When I was finalizing my purchases, I was considering Gaggenau and Miele too. I didn't think there was a huge difference in function. I thing the Gagg looks nicer, and if you have a Gagg oven it pairs nicely. I could easily have gone either way, but the deciding factor was the permanent water connection. However that won't be a factor in for you in Europe. In theory I like the variable steam options on Gagg, but I'm sure I could have made the Miele single option work just fine. Until this post, I didn't even pay attention to the "steam without pressure." So apparently I could have lived without it! I suspect it doesn't make a huge difference in most cases. One thing I do like about the Gagg is the side oven opening. I don't feel like a slide out rack would be particulally beneficial. Again, I'm sure if I had the slide out rack, I would say , "I couldn't live without it!" Perhaps I'm not being very helpful at all, but I think that both are very good options. It might be a qustion of price or style, but in terms of function, both have their relative pros and cons that seem to balance each other out.

I don't know the answer but I am curious. if I were you (and having the benefit of hindsight) I wouldn't hesitate to call any of the Miele USA "Experience Centers" and ask to talk to any of the design staff. If you are in the US start with the Princeton, NJ center, their US headquarters. Even better if you can get to a center. The staff at these centers are a world apart from anyone you'll encounter at any appliance dealer, they use the products for demos and classes and typically have the appliances in their own homes. And it's their job to know the details on what you are asking. And report back and let us know. P.S: A little searching and I found this: https://www.mieleusa.com/media/ex/us/PressReleases/2021/9.2021_Generation_7000_Launch.pdf. Food View sounds interesting. There's also this thread: https://www.houzz.com/discussions/6229141/miele-7000-series-speed-combi-steam#n=10 Advice on calling the experience centers still stands.

These are ovens not sci-fi marvels. If you have a cold house and a cold kitchen and a cold oven, it can take a lot time to heat up. Because it's cold. And the oven is only heated when the oven itself is hot, not just the air in the cavity. That's why so many older recipes say to start at 425° F for the first fifteen minutes. They don't really mean it. They mean if you set it to 425° when the preheat light goes off, it's really at 375°, and after fifteen minutes of trying to get back to 425° after you open the door, you're really back at the 375° that you wanted to be cooking at in the first place. I find that Gaggenau is better about that, though I will still start the oven early to get it good and hot and even. I can't remember if the combi- set up has an option to have fast preheat or not. I don't like it because I do cold start baking. My six year old combi- takes about 15 minutes to get fully to heat for regenerate if it's starting from dead cold. That's in a mild climate and warm, by most people's standards, kitchen. If it's been used within the previous 24 hours, it's more like 10. If there's a fast preheat option, and you have it enabled, it could be five, for all I know, but I doubt it could be less than that just on a logical basis. Once the oven is hot, regenerate takes about 10 minutes for a full plate of food. So, here's the thing--I would never use it to reheat a bowl of oatmeal or a small dish of pasta. Those are things that do really well in the microwave, and only take two minutes. What microwaves do best (I'm assuming a really good microwave here--some cheapies can't really do any of this well) is heat a single, compact item. That is, warm a sandwich, melt cheese or butter, warm up a single piece of meat, a potato, a dish of cereal or pasta or soup or stew. What a microwave can't do is heat up a composed plate evenly or well--or even one of those frozen dinners that are supposed to be microwavable. What it doesn't do well is heat up a casserole dish of whatever, or several portions of food, or several different foods at once. What the regenerate cycle on the combi-steam (or approximations thereof) does best is warm up a plate or two of food, like the supper that went cold because an important call came in just as you were starting to eat. Or leftovers. Meat, starch, vegetables, all on one plate, all being warmed through gently without any drying, petrification, overcooking, or any of the other issues that come with it. Better than if it were kept in a warming drawer--the food tastes fresher. What the combi-steam also does well is heat up multiple sandwiches, or pieces of meat, or whatever. Things the microwave might do well on one of but can't possibly hope to do four of evenly and well. When you look at it that way, heat up times really don't matter. If the only difference to you between the two makers is this factor, I'd start by seeing what the companies say about heating times. Do they have accelerated oven heating? Also take your best kitchen thermometers to showrooms where they have them working, and test the before temperatures of the oven walls and air, time the heating, and check the after temperatures. I would guess that they're probably about the same, unless one has accelerated preheating and the other doesn't.

@kashmi -- happy to share my thoughts; when I should shut up just tell me :) I did find one example of side-by-side Gaggenaus of uneven height. It was in the Gaggenau brochure 17712320_GG_US_The_Art_Of_The_Kitchen.pdf on pages 4 and 6. But that's the ONLY such picture I've been able to find. Everywhere else they conspicuously match the heights (even when the configuration doesn't make a lot of sense). I'm also not sure I've seen a 30" next to a 24" -- when they show side-by-side units they always seem to be 24". From what I've read, I would be leery of the standalone BS wall ovens...they don't seem to have the whole electric oven thing down yet. However, the gas oven on the range seems to be pretty reliable...I'm not sure if your project would allow for the flexibility of moving to a BS range, but you could have a 30", 36", or 30ish plus 18ish oven as part of the range, all available with side swing doors. If you'll already have an electric oven, it may be nice to have the huge gas oven to cover all contingencies. OTOH, I find it less ergonomic to have an oven that low, and it can be cumbersome when someone is cooking and someone else is trying to access the oven. But even the 30" BS range will take a full sheet pan; the 36" must do so with room to spare. It's funny that you mention that you must be the only person who wants certain combos. I've found several cases, across many families of appliances, where no one makes exactly what I want, and I'd be willing to pay a premium for it. As just one example, if Gaggenau made the 30" CSO with top-mounted controls, I would pair that with a warming drawer and put it side-by-side with their 30" oven. Problem solved! But of course they don't offer that seemingly simple variant. Similarly, if SubZero made a stainless interior (i.e., Pro model) refrigerator with door bins that would almost certainly be my selection for that appliance...but since they don't, I'm deciding between SZ and True. And I could go on and on...