I bake too and was dying to get this range because of the steam feature, but do a search on KitchenAid in GW and other places on the Web. There have been all sorts of problems with the self clean and KitchenAid seems to just deny to their customers that a problem exists. There have also been negative posts about the newer KitchenAid mixers (since whirlpool took them over, they have gone downhill). Bottom line based on what I read seemed to be that if you have a problem, it's tough to get them to take care of it even if it's under warrantee. I personally had a bad experience with their service regarding a problem with a mixer under warrantee which they refused to fix. If you were lucky and didn't have any problems it could be fabulous. I wasn't willing to take the risk. Best wishes.

Is KA's "steam assist" the same as Maytag's "Aqua lift"? If it is, beware. There have been complaints about the ineffectiveness of that technology. See link below. OTOH, it may be a system that will work for you and the way you use your oven. Just something to consider. Here is a link that might be useful: Aqualift problem

Bumping this to the top, I'm really hoping for some info.

I don't think steam escaping from an oven cavity that is full of steam is a 'design issue'. Seems more like simple physics! Any oven or range will perform this way under the same conditions. Try opening your dishwasher in the middle of the cleaning cycle -- steam! As for the temperatures, as the OP noted, the temperature of an oven is going to drop when you open the door. It's important to note that most ovens (including all of the KitchenAid ranges that I have experience with) display the actual temperature while in preheat mode, but then show the set temperature once it has been achieved. This means that you normally don't see the drop in temperature after opening the door once the set temperature has been achieved. In the case listed above, this drop in temperature was revealed because he reprogramed the temperature to be 375, causing the oven to enter preheat mode again, and and therefore display the actual temperature, which was, of course, lower because he had just opened the door. As for the brisket experience: Putting a 10 pound slab of cold beef into an oven is going to have an effect on the temperature. It's going to take awhile to recover. That's why they need to be cooked for several hours. The entire description of the temperature problem was all about what the display said, not the results. If you cook a meal to the recipe without twiddling with the controls, do you get the results you expected? If so, I would say that everything is fine, and he should just enjoy his fancy new oven, and find another way to steam vegetables.