The interiors are all stainless so not really that hard to clean. If plumbed properly the drain is no different than your sink drain, how often do you clean or worry about that? Is filling much hassle? Do you mind filling up your coffee pot water every day?

The drain has a screen cover & I think the heat takes care of any germs.
We have a 2 yr old Combi & the plumbed means we never have to worry about running out of water or draining it. Since the environment is wet, cleaning has been easy.
You'll want to check the inside capacity of the unplumbed unit.
I believe all Gagg Combi ovens are steam + convection, while Miele is steam only.

Thanks for all the advice, Miele do the combi unplumbed mine won't be near the sink either will have to think a little more about it.

For me, the whole point is to have it plumbed. They're starting on the plumbing this week. It's worth it to me having a new line and drain and vent installed, even though it's going to be a big mess. I'm having a capped hot water line put in too, because it seems silly to have everything open and not.

BTW, the Miele, as far as I can tell, isn't a combi. It cooks with the heat of the steam. The Gaggenau can be all radient heat, with steam adjustable from 0-100%.

The Miele is just steam.

Thanks for all the info and Miele are now doing a Combi Gaggenau also do a Combi unplumbed still have reservations about the drain.

local home exp has the unplumbed one on clearance. BUT

started planning my kitchen a year ago. Price was 5k for plumbed. now almost 7k. hate the mw and what it does to food. want my husband to use this for heating up and cooking instead. it would never happen if he had to clean it each time, as described for unplumbed one. having a hard time justifying 7K for something he sees as a novelty that won't last (me using it much that is). I am afraid that might occur if I got the unplumbed version....

Advice? Help?

In looking at the instruction manuals for the two models at the Miele website, their steam ovens are described as steam only. The cooking temperature for most foods is 212, with sausage and some fish at 185. I didn't see anything that had a higher cooking temp . The manual also says "The food will not brown and does not get a crust. The food is gently steamed, not fried or baked. Cheese will melt but not brown."

In comparison, the Gaggenau has a temp range of 85 to 450. I've cooked things such as meatloaf, baby back ribs and roast chicken at 400 with 100% moisture and gotten a browned, crisp outside. At those higher temps, the oven is roasting but with moisture that keeps the food interior tender and moist. It's not steaming at higher temps. And there are obviously a lot of combinations of temperatures (85 to 450) and moisture (0%, 30%, 60%, 80%, 100%.)

As for the drain, it has a cover and all that goes down it is water that is injected to condense steam before opening the door. There's far more stuff that goes down a kitchen drain.

The miele DGC5080 is a combination steam oven like the Gaggenau only cheaper

Eileen,
The DGC5080 is a regular steam oven without the Combi feature like Gaggenau. None of the current Mieles have the same Combi feature like Gaggenau. Miele does plan to release one but I don't know if it will happen this year. The word convection in the Miele description may be throwing you off but this only refers to the addition of a fan to move the steam around more. Hope that clarifies it. If you don't need to brown the items you are steaming, then the Gaggenau is not necessary for you.

Good luck!

my two cents, if i may. the miele is called a convection steam oven, in that it uses a convection fan to move the steam around the food, degeegirl is correct on the temperatures for both. the gaggenau is a Combination oven: either steamer only, convection only, or a combination of both modes.

there is some more to it, but i dont want to blather on.

Hi Homepro, now you have me worried I think it must be different in Europe cos the Miele spec says Combination oven with Steam from 40% to 100% and hot air from 40C to 225C

The DGC5080 in Europe is a combi like the Gaggenau. It is not currently available in the US. I wonder if Canada is getting this first? Are you seeing hte DGC5080 on the US site?

No homepro01 it's European

I ended up getting the last Gaggenau model, ED220-630, a plumbed version. It was an ebay buy now, but I will soon have a plumbed combi steam oven for the price of 2480 including shipping and (no) tax! I also read the manual before choosing this, and think I will find its LCD screen more straightforward than 2 knobs