All gas and electric ovens have passive-vented (via thermal convection) baking cavities to dissipate moisture emanating from the cooking food. There may be a poof of steam/moisture come out when the door is opened, but passive venting is still occurring when the door is closed. In some cases the exterior location of the cavity vent may not be apparent. The house my parents built in 1964 had an electric wall oven, the vent outlet was hidden at the top behind a chrome frame that surrounded the unit. Venting the oven cavity and cooling electronic controls are not the same thing. Ovens that don't have electronic controls do still have passive venting for the cooking cavity. Electronic controls are often power-cooled by way of a fan, but oven cavities are not ... it would be counterproductive to attempt heating the cooking cavity and at the same time be actively blowing/exhausting room air through it. Convecting baking is not the same thing -- the fan circulates air *within* the oven cavity, it doesn't exhaust/vent the cavity. Ovens, wall ovens in particular, that garner complaints about a noisy fan blowing hot air into the kitchen are not venting the cooking cavity via that fan ... the air flow is exhausting accumulated heat from *inside* the unit's exterior shell where the control boards are located, but *outside* the baking cavity. Stooxie, yes absolutely, my GE Profile range has the oven vent located toward the right side beneath the control panel. The control panel rises 11-inches high from the cooktop surface with 4-inches of it being a "toe-kick" space. Cooktop controls are rotary switches but the oven controls/timer are a flat electronic panel. There is NO cooling fan for the panel, and it does get VERY warm during self cleaning ... to the point that last time I ran a cleaning cycle, I set a small fan to blow across the panel (helped a lot).

I have had gas and electric ranges over the years, but for the last 30+ I have cooked on electric until I moved and our new condo had a gas range. Everyone was all agog over it and told me I would LOVE the gas range that it was so much better than electric. For the last 20 years before our move, I cooked on smooth top electric ranges and loved them! But everyone kept telling me gas was better. Turns out, I DO NOT love the gas range. It doesn't boil water as fast as my electric one did and seems to take forever to preheat the oven. And I've had a hard time adjusting to the fact that if I don't use hot pads to remove my pans off the stove top, I'll burn my hands. And don't leave your stirring spoon in the pot for more than a second if you don't want to burn off a finger or two. My cookies don't rise -and they're either not done enough or too done, can't get it just right like before. AND the worst part is cleaning it! That's the main reason I switched to a smooth top all those years ago - they take a little getting used to the different cleaning method, but when you learn the tricks, they're a breeze compared to the old coil or this gas behemoth! It takes me a good hour to clean around all the burners and try to be careful not to get cleaner or food down those little slots around the sides. And even using a degreaser detergent, it still looks greasy after going over it several times. Give me my smooth top back! . . . where I can just scrap off the burnt on food with a razor blade - or if there isn't anything burnt on, I can just wipe on a little cleaner and polish it off with a paper towel. When wiping down the countertops with a little dish soap, I can include the stovetop and keep it sparkling clean on a daily basis. I have severe arthritis in my hands and moving those heavy grates off the top and then the cleaning around all the little places is just a little too much for me (not to mention getting gunk off the grates). That is why, after 2 1/2 years of trying to get used to it, I have decided to replace my gas range with a brand new smooth top electric range. People tell me I must be CRAZY because I'm the only person they know who prefers electric over gas. The only thing I will miss is turning off the heat immediately when something boils over. So I will have to get used to moving the pan off again. But it's worth it to me to clean up a boil over on the smooth top vs. the gas burner-cover-slots thing. AND I'll have my wonderful convection oven back and maybe my cookies too!

Solution: (in case anyone else comes here looking for one) I cut a rectangular hole as far down the wall as I could go (just touching the 2x4" horizontal wall plate) just to the side of where the wire feeds through, and big enough to fit in two 1x2" boards behind the drywall. I cut a rectangular 1x1" cutout in one of those boards on one side and near the center; the wire will feed through there. I glued the boards in place behind the drywall and waited until dry. While waiting, I attached a black, keyhole-shaped surface-mount 220V, 30amp receptacle to the wire; red and black hots on either side, ground to green, white at remaining location. Tighten to 20 lbs. I used a wire clamp at the back hole of the receptacle. I then cut a piece of drywall out to fit the hole and cut a rectangle near the bottom to fit over the wire mounting clamp. I glued this to the wood supports. When dry, I drilled holes for the receptacle back mounting screws, but used longer round-head screws to ensure it attached to the wood supports. In the end, the receptacle is secure to the wall, and can withstand plug insertion and removal (which was the goal of this whole tedious exercise). It looks great.

Just to clarify, I think wekick's reference to "American" was to the American Range Company which makes a series of pro-styled gas wall ovens with (IIRC) the model name "Legacy Series." As wekick says, there have been tons of discussions here on the subject. If you were having trouble finding them, try going out to google with this search string, "gardenweb + gas ovens versus electric ovens." The topic most frequently comes up in discussions of dual fuel ranges, so you can search on that topic as well. You are correct about the current paltry selection of gas wall ovens. You may be able to find more at the Sears web site, but my recollection is that most of them were 24" models designed to fit in spaces for older models. Also, FWIW, most of those major brand models have the same kinds of circuit board controls found on pretty much all major brand ovens and ranges, electric and gas. As far as I could tell (from the last time I helped a friend shop for a replacement oven), you only get get "simple" with the premium priced pro-styled gas oven models from the likes of Blue Star and American Range.