You can make perfectly good cookies, cakes and breads in a gas oven, but you do have to adapt your times and all. There's generally less variation between fuel types as with overall climates. Adding convection will make a bigger difference in your recipes than anything.

The Miele speed oven would be a nice solution to your dilemma and take less room. A countertop microwave and convection/toaster oven would cost a lot less.

I've always baked cookies and breads in a gas oven. Mine has convection and I never use it. A wasted feature, as far as I'm concerned. I also have a Cuisinart toaster oven that I use a lot for roasting veggies and baking some dishes when I don't want to turn on the big oven.

I purchased the Brevelle Oven to use as a portable while we were remodeling our kitchen. I love it and it is now in my new kitchen and serves as that 2nd oven when needed and is great when I don't want to use a full size oven. It is also perfect as a simple toaster oven.

I have a 30 inch gas (Blue Star) range, the Miele Speed oven and the Breville. I use the two small ovens a lot -- it is very handy to have two little ovens that you can set at different temperatures for different things. The big gas oven is not often used -- mostly for broiling. I think the combination of the larger gas oven plus a very small electric oven (or two) is very useful and flexible. The little ovens heat up faster and actually hold a surprisingly large amount. Great for sides and for daily cooking for two.

I actually think you could do well with just a rangetop and two speed ovens! Sounds strange, but you would get great flexibility that way and quite a bit of oven space.

When i did my last kitchen, i had a 6 burner viking with a gas oven, and then i put in a viking electric wall oven. I chose the different fuels because i understood electric was better for baking.

Other than for large gatherings or when i had caterers in, i used pretty much one oven, the gas range. The electric wall oven was too noisy. I saw no difference baking in one versus the other, really none at all.

So if you do decide you need two ovens (and when you entertain, you probably will), one neednt be electric, imho.

If you are someone who takes cooking very seriously, then you should consider either a gas range and an electric wall oven, or a dual-fuel range which incorporates both gas and electric. However, for most people, a gas range and a quality microwave are more than enough to service their needs. Consider what you cook on a regular basis and whether you have noticed a material difference between using gas and electric. If it has not made a major impact in the past, you probably don't need it for the future. Be wary of feature creep! Chances are that if you don't really need it, you can think of a few other ways to spend the money.

Here is a link that might be useful: www.BestKitchenGuide.com

I take my baking seriously and I've been baking with gas for 6 years. Everything comes out perfect. You get used to cooking with what you have. Our gas oven also had convection which I very rarely used. I'm more than likely getting a 36" gas range for our new kitchen as well. I toyed with getting a gas cooktop and electric wall ovens or a gas range and an Advantium. But in the end, I'd rather have the space and instead put a microwave drawer in the island instead of take up part of a wall with an oven/Advantium combo. But our kitchen is 14x12, not huge like some of the ones here. That's a very tough decision to make.

I would want two electric ovens and a microwave, but I bake...a lot. We don't have gas, but I know many people think it's better for a cooktop. Personally, I don't like it, since the one we had as a kid...the pilot light was always going out, but I'm sure that's not a problem, these days.

It's sweet that you want to accomodate your husband. My suggestion would be to see if any of your friends have a gas oven and bake cookies at their house. If you like them, you'll be fine. If not, get an electric wall oven. Just my two cents :)

Thank you everyone - your comments help so much. I'm glad to hear that the gas oven isn't as limited as I thought. And I think getting the speed oven (and a toaster oven like the Breville) is extremely efficient in terms of space - and time, based on how long I've heard it takes to heat up those big ovens. I love to cook and I've always had electric ovens so I'm a little nervous about switching - but I will definitely go cook/bake on a gas before I make my final call. Thank you, thank you everyone!!!

We just redid our kitchen and got a 36" gas range and put in a second 30" electric wall oven. Both have convection. We felt this gave us flexibility with gas/electric plus we wanted the 2 large ovens for holidays and large functions. Like doing large main dish in one and sides in the other.

I'm just curious...

I do not consider baking my forte, but I do cook, and I do bake from time to time.

One of the most common occasions for me to bake would be for an event or a school function. Because that involves quantity, if I was baking, I usually used both ovens at the same time so I would be done sooner (ie to cook multiple batches). This would seem to be a good test of electric vs gas ovens. They both had convection but I didn't use it.

Anyway, when I would take out my baked goods (usually cookies or cupcakes), side by side, I could not see a difference. What am I missing?

TIA