antss, I have reflected how I use the oven. In my experience, broiling is not to my satisfaction. If I put two things in the oven at the exactly the same time and exactly the same distance from the broiler and one cooks much slower than the other, than it is less of a broiler than the other, IMHO. Whether it was designed for it or not, they give directions for broiling meats in their instruction booklet. Basically, broiling meat in the speed oven will turn that into inedible grey goo, IMHO. sayede, If I am browning on the cooktop and finishing in the oven, ie fish or meat, I will use whichever seems easier or is not used at the time. They seem about the same. If the amount I am cooking is large, I will use the Viking. If I have to move quickly, I will use Viking since the oven is under the cooktop. Otherwise, I will use the Miele. It's a toss up to me. Roasting vegies and sliced potatoes, I tend to use the Miele. Sometimes, I cook it in the speed mode but often the time is not of essence since I am making 2 or 3 dishes at the same time to get the dinner together and I will just use the regular conv bake because I am more familiar with the way the food is cooking and there are many things that needs to happen at once and I feel that I do not have the brain power to deal with combi mode while dealing with the sauteeing meat or boiling pasta. If am baking potatoes or roasting beets to get ready for other things to follow, I will use the speed/combi mode because time is of essence. If I am cooking frozen meals (which i do not do often), I will use the combi mode. I don't make casseroles often, but I have used it and have found that it reduces the time by about 1/3 to 1/2 less. For example, 1 hour food is done in about 1/2 hour to 2/3 hour. I do find that the texture of the food does change with the combi mode and I am not particularly fond of it. I will not cook meat with it. This is probably where people will find the greatest amount of time savings, I guess, ie roasting a chicken. I have a BBQ with infrared broiler and I use that to roast my chicken. I just don't see the point of "spattering grease in" the oven that I have to clean up to save 20 minutes of cooking! YMMV. I will use the combi mode with frozen cooked food, ie casserole because it has already lost its "freshness" by being frozen...

Philwojo: I so didn't mean to make "a mountain out of a mole hill"! ;) Yet clearly I don't understand all that modern ovens can do. Thanks for filling in some of the gaps. Plllog: I love the interface of the Gaggenau combi steam oven - it is very simple and intuitive despite all of the options. I think they did a great job making the interface user friendly. I haven't bought the Miele yet and am keeping my eyes out for a newer floor model/discounted 24" Gaggenau combi steam with a left hinge, which would fit our current space. The current Miele combi steam is $3500 compared to $6800 for the Gaggenau combi steam which tips the balance toward the Miele (tradeoffs!). Rococogirl: Ah, I see the difference. The showroom person said it was the 'regular oven' mode without convection. I see that is not exactly the case. I do like the blend of classic and modern in my two appliances choices and am super excited about the Lacanche. I got the electric oven with the Lacanche which comes with a convection toggle switch so even the Lacanche will have more features than anything I've used before!

75-250 is indeed a pretty large range. But not too unusual to do that. According to https://www.ysi.com/water-hardness that would be somewhere between soft and slightly hard (no particular endorsement; this was just the first site that I found online). I don't think you'd go horribly wrong by telling your oven to treat this as "medium". Worst case, it prompts you to descale the unit more frequently than strictly necessary. That'll waste a little money on supplies. But if in doubt, that's better than wasting money on repairs. I recommend you buy the descaling tabs in bulk. They regularly show up on Amazon and other online services. And they definitely get cheaper if you buy a bigger package. You'll need two per descale cycle. I usually need to do so every six to nine months. But that might not be the same for you. We use the steam oven very frequently, but we have very soft water. Also, you absolutely want to make sure you have tabs on hand, when the unit needs it. You don't want to find yourself in a situation where you can't use the oven for a few days while waiting for supplies.

RE: Miele vs Wolf. We have a vacation home with Miele speed oven (2010)(combo of microwave and convection with broiler), 30" convection oven, and induction cooktop. We use the speed oven for everything except large meats due to its speed of heating up with the 'rapid heat' feature, but find it inconvenient to not have a microwave available if we are using the oven. But, to simply microwave requires about 5 or 6 steps on the digital panel, a big PITA. And, guests cannot figure out how to use the German minimalist controls for the induction and the microwave. Form over function! So, with our new home in Seattle (2015) we used all Wolf this time. We use the steam convection oven daily, and we don't clean it much. I did a side by side at Albert Lee showroom putting muffins and almond croissants into the Wolf and the Miele, both cold, set both to steam convection at about 360ºF. The Wolf was easier to set (even the showroom person had difficulty navigating the Miele minimalist digital screen). In about 5 minutes the Wolf produced internally moist, externally browned and crispy croissants, the Miele was not yet flaky or crisp on the outside. So, that made my decision for me! Does anyone know if the baking soda/peroxide past cleaning regimen damages the Wolf CSO? Thanks all for the entries. I am late in responding, having just read the thread.