Tire Rack information is provided directly from the manufacturer. They don't just put up generic specs for tires, that is data fed to them from the company itself.
The "recommended wheel width" range is literally the range of wheel widths you can use for any given tire size based on the companies testing/recommendations.
There is math to be done on section width based on what rim width was used for the stated width:
https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=200
Way too much weight is being put on tire appearance IMO. It's the right size, or wider because that's what you want, or it's a tire that was on sale so you're running that. If you're picking tires based on how they look and not how they perform, I don't know what to tell you.