Hi! We are looking at the Blue Star RNB 36" range. You may want to check them out. you can also pick a custom enameled color (we will do stainless....but I love the blue!) Blue Star is made near us in PA but not as pricey as the Wolf. I like the range for our kitchen as it frees up space for more storage. Plus for my cooking style I do not feel the need for a double wall oven. Good luck.

To me anything over $2000 would be deluxe. The Blue Star is very nice but just too many $$$

Here's a picture of a nice range and hood, in stainless. It doesn't have the windows on both sides, but I think it would look nice in your layout :)
{{!gwi}}From Kitchen plans

What ranges for $2K are you considering? Convection?

Like a Maytag or GE glass top? I have one.
We don't have gas, and no room for separate cooktop/wall ovens.
It's not what I'd call sexy! :)
But we don't do all that much cooking and it suits our needs.

IMO, the sleeker, slide-ins, are a sexier look. and allow for cool over-the-range backsplashes. :)

So would the separate cooktop.

You pretty much have to spend for a Northstar, or find an old really cool range and rehab it, or spring for something like the all stainless baby pictured above to get "good looking" in a high backed free standing range. :)

I'm seeing and hearing from the responses that a freestanding range just isn't going to be "sexy" enough as biochem suggests. Since we're not into gourmet cooking a basic cooktop and wall oven will suffice. We'll lose some but gain some other things, so I'm good with that too. At least this isn't one of those things that will frustrate the design process.

Thanks for all your help.

Separating oven and cooktop will go significantly over your budget for the range. $500 at the least expensive. Plus you will have to add at minimum $1500 to your budget for the two extra cabinets--and that is in a in a cheap cabinet line. Plus you lose 30" of counterspace.

It would be better visually and cheaper long term to increase your budget by the extra 2K that going the cooktop/oven route would be in order to be able to afford the sleek pro look that you want from the beginning. I'll say it again, but my GE Cafe isn't that far out of your budget and will give you the two ovens and high BTU burner that you are looking for. Or a NXR. Or Bluestar. Or Capital. Or just a plain Electrolux slide-in.

Sexy enough? I guess I'm going more for cozy and comfortable...some place to curl up with a book, while I'm waiting for the cookies to bake :)

I guess I'm thinking 'favorite pair of slippers' rather than 'five inch heels' (LOL)

Here are all the electric 30" wide ranges at AJ Madison, freestanding and slide in between $1000 and $1999.

You actually have 69 choices, 22 of which are slide-ins.

There are enough good looking options that you should find either a slide in or a freestanding that has the features you want

Here is a link that might be useful: Electric Ranges

I don't remember your layout offhand (short-term recall problem, sorry). Must it be the main focal point? I.e., is it what's right there when you look toward the kitchen? Could something else be the main focal point?

Our stove is in that position, but a cooktop with drawers below is hardly an eyecatcher, so we had a carpenter build us a hood with display shelf above that is worth looking at.

I don't remember your layout offhand (short-term recall problem, sorry). Must it be the main focal point? I.e., is it what's right there when you look toward the kitchen? Could something else be the main focal point?

As it happens, our stove is in that important position, but a cooktop with drawers below is hardly an eyecatcher, so we had a carpenter build us a hood with display shelf above that is worth looking at.

Lavender, "sexy" in this sense is a sort of business term.

We say "He's got the sexy project", meaning it's the most desirable one.

Like a banker saying something is the NKI. LOL!

It's not meant to be taken literally.

Well, after all the posts on appliance porn, etc...I'm starting to wonder. (LOL)

Aloha- What about a pop of color? Can you find a great blue or red range, in your budget? I'd love a dark blue range :)

Make sure you like the way the sides are done. There was someone on here who bought a very fancy range and from the side it's all exposed.

At under $2000, I think the only potentially-sexy ranges are electrolux (because they look different/more modern) and the Kenmore 40" models, if you can fit them - those 40"ers have a lot of presence, and could definitely make a centerpiece. It looks like you are looking for electric, with the reference to glass tops, but if gas is an option you could also look at NXR. At a couple hundred more, you could go for GE Cafe.

Alternately, I am *sure* you can get something sexier for sub-$2000 if you haunt warehouse/clearance outlet options, or if you look for the right vintage range on craigslist/ebay...there are some really cool older colored ranges out there for surprisingly cheap, if you are in the right area.