I'm about 4 weeks or so from moving into my brand new house and my TurboChef was installed last week. I've been looking at wall ovens for over a year and was intrigued by the TC, yet hesitated because of the price. It came down to either the TC or the GE Trivection/Advantium. Though we are WAY over budget, I chose the TC and am thrilled with my choice. We are living in a rental just ten blocks away and the day it was installed, I made two of the recipes in the included TC cookbook. A Lemon-Rosemary Whole Roasted Chicken, and a Poblano-Corn Casserole. It took about 8 minutes to preheat the oven for the chicken and rather than placing it in a roasting pan, I put the chicken onto an aluminum stand that is basically a round tube, about three inches in diameter and 5 inches tall. It's welded to a flat, square base and was designed to produce a beer-can chicken without the beer can. I filled the inside of the tube with about three inches of beer, and set it with the mounted chicken into a pyrex casserole dish. I set the lower unit on warm when I began the preheat of the upper oven. On warm, the lower oven maintains 145 degrees. That way, I could keep the chicken warm while cooking the corn-poblano dish. Watching the chicken cook was amazing. It reminded me of my first microwave oven and the fascination of looking in as it cooked a couple of hot dogs in less than a minute. The chicken browned quickly and beautifully. When the oven paused at the 80% point, we chose the "Brown More" option for a crispier skin. After 21 minutes, the oven chimed and I checked the temperature with an instant-read thermometer. I was a bit concerned because the probe indicated 219 degrees but I must have touched a bone, because when we pulled the chicken apart it was PERFECTLY cooked. The skin was crispy and both the breast and thigh was succulent and incredibly flavorful. One of our best chickens ever. The corn-poblano dish also turned out perfectly. We let the chicken rest in the warming oven below while the casserole cooked. I think it took all of eight minutes and finished with the top a beautiful golden brown and the inside was steaming hot, creamy and perfect. The next night I cooked a couple of rib-eyes. Each steak was about an inch thick and just under a pound. I placed a cast iron grilling pan in the oven for the pre-heat and after about 14 minutes, the oven chimed and it had reached 500 degrees. I placed the steaks on the griddle, closed the door and pressed the start button. The only prep for the steaks was freshly ground pepper and kosher salt. I had some butter standing by to place on top at the 80% mark. I opened the door at 80%, put a couple of pats of butter on each rib-eye and continued cooking. When they were done, I wrapped them in heavy duty aluminum foil after pouring the butter and steak juices over them. When I got them to my rental about 10 minutes later, I was amazed at how perfectly done they were. I forgot to mention that I did flip each steak just over halfway through. The exterior of the steaks was a dark, crusty brown and just a millimeter or so into the steak, was a beautiful red that didn't vary in color. In other words, the outside was seared and the interior was rare all the way through. I believe the cooking time after the preheat was about 5 minutes. My only disappointment with the oven (other than cost, of course) is that I was expecting to have the upgraded software. I was told that the oven had a microwave-only feature but when mine arrived, it wasn't there. I called Atlanta and spoke with corporate. It turns out that the software upgrade is about 30 days or so away and I will be e-mailed the update when it's released. It's a simple matter of moving the file to a flash drive and then transferring it to the oven via a USB port on the top of the oven. Pretty cool. By the way, the oven is HEAVY! About 410 pounds so it's probably not an appliance that you want to "slide in" yourself. It took two of my trim guys, and a couple of big electricians to get it into the cabinet. Consider professional installation. My local dealer charges $150. All in all, I'm extremely pleased with the oven, and can't wait to actually move in so that I can begin to create my own recipes. It's one of the coolest kitchen appliances I've owned. My other appliances are: 30" Thermador Freedom Column Refrigerator 18" Thermador Freedom Column Freezer Sub-zero 427R Wine Refrigerator-holds 70 bottles and has two refrigerator drawers. 30" GE Monogram Warming Drawer Meile "La Perla" Dishwasher 48" BlueStar Cooktop-4 Burners/1 Griddle GE Monogram Ice Maker 54" Vent-A-Hood w 1200 CFM Blower Insinkerator Hot/Cold dispenser Nikken PiMag Water undercounter filter I'll post some photos once it's all complete in about a month.

Thank you Owbist. On the occasion I have to work with a tech like I just did with an apple tech they confirm what you said. LOL By the way I had a real problem with an upgrade on Itunes. I called and companies usually blame the user but I had proof tthis time and the young tech called his supervisor then he walked me through a fix. It had made my cd/dvd drive icon disappear and unusable. I found a fix on the net that worked then my itunes didn't. So I went round and round for awhile. It all works now.

Lora, I make all my bread in the bread machine. French bread, Italian bread, foccaccia, rye, honey wheat, cherry yogurt, chocolate cherry, multi-grain, sourdough. It all goes into the bread machine. I don't bake it in the machine, only because I don't like the crust, it gets softer than I like it, kind of steamed. I put my bread machine on "dough", let it run though the cycle, then form it into loaves or dinner rolls or cinnamon rolls or whatever, let it rise and bake it in the oven. First, AP flour is fine, I used it for years. The bread flour sometimes makes a lighter loaf, especially if whole grain flours are also used, but I successfully use King Arthur AP all the time. It's a higher protein flour than Gold Medal/Pillsbury/etc., but it's still just AP flour. In addition, King Arthur Flour Company (I think it was them) did a study and found that bread machine bread actually rose higher and had a better texture than even bread made by hand, the machine was made for exactly that purpose. Rye bread? Sure, I do it in the bread machine. I like the darker pumpkernickel, the molasses and cocoa makes it dark, but I make the lighter caraway rye too. Here's a recipe for the dark stuff: Bread Machine Pumpernickel For a 1-1/2 to 2-pound bread machine: 1 3/4 cups lukewarm water 1/4 cup vegetable oil, room temperature 5 Tablespoons molasses 2 Tablespoons wheat gluten 1 teaspoon salt 2 Tablespoons caraway seeds 4 Tablespoons cocoa powder 2 3/4 cups rye flour 2 3/4 cups bread flour 1 teaspoon sugar 2 teaspoons yeast for bread machines Place all of the ingredients in a bread maker in the order given. Set machine for regular cycle and light color, and press the start button. When the bread is finished, remove from the pan and transfer to a board or work surface. Cover bread with a sheet of plastic film, then cover plastic with a lightly moistened kitchen or tea towel. Set aside to cool. This is wonderful with unsalted butter while still warm. Or refrigerate bread to firm it up, then cut into thin even slices for pumpernickel sandwiches. I don't have any trouble with grains on the outside of the loaf, I just brush with egg white or an egg wash, then sprinkle with the grains or seeds and bake in the oven. I'm not sure how you could do that in the machine other than brush the top and sprinkle. I've also found that almost any bread recipe will work in the bread machine. I've used Ann T's Italian bread recipe, Julia Child's French Bread recipe, Grandma's bread recipe that's at least two, maybe three generations old. They all work, I just put liquids in first, then dry ingredients, set to dough and let it go. All these loaves are bread machine bread, including the rye: Well, you get the idea. Do anything you like in the machine, what's the worst that could happen? It's just flour, water and a bit of yeast. It's not expensive (too much) so if a loaf doesn't happen to turn out just like you want it, it's not a big loss and it can always be bread crumbs or croutons! Then, when you get really confident, you can start on sourdough. (grin) Annie

As a resident of the Great, Benighted North-east ... let me ask ... anyone for conservation of energy? When my power went off - I went to my provincial gov't. rep's office to give him H-E double toothpicks. Due to traffic tie-up arrived 5 min. after closing (I think) but they were open. Couldn't afford to give him too much of a piece of my mind - conservation of mental capacity, don't you know. En route home, directed traffic for a while at substantial intersection in rush hour. Several said, "Thanks" or waved - one said, "Get off the street"! Several civilians in Toronto did likewise, we're told. Visited 87 yr. old uncle living alone after recent death of wife who, despite painful back, hip, leg insists on keeping some beef cattle, got candles out for him, showed him how to use battery radio (that he didn't know he had - I'd stayed with him for a while after his wife died last year). Glad I recently bought batteries for my $1.00-at-garage-sale radio. National broadcaster ran advice about need to turn everything off that we could, to reduce surge when reconnecting, and province-wide phone-in to share ideas. I pulled fuses from water heater connection - haven't replaced them yet, as they say we need severe conservation measures, at present, to avoid rolling blackouts. Shaved in reasonably hot water Sat. morning. Haven't bathed since - imagine I smell by now (but I live alone). Hope I don't suffer blackout right now, or I lose all my writing here. A guy called about 10:30 to cry about 400 lb. of meat that he had (perhaps fresh? which would mean that his window of opportunity to save it would be reduced over if it were frozen). I began calling with suggestions for him, in dark for a while until power returned about 11 - I was without for 7 hours only - plus a short interruption later. Line busy til 4 a.m. I suggested he find a van or pickup, load his freezer, put meat in, take substantial lunch, head for nearest rural area, go door-to-door asking for generator. I was sure he wouldn't go three miles till found farmer willing to fire up generator, freeze his meat. Lunch so he could stick around for repeat every half day or so, as needed, till power returned at his home. Lunch optional - most (traditional) farmers wouldn't see him go hungry. Twice in recent years I took portable generators to areas blacked out due to ice storm - once 500 miles away. I goofed Thursday evening - didn't get on phone to friends seeking generator. When I did, Fr. morning, couldn't locate one. Think I should try to compile database of generators possibly available and persons with major freezer stock - homeowners, small stores, etc. not hard-wired, with 220 volt systems, etc. in preparation for such an eventuality in future. One generator can travel from site to site to serve possibly a couple of dozen freezers - perhaps half an hour each, twice daily or less, depending on outside temp. Invite those of you with time, energy available in your area to do likewise. We've been asked to shut down all unnecessary power consuming systems, e.g. signage, billboards. Local grocery in plaza shut down lights in parking lot. Many non-essential govt offices told to stay closed and asking factories and commerce to try to keep consumption to half of normal usage for about a week. Can't understand how Times Square figures it should be lit as usual. Do they want to be shut down - again? They say that it's to be hotter and more humid during the next few days. Hope you don't suffer Benightedhood too often! joyful guy