I've had my Bosch Benchmark Speed Micro Oven for several months now. I have no experience with any other high-end micro. The comments I am reading here are making me regret not shopping more - it seems other brands have a lot of preprogrammed receipes/settings my Bosch does not offer! So far I have used it to bake muffins, which were fine, but mostly have used it for straight microwave functions. It is not as user friendly as my old counter top $100 microwave! It does bake a mean pizza! Door handle was loose on installation. Had repairman out on warranty. He called Bosch who told him that one cannot just tighten a screw, but had to remove the door liner. The liner is not made to be removed without damage, so he had to order a new liner before he could remove the old one. This took 3 months. When it arrived he took off the old liner, tightened the handle, and then struggled to get the new one on. He took it home with him that evening to try some more! He finally got it together, but didn't like the fit and the handle was still loose! He called Bosch. They then informed him that they don't recommend taking the door apart, that he needed to order a new door! They could have mentioned that 3 months ago! I am now trying to build a fire under Bosch to get that door here ASAP! I have talked to them on the phone several times and have learned there are 10 doors coming to my repairman's parts warehouse this month, but they are not sure if mine is among them! The fact that there are 10 doors coming makes me wonder about the quality of Bosch microwaves!

Hi we have the benchmark series speed oven, the side opening oven plus a full size breville toaster oven, all less than a year old. First off we are heavy microwave users so that is what the speed oven is used for mostly. It also does a great job at cooking frozen foods quickly. I will say it is a bit hard to clean and I cannot get all the grease marks off the sides like a normal microwave oven but I suspect that is normal. I have not called Bosch yet to inquire. I am still getting used to the pull down door as I am a bit klutzy (coffee has been spilled!). The side opener oven is a dream and cooks wonderfully. The reason I mention the Breville is that I have had convenience foods going for the kids in the Breville and the speed oven at the same for quick heating. All very handy. Good luck with decision, it took me a good 6 months to figure this out. But am now cooking up a storm!

I went back and forth between the speed oven and microwave drawer, and ended up with the microwave drawer. If I'm remembering correctly both had basically the same install dimensions. We have ours in a 30" IKEA microwave base and it installed perfectly. I have a 5" drawer front to cut down to use as a trim filler for the gap but I have not yet done that part.

There are plenty of posts on the speed oven, particularly Miele. Most people that have one seem to like it. I have one and would recommend. I think most people, myself included, find the combination "speed cooking" to be of somewhat marginal utility for a variety of reasons and typically use it as either an oven or MW independently. It does work well for a few things, particularly baked potatoes. I can make chicken nuggets in about 8 mins rather than 12 which doesn't sound like much, but sometimes it is the difference between kids making or missing the bus. Nothing is going to toast particularly well compared to an actual toaster, I have a popup toaster that I keep in drawer for making actual toast. You can use your own cookware as long as they fit. You can fit a 12" pizza. 16-18" round will not fit. In any mode that uses MW, one must exercise a little caution with how metal cookware is used. The miele comes with a glass tray (mine came with 2) that can be used in any mode, I leave it in all the time and sort of use it as a removable dishwasher safe oven bottom. The 24" Miele seems to have the same interior dimensions as the 30" Miele (which I believe is relatively new, I don't think it was around when I was shopping about 1 1/2 years ago) and I'm pretty sure the 30" is essentially just the 24" with a trim kit. Despite being only 24" the Miele has roughly the same interior capacity as the Bosch 30" benchmark. The Miele is setup better for undercounter installation, since it doesn't need a turntable in MW mode and comes with glass trays that pull out whereas Bosch does not.