Product review (4 stars): Happy overall, knobs are our concern
When we purchased our new home 3 years ago, the kitchen came without appliances (which I appreciated because I am fairly particular and getting rid of the contractor grade junk in most homes can be a pain).  We investigated MANY appliance options and finally settled on a Cafe stove from GE because of the feature to value ration it represented.  It is a complex problem to buy appliances because you can not see them in operation in the showroom.  I would love to see a store where all the appliances are top notch and actually CONNECTED TO THE UTILITY GRID so you can test them out right there in the store...  Hmmm, possible future endeavor...  But I digress.

In all, we are happy with this range and oven combination.  We purchased the dual oven model and have been satisfied with it.  We use the bottom oven for baking things in 13x9" pans (casseroles, etc.) or on flat sheet (making rolls for Thanksgiving, etc.).  We do not rely on it as a "cooking" oven, but have been VERY satisfied with it as a warming and secondary baking oven.  It's height (or lack thereof) would not allow for large scale baking, but that is the point.  We use it for pan storage (just like an oven with a standard drawer) most of the time and use the oven aspect maybe 10 times a year when entertaining.

The convection oven on the other hand is VERY nice.  We have not had problems with the oven in any way.  Convection is a little bit of a learning curve (you always ask for 25 degrees higher than you want: e.g. punch in 375 when you want to bake at 350), or things do tend to take a bit longer to cook, but low and slow has long been the secret to exceptional cuisine.  Convection is intended to create even heat and perfectly cooked food, but not necessarily speed up your cooking time.  We have not used the probe because we like watching it ourselves and have a remote probe system (available on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/RediCheck-Remote-Cooking-Thermometer-Settings/dp/B0000AQL24/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1327874742&sr=8-1) that lets us carry the readout all over the house.  Very nice when watching football on the holiday and don't have to get up to see how close the roast is to being done...  Cookies are a breeze with this oven and breads, cakes, cupcakes and pies have also been very successful.

I agree with some reviewers that the NUMBERS on the knobs do not correspond to a REAL assessment of the burner intensity.  BUT THAT IS WHY YOU BUY A GAS COOKTOP!  Professional chefs do not rely on the "setting" of the burners (or even the oven).  They LOOK at the flame to determine if it will do what they need.  Compared to an electric or "ceramic" top range, this is a MUCH more accurate control system.  I also agree that there is not a smooth transition from power boil to simmer on any of these burners, but they are controllable enough.  There is a reason a Viking costs $6000.  I expect them to be infinitely adjustable.  For my personal home cooking, I understand that the controls may be a bit of a compromise.  The griddle has always been exceptional for our purposes, and we have even done bacon on it on low settings.  Heating is even, though not COMPLETELY flat.  The large central burner does a superior job to any "bridge" griddle I have ever seen though.  Having the option to put a grate (included) over it is also nice on pasta night.  We put a large pan over the middle burner with water and pasta, then make up 2-4 sauces that people can use.  Makes it AWESOME.  French bread baking in the lower oven and a platter of Lasagna in the main oven and you are good to go!

The venting IS an issue, but one that every range in the world with this capacity of output would have.  You can not get around the physics of heat.  These ranges are intended to be installed in home environments where, generally speaking, venting is limited and fan capacity is rather pathetic.  They have to find a way to make the unit SAFE to use by providing adequate heat dissipating systems, while maintaining the appearance of the appliance.  The back vented system, while not ideal, is better than having it blow on your feet and peel up the linoleum in your nice new kitchen.  I agree that having it blow onto the stove top is not ideal, but it seems like the least complicated and most reasonable solution short of forcing a renovation for effective outside venting.  If you are ABSOLUTELY adamant about the hateful nature of direct interior venting, you can CERTAINLY have a contractor build a venting system that would pull ALL of the heat from this stove to the outside.  This could be something along the lines of a draw down hood that pulls ALL of the heat from both the cooktop and the oven vents out through the back of the stove top.  This would certainly be ideal, but not cheap, and not a push it into place and hook it up solution by any means.

The knobs are my only point of contention with this range.  It would have been nice to have the stainless knobs from the jump, but, again, that is the nature of a non-commercial range...  After 3 years, my aunt just broke one because she has never used a commercial designed range that starts at full power and moves to simmer instead of the opposite.  She kept turning the knob to the right thinking OFF would be just past simmer...  OOPS!  snapped the little mount inside the knob.  Still works, sort of, but needs replacing.  Will call GE on Monday and ask for a whole new set of 6 knobs.  Will let you know how that turns out...  We do not leave the oven door a "crack" when we are cooking, so we have not had problems with the knobs melting. Here that would be against fire code anyway... but how would you keep an even oven temperature while doing that?

Overall, we purchased this range because it matched the decor in our new kitchen VERY nicely and had the features we were looking for in a range.  Gas cooktop with electric oven(s), commercial grade BTU output in a home form factor (that did not require special venting), convection and standard oven capabilities, warming drawer/second oven option, 5 burner with central griddle design and stainless steel "commercial style" appearance in a 30" inset size to fit a standard kitchen.  Are there better ranges out there?  Probably.  Are there better ovens out there?  Probably.  Are there better combinations of both at this price point (or even $1000 more)?  Not very likely, and not from what I have seen.  On Thanksgiving when we can keep 2 ovens and 5 burners going, along with a toaster oven and some crockpots, our relatives are frothing with jealousy for our kitchen.

I would recommend this to a friend who could not afford a full commercial install.  We are probably going to do another renovation in 3 or so years, and we may move to a commercial range with all the shielding and venting needed at that time, but this suits our needs for a growing family of 4 at this time and we are very happy with it overall.