Ours is an older house, and the stove we are trying to replace has downdraft ventilation (i.e. there's no hood/fan). It's a slide-in range, which makes sense to me for space/aesthetics...

We're planning to replace the electric hookup with a gas hookup. = $300

Slide-in ranges are about $400-$500 more than traditional freestanding ranges, so we expected around $1300.

Thought we were looking at the right things because they look the same, BUT... come to find out, there are only 2(!) slide-in ranges that have a downdraft ventilation....a Jenn-Aire and a Kitchenaid. They're both ugly, made by the same company, they are both about $4k ($3800 for the Kitchenaid and $4000 for the Jenn-aire). That's a lot of money (for us) for a stove, especially one we really dislike!

I wonder... do we really need ventilation? The Max's Appliance/Service guy said it's recommended, but there's no code requirement for it...

Anyone have any experience with this? Any alternatives?