@ossobuco,
I guess I'll quibble with myself about the stove being best in the exact middle of the counter length.. as I also like the golden mean thing, 1.0/1.6, or approx 62% of the way down the line, depending on the situation. I've used that a lot in design situations, and so have millions of others through the ages. It's also expressed as the ratio 1.618/1.
So, center of stove at the point 62% of the way, from either end. Of course that's too picky, but that kind of placement has a lot of support in the design world. Could matter if you buy preconstructed cabinets too, how they fit the length.