Thermador cooktop/hood owner/ Wolf doubleoven here. We used a convection oven in Europe back in 2002 that had a built-in rotisserie. The oven was a mess afterwards, but the chicken was awesome. When we did our kitchen tune-up 5 years ago (meaning cooktop & venthood only - couldn't afford oven at that time), I believe Miele & Gaggenau were the only ovens offering rotisseries and they were very expensive. Our Wolf oven was an opportunity buy off ebay 2 years ago, otherwise we might have been positioned to buy the Thermador now, in which case we probably would have been excited about it.

Hi everyone, I have rarely posted, but have been an avid lurker for over a year on this forum. Thank you so much to everyone who took the time to answer questions and provide feedback about so many different brands and models. I am grateful to have found this place filled with nice people. This forum was so valuable to me when we did our kitchen renovation and I would like to give some feedback on the appliances that we chose. Now that I've been using them for 3 months: 36" all induction Thermador cooktop: CIT365DS. Overall, I absolutely love it. The worst: the clicking sound when the cooktop is on. I have still not adjusted to the noise. The best: very responsive to changes in power; I love the wide range of temperature choices from very low (melting chocolate and butter) to power boost mode (for boiling water). The surprise: I discovered by accident that you can set individual timers for each burner. I don't recall reading this anywhere. 36" KOBE vent hood. CH9436SQB (191 series). I love it! Previously we had an OTR Microwave and it was horrible. A vent hood was the primary reason for gutting the kitchen!! The best: it works great! I can literally see the smoke being pulled up into the hood. No smell in the house from seared items or strong smelling things like onions and garlic. The worst: it is louder than I thought it would be. I did review the sones levels in the product literature, and I listened to hoods at showrooms, but I guess it didn't translate well to my own space. Heck, between the vent hood and the induction unit, cooking has become a much louder affair. The surprise: it looks better than I anticipated; I ended up with an undercabinet model, because I REALLY wanted one of those decorative wood hoods, but that was out of the budget so I had to compromise this way. 30" Thermador single wall oven: SEC301BS. Overall, I am pleased. The best: the probe works great and roasted items come out perfectly every time. In regular bake mode, baked items rose well and browned evenly. Broiling is just okay. It does not brown as evenly as I would like. The worst: It was recalled!!!! In the self-cleaning mode, it could overheat the surrounding cabinets and cause a fire. (did not happen to me). The surprise: I called Thermador about the recall and within days, they had the oven taken care of. They have also been very responsive when I would call customer service for information, etc. Thermador Convection Microwave: MCDS. What can I say here? My husband felt strongly that the oven and microwave should "match" and it was a battle I chose not to fight. Imagine his disappointment when the two items did NOT match physically -- different handles. Hey, I tried to tell him... The best: It works great as a microwave (hey it BETTER do that, eh?). Also, it IS nice to have a sort of 2nd oven when cooking a big meal. The worst: don't try to broil in it; the result is depressing and sad. The surprise: there was a Thermador rebate when we bought these items so we received some money back. Amana FD freezer-on-bottom water/ice-in-the-door refridgerator: AFI2538AES. Overall, nothing too outstanding here to report. It is a fridge! Ice and water in the door was our number 1 priority as we use it all the time. With small children, we wanted them to be able to help themselves to the water. The best: having water and ice on the door. Also, it is nice to have the new configuration (we used to have a side by side) to accodmodate sheet pans, pizza boxes, etc. The worst: having the water and ice on the door! Already, we've had problems with the ice maker jamming and the ice not dispensing properly. Also, the freezer does not allow for wide, flat items like the fridge part. It has two baskets in the bottom part with two more shallow trays on the top. It may as well be a SXS with two freezer compartments!!! It seems so dumb to me. There isn't even a way to reconfigure the freezer to accomodate such things as frozen pizzas. The surprise: well none. I didn't expect too much from the fridge as we put our money into other appliances. Dishwasher: we kept our 3 year old, Kenmore dishwasher and changed the front to stainless steel and black. It works well enough. Thank you again to everyone!! If you have any other questions, I'm happy to answer them... Jennifer

Hi Schwester5, Thought I'd throw in my 2 cents about Miele dishwashers. I have the Diamond, not the Futura, but apparently they're really similar except for a few bells, whistles and extra cycles, and the Diamind comes with a 5-year warranty (here's a helpful link on the difference between Miele DWs): http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/appl/msg0510233530587.html Anyway, I'm thrilled with the Miele dishwasher. Even though I did have a frustrating problem with a bent prong on a connector, but Miele sent a Master Miele tech 8-hours round trip and he fixed it. It cleans like a dream. My lipstick is kind of a sticky pink gloss that sticks like crazy to the rim of mugs and glasses. My previous DW (Kenmore Elite) didn't even touch those lipgloss marks. With the Miele, everything comes out perfectly clean. I adore the cutlery tray, and although the Miele appears smaller than some, you really can pile up dishes like crazy--I load bowls on top of each other in a big stack--and they all come out perfectly clean. I love all of the wash cycle options, although I like to use the longer Pots and Pans cycle. It looks great, it's quiet, and the overall operation is great. FWIW, I'm also the very happy owner of a 36" Wolf (DF Range) that I love. It was clear from peaking with the appliance people during my research on Wolf, Thermador and Viking that Wolf had the best repair record, was the heaviest (as in well-built, quality steel, etc.), and was favored by a lot of serious cooks. Thermador would've been my second choice, I love the star burners with all that BTU flexibility. Good luck!

Its my first time working w kitchen designers on a kitchen that we had so much options, so I never realized the inherent issues. If I were to do it all over again, I'd probably just extend the cabinets all the way up. One of the reasons we didn't was we have upper valence lighting on our current home and we love how much brighter it makes the kitchen. Anyway, I spoke to the kitchen makers and they seem to be willing to accomodate any change. I'm meeting with them onsite in a few days to go over the specifics. I'll let you guys know how it goes. Really appreciate all the feedback. I wouldve hoped that the cabinet makers would have told me the consequences before they made the cabinets...