I would still much prefer the Viking.
Throughout my childhood, everyone I knew had gas stoves.
Their body parts, properly assembled, were all accounted for.
One has to remember the time and place of the event.
The stove, which may have been propane gas rather than natural gas--I would have no idea--perhaps dated from the 1920s or 1930s. Older people, especially older people who live alone out in the country, tend to keep things around longer.
I'm assuming an ancient stove wouldn't have as many, if any, safety features that newer ones would. And perhaps the gas line, whether natural gas or propane, was similarly decrepit.
It was a long time ago that I was 7 years old, and there's been all these "safety" things mandated by law since then, which might, or might not, make gas stoves safer.
