Searching_2008 No problem with the questions! I know how hard it is to get first hand info, so I'll provide all I can for you. 1. The only issues the in-laws have had are with the cooktop. It is a five-burner, 36" model. The stainless surface gets very hot with continued usage, and oversized pans can actually allow flame escape out of the side near the handles... they actually melted a handle! (Electrolux sent them 2 new ones... they are more careful with pot arrangement now). Their ovens have been great, very even. The DW is very nice too. 2. Our range so far has been wonderful. Both ovens are very even (much more so than any other oven I've owned, and other convection ovens I've used). I purchased a oven thermometer to check accuracy of temperature... the big oven is spot on, the little oven seems approx 10 degrees cooler than the knob says... we simply adjust for this now. Standard bake, convection bake, and convection roast work very nicely. Using the smaller oven, I baked 2 quiches last evening (convection bake). They came out perfectly. No hot or cool spots to speak of, crust was very evenly browned, no difference between the top / bottom / front / back. We haven't made multiple sheets of cookies yet in the larger oven, but single sheets have been very good. We end up using the smaller oven 90% of the time, but both are wonderful. The ovens come with 4 racks each, which is too many, so I've taken two out of each one. I guess if someone was doing large batches of cookies, this would be handy, but for us 2 racks per oven is plenty. 3. Burners / Simmering. The power burners (17K btu) are very powerful. The simmer burners do go "low" well, but not low enough to keep a wine reduction sauce in a 8" pan from evaporating too quickly without the simmer plate. We have ended up keeping the simmer plate on the range (over the small, back right simmer burner), and this has worked out fine. It comes with a wok ring, but we haven't used it yet. It also comes with a griddle / grill pan cover for 2 burners, but we haven't used it yet either. 4. Broan Hood. We decided to go with Best by Broan for a few reasons. We liked the idea of an in-line blower, and wanted to go with a manufacturer who makes a lot of hoods. The style was exactly what we were looking for. The Best was a few bucks cheaper than the ICON, and seemed like the best choice for us. (pun unintended). We also have the baffle filters for easier cleaning and reduced airflow noise. The unit came with mesh too, but I haven't tried them yet. 5. Cleaning. Cleaning is pretty straight forward. The grates come off (very heavy, but in a good way), the burners have a cap and brass ring, which also simply lift off. The "pan" under the burners is glossy enamel / porcelain which I clean with Windex Vinegar. It can look a little "streaky" at times, but I think I'm the only one who notices. The grates I clean with soapy water / plastic scouring sponge. They say the grates are dishwasher safe, but I haven't tried yet (nor have I had to... the grates stay pretty clean and are easy to sponge off). The front of the unit / oven doors are very simple to clean (I use Windex Vinegar (not the blue stuff!))... the design keeps drips from really getting onto the oven doors. 6. Reliability / Value: I'd agree that the ICON is in the same class as the Monogram and the DCS. Function wise, it is virtually identical to the Dacor 48", but is much less expensive. I guess that is because of name, but also because it doesn't have Dacor's fancy computerized controls. Which gets me to my second point... reliability. I have a general distrust of computerized controls where they aren't needed. I'm no technophobe (In fact, I'm a bit of a gadget freak), but I've never liked electronic displays / computers on my appliances. I researched the Dacor model, and the electronics seemed like the major source of complaint / repair. Give me knobs any day! Living in a cold / snowy environment makes a gas range of any type a nice thing... you can still cook without power. As far as Wolf / consumer reports... take those ratings with a whole lot of salt. CR is great, but for "niche" products, they often don't really "get it". If money was no object, I'd have picked the Wolf 48"... but for us it was literally twice the price of the ICON. All in all, though we've only been using the ICON for 9 weeks now, I feel I can safely say I'd purchase it again without question. Same goes for my Advantium 240. Jury is still out on the fridge.

they are clearancing the electrolux ICON from last year, the oven is 1 cu foot smaller. I got a floor model for $3200. The Bertrazonni just seemed kind of "chi chi" to me, make sure you put your hands on one before ordering. Not sure where you live, but I think they have another ICON at the Standards of Excellence clearance center in san diego. let us know what you choose!

Thanks to everyone for their thoughts. Based on your responses above, and the convection baking thread, it sounds like I should be able bake multiple sheets at the same time with convection, regardless of whether DF or AG, so that of course leans me toward the AG. Then I read Beth4's post and I go back to DF thinking I do use my range 1-2x day, nearly every day. Weissman- thanks for the correction re. Subzero owning Wolf. Don't know where my husband got that from. The kitchen is wired for electric (we just bought a 1950's ranch style fixer upper that hasn't been touched since the 50's) so it has an electric stove top bow but not sure if it's up to 240v. Just asked my husband and he wasn't sure but thought it's 120v for US and 240v for Europe so he's now calling our contractor to ask. AK Chicago- So happy you're happy w/ your AG. I forgot to ask in my OP... when your oven has preheated, does it beep to let you know or does the light just go off? Interesting point on the self-clean. Initially, I'd think that to not have this feature is a negative but reading your post makes me think otherwise. Plus, the AG range in our rental has a self-clean feature and I haven't used it in the 3 plus yrs we've been here. As I look back on my notes from the showroom visit, one thing she did say was that the "Wolf chef" apparently told them that to replicate the actual self-clean feature, all you have to do is turn on the oven to the highest heat for 3 hours and then let it cool for 1 hour b/c apparently that's how a self-clean feature works. Not sure if this is true but doesn't matter anyway since I'll just go the old fashioned Easy off route anyway. We made an appointment and visited an official Wolf showroom (in Burlingame, CA). The woman we met with said she's usually "on the field" but was working in the showroom since she's been there the longest- or something like this. She definitely works for Wolf but she wasn't very impressive to say the least. I felt like her "knowledge" consisted of memorized facts vs. based on a true understanding of the products, because she struggled when I probed. That was a bummer because I certainly was expecting a lot more out of that visit. The folks on this forum seem to understand the products a lot better. Here are some of the tid bits from my notes: - AG goes up to 16k BTU and down to 500 simmer; DF 15k Btu and 750 simmer - AG has 1 convection fan (vs. 2 convection fans for DF), gas infrared boiler, 30k btu under, cool down fan. - AG holds about 1.5 cups spillage; DF she thought would hold more - DF has a melt burner, back left - up to 9200, down to 300 (don't value this) - DF has a halogen light (this seemed much brighter than the AG I have to say) - DF has a full exension bottom rack that can be extended out onto the door (I think this would be very useful for basting, checking if cake is done, etc.) - She thought preheat time was similar for both (doesn't really matter to me but I hope the AG beeps when preheated?!) As I mentioned to Weissman above, kitchen is def. wired for electric but checking on whether kitchen is wired for 240v. Or, should we assume that any kitchen that has electric is wired for 240v? That could make the decision because if we end up having to pay more for electrical and my incremental $2400 for DF becomes higher, I'm not sure it's worth it. Beth4- thank you for your post. I'm sure I will love it if I get it, I just have to decide if the extra $2400 is worth it. What makes me at times lean toward the DF is I can't imagine regretting it, but worry with the AG that I might regret not getting the electric oven. Though, based on Weissman and AK Chicago's posts, maybe I'll be more than happy with the AG once I use convection bake. Shannon- Loved reading your post. Was helpful for me to read your decision making thoughts. As for looks, we actually prefer the look and the knobs of the AG as those are the original knobs and, to your point, will likely remain the same in the years to come. The DF looks great too of course but the knobs, other than the color, and the sealed burners look the same as many other residential ranges. Not a bad thing but we just like the original - AG look.

toomuchremodeling, I hope you don't mind if I answer and making the assumption that all functions work as they are supposed to, the Dacor has some good ideas. I have cooked on both, although I had the 36" range with 2 16" platforms and 4 11" platforms. I like the idea that they utilize the 16 inch platforms on Dacor. That gives you 6 big burners on the 48" Dacor and 8 conventional burners on the Wolf. I really liked the 6 big burners but wanted 2 full sized ovens so went with the 36" range and wall oven. I frequently cook for 20-30. If you cook with really big pans this is a good idea. I liked the burners, they were great for cooking. The Dacor burners seem to set forward a little more than the Wolf and is more comfortable for me. Wolf also cooks well and has very good simmer and most of my pans have fit well. One problem with the Dacor is that the knobs are plastic,so that they can have the pretty blue light, but one broke and I am careful. Wolf is made with heavy cast metal. Maybe someone might be able to talk about the differences in the burners or maybe a sales person might be able to show you. The Dacor oven is supposed to be within 2 degrees of the setting so comparable to the Miele in accuracy. If you turn the Dacor to 350 degrees, it will do that and if you bake something at that temp, you would say this works great, I love it. The problem was for me on the wall and range oven if you opened and closed the oven for batches of cookies or put something really cold there was no way for the oven to kick on and add a lot of heat(like the typical preheat on any other oven), it had to oscillate and would take 1 hour to move 50 degrees. They admitted this was an issue(even a benefit because my food would not burn with the preheat coming on) and sent improved boards to fix it. Well it didn't burn my food because it didn't even cook it. They never could fix either appliance. There is a cooking school of all things near me that has the same issues with their ovens and can't get them fixed and just try to adjust the oven themselves and add cooking time. Hopefully this has been totally reengineered, but I would make sure that it has before you buy it if you are a serious baker. Also be aware that the boards were billed at $1800.00 each time they were replaced. This was under warranty but if it weren't...ouch. A friend of mine had her board go out on an older Dacor oven and her husband replaced it for $35 on ebay. The computer board on the Dacor gives it some additional functions but can be expensive. The Wolf holds a temperature great. I think the Wolf bakes more evenly in convection because it has the dual fans as opposed to the single fan in the Dacor. If you want to raise the temperature by 50 degrees with the Wolf you have to turn it off and then on to get the preheat to come on. I do like the glide rack for the bottom on the Dacor but also like a regular rack because I am always changing them around. Someone told me Wolf is coming out with glide racks too if you like those. I think the preheat is pretty long on both for the oven to stabilize. One other thing on the 48" range is take the pans you use in and make sure they fit in the small side. Some of the 48" ranges allow more room on the small side and leave some room for circulation.