The Speed Oven you will be looking at is about as big as a standard microwave inside. It is not really going to handle half-size (13X18) baking sheets, but it does fine with a standard rectangular cake pan. I hope you can find a dealer who will let you use the oven so that you can see how versatile it is. I got ours simply because we needed a microwave suitable for building into new cabinetry. Now I use it for just about everything that will fit.

For instance, I had a dutch oven sitting in the fridge with some leftover homemade onion soup in it last night. So I ladled out a couple of bowls for supper, stuck them in the speed oven and microwaved them for two minutes. The soup came out steaming. I then took what I had left of a baguette and cut it into slices. These I arranged in the Miele and turned on the broiler. Two minutes later, I had toasted croutons for our soup. These I floated in the already heated bowls of soup. Next, I took some Gruyere, a sharp Gouda that we love called "Rembrandt," and Parmesan cheese and covered the surface of both bowls. Back into the broiler they went for 5 minutes. They came out brown and bubbling. The oven is just amazing. I would never want to go back to life without a speed oven now that I have one. It is like Tivo; once you get used to it, it drives you crazy being without it.

Ecovert, I'd be very interested in anything you can tell me about the Turbochef that you observed on your visit. I'm seriously considering one but haven't seen it demoed yet. Did they say why you can't use it as a "primary microwave"? I would use it that way as well as I don't have space for a MW in addition to the TC double-oven model, which is what I'm interested in. What defines a "primary microwave" anyway?

The controls are not set up to be easy when using as microwave only. Also they suggested getting a tile or something flat not metal to place on racks when microwaving.

Before visiting the distributor to see it again, they said to bring whatever I wanted to cook in it. I had already seen it do wonders on fish. My concern was whether I could use it as my microwave also. Only thing I do repeatedly in microwave is reheat coffee, husband also, so I brought a coffee mug to heat up water. They had to call the help line to figure it out. They said I could program that time in for future uses, but it didn't seem super easy.

Depending on how little you use a microwave, you could probably make it work. For me, the cost wasn't worth it given it couldn't accomplish both things well and easily, and since this isn't my forever kitchen figure I'll wait til next house. At their HQ the research chef said they are doing R&D on residential alternative models, release date to be sometime in the far off future.

Aha. Thanks so much for posting that, ecovert! We don't have a microwave at all right now, but it's one of DH's top wish items (and he has so few, bless his heart!). He would probably use it more; I would probably use it to defrost frozen things or warm leftovers more than anything else. I might have to stick with a regular convection oven and microwave on top. DARN.

I wonder if there are work arounds that aren't in the book.

The Advantium had me annoyed when I first used it because it has the limited menu, and the express by 30 second increments. Total PITA. Then I figured out that once it's on you can change the duration really easily by turning the knob. It's a little more bothersome than just entering 54 on a digital keypad, but it's not hard. And it's the first time I've been able to totally defrost without ruining a bagel in an MW with the Advantium's bagel defrost setting, so the menus aren't totally useless either.

Is it possible that the TurboChef has something similar to the Advantium's magic knob? I swear it's not in the Advantium book. I've looked and looked, and keep thinking I must have missed it (and maybe I did, but I've looked).