Thermador Pro 48 w Steam oven - stories please!

7 years ago

Has anyone has experience cooking on the Thermador Pro 48in range with the steam oven? I am considering it for my new kitchen (also considering Wolf and BS Platinum). I care nothing about aesthetics -- looking solely for function. We use all aspects of our range -- burners every day; casseroles, lasagnas and roasts fairly often; baking cakes and cookies often -- so I am looking for an all around great unit. Thoughts on the Thermador Pro and the steam oven?

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ethersurfer

7 years ago

A few weeks ago I moved into a new house. The contractor supplied a Thermador 48" Range with the steam oven, griddle and warming drawer. I'm a physician and I've been cooking as a hobby for over 30 years. It's a way to relax, be creative and please family and friends. To learn recipes, and professional cooking techniques, I've spent vacations "volunteering" in restaurant kitchens - throughout the years I worked on countless pro ranges. In my previous home I had a BS 60" range with a griddle and grill - it was a flawless performer for years. It was as close to restaurant grade equipment as one could get for a residential application.

The Thermador is simply astounding in its degree of substandard performance and outright poor engineering. From the get-go nothing works. The griddle - touted by Thermador You-tubes as an amazing non stick cooking and searing tool - barely cooks. Its thermostat control, ranging up to a theoretical 500 degrees never gets anywhere close and a few minutes after heating up suddenly cuts off leaving food to "slow cook". Forget about the non stick "Titanium" feature, you'll need a Spackling Knife to peel off a pancake! Thermador's tech quickly replaced my griddle claiming it was defective. The new one performs even worse.

That's just for starters. I use restaurant grade cookware. Sitram's Catering line. The Thermador "Star" burners send the flame to the periphery of pots - minimal centered heat. In the three weeks I've been using this horrible appliance, each evening is devoted to rescuing my cookware from side scorches. The Thermador tech told me the only solution would be to partially shut of my gas valve giving up any hope of reaching anywhere close to the BTU's needed to sear or stir fry. Yesterday I used my 12" Lodge to cook up some burgers. On the BS i would reliably get that crunchy outer sear in minutes. On this Thermador I actually had to push the patties all the way to the edge to get just a minimal char. The unfortunate patty in the middle "cooked" slowly to a disappointingly bland well done.

Baking? That's my wife's specialty. She grew up in France. Every pastry and cake recipe she's tried has either failed or taken twice the time to bake. I ordered a good laser food thermometer and checked the baking temps. If the oven is set to 350, the cake pan measures 250. And BTW - that "Analog" temp gauge - is just a showpiece. If you set the oven to 400, it will go up to that number. But if you midway lower to 250, it will "fall" immediately to the new temp as if the oven was flash cooled with liquid nitrogen. A call to Thermador revealed the gauge is just a gimmick!

And the Steam Oven? I haven't been able to get one palatable result. It's complicated, slow, and, as far as i can tell - faulty. I just placed a fifth call to get a Thermador tech to take a look.

If you are looking for a dependable workhorse and don't care about flashy gauges, blue LED's, deck lighting and other tools to impress your guests - get a BS RNB. If you are anywhere close to Pennsylvania, they'll welcome you to their plant and let you try out their equipment in their test kitchen. You won't be disappointed!

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Comments (9)

wekick
7 years ago
I can only comment on the the Wolf and platinum. If you are considering the Wolf dual fuel, I would read about the blue enamel chipping in their products. The all gas does not have this issue.

If I were buying the BS, I would buy the RNB over the platinum. All of the heat comes from the back of the oven with the platinum. Most recipes for baking are based on the heat coming from the bottom. It is the thing to have a hidden bake element and I really wish they would quit shielding the element on the bottom. Dacor and the Capital electric ovens have the element under glass for better radiant heat but have some other issues in the way they are programmed to heat.

Another deal killer for me on the platinum would be that the convection fan never shuts off. It runs every time the burner comes on. As much as I love and use convection, it is not good for everything. It can inhibit rise on anything that needs to rise. Gas ovens, in spite of releasing water as a byproduct of combustion, are vented more, so are drying to what you are baking/roasting so adding more air movement is even more drying. This is great for roasting because it increases browning but even then I like to be able to turn convection off if it is brown enough but not quite done on the inside.
Julie B thanked wekick
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Sorry, just took a look at this thread again and noticed your question...by the time I got to Miele, I had decided on induction, so I didn't give the Miele an actual test drive. I did give it a pretty thorough inspection at the Miele place, though, and thought it was a very sexy range -- and the performance seemed very similar to the Wolf dual fuel. I say that b/c the Miele also has the stacked burners, which I really liked, but the BTUs are higher than Wolf (which top out at around 16k, I believe -- Miele was closer to 20k or so -- I can't quite remember). The Miele ovens on the 48" range were very nice -- the smaller one is a speed oven, and the bigger one is a regular convection. The speed oven wasn't a big plus for me personally, since I really wanted a steam oven as a second oven, but there are people on this forum who love their speed ovens. One thing I really liked about the Miele oven, which Wolf doesn't have, is the burst of steam option, which is great for baking (you can program up to 3 bursts of steam for up to 6 min. each during cooking). I didn't care that much about the MasterChef options on Miele, but again, others love these. At any rate, the Miele seemed very similar to the Wolf, I liked the steam option on the oven better and liked the Miele burners better (also, if you're interested in a grill, theirs was excellent and seemed very similar to the Wolf, which I think is the best in the business). If I had stuck with a range, I would have been very tempted by the Miele.
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johnsoro25
7 years ago
I also own the Thermador 48" Steam Pro and couldn't be happier. My previous range was a Wolf 48" duel fuel and I made the switch in this reno for the steam oven option.

I have not experienced any of the trouble of the above poster mentioned. I prefer the griddle to the wolf griddle every single time. I haven't had any issues or problems with my pancakes sticking or any other food for that matter. I very much enjoy the nonstick surface and removable feature for cleaning. The steam oven is quite intuitive to me, pretty much set the timer and walk away, and I have hosted entire dinner parties using just that component (mostly just to show it off). The star burners work well with my pans, I sear burgers and steaks weekly, but I just use simple All clad and Le Creuset ;) No issues with flame placement. The star shape ensures more even distribution than a circle. The larger oven cooks evenly, broils quickly and is a good size. The analogue dial on the front corresponds to the temperature setting, as stated in the manual. I use the small warming fairly often with my busy kids schedule.

I've had this appliance for over two years, and I could not be happier with it. It is far more functional to me than my previous wolf due to the better use of the smaller oven with steam and warming drawer.

And not sure why this would matter, but just because it seemed important above, I am a physician as well.
Julie B
Original Author
7 years ago
Thanks! Interesting how two users can have such wildly different experiences! Hoping to get a few more stories to see if the bad experience is an outlier...
ethersurfer
7 years ago
"I have hosted entire dinner parties using just that component (mostly just to show it off)" - There you go...Thermador is mainly for "Show Off"...Just read all of the other "wonderful" Thermador reviews on line and see this: https://youtu.be/WJvKZiOQesg - shows clearly how a star burner should be designed. And, re "And not sure why this would matter..."... johnsoro25 seems to me you took my review somewhat personally. Of course you would be pleased with a Thermador after owning a Wolf...
johnsoro25
7 years ago
I didn't take it personally at all. Just thought you sounded a bit pompous. I don't want readers to believe that yours is the only review of this appliance.

I do like to show off my cooking skills at dinner parties, but the machine works just as well day in and day out for my family as well.
jaygremaux
7 years ago
Maybe I'm misunderstanding the wekick post, but I have a bluestar platinum range and the convection fan does not run whenever the burner turns on. There is a switch on the outside of the oven. You can turn the fan on or off whenever you like.
Lori Gee
7 years ago
We are very displeased with our 2 year old Thermadore range. So many repairs + such bad service. Lots of things dont work as written in user guide. It appears there is a "lemon" option for appliances. I do not spend too much time on the internet but sat today to do some research on whats our options. We spent so much money and cant even sell it. I am surprised at so many bad comments. So I suggest doing a lot of reading - not just here.
wekick
7 years ago
Jaygramaux

Yes you can turn it "off" but it still runs when the element comes on. In the on position, it runs all the time.

Look at page 26 of the owners manual.

http://www.bluestarcooking.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/BlueStar-FreeStanding-Range-Use-Care-Manual-Rev-7-29-14.pdf

Thermador Pro 48 w Steam oven - stories please!

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Thermador Pro 48 w Steam oven - stories please!

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