It's not too big for any kitchen if it's what you want. If you'll use it all, often, and cook your hearts out, it's worth it. If you have no other use for 12" of cabinet space and wouldn't otherwise have a second oven, it might be worth it too. There was a picture floating around here about four years ago of a tiny kitchen, smaller than many closets, in an NYC apartment. It was basically a fridge, a sink, and a massive range. I think it was a 36" professional range, so deeper than normal. There was also a picture of an NYC apartment where the kitchen was basically a wet bar with an induction hot plate built into a drawer. It just depends on how much room you think you need for the actual business of cooking.

Ideally I would consider getting a rangetop and separate ovens so you can get the best of each for your style of cooking. I have a Wolf DF and while I love the way it bakes, it was shot at 4.5 years because of the blue chipping enamel issue, which is a known issue with Wolf and is well documented on this forum. I would love to replace it with another DF but I am just not sold on any yet. Since you are looking at a 48" range, I am assuming you are looking at pro style appliances at the more expensive end. You may hear that gas is moist heat and electric is dry heat and if you just look at the heat source, you might think this. You have to look at the oven as a whole. Gas burners release water as a byproduct of combustion but because they require more ventilation and as soon as it heats and the air flow gets going, this moisture and moisture from your food vents out quickly. This is more drying to the outside of what you are cooking and facilitates browning which is helpful in roasting or even some parts of baking. It does put more heat and moisture into the kitchen. Electric ovens are usually more closed so even though they don't produce water, they will hold on to moisture from food. The increased moisture, in baking, facilitates starch gelatinization so you can have a little more time before the crust sets and this can affect the structure of what you are baking. You can always use convection after the rise is complete to add more air flow so more browning. Electric ovens can have a third/fourth element in the back or corners of the oven that in theory are supposed to make heat more even. Electric ovens have more modes to direct heat from the top or bottom and control air movement with a fan(s). Some have variable fan speeds. This can vary from Miele and Gaggenau that have a multitude of modes to something like Bosch/Electrolux which have less but very usable modes. Another consideration is a combi or steam oven that allows the control of humidity or at least the addition of steam. Thermador is the only manufacturer that had a steam oven in a range but I have no idea how it bakes. Gas is more straight forward with heat from the bottom and just on and off for convection. The advantage for this is that you don't have to have the computer boards that are needed in an electric oven. If you get an electric oven, I would buy an extended service plan for as long as possible because they are so complicated. All ovens can have quirks especially in the high end and it can be difficult to determine what they might be. Read the manuals very carefully. If you narrow it down you can ask more questions or search the brand on this forum. Another difference would be the broiler. Most gas ovens in this range will have an infrared broiler which will have very even heat but can be narrow look at that. It will depend on how you use your broiler what would be better. Some people say electric ovens have a more narrow range of temperature and it might be true in some. As far as an oven being "even" this can be the difficult part. This can mean no hot spots. It can also mean the ability to keep an even temperature. Convection gets a little oversold in this respect. The structure of the oven, if it is well preheated contributes greatly to the evenness of heat in an oven. Convection can change the process of baking by changing the direction of heat. Most recipes were developed in conventional ovens with the heat from the bottom. When you even out the heat, you will get more from the top and sides. You also get the drying at the same time. It can be trial and error as to how this will work. I look at it as a tool and seldom use it the whole time something is cooking. Convection can also cause hot spots especially if you combine an element in the back, so more immediate heat, with a high speed fan. It can have the blow torch effect. This might be more noticeable with things that are prone to burning anyway like something with a lot of sugar.

I have a 36" RNB and BS vent hood and both I would categorize as perfectly fine and the customer service fine for the most part, but lacking in other areas. Honestly, I wonder if my stove and hood were from Bluestar's Land of Misfit Stoves. I REALLY, REALLY wanted to love the items, so it crushes me that they are not living up to my expectations, especially with all the money and time I put into them. The stove's burner bowls (the square part that surrounds the grate) arrived terribly discolored. They do not have an even finish on them, and it looks like one especially has great all over it. One burner would never start, and then when it did, it would create this huge "fireball." None of us would use that burner. They came it fix that. It still does it sometimes, but for the most part that has been remedied. Yay, Bluestar. What is sooooooo annoying, is that the burners click all the time when cooking. The sound you hear when your turn on the burner never goes away. A guy came ti fix it once, said everything was installed properly, jiggled things enough that it didn't do it for a day, but they both do it all the time. Every time I hear that noise, it makes me sad that I have the stove I do. The vent collects grease that drops onto my counter overnight all the time. It collects at the top right screw. I called BS and the CSR asked for a picture, which I texted to him. He said people were looking into it and he would get back to me, but that was three weeks ago. I also paid for a repairman to come out and show me what I was doing wrong, and he couldn't find anything. It is VERY level, and I clean everything. He said it was a design flaw and he took pictures to send the BS rep. Again, two weeks and nothing. The fallen grease is dangerously close to my floor. I also surreptitiously remove the grease that hangs on that screw, because my husband was against BS anything. We wanted me to go with a Wolf stove, so it kills me that I am having all these troubles. There are many things I do like about the stove, but they are masked by the troubles. I don't think they are a terrible company, and I am trying not to flame them here. I am not that type of person. Just when I was researching, I saw NOTHING but positives about BS ranges, so I thought I would put down my alternate experience.

" We thought long and hard about Wolf, but I'm unimpressed with the small cooking area" You are in no way limiting your cooking area or diminishing performance by having the stainless band and slightly narrower burner grates. The cooking area is determined by the burner. The grates the just a support for the pan. I have a Wolf DF range and would not recommend it for other reasons but I regularly use 14" skillets and a griddle that is 15" across. I have a 36" so the burner grates are around 11" wide. If the pan hangs a little over the burner grate it doesn't matter. Many grates look like these. You can use pans bigger than these grates. Also look at the back as some ranges have something sticking up immediately behind the grate. This can be more limiting. The important thing is to have pans that conduct heat well. Factors that affect performance would be BTUs -high heat, for stirfry and rapid heating low end for simmer burner cap- this influences the way heat is delivered to the bottom of the pan. Something like a BlueStar (bottom) keeps the heat to the middle of the pan on big pans or distributes the heat more evenly if the pans are sized to the burner. The capped burner, top, depending on how it is engineered can have a lot of flare on high heat. Notice the Thermador, right is capped and seems to have quite a bit of flare BS on the left Also look at the shape, the BS star shape is good for cast iron, which does not transfer heat well compared to aluminum or copper The Wolf is a dual stacked burner so less flare than some. Some feel there is a cold spot with a capped burner but if you have heat conductive cookware, the heat will be even. The control of the knob also affects performance.