Davis_Helen, I don't have any word yet, maybe try calling Wolf directly to see what they say, always a good option to go directly to the source. In terms of you comment on the BS range top, don't give up on it. We, my wife and I, liked the Wolf, but after going to their cooking demo at their showroom, which was great, we saw just how scratched up and discolored that nice shiny metal all over the top of it gets. Know I know that they do a lot of cooking there, but to me it is only once a week so it can't be all that much. I know they clean it every time, as they showed us that as well. It is just the nature of how those type of range tops performs, they will get scratched from cleaning and show discoloration from high heat over time and there is nothing you can do about that. With the BS, since it is black and is cast iron you don't have any of those issues. I won't go in to open vs closed burners or any of that, to me that is all personal preference. But again, don't give up on that BS, or maybe even an CC as they have the same basic design, it is such a wonderfully easy thing to keep clean and looking great compared to other options on the market, at least IMHO. Phil

Re the timer, this is where you can see that Gaggenau sort of cobbled together the double oven as an afterthought. :) Now I also know why someone said the controls were weird. From the manual under "Set time functions for both ovens simultaneously": Short-term timer and stopwatch are not available when both ovens are in use. Cooking time and end of cooking time can be set simultaneously for both ovens. That means, if I understand correctly, that regular go beep timers don't work with both ovens on. What does work are the programs that either count down and turn off the oven, or you set a clock time that you want to take the cooked dish out at, and the oven figures out when to start it. My only guess is that they're protecting you from being confused by which timer is which, so only give you the ones that mind their own selves. Additionally, if only one oven is on, the timer displays on the left, but if both are on the lower oven's timer is on the left and the upper is on the right (there is an icon for each, so you don't have to memorize which is which). I have to say, it's very German Engineer of them. :) Or maybe it's in response to a lawsuit. :) I'm pretty sure the Gaggenau comes with one wire rack, one roasting rack and one baking tray (or at least mine did about five years ago) because that's what fits inside the oven with packing materials, etc. What I can't figure out is that the manual makes it sound like you only get one of each with the double oven, rather than one for each oven. That doesn't make sense. Many people only use one rack, but they'd still need one per oven. I bought two extra baking trays and two extra wire racks for my single oven, and counted them as part of the cost of the oven. I use the baking trays a lot, and often use two wire racks, but almost never use three. I've only cooked on two levels at a time in my Gaggenau. Great results. There is a quirk, however, where if you put short food in exactly the wrong place, the fan will blow over the food, the hot air reflects back and downward from the front right corner, and overbrowns the short food. This happens rarely, and they might have fixed that in the latest models. From what I've heard of the Wolf dual fan, it might do an even better job for multi-level. I've certainly not heard any complaints about it. Gaggenau has made the best electric ovens available for a few decades. From what I've heard about the recent Wolf ovens, especially from people who have used both, is that they're contenders for the title. The problem then is the interior enamel. Wolf has had a terrible problem with it chipping and flaking, which is dangerous. The M series has a potential fix to that problem but hasn't been on the market long enough, or in enough homes, to know if it has actually been fixed. Since that's a very serious problem, Gaggenau remains on the top of the heap. The other big feature for Gaggenau is the side swing door. Some demand it. Others don't like it or don't care. Recently, Gaggenau's sister company, Bosch, started selling side opening doors as well. As far as I know, that leaves Gaggenau at the high end, Bosch in the middle and Fridigaire at the bottom. There are also a couple of boutique makers, who mostly make ranges, like BlueStar, who have either single or double door side opening ovens. There are too few reports of those in use for me to get a good feel of their cooking/baking quality. I wouldn't let the timer thing dissuade me from the Gaggenau. You can get a two channel digital timer for something like $10, or you can get decorative single timers. Or use your cell phone, like most people do anyway, nowadays. The main point is how do you feel about getting the Wolf before the data are in about the enamel? You said you were going to assume it was fixed, but how will you feel if it isn't? If you're fine with that, do you like the Wolf Star Trek style touch screen, or the Gaggenau knobs? Do you like the Wolf drop down door, or the Gaggenau side swing? Do you prefer a steel face or do you like the glass over steel look? The M might have a little more capacity or take a slightly larger pan, from what I've read--will that be useful to you? You could always flip a coin...

I have duel 30" Therm convection circa 2006 and love them. Others here have indeed had problems but I've only run the self-cleaning once or twice and I think that's where the trouble came from. I do hammer both ovens at 450 & 525 often (bread and pizza) for hours on end and both ovens at the same time and they have been problem free. They also seem to stay clean at that temp. As for top, bottom or both - both if you have the budget:for the flexibility. If only one, figure out which height you are most likely to be most comfortable with using most often and choose that one for convection. One note - my ovens are loaded with neat convince features like the temp probe, delayed bake, timed bake, etc... I use none of them. I do use the standard bake, broil,roast, proof, warm, fast preheat, and the convection pairings, but none of the "smart" features. Carefully consider your cooking style before paying for the next upgrade in the line. I was so very tempted to kill the budget with an extra 2k or so on the Meile with the internal rotisserie and a few other features - pretty sure I never would have used those either.

Avanti, I'm not sure the "results" in the blog are all that useful in determining which oven bakes evenly. In order to compare how evenly the ovens bake, you have to make some attempt to keep as much as you can the same and change only the ovens. The pictures show variation in the cookies, different kinds, some are rolled but even those don't match up. Some are 6 to a pan and others 9. There are two different cookies in the same oven. More sugar or more moisture can make a big difference in how things brown. Were the cookies all the same temperature when they went in the oven? The bakeware is different. Nonstick, unknown metal on some and bare aluminum on the others. How were these placed in the oven in relationship to the fan? The rim can change airflow. I would want to see tops and bottoms of all of the cookies. What modes were used? This is probably the most important. Some of these ovens have several modes you could use, and you would need to test two or more just in one oven to compare. In the Wolf L, you have convection bake with a slow fan, more heat from the bottom and all convection, with a high speed fan and heat all from tthe back. The M has all convection, high speed fan only. Gaggenau and Miele probably have several modes that could bake cookies. It would be interesting to see standard bake in these ovens as well because that is just as important. How long were the ovens preheated and were the temperatures verified in any ways during the testing? From the linked article, these are two contradictory statements. "Convection ovens continuously circulate the heat to ensure the oven cavity is of equal temperature and that there is no specific area with a higher concentration of heat- no hot spots!" "A trending problem that I noticed within this experiment was the cool spot that seems to be created within the direct path of the fan, typically the middle, with single convection fan systems." The top sentence is how convection is marketed but it is a huge misconception. Convection does not insure even temperatures. It does mix the air so you may have more heat coming from more directions so changing the way some things bake but it can create "hot spots" because of the air movement. The second sentence dings the single fan as creating a "cool spot" but looking at the pictures posted, the Thermador, one with a single fan, looks the most even. I'm not sure what this person means by "a cool spot in the path of the fan". The airflow starts with the fan and depending on engineering the air eventually hits the cookies, where you have increased transfer of heat resulting in evaporation of moisture and so browning. This is increased if you have more airflow by the way it is baffled, higher fan speed, the direction of the air being influenced by the pans or more heat with the third (European or true) element in the back. The baffles often send the hottest air, right off of the elements, out the sides and top and bottom. This is why you often see the browning on one side, or even in the front as the current bounces off of the oven door. The companies try to minimize this effect by baffles as pictured but you still get an air flow. While you don't get the direct airflow in front of the fan, it goes somewhere. The verticross by Wolf in top left is one of the latest attempts to do this. Some also allow you to adjust the speed of air movement and direction of heat in different modes. Adding another fan might give you more turbulence and break up the airflow but really all these things have to be considered together. I have an Electrolux, single fan and while they do have a third element, there is no all convection mode. The back element cycles briefly but in varying amounts in each mode along with the rotation of the other elements. It is pretty even but if I bake something with more sugar, then any unevenness is accentuated. As as far as a "crazy amount of power", a preheat that is too intense may preclude you from putting food in while the oven is preheating or from using a delayed start. Some people will put something like a casserole in while the oven is preheating. Some fast preheats are optional. Read the manual for any oven you are considering. Some warn about putting food in during preheating while others market their oven as "no preheating necessary", for something like casseroles or baked potatoes.