I find dual fuel to be mostly a marketing gimmick and not really relevant in practical use. I cook and bake in both gas and electric ovens, and it is easy to adjust for both. Gas is naturally drier, as the oven has to have a vent. But that can easily be compensated for by putting the food into an enclosed container (e.g. a Dutch oven). Electric ovens are naturally higher humidity, but not really enough to make a big difference. On the other hand, the CSO has very precise control for humidity over a very large range; and it also has very precise temperature control, which is great for things like sous-vide cooking, yeast proofing, yoghurt making, ... Also, the CSO has a stainless steel interior, so it doesn't suffer from the issues with flaking glass bits that lots of other electric ovens seem to experience, no matter the manufacturer. I personally love our combination of the best-in-class Bluestar gas range, and the best-in-class Miele CSO. These two appliances are very different and thus complement each other perfectly.

> Is cleaning it a big deal? If I were to answer it would be from my point of view, in the bigger context I do not often use the oven with things that splatter, and so little cleaning experience. I do steam a lot and have to descale every few months. I'd refer you to three things: 1. The long and insightful Miele Combi steam oven owners' thread, has loads of real life usage and comments on cleaning. Helpful when I first go into it. 2. The owner's manuals, available from the Miele USA website for each product model. Main thought here is follow the instructions to the letter, the interiors have a specific surface treatment (Perfect Clean or whatever they call it) and require specific steps to clean. Don't use shortcuts or 'home brew' remedies! The surfaces really are easy to clean if you follow the instructions. 3. Attend some of the 'clinics' (a.k.a. training sessions) at any Miele experience center. I found these very helpful, I was new to combi steam cooking. The sessions are not just for cleaning, lots of great tips, insights and usage demos. Alternatively, if you cannot attend look for youtube videos on how to clean (Look for the Miele ones, not the people touting shortcuts and home remedies.) P.S: One more insight. Right after typing the above I cleaned a 'Universal Tray' that was used twice today. That tray comes with all the 24 in ovens, has a so called 'prefect clean' surface -- not intended for cleaning in a DW, so hand washing -- and true it it's name it took under 60 seconds to clean off baked on oil and other brown food residue. The perforated trays and pans, which is almost all of them, do not have a Perfect Clean surface are intended to be cleaned in a dishwasher.

I have not had an issue getting excellent results with my bread with the 435 degree limitation. My sour dough/baguette/yeast breads all call for 435 or less. I heat my stone at 435 for baquettes and sour dough but bake starting with combi/steam and then shutting down the steam and finish using surround. I do not use the programs for bread as I prefer to proof outside the oven. The manual for CSO tells you the steps for each bread type so you can easily create your own programs if you chose. Chanop created a great one I use for yeast rolls. I find being able to add steam to start of my bread baking is far superior to generating steam with a cast iron pan/water or towels. I get far more oven spring with my sour dough using the CSO than I ever got with my regular wall oven using cast iron/water and spritzing. I also get repeatable results - have not had a loaf yet that did not come out as expected in CSO. The CSO is not only excellent for bread but also for reheating leftovers, steaming veggies, and baking foods where adding stem benefits the process. It is great when you need a water bath. I do not roast meats/poultry as we tend to grill or use our 30 inch oven that has the moisture plus feature. I do use the programs for steaming, cooking rice, risotto, pasta and they work well. I also use the gourmet modes like proof, dehydrate, etc, and the pizza mode works reasonable well even at 435. However I usually do pizza on the grill or in my Miele wall oven using the pizza mode that can go to a higher temp.I do not have the plumbed version so I can’t commit on that aspect. Hope this helps - good luck!!

If your CSO is your only option for broiling, then sooner or later you won't be able to perfectly clean the oven cavity. You will have some splatter than won't come off. That's just the nature of broiling. Presumably, you're ok with that. But it's one of the reasons why I use the gas range when I need to broil something. I'm less annoyed by that oven getting dirty. Also, my gas range has a much more powerful broiler (it's almost as good as a commercial salamander). So, I'd feel limited by using the broiler element in the CSO. On the other hand, compared to a toaster oven, I would expect my CSO to do better. It is plugged into a much higher-power circuit than a counter top oven. In fact, I have both a Miele SpeedOven and a Miele CSO, and I know that he latter has a much better broiler