Following as well

Bosch ovens are rebadged/rebranded, somewhat upgraded Frigidaires. This is not necessarily bad, as they also make the well-respected Electrolux ovens, which are even less expensive than the Bosch. The other three are independent manufactures, or were last time I checked.

Brands get sold frequently in the appliance world. For instance, Jenn-Air has had at least three parent companies in the past 15 years, while Kitchen-Aid has had at least two, and last I knew they were both owned by Whirlpool.

The Bosch Benchmark are very new and while I've seen them mentioned here once or twice, I admit I know nothing about them. We did have a Bosch double oven in our old home, but it would be about 15 years old now, so any info I can provide would be wildly outdated. I can only say it was miles better than the 27" builder special POS, GE oven it replaced, and did not need a repair in the five or so years I used it, but it also wasn't extraordinary in any way.

I believe Miele now makes (a.k.a. assembles) all U.S.-market appliances, except for their very top-of-the-line dishwashers, in the U.S,; and last I knew still design their ovens in-house, instead of rebadging another brand's oven with their own skin and logo. (Another common industry occurrence: For instance, Wolf doesn't make microwaves, they just redesign the outside of Sharp's.)

When I was looking, Miele's main, unique draws were their "perfect clean" system, for those who dislike self-cleaning ovens, and "masterchef" program cooking settings. I read a while back that they may have done away with their perfect clean system (can anyone confirm/deny?) and are now focusing on moving towards self-clean where you can leave in the accessories. That, to me, is a very nice feature, which I had on my old GE Monogram ovens, and found worked very well, at least in their implementation. (The ovens themselves? Not so much. But the self-clean racks and supports were awesome.)

Also in the pipeline, but not yet available from Miele, back when I was last oven shopping ... Some sort of steam assist cooking feature on their top-of-the-line models. Have no idea of its efficacy in Miele's planned implementation (I know KitchenAid's similar claim was pretty much regarded as a flop that was less effective than simply spritzing a spray bottle or adding a pan of boiling water to the oven), but potentially worth exploring, especially if you're a bread baker

Aesthetically, the Miele look is ultra-sleek and modern. They don't offer varying styles, but they are one of the few higher-end brands that do make black and white ovens.

Gaggeanu are, or were, THE most expensive ovens on the market. They are all still made in Germany, as far as I know. Their 36" single ovens (300 series) have long been considered amongst the best in the industry. Buying two of them will cost as much as a very nice car. They are the Lamborghini of ovens, and I admit I know no one in real life that has even one.

Their double ovens feature side opening doors, supposedly very even heat and are generally very, very well respected. Forum member "Rhome410" has a set and is usually very vocal on ovens threads and is a great resource. She also has a blog you can access here: http://rhome410.blogspot.com, where she talks about her ovens.

I have a Gaggeanu plumbed steam oven (previous gen to what's offered now) and I LOVE it. I've had a few issues, and it was unquestionably ridiculously expensive, even with a "deal," but Gagg customer service has been responsive, even outside of warranty. Finding people who service this niche brand hasn't been all that easy, which is another potential downside. (I'm in the midwest.)

On the con side, I, personally, HATE the look of the Gagg (stainless under glass) -- it's very ultramodern -- and the controls are futzy and non-intuitive. Function = great; form = your mileage may vary.

I currently have the new Wolf M series double oven, which replaced (just this week), my former L-series, which suffered from the porcelain problem you mentioned. It's too early to tell if this is a fix for that, but I can attest that the baking and roasting prowess of the Wolf is better than any oven I've ever used, service is OUTSTANDING and, in my very limited use so far, the new oven seems superior to even the really great one it replaced.

Despite my issues, I'm very happy with my choice of Wolf and wouldn't hesitate to buy more of their products. In fact, I plan to the next time I need to replace something.

I've posted about both ovens here already quite a bit, so I won't repeat myself with specifics. If you're interested, you can search "wolf and applnut" or "wolf and applnut2" for more info. (Applnut was my original GardenWeb name. Had to change to Applnut2 when Houzz took over the site.)

Thank you so much for all of that info, applnut. Interestingly, the Gaggenau double ovens are only about $500 more than the new Wolf M Series Pro ovens. Unfortunately, there are no Gaggenau dealers in my area, so I would have to drive 2 hours to look at one in person. I may do that, but my free time is extremely limited. I saw the Bosch Benchmarks today. I would say they're extremely good value for money... especially with the side swing door. However, I really like the Wolf's features such as the multiple broil and convection settings. Plus, it seems that a simple oven replacement has turned into much more... replacing the fridge, dishwasher, ovens, and cooktop. To be honest, I was originally thinking of Bosch since I didn't see the point of putting in mega ovens when the other appliances are still middle of the road. But... if we're doing all of them, I want to do it right. So, Bosch is off the list. I'm definitely leaning towards Wolf... unless I make it to a Gagg dealer. Also, there are authorized dealers online that supply Gagg, Wolf, Miele with NO sales tax or shipping charges. That saves a chunk right there.

I am really glad that you mentioned the steam oven, because that may be in the cards, too. One option is to replace my gas cooktop with a Wolf Dual Fuel range... and get a Wolf single wall oven and a steam oven. Wolf's looked very nice, but I really know nothing about steam ovens and don't know if they're just faddish or really handy.

@rivahgal1 What did you end up buying?

I hate the Gaggenau ovens in the 12 year old house we bought. The controls might as well be in German (which I don’t speak!). I have a college degree, I’m 63, so this is not my first rodeo, and I cannot figure them out even with the manuals! I loved my Wolf ovens in my old house so I’m researching how I can incorporate a stainless Wolf set to coordinate with a high end Balthaup kitchen. Gaggenaus are gorgeous but about as user friendly as a cactus!

Anita, I can help you with the Gaggenau controls! It's really not that hard, though I agree they're not intuitive. The manual for the slanted trim older model was in grammatically correct English but so densely worded in Engineer speak that one had to unpack them and practically diagram the sentences, but the information was all in there. The next generation with the display screens are a lot easier. What do you have? Nothing wrong with Wolf ovens, but it's a shame to give up on the Gaggenau!

Basics for either model: One dial sets the elements being used. The other sets the temperature. On the display screen ones, you touch the squares on the frame to operate the other controls.