great interest to me as i am gutting and redoing my kitchen as part of a larger renovation. Lots of decisions to make throughout the house (tile especially as i am getting not only a new kitchen but three new bathrooms) and the only decision i have made is which range - the 36 inch capital culinarian. I like the way it looks although i have only seen it online.

The comment about the grill interests me. I want one but everyone seems to think i won't use it much be ause i will find it tedious to clean it. No?

Take a look at the Capital in person. I was originally set on it, but it was not nearly as attractive as I expected it to be based on pictures. Of course- your tastes may differ, and that's all that matters here. The Capital offers a self-cleaning version which I desperately wish I had. The Blue Star offers the wok ready burners and a bit higher power (at least on the Platinum version I have). If we could have gotten the Capital in the more professional style of the Blue Star, we probably would have

As I've said above- we use our grill all the time, and would much rather have it than the griddle if we had to choose. We are also not fastidious on cleaning to say the least. We treat it like an outdoor grill and clean it whenever we are heating it up to cook and that's it. That's good enough for us, but we're not fastidious people in general

There are a few things to consider though on deciding on a grill... what you'll use it for; power; ventilation. If you're like us and like to grill a lot of vegetables, then it's a great asset and power / ventilation don't really matter (assuming you have whatever ventilation is recommended for your range). If you want to do stupidly high heat grilling, then think about power and ventilation. We have 40k BTU on our grill- which is typically about double the BTU for a range grill. We also have to have a window open in addition to having the hood on full blast if we want to grill a steak at maximum temperature. We've learned this the hard way- the fire department has been out a couple of times due to smoke alarms... But then again, in the dead of winter, the heat of the stove more than makes up for the cold air let in by the open window.

Of course, it all depends on how you cook. A permanent griddle would be pretty useless for us. My wife might use it a bit more often than we've used our griddle (it's a bit of a hassle switching out the griddle and grill), but I have no idea what I'd use it for... I don't cook pancakes, grilled cheese sandwiches, quesadillas, or anything else that a griddle is useful for. My wife occasionally makes these things but not that often, and if she didn't, I wouldn't miss them. But, if you think you'll make pancakes more often than you'll grill zucchini, then a griddle is possibly right for you.
 
originally posted by BJ:
originally posted by Andrew Zachary:
originally posted by maureen:
This thread is of great interest to me as i am gutting and redoing my kitchen as part of a larger renovation. Lots of decisions to make throughout the house (tile especially as i am getting not only a new kitchen but three new bathrooms) and the only decision i have made is which range - the 36 inch capital culinarian. I like the way it looks although i have only seen it online.

The comment about the grill interests me. I want one but everyone seems to think i won't use it much be ause i will find it tedious to clean it. No?

Maureen I've never been a big fan of indoor grilling: too much smoke for me, even with the best available ventilators. And it is a huge mess to clean. Never tried the Capital Culinarian, though you can tell I'm a huge fan of the Blue Star cooktop.

One other point about the Blue Star range/oven - with the oven on, the knobs for the stove get quite hot. Looks like they've corrected this fault in the latest models.

They are metal. If you leave the door closed you should be fine but if you leave the door cracked, you are in for it. Beware the Beast!

Pull the drip tray out a bit and the knobs will stay perfectly cool
 
originally posted by collin wolfe:
originally posted by BJ:
originally posted by Andrew Zachary:
originally posted by maureen:
This thread is of great interest to me as i am gutting and redoing my kitchen as part of a larger renovation. Lots of decisions to make throughout the house (tile especially as i am getting not only a new kitchen but three new bathrooms) and the only decision i have made is which range - the 36 inch capital culinarian. I like the way it looks although i have only seen it online.

The comment about the grill interests me. I want one but everyone seems to think i won't use it much be ause i will find it tedious to clean it. No?

Maureen I've never been a big fan of indoor grilling: too much smoke for me, even with the best available ventilators. And it is a huge mess to clean. Never tried the Capital Culinarian, though you can tell I'm a huge fan of the Blue Star cooktop.

One other point about the Blue Star range/oven - with the oven on, the knobs for the stove get quite hot. Looks like they've corrected this fault in the latest models.

They are metal. If you leave the door closed you should be fine but if you leave the door cracked, you are in for it. Beware the Beast!

Pull the drip tray out a bit and the knobs will stay perfectly cool

Great idea. I will try it. And thanks!
 
originally posted by collin wolfe:
originally posted by maureen:
This thread is of great interest to me as i am gutting and redoing my kitchen as part of a larger renovation. Lots of decisions to make throughout the house (tile especially as i am getting not only a new kitchen but three new bathrooms) and the only decision i have made is which range - the 36 inch capital culinarian. I like the way it looks although i have only seen it online.

The comment about the grill interests me. I want one but everyone seems to think i won't use it much be ause i will find it tedious to clean it. No?

Take a look at the Capital in person. I was originally set on it, but it was not nearly as attractive as I expected it to be based on pictures. Of course- your tastes may differ, and that's all that matters here. The Capital offers a self-cleaning version which I desperately wish I had. The Blue Star offers the wok ready burners and a bit higher power (at least on the Platinum version I have). If we could have gotten the Capital in the more professional style of the Blue Star, we probably would have

As I've said above- we use our grill all the time, and would much rather have it than the griddle if we had to choose. We are also not fastidious on cleaning to say the least. We treat it like an outdoor grill and clean it whenever we are heating it up to cook and that's it. That's good enough for us, but we're not fastidious people in general

There are a few things to consider though on deciding on a grill... what you'll use it for; power; ventilation. If you're like us and like to grill a lot of vegetables, then it's a great asset and power / ventilation don't really matter (assuming you have whatever ventilation is recommended for your range). If you want to do stupidly high heat grilling, then think about power and ventilation. We have 40k BTU on our grill- which is typically about double the BTU for a range grill. We also have to have a window open in addition to having the hood on full blast if we want to grill a steak at maximum temperature. We've learned this the hard way- the fire department has been out a couple of times due to smoke alarms... But then again, in the dead of winter, the heat of the stove more than makes up for the cold air let in by the open window.

Of course, it all depends on how you cook. A permanent griddle would be pretty useless for us. My wife might use it a bit more often than we've used our griddle (it's a bit of a hassle switching out the griddle and grill), but I have no idea what I'd use it for... I don't cook pancakes, grilled cheese sandwiches, quesadillas, or anything else that a griddle is useful for. My wife occasionally makes these things but not that often, and if she didn't, I wouldn't miss them. But, if you think you'll make pancakes more often than you'll grill zucchini, then a griddle is possibly right for you.

I'm not that into carbonizing our interior environment. You are breathing that stuff.
 
originally posted by Brad Widelock:
NWR: stove recommendations, pleaseA kitchen remodel is upon us, and we need a new stove. Any suggestions? We were captivated by the Thermador Professional Series but have seen some negative reviews. We only need four burners, but want a range that has enough space for large cookware.

Thanks,

Brad

It's not cool, it's not beautiful, but the GE Profile Dual Fuel does everything I want it to do. Gas on top, quick electric heating, convection down below.

dr bob
 
originally posted by dr bob:
GE Dual Fuel
originally posted by Brad Widelock:
NWR: stove recommendations, pleaseA kitchen remodel is upon us, and we need a new stove. Any suggestions? We were captivated by the Thermador Professional Series but have seen some negative reviews. We only need four burners, but want a range that has enough space for large cookware.

Thanks,

Brad

It's not cool, it's not beautiful, but the GE Profile Dual Fuel does everything I want it to do. Gas on top, quick electric heating, convection down below.

dr bob

When I first moved to Austin we rented a condo that had a GE Monogram cooktop and a GE Monogram wall oven. They looked great, but....

The cooktop performed poorly and was dangerous to boot, with flames that would suddenly come up around the side of the pan and burn my hands. Never been burned so often or so badly before. The oven failed constantly - whoever designed the control boards never considered that ovens get hot, so the board would fail when broiling or when running the self-cleaning cycle. Both items get the culinary equivalent of DNPIM.

I will say that the GE Monogram side-by-side freezer/refrigerator worked perfectly.
 
Andrew, those GEs were installed incorrectly. There are fans that turn on when you turn the ovens off and are working to cool off the system so the control sensors don't burn up. I bet your fans did not operate. I had a GE wall oven that kept burning out the sensors and it was only when researching for its replacement that i learned this.
 
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