I'm also in same boat as you and buffetgirl - it's sitting in my garage waiting to be installed in about 2 weeks (I got the AG). I'm also nervous - I bought mine right before some of the negative feedback began to come out. I've seen a lot of questions written about using the center burner. I'm mainly planning on using it as a warming burner. I tend to cook a lot of things at once. I figure if I have the griddle on there with the burner on medium or low, it will diffuse the heat very evenly and I can leave on several small to medium pots of sauce, soup, mashed potatoes & sweet potatoes, rice, polenta, warm fruit compotes... and it will keep them warm without burning the bottom or having to constantly stir all the time. In the past, I've had to rotate pots/pans on and off to keep everything warm at once. This is the theory anyways, we'll see how well it works.

I am new here and I'm bumping debbie's post because I am about to purchase ge cafe line for our remodel and hope to learn about the cafe hood from someone who has one. I can't see one because no instore ge cafe display has the hood only the venting micro. BTW - Debbie what did you eventually get? Thanks for all the great info everyone, this forum has been very helpful. -Karen

Did 3 tests - 2 in regular bake mode and 1 in convection. In regular bake mode fan came on both times at 450. Audible for sure but not annoying - could hold conversation over it. The convection fan is barely audible. There is a faint click when fan changes direction. In convection bake the regular fan came on at 450 also. After turning oven off fan runs for about 7 minutes and then shuts off. Would it be annoying to your wife - well it was definitely noticeable but like I said it didn't come on until 450. Maybe others can weigh in with their experience. I was concerned about this purchase after reading so many negative reviews but mine was delivered in perfect condition. Kathy

Unfortunately most of those reviews are directly from ge's site, or from a sweepstakes entry which often means the bad ones are deleted or they are not completely honest due to getting it for free. I'm hoping to find some real customers who are willing to discuss it with me. Owners of other similar GE Cafe ovens are welcome as well. I just chatted with customer support and as far as they could tell from a quick look it is the same as the CGB550P2MS1. Thanks for your help!