Kind of puts the parts-and-service issue in perspective.... Smeg obviously trying to crack the US market now; whether they'll succeed we don't know. As for the aforementioned Smeg dishwashers rebranded as GE (and later DCS), that's how Bosch and LG got started in the US too. Bosch entered the US market in the '90s with only three products (all high-end dishwashers) and we all know what happened since. LG used to just rebrand their microwave ovens for others (and sell a few themselves under the Goldstar brand); it took less than a decade for them to become a major contender in all appliance product categories. Samsung didn't sell any major appliances here until about a decade ago under their own name. Meanwhile, several once-big US manufacturers have disappeared or been swallowed by bigger fish.

My sink is a Bates & Bates. The grids came from the same company. They were expensive but we did our kitchen in 2003/2004 and I can't remember what I paid exactly. I think you will love this combination together. We still like it and it's 5 years old. We did light granite when *everyone* was doing dark, it seemed. We retrofitted new appliances and countertops in our existing 70s cabinets. LOL! They are well made custom jobs and we've never been sorry. It gave us a real updated look and allowed us to build in our refrigerator. At the time, we had only Viking and Sub Zero to choose from. Now others are making cabinet depth refrigerators. Still, we're glad we did what we did. Our entire 'update' cost around $14,000. We feel like we got a lot of punch for our DIY dollars. It's much better than the hideous floral wallpaper and harvest gold formica, sinks and appliances. (The kitchen was seriously harvest gold everything!) LOL!

We had a combo unit, and one did experience an early demise. We were a little annoyed with the extra expense of buying another combo unit however what we discovered is that would have been a deal compared to what actually happened. Nothing on the market at that time would fit the cabinet we had, so we needed to replace that tall cabinet. Matching existing cabinetry is difficult, and we were getting no help there. In the end, the dead appliance morphed into a complete kitchen remodel. This time, we're doing our ovens as separate units, and we're making sure that the oven stack is made with separate components, so that they could be unassembled and remade in another size. What we had before was one tall cabinet, floor to ceiling, that was impossible to alter without destroying it because of the way it was constructed.

A combi oven is much broader in function than a steam oven. . I would look at Miele, plumbed version. It functions as a steam oven but also as a full on convection oven but with control of humidity. You can read some of the manuals online especially Gaggenau and it gives you an idea of how it can work and the levels if humidity for different cooking needs. http://resources.gaggenau.com/us/wp-content/uploads/BS-470-485-Use-and-Care.pdf For just reheating, a MW is quicker. It is sort of self steaming. Sometimes I just use a regular oven. “From what I am hearing, steam reheating is considered healthier compared to microwave.” I have seen this in marketing materials This is from Harvard. https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/microwave-cooking-and-nutrition I would want to see a series of scholarly articles from an independent source. I think for some people , the combi oven is a great choice. I don’t have one because I don’t have room for a third oven and need the space of my 36” and 30” ovens. Any application if steam that I need, I can do a different way.