Oh yes, I absolutely love my Gagg steam oven! After enjoying it for almost two years, I know I'd replace it in a heartbeat if I had to, despite the outrageous price. I've learned to steam many of the things I used to boil---potatoes or shrimps, for example. It's much faster than waiting for a pot of water to boil, and if you're in a severe drought situation, as we were last summer, it saves water. For steaming small quantities, I use an inexpensive Chinese bamboo steamer, placing it on the wire rack; a 10"-diameter one works fine, and you can stack two if necessary. Usually, they come in three-piece sets (two round baskets plus a cover), but since you don't need the cover in the steam oven, try to find a place that sells them singly (sorry, I can't remember where I got mine). But stick with the steam oven, and don't be afraid to experiment a bit after you feel more comfortable with the knobs and buttons. I think you'll come to love it as much as most owners do. ---Margaret

Kelli, BSH Bosch and Siemens own Gaggenau, Thermador, and Bosch, like Volkswagen owns Porsche, Audi, and VW. Likewise, Gaggenau is to Thermador is to Bosch the way that Porsche is to Audi is to VW. As such, the new Bosch Combi Steam oven is almost identical to the existing Thermador oven, which itself is very similar to the Gaggenau non-plumbed oven, so I wouldn't be worried about reliability. But as they all have the water tank on the right side, they're all very small - 1.4 cu ft, aka you couldn't fit a frozen pizza in them small. The Gaggenau plumbed oven, on the other hand, is a slightly more reasonable size (the US spec sheet says 1.7 cu ft, but I think it's actually 1.5), so it could serve as a 2nd oven, or even a primary oven for small meals. It is still narrower than I'd like. The oven cavity is only 13" wide x 18" deep, and then you lose some space to the rack rails, and the usable space on the tray itself is closer to 11" x 12". While you can technically fit a standard 1/2 sheet pan in (the door will just close with it), squeezing it between the rack rail guides is kinda tough. Miele and Wolf make good sized Combi Steam ovens (1.7 and 1.8 cu ft respectively). The Miele one, for example, is slightly shallower but much wider (I want to say 15.5" wide x 17" deep). Only the Miele and Gaggenau ovens have a broiler and steam condensation recovery, and only the Gaggenau is plumbed and has a side-swing door that opens 180 degrees. The new Bosch side-swing door ovens are, imo, a good idea in theory but questionable in practice. Where the Gaggenau oven door swings out 180 degrees to leave the oven completely unobstructed, the Bosch is designed to sit flush with cabinetry, in which case the door only opens to a 90 degree angle, leaving it right next to your arm. As I tend to carry heavy things with my elbows out, this poses a greater hazard to me than having a door that folds down. It's like the designers thought "flush mount ovens are great, side-swing doors are great, let's just put them together!" and didn't realize that the one greatly interferes with the other. You'd have to check the installation guide to see if maybe you can install it 1" out or so, to give you room to open the door fully. Gaggenau ovens really do seem like the gold standard (though don't get me started on the cheap racks in their regular ovens...), but Gaggenau seems to know this and charge a ridiculous premium as a result. [Edit] Updated above info with some measurements to give you an idea of Steam Oven size. This post was edited by Timobkg on Wed, Oct 8, 14 at 10:41

I just got one of these, and it's a major disappointment. My first steam oven was made by V-Zug, a Swiss brand not available in the U.S.. I liked it so much that I got a countertop Miele model to go with it--sometimes it's nice to have more than one steam oven. When I moved back to the States, I got the ne plus ultra Gaggenau steam oven. The Gaggenau has been wonderful, but its not working just now, and it's taking forever to get it fixed--I live more than an hour's drive from the nearest Gaggenau service center. So I thought I'd get the Viking to use in the meantime, with the idea that later I'd have a second steam oven, and also (for the first time in years) a microwave. I don't miss much about microwave cooking, but I do miss popcorn. The Viking just isn't a real steam oven in the same sense as my Gaggenau, or any of the others I've used. For example, the "steam" function is limited to 35 minutes, apparently because its itty-bitty water tank won't hold enough water to steam for longer. But it takes 45 minutes to steam rice. Just now I ran it for 25 minutes, refilled the tank and emptied the drip tray, and then steamed for another 20 minutes. The rice still wasn't quite done. The machine does have an automatic "rice" setting, but apparently that uses the microwave feature, and I'm simply not ready to put up with microwaved rice. The Viking did make me some nice popcorn, and I suppose if you aren't used to something better the steam oven functions might be pretty appealing. But I'd advise a friend to suck up the extra cost and get a real steam oven. The new plumbed Mieles look good.

I believe your information is a bit wrongly interpreted, NFT. Miele has two reservoirs for non-plumbed model: fresh water and waste water. If I am not mistaken, combi steam oven from other makers do not even have waste reservoir. Miele has a drain outlet at the bottom of the oven connected to a pump. For non-plumbed model, waste water drawn through the outlet is pumped to the waste reservoir; for plumbed model, waste goes out the drain line. There will always be just a little bit of water left in the fresh water reservoir. There is no harm in leaving some amount there, IMO. I, however, do empty the fresh water reservoir every few days and wipe it dry. Here are some photos of my plumbed combi. The space for waste reservoir is blocked out on the left hand side with a plastic fascia. The water level is at after a rinse program, just tiny bit left. A pump would suck out as much as possible water from the reservoir during rinsing. For this simple design, the tube has about 1mm opening, and a pump cannot suck out water below that level. So, you don't have to worry about waste water and smell if you go for plumbed model, NFT.