Kelli, BSH Bosch and Siemens own Gaggenau, Thermador, and Bosch, like Volkswagen owns Porsche, Audi, and VW. Likewise, Gaggenau is to Thermador is to Bosch the way that Porsche is to Audi is to VW. As such, the new Bosch Combi Steam oven is almost identical to the existing Thermador oven, which itself is very similar to the Gaggenau non-plumbed oven, so I wouldn't be worried about reliability. But as they all have the water tank on the right side, they're all very small - 1.4 cu ft, aka you couldn't fit a frozen pizza in them small. The Gaggenau plumbed oven, on the other hand, is a slightly more reasonable size (the US spec sheet says 1.7 cu ft, but I think it's actually 1.5), so it could serve as a 2nd oven, or even a primary oven for small meals. It is still narrower than I'd like. The oven cavity is only 13" wide x 18" deep, and then you lose some space to the rack rails, and the usable space on the tray itself is closer to 11" x 12". While you can technically fit a standard 1/2 sheet pan in (the door will just close with it), squeezing it between the rack rail guides is kinda tough. Miele and Wolf make good sized Combi Steam ovens (1.7 and 1.8 cu ft respectively). The Miele one, for example, is slightly shallower but much wider (I want to say 15.5" wide x 17" deep). Only the Miele and Gaggenau ovens have a broiler and steam condensation recovery, and only the Gaggenau is plumbed and has a side-swing door that opens 180 degrees. The new Bosch side-swing door ovens are, imo, a good idea in theory but questionable in practice. Where the Gaggenau oven door swings out 180 degrees to leave the oven completely unobstructed, the Bosch is designed to sit flush with cabinetry, in which case the door only opens to a 90 degree angle, leaving it right next to your arm. As I tend to carry heavy things with my elbows out, this poses a greater hazard to me than having a door that folds down. It's like the designers thought "flush mount ovens are great, side-swing doors are great, let's just put them together!" and didn't realize that the one greatly interferes with the other. You'd have to check the installation guide to see if maybe you can install it 1" out or so, to give you room to open the door fully. Gaggenau ovens really do seem like the gold standard (though don't get me started on the cheap racks in their regular ovens...), but Gaggenau seems to know this and charge a ridiculous premium as a result. [Edit] Updated above info with some measurements to give you an idea of Steam Oven size. This post was edited by Timobkg on Wed, Oct 8, 14 at 10:41

@andersons21 - I only saw your reply now - sorry about that. Yes - by "put in water" I just fill the reservoir. (I don't have the plumbed in version of the oven.) I don't do it before preheating because somewhere in the Miele manual it mentioned that the oven works best with cold water. So I always add water at the last moment. Maybe they just meant not to use water that was sitting in your hot water heater. I have no idea. The manual is vague in many places. And yes on MaxiBroil -- the baking steel does reach a higher temp, and the oven spring is better. I use it for both pre-heating and the first cooking stage. When I've pointed an IR thermometer at the baking steel after preheating, it's something like 480-490F. I forget the exact figure, but it's significantly above 435F. I wish it got hotter too, but the interior of the oven is made very differently than a regular oven, so I suspect that's probably why it's limited. The same thing happens in the regular Miele oven (not steam) - the high broil settings let the baking steel reach significantly higher temps (~650F) than the highest setting on the oven (which I think is 575F). I have both ovens btw - and use the steel in the regular oven for pizza.

This does sound plausible. And yes, in general, forced convection is a good thing. You always have some convection anyway. That's one of the three modes of how heat gets transferred -- and it's probably one of the major ones in an oven. Natural convection just happens to be very uneven. Forced convection can help with that, if the oven is designed to move air around evenly (not all convection ovens get this right; I think the Miele CSO is usually pretty good, though). Also, both forced convection and increased humidity both have the benefit of much faster heat exchange. That's how you get faster cooking/baking times in a CSO compared to a traditional oven. This is usually what people want. But it might require you to adjust your recipes for either shorter times or for lower temperatures. In ovens that rely on natural convection, I have found I always inevitably have to insert extra heat dispersers (aka "a unused cookie sheet on the bottom shelf") to bake more evenly. With Miele's model, that's less of a concern. I am not overly concerned about Miele running the fan at all times, and so far I haven't had it be a problem. What exactly did you try that didn't work? Maybe, we can help you figure out how you need to adjust things. Also, do you know whether Miele runs the fan at full speed when in non-convection mode? It would make sense to reduce the fan speed for these modes.

@JJ Mekai . Hi. For what it's worth, I decided on the Gaggenau CSO instead of the Miele. Three reasons. I preferred the two-knob controls -- which at first can be intimidating, but once you learn what's what, very easy to use. I knew I was not going to use the Miele pre-programmed recipes. The second reason was Gaggeenau having the broiler "under glass." As NYGuy says above, cleaning the broiler unit on the Miele would be a real pain. I took one of the Miele CSO classes; the instructor was touting her "invention" of wrapping a damp paper towel around a fork and sticking it every which way along the broiler element to clean it. I have read, though, that the new models have a detachable boiler unit for easier cleaning. Finally, I got a very good deal on a scratch-and-dent model that came with the complete warranty. That still made the Gaggenau more expensive than the Miele, but I got the side opening door and self-cleaning feature as well. Have been very happy with the choice, especially for baking bread and cooking veggies using steeam. Pizza also cooks well. When we've had lots of people over to make pizza, I put a pizza stone (not Gaggenau's version) on the bottom rack, heat the oven for an hour and then also use the broiler. Works as well as the regular oven, even without having bottom heating. Like anything new, there is a learning curve -- and I am still learning. My only regret is not getting the Gaggenau wall oven. There I went with the Miele purely because of price. It's been fine, but I miss the knob controls and the side opening door. As in so much of life, compromise rules the day!