i have that, too with my KA. my wall ovens are in the counter and i have wondered the same thing. i am having a service guy come today and i'll ask! thanks for any addtl info

I was also concerned about the level of heat from the oven door but opted for the Bluestar anyways, my first choice. I've had it for a little over a month and while it does give off some heat it's not as bad as I thought it would be. I can keep my hand on the oven door and not burn myself. The newer ones now come with vents along the side of the oven doors to help the heat from building up too much so maybe this has made a big improvement. The inside of my cabinets on the side of my range does not get hot. Nor has the laminate counter top melted or get hot from using the 22K burners. Stirfrying is amazing with those burners if that's your cooking preference. I understand your safety concerns. I'm more worried that my 10 year old will burn himself using the top of the stove when he's making his omelettes and pancakes but so far that hasn't happened. I wouldn't let him use the wok though, as there are serious flames up the sides of the wok, maybe as he gets older. But that's my point, you need to teach your kids how to be responsible around the stove. Just keep an eye on the toddlers while they are in the kitchen (afterall ANY stove with front knobs will tweek their curiosity). But don't fret, if they accidently touch the front, they will feel heat but in my opinion it won't be a bad "ouch". And just remember, kids will grow up faster than you think, so get the range that will make you happy in the long run.

You bring up an excellent topic. I have actually decided going against buying a Bluestar over this past week with a large contributing factor to the heat issue. I was up at Eurostoves looking at a Capital and while there took the tour of the other stoves they offer and the Bluestar was hands down, the hottest (and not in a good way) stove there. The door sides and kick plate were obscenely hot. I have a 3 and 1.5-year old and this is certainly a huge concern and a deciding factor for me and my children. Question to the crowd, what do you consider an acceptable radiant temperature of a stove?

Hi, everyone. My wife and I just bought a new Kitchenaid Architect II gas range. Last night I cranked it up to 550 degrees to bake pizza. I noticed that the metal exterior on the side gets super hot--too hot to touch, in fact. Is this normal? And is it a fire hazard? It's very odd to me that there seems to be no insulation at all under the metal panels; they sound hollow. Is there a good-quality (but under $1000) range that does not have this problem? Thanks for any advice or info.