re: I'm looking for a slide in gas range

Team BlueStar checking in. Buy once, cry once. I'll never need to buy another range, ever. 30", 4-burner RNB, with a nice, wide oven space, triple racks (including a heavy duty lower rack w/ball bearing extension slides). High BTU output on front two burners, a low BTU simmer burner, and an in-between burner. It is an unsealed cooktop--so boilovers, etc pass through to the pull out drip trays below. The flame pattern means no cold spot in the middle of a pan....

Best part: NO ELECTRONICS. It has a flip switch for the interior light, and a flip switch for the convection fan. C'est tout. The electric igniters are easily changed w/a phillips head screwdriver. I will never need to call a repairman...I can literally fix it myself. (I've changed the oven igniter, as the overzealous house cleaner sprayed way way too much oven cleaner & corroded it.)

There are pros and cons of each brand: the BS has a cast iron top, so it's not pretty/shiny/sleek. It's a beast. If you want performance and don't care about frills like a built-in timer, silly preset oven modes, or have experienced the incredibly high failure rates of printed circuitboards in high-heat, high grease appliances, you will love the BS.

Did I mention the 1800 degree infrared broiler?

In NOLA, Louis Howat is the distributor, but IIRC, Howat only does wholesale. You can buy retail through Huey Brown Kitchens and pick up at Howat. Howat's showroom should have at least one hooked up to gas, so you can try it out. Or you can buy online through AJ Madison.