I'm still learning my oven, but I've found that if I'm making a new to me recipe that was written for a non-convection oven, that it's better to do it with the convection off. It doesn't seem to matter for casseroles and covered pots, so I use it just because. I have a convection broil setting which is great for lamb chops cooked on my cast iron grill, but not so much for anything thicker. It's good for standing chicken roasts if they aren't in a pot. What I didn't guess before I actually got to use it was how much I'd love convection for cookies and appetizers. Being able to bake them all at once and get them over with is really fun! I only have one large oven (and two specialty ovens), so multi-level baking of puffs (choux paste) makes a big batch into no big deal instead of waiting for the oven to cook for each tray. Convection is considered a problem for anything that doesn't like the turbulence. That would be anything egg risen, like a souffle or sponge cake. Some people include custards as well, which might include quiche. I haven't tried custard with convection, so don't know for sure. I've have found that small, lean beef roasts can get dried out with the convection on, as well. General rule: Use convection with anything that won't get dried out or blown around. If a couple hundred dollars will make a big difference to your budget, I'm sure you can balance your cooking so that you only need the convection in one oven. Multilevel or multipot cooking is where convection makes the biggest difference, so dozens and dozens of cookies for the bake sale or reception would be a lot easier with two convection ovens. For Thanksgiving, you can put the turkey and maybe something that isn't very touchy in the non-convection oven, and the other things in the convection. BUT, if you were planning to buy a pair of stylish new boots or a night out on the town, it's worth forgoing that to not have to worry about which oven you put what in when, and just get convection in both.

Have a look at Miele's recipe here from DGC 6800 cook book. On page 442, translating into Wolf's term, for baguette, it would be starting from cold oven: 1. 40˚C/104˚F convection steam 8 minutes 2. 50˚C/122˚F convection steam 4 minutes 3. 210˚C/410˚F convection steam 6 minutes 4. 210˚C convection 30 minutes The first 2 steps, would help proofing the dough further. Step 3 is for initial full rise with heat and humidity. Wolf does not have humidity adjustment where in Miele it can be set to 50% per recipe, so you can play around with timing, but 6 minutes after initial proofing sounds about right. Then finish off with dry heat, 30 minutes may be too long for a smaller loaf, but Miele program is written for the recipe in the book on page 110 for ~ 500g loaf. You can download the pdf version of the book from Miele Ireland. Have fun programming.

I have a CC but I'm sure they're all very similar. It takes about a minute for it to light and come up to broiling temps. Basically as long as it takes for the glow plug to get hot. I usually fire up mine as I'm preparing the food for the broiler so it's ready when I'm ready. I think one time I fired it up as an afterthought, and I waited a couple of minutes anyways to let it get good and hot. I didn't actively monitor it. I just turned away to do something else and came back to it. But it was ready so it was a non-issue for me. My range vents out the back, so smoke from broiling has not been issue. I'm sure the Wolf and Viking are similar in this regard. One thing an IR broiler does not do well is blackening. For that, you'll still have to use cast iron and deal with the smoke.

I have a ge electric convection oven. I love it and now would never again want to go back to non-convection. I can put in three pans all at the same time (cookies, muffins, dinner & dessert, etc.) with excellent results. Everything cooks evenly and in about 90% of the normal time I used to cook. It took me a few times of checking the food a lot of times before I got down to a routine of just knocking about 10% off the recipe's time. I love the fact that I can fill up all three racks and everything cooks correctly at the same time. I've gotten so used to that I can't imagine doing it any other way. It's just so nice to put in all three cookie sheets at once for example, so that it takes 10 minutes to bake them all instead of 30 minutes for each sheet to take its own 10 minutes.