Something about the styling of the control panel reminds me of an early 50s Buick. Maybe it was the placement of the knobs for the radio or something that corresponds to the big dials near the center of the backsplash.
The placement of the oven door handles is different also, with so many manufacturers striving for placement that was more centered, either on the door or more to the center of the range.
I believe that 7 heat switches are in many ways superior to infinite switches EXCEPT that it takes some experience to determine which part of the coil is heated on each setting. For example, if you were frying in a 12" diameter skillet, it would make more sense to have a setting where just the outer ring of the element is heated so that the temperature would spread to the outer edge of the skillet as well as to the center. On the other hand, if you were wanting to keep a large pot of water at a rolling boil for pasta, you would want the inner coil heated to give greater upward movement in the center of the pan, rather than along its edge to discourage water jumping out of the pan. The two medium high and the two positions between medium and low could be very useful for these purposes and give more options than 5 heat switches. Granted, infinite switches can provide even heating patterns at all settings, but there are times when more is needed. The GRIDDLE setting on a 30" GE range with Sensitemp is a case in point. To provide even eating on the rectangular griddle, it only heated the outer couple of turns of the element so that temperatures would be equal at the edge and the center. I used to use the SensiTemp's griddle setting when using my 12" Farberware skillet for very even temperature across the whole of the pan.
At any rate, it was a range built to last while offering every feature available at the time including a much better and slightly more expensive approach to the hidden bake element fad.
