Fortunately, I have a relatively large pantry (vs. a much smaller kitchen). So when I got the Miele Speed oven, I just moved my old Sharp microwave and my ancient, beloved, toaster oven into the pantry. Now, about 8 months after the remodel, I still use the toaster oven for toast, having never even tried to toast in the Miele. And the pantry's microwave gets used to do something quick (like melt butter) while the Miele is pre-heating, or baking, or whatever. Though these things only happen occasionally, its been often enough that I haven't seen my way to tossing out either old oven. The drawback, of course, is that there are 5 ovens in my little kitchen/pantry area, which seems excessive. And I suppose the pantry has less counter space for canned beans or whatever... As for the Miele's combination mode, I've only begun to explore this by using it to reheat things like casseroles -- Alton Brown's "Cauliflower Say Cheese", last night. Master Chef expects me to know how much these things weigh, which is a struggle, but last night's guess turned out just fine. Oh yeah, if you select Defrost mode, the Miele speed oven will heat in the range of 75 to 125 degrees. This setting is useful for cooking "raw" foods at 104. I did think about a steam oven as well, but there really was no way to fit it in there.

@plllog--thank you for the wonderful review of the Advantium. I have been considering one, but I don't want it in my oven stack since it won't match my non-GE oven selection. I don't care for any food that is microwaved and I believe the speed cook option combines microwave cooking with the other heating elements. Microwaved chicken (or leftover chicken for that matter) is one of the ickiest things in the world to eat IMO! If I need speed but the microwave won't do, I tend to reach for my convection toaster oven with great results--even for potatoes and casseroles. Not as fast as steam, but quicker than the large oven. @huruta--how do you like your CSO? I'm trying to decide on a double oven vs. single + CSO. My concern is crisping in the CSO and cleaning it since I don't believe they are self-cleaning. I'm thinking a 48" range top with grill and griddle, plus oven combo and microwave drawer since I can't say I'm that drawn to a convection microwave for the same reason I'm not drawn to the speed oven. Am I missing something on the speed oven? Or the CSO? Or a microwave drawer vs. a convection microwave? @oliverchang10--I also like the idea of both gas and electric. I've been cooking with a gas oven for years and find I prefer it to electric, but I keep hearing electric is more precise. Can you share your reasons for wanting both? Thanks to all for sharing your experiences and thoughts!

What Austin and malabacat said. I love our Miele speed oven. We have the non-automatic programming one. I think, probably, the addition of the programs is more than a slight upgrade but counts perhaps for a qualitatively different machine. I didn't really know that when I bought the low-end -- it was more than we could afford as-is. But I love that we have it. The under-counter capability was the deal-maker for us and it works as promised. There's a little bit of hot-air venting underneath the top of the door, but it's not scalding, not dangerous for small passersby. You need a dedicated 220V line. The learning curve on the non-auto version is long but I've got a numch figured out now. dh thinks chicken cooked in it is better than either the grill or the gas stove. It is faster than other options, though not tons faster. I think it takes about 35 minutes for a 3+ bird or so, maybe 40 minutes since I always undercook it! But that's fast enough that by the time the table is set and stuff gets taken care of on arriving home, you can basically cook dinner from scratch without waiting unduly. It's fast-enough. Faster, basically, than me/life! It is a bit of a pain to clean -- that is, it's not *hard* to clean but I'm not sure it gets all that clean. There are little holes in the interior - probably that's a MW-necessity? And it's just sort of stained -- doesn't bother me, it's obviously not a health hazard and I don't hold tea parties in there. There's a bolt that holds the heating element on top in place that you can let down to get underneath it to clean -- that's good. One problem cleaning-wise is that it sits inside a 24" cabinet IIRC, and crumbs can drop between the door and into the cabinet but it's very difficult to reach those without removing the whole machine, which is *heavy*. So .... that's my biggest cleanliness complaint. If you do all of a meal's cooking in the one machine, you might want to use the MW after using the oven, which is problematic because the tray is hot. A silicon mat can help with that. With a little effort I was able to find cookie trays that exactly fit the interior - that's nice. Biggest and best advice I received was to build into your plans a very shallow drawer right underneath or to the side to receive the tray or rack you're not using. No one wants to schlep across the kitchen looking for those things and it's true, when they're all immediately there, it's an enormous help. I also built a second, slightly larger drawer for MW-safe glass containers underneath -- a big planning-plus, IMO. This machine is really impressive, IMO. Be careful of its glass tray -- they are very expensive to replace.

So, make a niche(s) with the proper electric service and size to have a built-in put in if you really need it to sell (but I bet you won't)--if you're planning to sell within three years, get the built-ins already, but otherwise, they're going to be just so many used appliances. If yours are truly ratty, you can buy new versions of each. If you WANT a speed oven, and intend to use it as such, that's another story. Go for it! Read through the manuals, etc. But I think you'll find that it's not at all the same thing as your Breville toaster oven. You can use the convection oven settings on a speed oven to perform some of the same functions, but it's a real oven, with limitations, not a toaster that tap dances. I sometimes use my speed oven the way others use a toaster oven--mainly for heating up frozen appetizers or reheating casseroles when other ovens are full, but my old (dead) toaster oven was beloved for making great toast, which a speed oven isn't, and not for other uses. I do zap sandwiches on MW mode, and once in awhile lightly defrost or melt, but if I used a microwave more, I wouldn't have such an expensive machine doing it. I agree with putting enough thought into a remodel that it won't limit resale, because you never know what the future will bring--thus make sure there's place for built-ins to be built into--but unless it's a flip, it should be designed for your own use and enjoyment, and you used the key words "heavily use" and "love".