We have not started our remodel yet, but as an avid cook thinking (dreaming!) about new appliances while cooking daily, I would definitely opt for a 2nd oven over a warming drawer. Good 2nd ovens would have low temps to keep plates/food warm so seem a lot more flexible and functional. Gaggenau ovens seems to be top end and have side opening doors. My dream is to have a double oven made up of a 1) Gag steam and 2) Gag convection oven, so maybe I'm projecting! :) We are only two people but I find in the winters we are often cooking two items that require different temperatures (e.g. bread and a slow braise) so to us a double oven will be well worth it, esp. with a steam oven which is relatively small and great for reheating. Wolf is another oven brand I hear consistently good things about but they are not side opening as far as I know. We'll probably also have a small microwave but I hardly use ours now - mostly for boiling water and I hope to have a hot water tap as part of the kitchen sink so I can't really advise on that account. Hope this helps. Good luck.

At first, I was wondering if I'd really slipped a cog and left something plastic on the meat, but I reminded myself I'd thoroughly dried it, so that wasn't possible. Thank goodness my son spied the smoldering hot pad tucked back where I couldn't see it, when I was putting the temperature probe in one of the roasts. I checked a bit later, and there wasn't even any odor left in the oven, which was a relief, and gave me good hope that the meat hadn't been too affected. I couldn't tell if the outside tasted a little odd, or it was just my imagination. With a prime rib surrounded by a good layer of fat, and the rack of ribs, the edible part was pretty well protected. As I said, it'll just be the year that spawns "remember when Mom cooked the hot pad for dinner?" Happy New Year everyone!

Approx 30 feet of 8/3NM cable and a two-pole 40 amps breaker to fit your panel.

Is there any reason to have both a microwave and a speed oven? What do people use steam oven's for? There are so many "oven" options... its a little confusing. thanks! I have three ovens, a full sized "regular" oven, an Advantium speed oven, and a combi-steam. I do not have a separate microwave. Is there any reason to have both a microwave and a speed oven? Yes. Besides the reasons Hvtech gave, there's the price difference between a Costco countertop special and a built-in speed oven. As you use a microwave the magnatron degrades. If you use a microwave to do heavy lifting, daily, you might want to save the speed oven and use a cheapie. You'll know if this applies to you if you've ever had to buy a new microwave. I mostly use my microwave for quickie heating on a sandwich or other grab and go food, and occasionally for a quick defrost. It does get used several times per day, but not for very long. By the time I get to where all ovens are full, I'd better not need a microwave! I don't use it for cooking/steaming, or making hot water, or anything like that, so overlaps aren't a concern. I put the Advantium in in such a way that it's in the position a countertop microwave would sit in, and there's no room for another. Be sure that you want the speed features. I did when I planned and installed it, but shortly thereafter I really lost the need for speed. There are some things that are best accomplished this way, but the main reason for speed really is to get it out faster. What do people use steam oven's for? There really isn't anything that you can do with a steam oven that you can't achieve another way in the kitchen. People use steam all the time, whether it's wine in the roaster pan, a squirt of water under a dome on the griddle with the burger, a petal steamer full of vegetables in a pot in the microwave, a pan of ice under the bread baking in the main oven, the bamboo box in the water filled wok with all the veggies inside, the colander over the stockpot with the towels and tamales, or the garlic bread wrapped in foil in the warming drawer. You can do all those things in a steam oven. The one thing that's easier the "real" way is the burger, which only wants a blast of steam at the end. You can get some Modernist Cuisine aficionado to come explain "wet bulb" vs. "dry bulb" cooking. I don't care. I just cook. Oh, and the combi-steam is the best for blanching and poaching. Several times a month I have a blanch-fest of asparagus, green beans, squash, etc. I'm allergic to fish, but I do poach chicken for chicken salad. If you don't have an automatic egg steamer, the combi-steam is the perfect way to make hard "boiled" eggs. Maybe soft ones too. Almost every week, I do a roast chicken and veg in it. Today I made custard bound strata in it--layered in a double ramekin, somewhere between a quiche and a casserole. Turkey parts for the holidays. Dim sum. Crusty bread. It goes on and on. The best trick, found on the Gaggenau and maybe others, is "regenerate". You can do this is a regular oven, too, but not so elegantly. Plate up a meal, put in on regenerate mode, receive perfectly warmed meal with none of the bits gone funny. My big test on it was leftovers from a restaurant: slab of potroast, broccoli and mashed potatoes with potroast gravy. Everything was pleasantly heated through, nothing was overcooked, hard, charred or even additionally browned, etc. I've also used it to reheat casseroles, especially small ones. They don't dry out and get hard. This is only the very most obvious stuff. There's lots and lots more. You don't need a combi-steam to do it, but it's oh, so convenient!