well, I'm a little out of breath, having just run all the way back to the appliance store, but I did bite the bullet and buy it, and my KD seconded your collective advice. I think it's a thing of beauty, but I did pop the extra for the 5-year extended warranty, just in case. Thanks so much for the advice and moral support. I really needed something to narrow my choices anyway, 'cause my head was swimming in that "range or cooktop/oven, gas or induction" vortex. Now on to that induction cooktop decision!

On a 6006, the wire from the electrical panel or some other control box goes to screw R and is either directed to screws B or W depending upon the temperature of the boiler and the dial setting. On a temperature drop below the setting, the power is applied from Screw R to screw B, which is usually hooked to the burner and the burner turns on. At the same time, power to screw W is dropped, shutting off the circulator. If I only wanted to use the circulator when the temperature was above the dial setting, I would only use the W screw with a wire to the circulator.

Couldn’t they just provide an adapter for the washer & dryer to share the singular dryer outlet—like they did in the past? I imagine the modern heat-pump dryer would use much less energy than a traditional condenser. And, really they are not likely to invest in the condenser models any more—old tech now, it will be HP, from here on out. This minimizes production lines. Therefore, the washer could have a stronger heating element (closer in wattage to the pro models)—this could result in faster wash times. Though the washer & dryer ratio of power usage would shift more towards the washer and become proprietary relative to standard 240V washers or dryers using all 30Amps, as long as the adapter was used, it’d be fine. Also, plugging either of them in to a dryer plug would be fine too as neither would use more than 240V/30A, so there would be no problem of over loading. Finally, most construction that provisions for a washer/dryer area have a 240V/30A outlet. In fact, this will only increase as we move toward more electrification, agnostic of generation. My city wants to outlaw gas installation in new homes—to reduce CO2 emissions. I only see this moving in this direction, not the opposite, for sure. Most people buy in pairs—especially at this price. Also, this would more align with Miele’s global operations—which are mainly 240V (so sad we aren’t). They can easily swap-out heater coils (just commodity parts) for different markets instead of redesigning their entire machines for NA. So, in conclusion, it would make perfect sense to bring over only 240V washers.

I am always curious why people feel so strongly about dual fuel. It just feels like something that is more prone to failure. The appeal of the traditional Bluestar is its very straight-forward and rugged design. It's a true workhorse, and personally I wouldn't pick any other brand; but everybody has different preferences. As for fuel source, it doesn't make a big difference in practice. Every oven needs some adjustments to your cooking technique anyway. And it's a much bigger deal adjusting to an oven that doesn't heat evenly (just to give a common example), than adjusting to a different fuel source. We have a Bluestar gas range, and two electric Miele wall ovens (SpeedOven and CSO). And you know what, fuel source never even is a consideration when I have to pick one or the other. Each one of these three ovens has its own strengths, and I love this particular combination, though. If you have the money and space, I can't recommend it highly enough. Technically, an electrically heated oven has the advantage of higher moisture, which can help with things like baking bread. But that's so easy to compensate for; it's why people love making bread in a Dutch oven. What else do you make where you prefer electric over gas? In full fairness, the Bluestar gas range does have a known downside. It takes a long time to preheat. The upside is that it heats very evenly, is very predictable, and has the most amazingly powerful broiler, second only to commercial salamanders.