I think you have chosen two pretty evenly matched appliances. Miele's ovens have more things to offer- if those things are of any interest to you. Otherwise both machines are very reliable according to the reviews here.

Hopefully someone with personal knowledge of each appliance will be here to advise.

Linda McIntyre, we are going with the Bosch Benchmark with the Flexinduction as I do use a lot of larger pans (such as my dutch oven) on the stove top and also want the other capabilities of the Flexinduction, and after downloading the instruction manual, it seemed pretty great... not to mention several reviews, including this one.

Rita, could you elaborate please on the the things the Meile has to offer that the Bosch does not? I'd be quite grateful! ETA: The Meile is quite a bit more expensive. I make my request because I thought I'd investigated both pretty thoroughly, and the differences I found were that the Meile has knobs for the cooktop, while Bosch did not have knobs. It's my understanding the Meile did not offer a bridge either? Am I wrong? Thanks!

A couple of immediate thoughts that might be helpful in sorting out your choices. These come from recently checking out both Bosch models and the Miele.

First, as you live in New York City, you can find some of these stoves available for live testing. IIRC, Miele has an "Experience Center" in Manhattan where you can get hands on time with the induction range. Take advantage of that opportunity. The Miele offers only ten burner power settings (plus a two-level boost function). That might seem limiting for you, a self-described "enthusiastic cook [who has] always used a gas range." Might not, though. This is a YMMV kind-of-thing. A live demo is the best way to find out what will or will not work for you.

Second, it seems to me that "reliability" might be different from "longevity" when it comes to the electronics in these companies' stoves. A stove's electronics can be perfectly reliable during its lifespan but the lifespan of their complex electronics is difficult, if not impossible, for us buyers to predict. Miele's extended warranty on the stove does cover all manner of electronics failures including surges and other damages inflicted by the power system. But only for five years in the U.S. (Canadians can get 10 years.) I was told by Fergusons that extended warranties for the Bosch induction ranges will also cover surges and etc., as well, but I cannot verify that as I have not received copies of the warranty terms, yet.

On longevity and reliability, there are been parallel discussions of Miele and Bosch dishwashers. Both brands being mostly regarded as reliable and relatively long lived as appliances go these days. Still, It is hard to extrapolate much from that. These stoves are new markets for both companies and the stoves' electronics are much more complex and expensive than dishwashers. One consideration, though, is that both Miele's stoves and Bosch's are sufficiently expensive that repairing failed electronics may seem economically rational when it might not seem so with less expensive ranges (such at Frigidaire's induction slide-in.)

In general I think of Miele ovens as having all those computerized cooking options, which are not my thing. I was not speaking of the cooktop at all. With respect to the cooktop, I thought they were both reliable, both had sufficient degree of control over temperature selection.

My oven is more like a Bosch- made by the same parent company.

I love my Bosch benchmark range, but obviously can’t talk about longevity. I might have gone with the Miele but there aren’t dealers/service people where I live, so that was a no go.

If I were thinking about rental usage, I’d probably go with a gas range, with electrical service ready for an induction range once the place was only mine. The Induction cooktops are sturdy, but won’t take the beating that cast iron grates will. If a renter scratches the expensive Miele cooktop by sliding pans across salt, how would you feel?

>>>"could you elaborate please on the the things the Meile has to offer that the Bosch does not?"<<<

Generally speaking, the Miele range offers an array of pre-programmed automated oven operations and the ability for user-programming (and storable) oven operations. The Miele's control panel offers a search function which you might need to find all those stored and pre-programmed oven programs. The Miele oven offers a rotisserie accessory. Also, FWIW, the Miele's "roast-probe" is wireless.

The oven in Miele's HR1622i stove offers the ability to program up to three steam injections, each lasting up to several minutes. Note that this is not a full-on steam-oven, though.

Another thing Miele offers that Bosch does not is readily updateable software. Some of the Miele dishwashers now come with remote monitoring and updating by Miele, but I'm not sure if that's true of the induction range, yet. Some think those functions are very cool while others think the monitoring by the company would be creepy and objectionable.

As Rita noted above, some folks would love these things while others could care less or even prefer to live without them in their stoves. YMMV.

If you would like more detail, I'd suggest downloading the Miele range's "Operating Instructions" (which you can find here) and comparing them with the Bosch Benchmark "Instruction Manual" (which can be downloaded from here.)

>>>"It's my understanding the Meile did not offer a bridge either?"<<<

You are correct. You can span burners on the Miele induction range, but it does not offer the kind of bridging found on Miele's induction cooktops nor does it offer the kind of bridging found on some other brands' ranges whose bridging consists only of the ability to link the controls of two burners. FWIW, the Bosch Benchmark's "Flex-Zone" goes beyond just bridging. It uses an array of inductors that certainly can combine to providing a 16x9 burner for griddles, planchas,and roasting pans but also can disaggregate to accommodate very small pans as well as varying combinations of pans.

>>>On the fence about offering the house for vacation rentals<<<

I think nightflyer makes good points.

jwvideo, thank you for providing a more an in-depth look at both ranges. I hope this will be helpful to the OP in making her choice!

I get an error on your link to the Miele instruction manual - hopefullythis will lead other's to it. It should be noted, this is for the higher end M touch series Miele range which is about $3,500 more than the Bosch Benchmark. The other Miele range is about $2,000 more than the Bosch and those ovens are pretty much the same (thus my confusion on the differences - I was comparing the two closer in price).

ETA: I have given out wrong info above (corrected in a post below also).
There is no Miele Induction range that is $2,000 more than the Bosch - it's an electric radiant cooktop.

With either range, I don't think OP can go wrong. I think it's a matter of what one's cooking needs are.

I do wish there were a slide-in induction with dual ovens that offered everything I personally want, but alas, no.

Sorry about the bad link. I've corrected a typo in the link in my post above.

I did not know there was another Miele induction rather besides the $7.2k HR1622i. Could you link to where you saw a less expensive one? I just checked Miele's site looking for a $5.5k range ($2k more than the Benchmark) but the only ones I'm seeing there are the HR1421 ones which are radiant electric models rather than induction

jwvideo, Well, you are right, I am wrong. I thought the Miele HR1421E had an induction cooktop, and Miele's website says induction/electric, but just below states 'electric' cooktop. I hate when I give out bad information! My apologies!

ETA: I dislike Miele's website. I am still attempting to find a DW and wish they had a comparison view. AJ Madison has this option, but their comparison's tend to have quite a bit of misinformation (i.e., no self-cleaning on the bosche induction, which isn't true).

Thanks, everyone, for the extremely helpful thought! I'm going to take jwvideo's advice and go to the "experience centers" for both brands later this week.

Regarding nightflyer's good point about potential damage from renters, that's a big general concern I have with regard to almost everything about the house, and I have to figure out how to protect against it to the greatest extent possible through the rental contract and/or other means. But I don't want to pay to run a gas line, or mess up the energy balance of the passive-house construction, just for that reason.

I was an early buyer into induction for my beach house as there was only electric service available. The range worked well but I did experience an electronic circuit board failure that had to be replaced. At the time, I bought it from Sears for about $3,500. I really liked the Viking unit but it was around $5,000 and I couldn't justify the difference. I was renting the place as a vacation rental so I didn't want to spend more. The last couple of years we lived in it and I got to know it fairly well. If I had known I would be living in the house, I would and should have spend the extra. The big plus for the Viking unit was the controls were all analog instead of touch pads. As someone coming from a Bluestar RNB it was hard to adjust to using the touch pads to set temperature. With gas, you adjust the know while watching the flame and you develop a sort of muscle memory that says this is about right for what I am cooking. With a touch pad that you tap it just isn't the same. If I were buying an induction range today it would have knob controls with some visual cues as to what kind of temperature I was achieving. I would not buy an induction range without knob controls. The control electronics will be the failure points and simpler is better. Remember, any parts they are using were already obsolete before the first unit came out of the factory. Chip vendors aim for 6 month to obsolescence. It takes a seriously committed vendor to buy up the inventory they will need to be able to service you in the future.

If I were buying an induction range today it would have knob controls with some visual cues as to what kind of temperature I was achieving. I would not buy an induction range without knob controls. The control electronics will be the failure points and simpler is better.

Sorry but you're incorrect. Even the knob controls on induction are electronically controlled so you gain nothing except that it makes you feel better.

Additionally, almost everyone on this forum will tell everyone else to stay far away from Viking as they have the worst service record in the industry.

Lastly if you want fine control, go with the Bosch as they have the numbers listed with half spaces. Very easy to use.

Reason #1 through reason #479 of why I love GW: I keep learning things! cpartist, thank you for your wisdom! I did not know this about the knobs.

I did test the Bosch Induction at an appliance store and loved the half marks between the numbers. I found moving up and down the settings to be easy, and not too 'touchy'.

I like the more 'modern' (ha, showing my old age?) feel of a touch screen with digital numbers. I think if someone quite elderly or someone who had difficulty becoming accustomed to devices with touch screens were to purchase induction, they would feel less confused about the knobs... they would not have that learning curve. ETA: Oh, that sounds harsh! I most certainly do not mean to imply only an elderly person or someone who didn't care for touchscreens would choose knobs... I do not think this true. I do understand the familiarity of using knobs, and can see how this would be important to some. Sorry if I offended.

I currently use knobs on coil electric and look forward to the 'upgrade' of digital settings. Two fingers to turn a knob... one to select digital, not that big a difference, but easier IMO, easier to clean, perhaps. With induction, one must look at the knob/touchscreen - you can't look at the flame on induction.

Question about Induction and Chocolate: Can anyone answer this? I've read you can melt chocolate directly in a pan on an induction (Wow!), so may I then assume, with proper monitoring of temperature, and because of the quick response times induction offers, one can also temper chocolate directly in a pan, as opposed to a double boiler?

Question about Induction and Chocolate: Well, interestingly enough, I've also been pursuing this same question recently. So, far the answer I've found on tempering has been a resounding maybe.

FWIW, I have had no trouble tempering without a double boiler on my current
induction cooktop and I've also run across on-line videos that show tempering as well as melting being done with residential induction cooktops. Also, both of the Bosch ranges and the Miele have a power setting that is below the setting their manuals recommend for melting chocolate. (The Bosch manuals recommend 1.5 for melting chocolate and the Miele manual recommends "1 - 2" as the setting.)

What I have not been able to find out yet is whether setting 1 on the Bosch ranges or setting "h" ("keep warm") on the Miele will hold a pan at the tempering temperature of around 90° F (+/- 2°).

Touch pads versus knobs: I did not see anything offensive in what you said, but I would add that one might prefer a rotary digital interface (knobs) over touch-pads for reasons other than simple "familiarity." As you might guess from my screen-name, I work in digital media production. I have been using touch-pad and touch-screen devices for decades. I'm fine with touchpads and touch screens. However, while cooking on the stovetop, I just find it more ergonomic to grab a knob when my hands are wet or messy, as they all too often are. (What can I say? I am a messy cook and play with food.) I've also found front-mounted knobs are less subject to interruptions from spills from pans on induction stove tops. Finally, I like the tactile feedback from a knob when adjusting burners while cooking.

Of course, those are just personal preferences and there are trade-offs to my preferences, including less ease of cleaning with knobs versus touchpads. That all just goes into the mix of things to weigh and balance in choosing between stoves which all represent different mixes of design and engineering trade-offs.

What I have not been able to find out yet is whether setting 1 on the Bosch ranges or setting "h" on the Miele will hold a pan at the tempering temperature of around 90° F (+/- 2°).

Maybe I’ll try that tomorrow on my Bosch.

To further muddy the Bosch waters, there’s a “keep warm” setting which is separate from the number controls. According to the manual: [the keep warm] function is suitable for melting chocolate or butter and for keeping food warm. Elsewhere in the manual it says to use power level 1.5 to melt chocolate and 1.0 - 2.0 for melting butter.

It’s difficult to know if they mean that “keep warm” would keep food above 140F so it stays safe, especially when they talk about melting chocolate!

What can I say, I prefer knobs to touch pads for cooking and I am a long time computer geek with lots of computing devices with touch interfaces, Apple Watch, iPads, GPS on my car, etc. Cooking, just doesn't happen to be one of them.

For what it’s worth, I tried a little experiment to give some info on the low settings for the Bosch benchmark induction range.

The room temp was about 70F, and I let a pan of water sit to reach that temp.

• Heating the pan of water for 20 min on level 1 resulted in a water temp of 79F
• leaving the pan on the stove and bumping the heat to level 1.5 for an additional 20min resulted in a water temp of 103F
• for an additional 20min resulted in a water temp of 138F

I then let everything cool off back to room temp and put the pan of water on “Keep Warm” for 20 min and got a temp of 106F.

The hob definitely pulses at these low levels (you can hear the hum cycle off and on). The temperature as measured by my thermopen digital thermometer would fluctuate by 2 degrees with the pulsing, but not sure if that is due to actual changes in the temp or if thermometer probe is being affected by the magnetic field changes.

nightflyer, you have been so kind to perform experiments on your Bosch Induction in your review thread, and thank you for doing it again here! That you use a thermometer and 'report' so clearly and thoroughly has been a godsend for me, and others!