This Molteni at Magdalena is the Fanciest Oven in Baltimore

With their abilities to bake, broil, and roast, most stoves are the worker bees of the kitchen—far less sexy than, say, that dual-zone wine fridge or your built-in red espresso machine.

That is, unless your kitchen has a Molteni, aka the Rolls-Royce of the oven world. If ever a range deserved to be called hot stuff, the black enameled, brass-fitted, European-style “cooking suite” installed in the kitchen at The Ivy Hotel’s elegant Magdalena is the one.

Outfitted with a built-in, gas-fired grill, a fryer, two deck ovens, two planchas, a salamander broiler, and a water boiler, the range—made by artisans in a small workshop in Saint-Uze, France—was handmade to the specifications of Magdalena chef Mark Levy. In business since 1923, Molteni makes, on average, between 100 and 120 ranges annually, and no two are alike.

“The Molteni is designed with whatever the chef wants,” says Angelo Grillas, director of marketing for Electrolux Professional, which makes the Molteni. “It’s completely customizable.”

And though Levy doesn’t cook and tell, the ranges have been known to go up to $500,000 and have been installed everywhere from five-star hotels to Beverly Hills manses.

“We had to put in something as decadent as the hotel,” says Levy. “This is the focal point of the restaurant. It’s an honor and a once-in-lifetime privilege to work on this. It might sound silly to say about a stove, but it’s going to be hard to walk away from one day.”