I looked seriously at Dacor when I, unfortunately, chose the Monogram instead. I can't remember why I didn't look into that oven again when I got the Wolf. I couldn't find much info or feedback, and it never came up with the salespeople I talked to, I guess. Also, the store who I dealt with who recommended it had closed. But I do think it's worth a look. It was a guy who works in Wolf engineering, where they do extensive testing of other manufacturers' appliances, that steered me toward Electrolux as a 2nd choice if I could afford the Wolf. But ASV reminded me about the glass over the element in Dacor, which I thought was a very smart feature. Also, if you get their dbl that's thermal (not convection) on the bottom, the cavity and, I believe, racks are larger to take advantage of the fact there's no extra fan stealing space. My Wolf's thermal oven cavity is slightly larger than the convection one also, but the racks aren't so the larger cavity is no advantage to me. My repair tech said Dacor was the one he was most impressed with, and my old favorite saleman swore by Dacor and used it as the gold standard...to which he said Elux compared very favorably. If you're willing to look at others beside Wolf and Miele, you might also consider Fisher and Paykel or DCS...if you can confirm you have plenty of available tech support in your area, which I didn't. My F&P oven performed great, but when the porcelain went bad (uncharacteristic for that brand, as far as I know), they had a lot of trouble finding authorized service people to do the changes for me.

Yes, I am happy and would still recommend Wolf. I got a lemon right out of the box, we just didn't know until they came to see why it wasn't baking evenly. They replaced a coil, and when they pulled it out of the oven, the old one was so knarled and twisted I was amazed it worked at all! I suspect the overheating thing was something that was also damaged but not discovered at the time. When I called Wolf on that, they had no hesitation in immediately placing a replacement order. The only question was which serial number was correct since they had it down with one digit off in one place. I have had no problems with the new oven -- other than impatience. If I put something in the minute the preheat signal goes off, I can get dark bottoms because the heat has not evened out. If I give it a minute or two, it seems to be fine. On the other hand, it seems to heat a bit faster, so I'm not really waiting longer. I'm willing to accept that even the very best made and strictly controlled product can have a lemon slip out. In my case, the coil was in a tray that slides in and probably caught on something as it went in. That flaw may have led to the other problem. While I had the control panel replaced, it was a cosmetic issue (fogging) and it too may have been caused by an underlying electrical problem that was overheating but hadn't made itself apparent. I have not heard of another problem like this. The first guy who came out said he'd never had a call on a new Wolf and rarely had calls on Wolf at all. That was pretty much the reaction I had from everyone, so I was reassured about the product quality. This was a fluke damage problem as far as I can tell -- not a design problem or bad parts with thousands of problem ovens out there. Another thing I am very happy with is Wolf's customer service. Couldn't be better. If you need them, they are there, quickly, they speak clear English on clear phone lines, talk nicely to you, the service is friendly, helpful and efficient. No one wants to have a problem, but if you do, what more can you ask for than for someone to quickly and easily help you resolve it without any arguements, hoops to jump through or other hassle? I can deal with a headache or two like that, but even one where you have to hassle over it is too many (i.e., Whirlpool and my dead washing machine). I think you will be good with any of the ones you are looking at, but I have no problem recommending Wolf. We liked the looks of the Wolf too, and I certainly didn't need the rotiserrie (can roast without it or grill with one pretty much 12 months out of the year) or the fancy programming. DH was sold on the quality after talking to a Wolf rep about the one product/one man assembly approach (they KNOW who screwed up my old oven, poor guy LOL) The Wolf cost less for me too. Let me know if you have any other questions.

It depends upon how you want to use that second oven. The microwave/convection oven requires you to choose between a glass base or a metal base, depending upon which process you're using. If you envision using the Advantium (I presume the other alternatives are similar in this regard) for an oven frequently and you also use a microwave frequently, I think you would find changing these out irritating. If, instead, you will only use it infrequently as an oven and frequently as a microwave, then it's easy enough to use. My Advantium preheats in roughly 5 minutes. It cools down very fast and I have not had any problem using it as a microwave right after using it as an oven. (I'm using it now on the countertop during the temporary kitchen phase. A real godsend!) If you go this route, you want to have a convenient location for storing whichever base isn't being used at the time along with the rack that isn't used during microwaving.

I have the 30 inch Blue Star. Am very happy with everything -- burners, broiler oven. I had been a little reluctant to switch from an electric to a gas oven but it is fine. The broiler is wonderful. I do have a Miele Speed Oven which serves as an extra small electric oven, as well as a Breville counter convection oven -- another small electric oven. I use these more often than the big Blue Star oven because most of the time I'm cooking for two. But now that winter is coming I think I will be using the big gas oven more often for stews, short ribs, baking biscotti on large trays. Truth be told I got the range because of the burners and because I felt it looked right for my kitchen. Mine is bottle green. Had a brief flirtation with the Lacanche Rully which also has two full width ovens in a 27 inch wide range. (the top one is a broiler). Very cute but roughly twice the price of the Blue Star, and didn't have those great open burners. The Blue Star is not inexpensive but compared to the other contenders -- Wolf, Viking, even Capital -- it was a good value. So far I really like it.