It is not normal to singe your fingers on the top of the stove just because the oven is on. It sounds like somebody may have left out some of the insulation. I would return it.

All ovens have a vent to dissipate moisture/heat during baking. The location of said vent varies. Some are under the control panel backsplash. Some may vent from front/top of the door. I have seen an electric set-in unit that vented through one of the coil burners.

Looking at the parts diagrams for your model, the vent appears to be beneath the control backsplash, probably aimed downward toward that middle grill burner.

I have a new Bluestar 30" range. It comes with a short (maybe 2") vented stainless backsplash on it. The other night we used the broiler. I was mentioning to DH how the back vent doesn't get really hot and showing him as I ran my hand over it from the right side to the left. The right and middle were barely warm, which is what I had felt before. The left actually burned my hand (which obviously I had never felt that spot before). I don't think anything is wrong. The broiler is extremely hot and I was surprised there wasn't more heat venting out of somewhere. Well there was, and I found it!

It is normal for the vent to be hot enough to burn you, especially on a gas range. The owners manual should explain this and warn you not to touch it.

I have the hi back guard on my 36" BS range and put squeeze bottles of oil on the shelf for cooking among other things. If I put them too close to the vent part of the back guard they'll melt. Gets pretty warm when venting a hot oven. Sometimes I turn on the hood to suck up the heat/fumes/smoke (broiler) coming out of the oven, it's only about 10" from the top of the guard where the oven vents to the bottom of the hood. One nice things about a hi back guard.

I have a GE range similar to yours, and it gets quite hot at the back of the cooktop when the oven is on. There's also some condensation, and I run the vent hood whenever I use the oven. The heat from the vent is described in my owner's manual in a section titled "Using the upper oven", and it warns against leaving things too close to the vent. You would think it would be in the "warnings" section at the front of the manual, but it's not.

Thanks all for the replies. Very helpful! I did locate those vents, they are tucked up underneath the control display, pointed down towards the cook top, as was suggested. I'm surprised the display controls can withstand the heat output. Alas, it all appears to be working as designed.

This was my first attempt at a post on TGW. Really appreciate all the feedback. Thanks again!

Hello Bungalow, I just began using my new Samsung gas range about a week ago. I LOVE it - except for the same issue you're having. I can't set anything near the back of the cooktop because it will melt, cook, or become too hot to touch. I can hardly believe this is normal! But maybe it is? You'd think if it was, something would be said about it in the manual. Nothing. If I thought that returning it for a different oven (same model and serial numbers) would be better, I would...but I wonder if I'd have the same thing happening. Can anyone say definitely that this is, or it not, "normal"? Thank you.

@cicerogeronimo, all ovens have a heat/moisture vent. It exits at different locations depending on the design of a given model. Your model (which you didn't cite) apparently vents at the back of the cooktop. There may be a diagram in the user guide that illustrates the location of the various operational parts.