Do these stove restoration companies do any modernization at all? Older stoves have their charms and advantages but they ain't all skittles and beer. They are usually big and their stove volumes small and heating conventional. Flame broilers can be real fire hazards. Pilot lights burn gas 24/7 and they keep those porcelain tops sorta kinda too hot for comfort. They will have no convection and no rotisserie features.

I dunno. Not many kitchens will accommodate those iron cooking dinosaurs. You can bet that you would not want to stub a toe on one. One the other hand if you're ever in a big quake, tornado or hurricane stay close to one. It will keep you anchored and hold up a collapsed building.

Yes, they do. There are simple easy-to-install kits that convert the pilots. A retrofit isn't that expensive if the stove is in decent shape. Where I live, in order to be hooked up to gas and to fulfill building code requirements, you have to install them, otherwise the stove will be 'tagged out' and the gas connection removed by the gas company.

Aside from the pilot light problem. I find that the ovens are poorly insulated.