Our sides are next to the cabinets so I can't address that one. I have noticed the door warm but never too hot. Also, the same with the knobs, I have noticed them a bit warm when the oven was on but never "burning" hot. Now, I will say the oven vents at the back of the range do get very hot (duh!) but I was dumb enough to try to get a bit of grease off of it before it cooled down. Totally my bad on that one - but I won't do it again.

I would go ahead and have AR come check it out if it is so hot. Let us know.

Hmmm, this is my concern too. I test cooked on an American Range at the distributor and after doing lots of cooking, including broiling, I noticed the top, front metal edge above the knobs was VERY hot - a bit of a concern with kids or frankly, almost anyone else. The rep assured me this was only because we had been broiling, but still! It did seem "too" hot to me.

I posted here and others said they had not really had the problem, at least not to a level of concern, so I will be very interested to hear what resolution you get from AR since I have been planning to order mine any day. Also wonder if any/all other pro-styles do or do not have this problem or if this is truly a common thing. ???

I called American Range...they said it is acceptable for those surfaces to reach 145 degrees by law or industry standard, but I still requested they come out to take a look, which hopefully will happen quickly. They also said sometimes in shipping the front door will shift and therefore not close tightly, so whenever you use the oven heat will escape and heat up those other surfaces. I will keep you posted on the results of the visit.

Other than this issue, we love the range. Excellent control, huge oven, beautiful....

Can someone explain what the 145 degrees feels like? We are planning to get a 36" gas range too and I roast all the time at 450. But I may have to rethink my choice if it gets hot. On my current 30" gas range, the oven door and knobs just get pleasantly warm, nothing too hot to touch.

Moose, Any update?

UPDATE:

Called AR and they sent out a service company to handle it. The net of the service call was that something is wrong. They are pretty sure the door is warped, allowing heat to escape at the very least on the top part of the door. The technician was able to slip a piece of paper in between the door and oven which is not supposed to happen. He took the temp of the metal lip above the door and it was higher than 200 degrees, well above the accepted temp of 130-145 (we've heard different numbers). As far as the sides, they too were above standards. They are not sure if this is also the result of the warped door or if the burner shifted during shipping or something.

So they are sending new parts and the tech will have to come out and replace. They are sending a new door, a new burner I think, and parts for another problem with a delayed ignition. While the tech was here, he and my wife noticed flame coming out of the fan at the back top of the unit when turning on the broiler- we hadn't noticed this before, but this is a problem too and abnormal.

Currently, we expect them to come in about a week to fix. We requested that they just replace the range, but they said this is an easy fix and should resolve all issues. I made it clear that should this not fix the range, we would want a new one.

Will update again next week when the repair takes place.

I have a Wolf AG range at home and a DCS range at our vacation home. Both get pretty hot on the front above the oven door and at the skirt when baking/roasting at high temps for long periods of time. In fact, the DCS knobs got hot enough that I used a potholder to turn them on/off the other day when I was burning off the new oven. Hot enough that you wouldn't want to touch the surface but I don't know if it would blister the skin. I think this is the nature of pro-style ranges. It would be an issue for me if I had little ones underfoot. My older kids are big enough to fend for themselves but I will be a hawk when my little niece and nephew visit at holidays as I wouldn't want them to burn themselves, especially in my kitchen.

My Bluestar gets too hot to touch anywhere on the front (except for the knobs and handle) after using the oven at essentially any temperature for any period of time. I had a Wolf AG and can't honestly remember if it ever got quite that hot.

Zoenipp, is your DCS a self cleaning model?

I should clarify this. I just baked muffins at 350 for 20 minutes at the end of which I could touch nothing from the drip tray down. The knobs, the face around the knobs and the handle were fine, the rest: no way.

Baked some frozen mozzarella sticks for the kiddos yesterday for a snack at 475 for 10 minutes or so - the knobs were fine - no problems.

Hope all goes quickly with the resolution from American. Let us know.

I am considering this range so after reading moose186's post I called AR and asked them about it. They said nothing should get hot to the touch because the oven is very well insulated. So I hope the repair helps.

moose, any update?

Here is the update (sorry, I was on vacation for a bit):
In a nutshell, the new parts didn't fix the heat issue, so they ended up sending a new one. AR was great about it and didn't put up a fight. The new one seems to be better- some surfaces still get pretty hot but the knobs definitely do not get as hot. This was based on the time we spent burning off the stove when the new one came in...we still have not used the oven for cooking (plan to tonight). I'll write back if there are still any issues during normal cooking use - otherwise assume that all is acceptable. Overall I was pleased with their customer service and willingness to address the issue. I encourage everyone having similar issues to call them on it- the more people that do the more they will address the issue moving forward. I think it is a great range and would probably buy one again next time we move.

(Apologies in advance for the ridiculously long update...)

We've had our replacement range for a few months now.

To be fair, we haven't used it much. It still gets hot but I haven't tested it to the limits I tested the first range. To be honest, I'm a little paranoid about our adjacent cabinets!

My observations about the heat:
1. Realizing it is a professional range, I understand that it will get warm/hot. However, we have friends with a Thermador, which doesn't get hot at all; in fact, the surface barely gets warm. Not sure if it's fair to compare the two, but it is something I wonder about. If anyone has an argument about that, I welcome it because it would make me feel better! I also read someone else's comment here that her neighbor's (I think?) American range stays COOL. Okay, totally not the case here!

2. We tested the FIRST range for great lengths of time. When the repair person was testing it, we probably had it on for about 30-45 minutes at 450 before the surface temperature (on sides) approached the maximum indicated temp, and 1+ hours when it got scorching hot. The repair person, who works only with pro ranges, could not touch the sides for more than a second. He could touch the knobs for maybe 3 seconds. He told me his fingers were pretty used to high temps!

3. I had the REPLACEMENT range on for about 1.25-1.5 hours last week at 350. It wasn't nearly as hot as the first range, but it was still warm. For reference, I could touch the knobs (hot, but not scorching), and could hold my fingers on the side for about 5 seconds. On the previous range, I needed an oven mitt to turn the knob after about 1 hour. NOTE: *I'm not saying the new one is faulty at all, but I know some people have asked what 'too hot' is so I wanted to give a point of reference.*

So, I haven't left the replacement range on for 1.5 hours at 450 like the first one because I'm a little nervous. I know some might argue that yes, this is what happens at high temps for long periods of time, but what do you do when you need to roast a turkey for hours? Of course we keep our little ones out of the kitchen, but I'm more worried about cabinets melting!

On to our next set of issues w/ the replacement range:

*We did the burn in for about 2 hours the day it was installed. Like I said, we haven't used it much so the burn in smell was apparent for awhile, but there was also a gas smell. After awhile, the burn in went away but the gas smell is still there for the first 5-10 minutes. We've been waiting on this issue because we wanted to make sure it wasn't the burn in we were smelling. When we first turn the oven on, the flame does not light for a few minutes, which I'm guessing has something to do with it. (?)

*Also, when we first turn the oven on, the window fogs up as if there is condensation inside, and it's oddly spotty too, as if there is mildew (?). It goes away after a few minutes as well, but I don't remember that happening with the first range. Does this happen for anyone else?

I wrote the rep about these things a couple of days ago, but didn't hear back. Today I wrote another contact, but didn't hear back from him either. I'll give them a few days and write again I guess. The customer service was great with the heat issues. They tried to fix the first range with a whole slew of parts, and when that didn't work, they replaced the entire thing -- that was very nice. So I feel bad complaining... but I have to admit I'm a little disappointed.

On the upside, it's a gorgeous range, and the burners are incredible! Also, it is ridiculously easy to clean (the top of it, that is). It wipes up beautifully. I just wish the oven worked the way I think it should!

jll, thanks very much for your post. Makes me want to fire up the oven and see if I can touch the knobs after an hour -- seriously...maybe I'll try that tomorrow.

I'll check on the window fogging up too.

I agree that the top is easy to keep clean -- we love that aspect of it.

flyleft, did you get a chance to try?

Jll, yes, thanks for the update. I am very close to ordering this range, and I am a big oven user and like roasting all kinds of things at 450, and I have kids who help in the kitchen, and we have an open floor plan where the kitchen is open to both living room and family room so it would be impossible to have everyone out of the kitchen each time the oven is on.

So to me this is very important. When this issue was first brought up by moose, I called American and asked them. I don't remember who I spoke with but the answer was that the oven is very well insulated so the knobs etc. shouldn't get hot to the touch, just warm.

I'd love to hear what happens at 450 degrees if anyone decides to try.

I wrote three different people at American and finally called today and spoke with Bert. He is going to set up a service call (and, he was very nice).

He said the condensation was normal, but he thought I was talking about the other side of the glass and it is actually inside the glass (or between the glass windows?), i.e. I wouldn't be able to wipe it down from the inside. So he's double-checking on that but thought that was normal.

He also said it is normal to smell gas for the first 5 minutes or so, but no longer than that.

I'm going to fire it up again tonight and make sure I'm getting all my times right and time how long exactly it takes for the flame to light. He said it's normal for that to take a minute, but no more than that.

I'm hoping I'm either wrong about the times, or all of it is an easy fix. I'll report back when I find out! I don't think there is much I can do about the heat as it just gets warm. The knobs get warm, the sides get hot. Hopefully just not hot enough to melt anything!

(I just remembered that we cooked a pork tenderloin in the oven last week, and the right half of it cooked faster than the left half, ~15 minutes faster. So something is off! I don't know how I forgot about that until now.)

flyleft: Anxious to hear how yours is working. Hopefully your knobs stay warm (even cool)!

While I was using my Bluestar last night I did some checking on heat. The oven was at 375 and had been for about 25 minutes. The knobs were totally fine as was the face plate behind the knobs. Handle was fine as well. But, every part of the door was hot. Strangely, the left side of the oven door was not so hot that I couldn't keep my hand on it for a few seconds but the right side was too hot to keep my hand on at all. And I do mean at all. The kickplate was a complete write-off in terms of being able to touch it at all. I find the difference between sides of the oven door to be curious and I still think it's crazy that the thing gets that hot at all. Incredibly, no one in my household (including a toddler) has made any contact with the hot parts at all within a year.

So, now it's been two weeks since I wrote Bert (OVER two weeks since I wrote others at American), and I have yet to hear back from them. Needless to say, I'm pretty frustrated with American at this point. If I don't hear back from them soon, I definitely won't be recommending them for their customer service anymore. Don't know what happened between our first round of problems and this, but I find this lack of response pretty disappointing.

Flyleft, how is your range holding up?

Ah, jll -- I meant to write you and I thought I had. That *stinks* about customer service problems. I finally got someone to come out to help with the curb base, but no broil pan is on the horizon yet.

I have made cupcakes recently and both times I had the oven on for about an hour (including pre-heat). It was only set to 350, so this isn't as valid a test as it could be, but although the *door* got too hot (ironically not the glass) to touch for long, the knobs only got what I'd call very warm--I could definitely touch them for however long, just that they were warm. I wouldn't have wanted to touch the metal front, though.

I'll try to have a reason to run the oven at 450 for a while (maybe pizza this weekend?) and I'll let you know.

Bert, call jll back!