Flame characteristics of a methane-air premixed flame stabilized in a heat-regenerative small combustor were investigated experimentally. A small combustor having two counter-current shallow channels and a combustion space at one side was developed. In which the channel-gap was less the ordinary quenching distance of a stoichiometric methane-air premixed flame. Two design parameters of channel gap and thickness of the middle wall, which is located between two channels for unburned and burned gases, were varied. Flame stabilization conditions and characteristic flame behaviors were experimentally examined. Conclusively, Blowout conditions were governed mostly by the scale of the combustion space, and flashback conditions into the channel are dominated by the channel gap. Surface temperatures of the combustor were between 100 to 500$^{circ}C$. Additionally, two distinctive flame stabilization modes of radiation and well-stirred?reaction were observed and their applicability was discussed.