We love the display and wavetouch controls. Ours is mounted undercounter, but the controls are still very easy to see and use, the writing on the readout is very large, for example the word convection is about an inch long, so I can read it without my glasses. See the post about the GE oven with the hard to read display, so mounting under counter a good easy to use touch panel is a must, as are the fully gliding out racks. The oven is easy to use. All the controls for the oven are LARGE Circles, about an inch. Lets say you want to "Convection bake" (1) Touch convection bake circle, it beeps and blinks. (2) Enter the temp (we use 350) so 3, 5, 0. (3) Touch Start. DONE!!! Now lets get a lil fancier and preheat the oven, OK? (1) Touch the preheat circle. (2) Enter the Temp (3) Touch Start (4) Oven will beep when it has reached preheat temp, if you missed it, No worries, the display on mine shows Dashes, until it reaches preheat, then the display shows the temp, so all I gotta do is look for numbers instead of dashes to know the preheat is done. Mine is a 2006 model, I believe the newer models actuall show the actual temp as the oven preheats, Maybe CJ can comment as her oven is a newer model than mine. Anyway, I'm an Old F*** and I have no problem seeing and operating the oven controls,even thou it's below counter. HTH's Gary

I'm confused. Why can't someone just use Bake? I may be totally naive and not discerning enough --and not baking with enough variety to relate to the conversation, but I don't notice any difference between using the Wolf Bake that apparently uses a little of the top element to do what they've considered is the best job, and using my old GE Profile that wasn't convection. I thought maybe it's part of the compensation for having the bottom element buried? I have also never found much of a learning curve with convection, other than to not use it for certain things. I don't adjust temps, and am happy to have things cook a little quicker when they do. Those old ovens weren't all that perfect or precise, so checking to make sure things didn't under or over bake was routine. There aren't ovens out there, are there, for which you can't turn off the convection? I'm with you on the knobs, of course, and do wish there was a quality oven available without all the bells and whistles and in the hundreds, not thousands, of dollars. I would've gladly done that this last time. But less expensive just meant cheaper. It's like the cars that have GPS and electronic everything, but you can't trust to get you from Point A to Point B without parts falling off.

Thermador and Bosch ovens have a 7 minute preheat if you use the "fast preheat" option. This will turn on all three elements (bake, convection, broil) at the same time. No other oven is designed to do this because the porcelain finish on oven cell would crack. The Thermador/Bosch units have 4 seams, 2 on each side, that run front to back and allows the oven cell to flex with a quick temperature rise so that the porcelain interior will not be damaged. I don't hear about many service issues with either brand anymore. About 3-4 years ago they had control panel issues, because their supplier was not providing durable control boards. BSH has since changed the supplier and reliability is much improved. The One-Two-Free promotion is very good. Our store usaully gives you a nice break on other items when sold in conjunction with this package (sink, wine fridge, shipping, etc) with this package. The Thermador dishwasher is made by Bosch. You do have to spend $500 more to get the 3-rack d/w (worth every penny IMO) The Bosch 15% rebate promotion is also very good. You may want to contact your local authorized servicer for Thermador, call first thing in the morning and ask to speak to a tech (before they leave for the day) and ask him/her about Thermador ovens, and specifically about newer units. Mary1307 - you may want to try calling Thermador's dedicated customer support number: 1-800-735-4328. They are trying to solve service issues without involving the dealer now (in other words my Thermador rep now has little power to escalate or resolve service related issues). We'll see in time if this benefits the consumer or not.

John, 1)Did Smart money talk about resale value of the home? Real estate agents/money lenders love Wolf. It is the brand de rigueur for the nouveau riche poseur elite. If you are building your Kitchen to impress real estate agents,potential buyers,and friends then yes Wolf is best. 2)The previous generation Wolf oven had some reliabilty issues. To its credit Wolf hired an outside consultancy to do extreme testing of it's ovens to find weak spots. It completely redesigned some parts while leaving others alone. It has been about 3 years or so since the current generation came out and so far so good. However, both Gaggenau and Miele have long established records of excellent oven reliability. Wolf will "probably" be very good.Gaggenau and Miele you can take to the bank. Having said that there is always some chance you get a lemon,that is why they have warranties. 3)Before I purchsed my Gaggenau I sought friends and friends of friends who had high end kitchens. I live in West LA. My best friend lives in Yorba Linda in Orange County.I have one sister who lives in Anaheim Hills in Orange County and one sister who lives in the Palos Verdes section of LA County. I offered to cook a meal including beef wellington and chocolate souffle if they let me test their oven and monkey around in their kitchen. Checking things out like ranges and such. I found takers that had Thermador,Wolf,Miele, and Gaggenau. Could not find anyone with a Kuppersbusch. I got good results with them all.I eliminated Thermador when I researched and found reliability problems but I like the results in the order of my rankings. 1) Gaggenau 2) Miele 3) Wolf. All are on my recomment list because they are much better than the GE/Whirlpool/Viking ovens that I have previously used. And I really like the side-opening doors. It lets you get real close without fear of burning yourself.