Bertazzoni does have a self-clean feature on their dual fuel model. I take it you want all gas? Monogram has a self-cleaning all gas range and it's a very attractive range ... not sure if it has the character you're looking for, though. Viking, too, has a self-cleaning all gas range and lots of people choose them solely for their character!

I don't know what a pre-heating temperature option is. Does this mean like a pre-timer you can set way ahead of time and leave something in to start to cook hours later? Is this like a sabbath mode?

I too wanted something in a 30" with character, non-stainless, and self-cleaning. After endless hours of research and shopping, I ended up with a non self-cleaning, stainless, just-discontinued AG Wolf with open burners. I'd say among stainless ranges it does have some character, but it lacks most of the features you want. I guess I finally came to the decision that I was going to go for function over form.

Many people are very concerned that the ultra high temperatures of the self-cleaning mode shorten the life of a range because the electronic circuitry can be fried. The possbility that the electronics can go out quickly and lead to very expensive repairs of computer boards is the reason that many people here tend to stick with the more basic, all gas, high end, non self-cleaning ranges that are not difficult to repair.

Viking comes in colors but has poor reports on reliability.
Aga has character but is 36"
Ilve not much info on these.
Bluestar, color, but no self-clean.
Capital has color.
Someone (Kitchenaid ??) has a new Fire and Ice collection of white floating glass.
Pretty much the rest of the players are stainless steel boxes.

needinfo1 - we currently have a 10+ years Whirlpool gas range. When we need to use the oven we choose the temperature setting and pre-heats the oven. As soon as it reaches its desired temperature setting a ringer goes off indicating that the oven has reached to desired temperature and we are able to use it.

My husband and I have created a list of must haves:

1. Simmer
2. Grates across the top
3. Easy clean grates
4. Even temperature throughout the oven to even cook/bake food
5. Open burner
6. Self cleaning ( husband option)
7. Timer

I have done some homework and found out about the potential safety issue posed by the self cleaning option. Manually cleaning an oven is fine with me as long as it is not a labour intensive task.

I really do not like the 'stainless steel boxes' and want something that does not look so industrial. Every I look I see stainless steel and it is not appealing.

I love aga but we are looking for 30 inch :( I will keep looking.

Thanks

I just remembered that the American Range comes in colors if that will meet your criteria (there are a couple things I think it doesn;t have like a timer, but you can always buy a $10 kitchen timer). We were actually all set to get one of these (in a color) until we discovered it is just a tad too deep for our configuration.

Some ovens have a rapid preheat cycle in which all the elements come on to preheat a little quicker. If you have a 3rd element for convection it can involve 3 elements. If you are baking something like a cake or cookies, you might want to still wait awhile to let the oven equilibrate.

Its been posted here before and those that understand how ovens work know that just because the over says it is pre-heated doesn't mean that it really is. Most ovens with a preheat indicator simply take the temperature of the air inside the oven. As soon as you open the door all that hot air escapes in the oven temperature drops precipitously. The better strategy is to preheat the oven and leave the door closed for at least 20 minutes after the preheat indicator goes off. That gives the walls of the oven time to reach the proper temperature so that when the door is opened and the hot air escapes the oven temperature doesn't drop as much.