I know that last fall GE released the newer Advantium OTR as a GE Profile and GE Cafe. Both of the 120v units had the same features and touch control pad, but the exterior design of the units were different to match the Profile or Cafe line. There is also the 240v model, but its more expensive and requires a 240v outlet. I hadn't heard that there were issues with the touch pad, does it not work right? Two years ago when out 8 year old GE OTR microwave died, we looked at the current Advantium model at that time and didn't like how it looked, so we got the GE Profile OTR Convection Microwave in stainless. It looks nice and convection works well, tough with only a 1500w heating element it can take 10 min to preheat. The only thing I don't like about it is the black control pad with white numbers/letters. It is hard to see in low-light. When I saw the new Advantium in the store last year, and the touch pad was backlit, it made we wish I had that one instead, if only my older microwave would have lasted me a year longer. I'm not a fan of the Cafe design, think the Profile series looks better.

This is tough because it is going into my 90 year old's mother's house, where she will not be able to understand any bells and whistles, BUT I own the house, and ultimately will be living in it. We probably won't be baking everyday, but I will be retired in a few years, and I'm sure we will use our kitchen more often. I don't need top of the line, but I don't want low end either. I looked at the GE Profile as one of my options with the Advantium 120. People were critical of the Advantium, but I think that may be older models? Well, the Miele with a Masterchef on top would be too cool, but I think that tops $6k. I was probably looking at around $3k, unless you convince me otherwise. ;-)

Avoid the Samsung. Cooks great, bakes great. Horrible Reliability. Here is the sad story. Trying to get warranty replacement or refund from Samsung, which has been utterly unresponsive to service calls. Retailer only somewhat better. It is utterly unacceptable that a range purchased for $1,8000 on 8/31/13 and not installed until Nov. 25, 2013 because of kitchen renovation delays -- and then only lightly used in two-person household -- blows up with a bang that interrupts electrical service in the entire house on June 27 when my husband simply put on a teapot to heat and then, despite "repairs," has a continuing series of operating issues preventing its use after only 8 months of service. It is also utterly unacceptable that Samsung, as manufacturer, was completely unable to schedule repair services within less than three weeks of the initial catastrophic failure of the range, despite many hours I spent on the phone, and on hold, with Samsung representatives. And despite the promise of one of them, ironically named Jesus, that he had placed an order for the retailer to deliver a comparable replacement range within a day or two (before the looming July 4 holiday). Alas, that was what is known as the Big Lie, clearly intended to simply get me off of the phone. Getting zero satisfaction from Samsung, I turned to the retailer, PC Richard, where I have found somewhat responsive service -- although the service people who are scheduled to appear within a week or 10 days of most requests never arrive with the appropriate parts, which are only ordered then, requiring a second service call, and a wait of additional weeks before anything is "fixed." And if the job requires two service people, a many-weeks-long wait, for special scheduling. The problems: After that loud bang and whole-house electrical disruption on June 27, nothing in or on the range top or oven worked, despite multiple attempts to reset it. The E-84 error code indicated simply that service was required (duh). Happily, at least, the circuit and surge protectors we have in the house to protect my extensive home office equipment, TVs, stereos, etc. did their jobs and after some panicked resetting of circuits, it turned out everything else could be reset. But the unit itself was useless for next FOUR WEEKS, until PC Richards finally got what was described to me as a new CPU for it, PLUS the two repairmen required to install it. They worked most of the afternoon of July 28 replacing a large circuit board underneath the burner area and declared the range fixed. While cooking two days later, I began noticing that the left side burners were behaving erratically. Especially the front one was turning itself off unexpectedly. But I had a lot of houseguests coming for next few weeks and decided just to keep an eye on it. What I determined, after the mayhem of hosting 14 visitors to my "beach house" subsided and I was left with only two guests, was that the left front burner would not recognize pots smaller than 12" in diameter, even though it is supposed to work with 6" (minimum) pots, and that the rear burner on the left only erratically accepted anything but huge pots. Called PC Richard on Aug. 11 and added range top complaint to a previously scheduled service call for my Samsung over-the-range microwave/convection oven (another Samsung lemon). Then, a few days later, my sister decided to bake thank-you cookies for her brother in law in my oven late at night. Before one batch was out of the oven, the unit had started to make very loud, and very much abnormal, fan sounds. Next morning, called PC Richard again, and added oven problem to the service call previously scheduled for today, Wednesday, Aug. 20. The PC Richard service man arrived this afternoon and quickly discovered the replacement part he'd thought he had ordered for the microwave wasn't the one he'd brought. Then he turned his attention to range. After calling Samsung and waiting -- on hold -- in my kitchen for more than half an hour to talk to a Samsung rep, the serviceman confirmed both problems (surprise) and said he's ordering parts for a fan located behind the range top control panel and some kind of induction controllers for the burners that he says were not part of the CPU he replaced three weeks ago. It is obvious, at least to me, that the range I bought is a lemon and an electronic nightmare. It is a good-enough convection oven and induction cooktop -- when it works -- but simply not constructed to withstand the "rigors" of actually being used to cook or bake in even a small household. And I know what I’m talking about. While this is my first induction cooktop, I previously owned a GE convection range in another house for more than a decade without experiencing any comparable issues. In fact, the only range that has ever given me these sorts of problems was a Thermador purchased (and quickly replaced under warranty) in 1979! It can't take the heat; I want it out of my kitchen. This lemon of a range came with a one-year warranty when I purchased it last Labor Day weekend. Now, I have asked Samsung to replace the unit with a comparable -- working -- model ASAP, or better yet, arrange a full refund for me with PC Richard, so that I can replace this piece of Samsung junk with a functioning appliance of my choosing. At this point I have lived with a propane camp stove instead of a functioning range nearly all summer, and have neither the time nor the patience to put up with endless service calls my Samsung NE597NOPBSR/AA quite evidently requires.

Well, it was this, I was talking about: The biggest difference is the speed feature. That uses a combination of heated air convection, halogen, and microwaves to cook things fast, and still have them be "normally" cooked. That is, browned, heated from the outside, etc. To do toast, I do not use the Speed Function, instead I select the grill function, I wait for the speed oven to preheat, then pop the bread slices in, set for about 2 minutes, as I recall, flip the bread after about 1 min. It comes out pretty good, albeit not as fast as a regular toaster but we just don't eat enough toast to buy a regular toaster. One would think the Advantium could be used the same way for toast and perhaps even the Miele, just don't try to "Speed cook it" per say. Gary