I've been researching stoves/ranges and am heavily drawn to the slide-in options because they look built in and aren't that much more money. I just think getting rid of that backsplashy thing on the stove is a much nicer, cleaner look. And, I love the idea of eliminating spills between the sides of the stove and counter top. Conversely, though, the other look I love (which is a heckuva lot more money) is the pro range with the over-sized stainless backsplash and high shelf, which is a really integrated look with the fan hood on top. It's just probably much more money than I can justify. I've been thinking a lot about what matters to me most in a range and cleanability at very near the top of that list. I'm tired of cleaning grates, drip pans, burners, stovetops, etc, etc, etc. I find stoves a pain in the bum to clean. For that reason, I'm even considering switching away from gas to a smooth-top. The ones I am seeing don't have that backsplash built-in, either.

Our GE Profile has a vent at the back too. But I can't say I have ever had a bunch of smoke or anything coming out of it. It almost doesn't seem to emit smells from back there. The oven seems so air tight that you can only smell what is baking once you open the door. And we have had to adjust to being careful not to get our faces too close when we open the door as the heat and moisture blast could singe eyebrows! So I am not sure what that part actually vents but it is an open vent. I do use this (see link) spatter guard when I am frying or making a tomato based sauce to prevent excess splattering all over everything. But I have still gotten tomato and grease on the backsplash and it has just wiped off. I don't leave it there and clean up as soon as I can. The product I used was recommended by our tile supplier. It is called aqua Mix Rapid Cure (Sealer's Choice Gold) Good for granite, marble, limestone, travertine,porous tile and grout. I only used it on our tile backsplash. Not on our granite countertops. This is it: Aqua Mix But I would test it on a scrap or clear it with your fabricator.

This site is awesome. Timely conversation, as our designer recommended we move our range from a peninsula (that will become an island) to an outside wall, for better function. It is a GE Cafe dual fuel 30 inch range with the island trim, put in just over 3 years ago. After finding this thread, found an online install information, with the only recommendation to be 2 1/2 inches from the wall in the back and 3 inches clearance on the sides, and they had no recommendations for the wall behind the stove otherwise. I called GE and the service department there confirmed that this island trim oven was ok to use on a wall counter, and that to just follow code for the wall behind it. No recommendations other than the 2 1/2 inches from the back. I discussed this with our designer, who had just recommended only 24 inch counters, and the quartz backsplash, who was pretty noncommital about needing any changes. When I did say I cook sourdough bread at least twice a week, with 500 degree ovens for warmup, she said to get tile or real stone, but didn't need to change the counter depth as the tile was the fireproofing. It will be fairly easy for us to deepen the counter about 3 inches, I will just need to have a 30 inch sink rather than a 33 inch sink on the counter that will now be 3 inches less wide. But that will be just me and our countertop/cabinet group, not sure if it is worth it to convince our designer of what is common sense to me. Now we get to work on backsplashes. This range has the simmer and smaller burners in the back, with the larger speed boil burners in the front, so not sure what the fireproof wall in the back needs to be.

This thread has been very informative for me as we are just starting a kitchen reno, so thank you to all contributors. We plan to do a quartz backsplash, including behind a 30" wide residential gas cooktop (not a range or stove). Please bear with me as I continue to explain! I looked at the specs of the cooktop I was planning to order. Based on those specs and assumption the new quartz countertop depth is 25.5" (I know assumptions are risky, but since 25.5" is what we have now and considered standard, I'm going with that for this example), my calculations are: 25.5" (countertop depth) - 21.25" (cooktop depth) - 3" (min distance from rear wall) - 1.875" (min distance from counter front) = -0.625" Which means I'm 5/8" short, and this isn't taking into account the thickness of the quartz backsplash, which I believe should not be included in the 3" from rear wall guideline from the cooktop manufacturer. Sorry if I'm hurting anyone's brain with math today! Just looking for some validation my logic is correct in how I should be calculating. And also curious if my belief the distance from the rear of the cooktop to the front of the quartz backsplash (not wall) should be 3." I plan to look for a different cooktop, hopefully one that is closer to 20" deep and add the backguard just to be safe (thanks to @Elizabeth Alvarez Sell for sharing her backguard photo)!