Hey inga39, I'm looking at buying a gagg wall oven and just found out that the ball bearing racks that are available on other brands are now available on the gaggenau. I wonder if you could look into getting a set to retrofit into your oven.

I'm not sure about the pulling the doors apart. I've had this problem with every oven I've owned, so hopefully someone has some ideas for you!

It's one thing to get moisture between the glass but Bugs too. How do they get in?

Dacor replaced my first wall oven due to excessive moisture between the glass. A little moisture is normal and Dacor said it should dissipate during cooking. However my oven had large droplets of water that remained for a day or two. Dacor had a tech replace the insulation and when he took the door apart he noticed that there was rust on the metal pieces inside the door frame. When that repair didn't work Dacor offered me a full buy back or a new model oven.

It's a shame you're out of warranty but I wonder if it's worth paying for a tech to check it out - then you can take photos so that you can attempt it in the future.

It's interesting that I have NEVER had a problem with any of my previous oven glass. The Gaggenau is open on the inside top of the door and can allow anything to get in between the glass. I'm sure they had a reason for building it like that but I consider it a design defect. My guess is it allows airflow between the hot face of the door and the outside and helps to cool it and prevent burns to someone touching the door.

On a plus note for the Dacor I found it to be extremely user friendly and intuative. The Gaggenau is hard to figure out. I constantly have to refer to the manual and even with that, it isn't easy.
I will definitely check into the possibility of retrofitting the racks but then I most likely will have as much into this oven as I do into my car :-)
As a last resort, I may have to call for service and then watch carefully how they do it and take it from there.

My 2 cents: Your first resort should be to call Gaggenau!! That shouldn't happen! Mine is perfectly clear. It's concerning that there was stuff between the panes from the start. There may be a flaw. And since it sounds like the styrofoam is still there, they might even do it on their dime if there is a problem.

As to the trays and racks, what are your questions? I bought extras for the most flexibility, but it's not necesary. I find the baking trays so useful that I never use my old ones. I use them for making everything from kale chips to choux paste puffs (like the outside of cream puffs) to meatballs to roasted chicken. For the last, I'll put the chicken on a wire stand, and pour some leftover wine or something into the tray with some herbs. The tray is big for the purpose but helps contain the splatter. :) The only drawback is that they don't fit in the dishwasher, however the enamel is very easy to clean up, and if it gets dire it can go through the self clean cycle. If one has several of the trays they can be loaded up at once and cooked on multiple levels with convection. Even the puffs come out fine that way, with the trays fairly close together, though I was worried that, like souffles, they might not like the convection. I haven't tried a souffle on the Gaggenau convection, but it might be that it's gentle enough for that too.

For broiling meats, I like to use a cast iron grill plate on the wire rack, but I use the meat tray occasionally with a big roast, and, of course, with the rotisserie. The rotisserie is great! Again, with the caveat that some parts have to be washed by hand.

My biggest problem is getting the wire racks clean. That baked on brown spot stuff, that's good for seasoning a cast iron pan, is nearly impossible to get off (I won't use harsh chemicals and haven't found a good trick yet). I use them just like the racks in any other oven. The middle for a casserole, low for a big roaster, or a big pot on the center, and shorter things on the bottom position.

If you don't have multiples, you can use the baking tray with the wire rack. Say, put a roaster or large casserole on the wire rack in middle position (perhaps, old style, with a cookie sheet under to catch drips), and sides and pies on the baking tray underneath, just like in an old fashioned oven. Or you can use the meat tray as, essentially, a wire rack. And for multi-level baking, like cookies or hors d'oeuvres, you can put cookie sheets on the wire rack and meat tray wire rack. When I do three level baking I do top, middle, bottom, and for two level I do the in between positions. I don't know if that's "right" but it works. I've also don't top-middle and middle, and that worked fine too.

All in all, I'd suggest you just go for it. Think of something you want to cook and just do it. What I love so much about the Gaggenau is the amount of control I have over it. I haven't had anything come out badly (nothing that was the oven's fault, that is), which definitely wasn't the case with my old oven.

Re figuring out the settings, there's a method to the iconography. Do you have the current model with the screen? Or the previous model with the knob and icons? The symbols are similar, but I don't remember off hand which settings the latter has. In general, line on top is top heat and line on bottom is bottom heat. Partial lines mean just in the middle. Fan is convection (outline fan is light off convection). Wiggly line is broil. Smaller wiggly line is broil just in the center of the oven. Snowflake is defrost. Bread loaf is for rising bread in cold kitchens, and can also be used for things like plate warming. Stack of dishes is keep warm. The rest of the settings are combinations.

I haven't had much luck with the temperature probe, but I'm not good with a meat thermometer either. I do much better cooking meats by time. I do have to look at the manual to set the probe, though, especially if there's a shut off time.

I don't know if any of this is useful to you, or if you just need more experience with the oven to get a handle on it, but, really, do at least call Gaggenau and talk to them over the phone, and start off the conversation with the styrofoam. there's something wrong about that.

Thanks for your lengthy and indepth reply. I did email Gaggenau and the response I got was not what I was hoping for. I think I will take your advice and phone them. Just now I am cooking on my cook top and there must be some moisture in the air ---some--- the AC is set at 75 and the oven door is starting to fog up. It is making me crazy. I don't recall that happening at the beginning when it was new (just styrofoam blowing around) but then the old AC could never get lower than 80. could have something to do with that but I still don't think this should happen. As for the racks or the lack of them. I only got one rack, one solid try and one tray with a rack for roasting I would guess. I used that once to roast and what a mess that came out to bethe clean up that is. I guess I should just bite the bullet and buy more racks. All of my past ovens, I always had very sturdy racks and at least three of them. I have lots of cooking dishes-casseroles etc and those utensils are easy to clean. The racks I left in the oven when I did the auto clean. I know the mfg says not to but honestly, to clean racks is a huge pain and they never seem to come out as clean as I would like. As you mentioned the large tray doesn't fit into the dishwasher. The Gaggenau rack is very thin and I left it one time in the self clean cycle to see how it would fare and it turned a weird blue---not good. I bought another rack another brand somewhat less expensive primarily for my pizza stonewhich I leave in the oven when I clean it. When the stone gets too gunky I leave it in for the auto clean. (I'm a ceramic artist and use kiln shelves for the pizza stone) the kiln shelves are rated for 2300 degrees F and they come out like new during the clean cycle. All the burned on cheese and other stuff just burns off. It is great. Don't know how else to clean the kiln shelf as washing it is a big no no.

My oven has the knobs. Every time we have a power outtage I have to refigure on how to set the clock. My Advantium is intuative and simple to adjust.

Anyhow, I could deal with all of the other issues but the nasty look of the door glass is giving me a sour disposition as you can tell. In general, I don't use the oven as much as my cook top which could be some of the problem. Holidays I use the Gaggenau as well as the Advantium which serves as my second oven.

Best wishes

Inga, my mother has the same model Gaggenau oven as you do, and she loves it. So does her caterer's best cook! It is a very different kind of oven, however, from the one you were used to, and it has a rather dreadful manual. The language is extremely dense. Perfectly good English, but highly packed engineer-speak. Not the most user-friendly. It might date to before they became part of BSH. If you don't get any help from calling them, try calling your local Gaggenau repair service. Ours is very good, and willing to talk to clients, not merely make service visits.

The self-clean cycle on my (later) model is 900 degrees. A lot of ovens only go up to 550 or something, which might be the difference between whether or not the shiny surface of your racks will be damaged. I'd think your rack would still be usable, though, and I agree about the cleaning issues.

I asked the installers why the Gaggenau ovens only come with one of each pan/rack, and the answer was that they would all fit inside the oven along with the packing materials, for shipping, and that they really don't sell many extra racks. That people really mostly just use the ones that come with, and don't want to store more. I got two extra wire racks and two extra trays so that I could make the greatest use of the oven, though I rarely use more than two at a time.

Before I had a Gaggenau oven of my own, I used my cooktop for most things. Now, I'm much more likely to use the ovens. I hope you can get your door issues resolved and get more use out of your oven!

Inga,

Sorry to *hear* you are having trouble.

I am no help but I am considering buying a Gag oven.

May I ask you what model it is? Is it an older one?

Could you post the ENR?

TIA!

It clearly has been a while since I was on this forum. This is why I ran out of warranty on my Gaggenau oven, too many things to do and to little time :). I did end up calling them and received little help or encouragement. I then wrote to their headquarters in CA and their reply was "since there were no warranty calls" and the oven is out of warranty I would have to call for service to have it cleaned. I then wrote and asked for directions to disassemble the door for cleaning. They reluctantly forwarded directions. Have not done it but feel more confident since you did it without issues.

Just recently replaced my dishwasher and the sales person said he took a door apart one time and had a lot of trouble trying to put it back together again and highly recommended I NOT do it. He said I should call them again as they are a wonderful company with great customer service. I followed his advice and I guess we have a different opinion on great customer service. They have a file on me now and suggested again I call for service to determine why the moisture gets between the glass. I seriously doubt they will do anything about it. I know why moisture gets between the glass; because the glass is open at the top for ventilation.. I certainly don't need to take time off work, pay for a service call to have someone tell me that.

I have a friend who told me the same thing happened to her oven. So really, they have a problem with their oven design and are not willing to deal with it.

Other than the gunk between the glass door which is getting worse with each passing month, the oven works fine. It is smaller than I would prefer and the racks are flimsy but I like the side opening door which is really the only reason I bought it. I do like the built in thermometer which I use pretty much every time I roast meat.

So, until I take it apart I will gripe about it every time I walk by.....until I can't stand it anymore.
There is one appliance company that really gives great customer service way beyond expectations, Sub Zero.

hi inga239, can you please share the instructions Gaggenau sent you? I had a catering company use my oven they some how got water between the glass it's driving me nuts. I'd like to clean it up