# Need of serious Advice here! BlueStar 48" vs WOLF 48". (NEW HOUSE!)



## jensnewhouse (Apr 17, 2013)

Friends, 

We just purchased a new home for our family.  It needs a new kitchen (YAY!) my favorite part of the house   I'm a cook at home, but I do some serious cooking at home- not a ton of baking though.  My old house I had a VIKING- many issues with that. 

I automatically assumed I'd buy a WOLF range for this new house, but now after a bunch of research, I've come across so many blogs and reviews about BLueSTar. 

Can you guys help me, I'm not a professional chef, not in the kitchen business.. but I do some serious cooking at home. What do you guys think of the BlueStar?  Is it a risk to have a commercial range like BlueSTar with 22 BTU inside a home (vs restaurant). Does it pose risks to our safety? Is it too powerful for a home?  (heat on the doors and the large high output flame)  Does the hood need to vent to the outside, and do the surrounding cabinets and drawers need to be further apart from the range because heat? 

Sorry for all these questions, but I'm so curious about BlueStar and have heard it's a better product than WOLF-  or that we get more for our $$. 

Please share, I welcome all advice. 

Best, 

Jen


----------



## robbie rensel (Feb 21, 2013)

Jen,

Great questions! Sometimes it can be so confusing trying to find the right kitchen appliances for your new kitchen. It is such an important decision that it should not be made lightly, so kudos for reaching out on Chef Talk. First of all, when I am helping individuals design their kitchen and pick out appliances I always go to how they will be cooking and the most important features. Then aesthetics come into play later with the overall design of the kitchen and home. It sounds like you do a lot of cooking for yourself and family as well as entertaining. These are huge things to consider when talking about appliances. When it comes to Wolf and Bluestar they are both great appliance brands but have a few differences. Wolf is going to be high functionality at a premium price purely designed and adapted to the home. They look great, function great, but are very expensive. Bluestar has some great features, but the aesthetics are highly lacking, because they are designed to look like commercial appliances and some functionality is over kill for the residential cook. I think you may be paying for things you will not use. The question is how do you cook and what components are really important to you? High heat? Griddle? Grill? Broiler? Multi functional oven? Low heat control for delicate sauces and such. Are you putting in a warming drawer? Are you doing just a range or wall ovens and other appliances too? With my company we have cooked for many wealthy people in some extremely nice homes and we have worked on all the appliance brands in all types of configurations. P.S. the 22,000 BTU's is fine for the home and you do not need any special considerations, just a beefy hood (over 1000 CFM's with a nice broad design to catch the extra heat.) Here is my suggestion.

You can get something that is feature rich with a lot of control that allows you to replicate some restaurant techniques and looks pretty. This is a post I wrote with someone that had a simliar question.

With me it comes down to Wolf and Thermador because both are fantastic quality products that really rock in the kitchen. I like the 8 burner Wolf, but I think there is a little better options out there especially for someone who cooks.

Look into the Thermador Pro Grand Steam Range: Link attached http://www.thermador.com/cooking/ra...-grand-commercial-depth-dual-fuel-steam-range

This thing is a hoss and destroys anything that is on the market. First of all you were talking about burners. This has 6, 18,000 BTU burners and one that is 22,000 BTU, which is rockingly hot. You can effectively use this as a wok burner for a small wok. It also has a griddle that is thermostat controlled. I love that because you not only get a griddle, which is consistent and even but you can use it like a kinda sorta french top. Turn it down to 200 and hold sauce or soups, or crank it up to cook on. You gain functionality without loosing two burners. It also has a grill attachment that is great for quick things like burgers, fish, shrimp, etc... Also, 4 burners have extra low, which will soon to be one of your favorite functions of the stove top. I can melt chocolate right on the stove top without burning it.

Onto the ovens. One of them is just a regular convection oven, pretty standard. The other one is a combi steam oven, which is awesome! you can do all steam, all convection, or steam convection. You will get better product out of this oven and it will be like transporting a little restaurant into your kitchen. It will soon to be your most used piece of equipment in the kitchen. I won't go into all of its features, but just know you will get a better product for most all things. Once again, you gain functionality, but do not loose a convection oven.

It also has a warming drawer built into the range, which is nice.

Finally, they are running a promotion that if you buy the range you get a free dishwasher, and a rockin dishwasher at that. If you buy refrigeration too, you get the hood and blower free. Awesome deal! http://www.thermador.com/about/promotions


----------



## whtwtrman79 (Sep 27, 2013)

any updates on this all too frequent debate, i am building a new home and need to make that all important decision of range, have planned for a 48 inch and really want a griddle, dont really bake too much, but love to cook, had narrowed it down to blue star AG 48, Wolf all gas 48, and even thought about the duel fuel kitchenaide based on price, recently saw the new blue star platinum that has the interchangeable grill griddle combo and am considering driving to reading PA (8hrs) to check them out havent actually seen either in use, none of my local retailers sell them

not that the increased BTU's were particularly important but a note is the 25k burners on the blue star


----------

