Might help if at least part of your question was in the topic itself

Where did you get the 17" number from? Is it your local code or is it in the spec for a specific brand oven or all the ovens you've looked at. If it's code, then there's probably no way around it. If it's from the spec of a particular oven, you might be able to find another oven that doesn't have that requirement although gas ovens are few and far between. Another option would be to put in a gas range but that would most likely require counter modification.