Disclosure: I am a grandmother, consumer, non-techie, and considering a move into the Consumer Advocate arena. The sections of this post include: - About Bosch Benchmark - GE Ovens - How Swing Effects Roasted/Baked Food - How to Estimate Your Oven’s Swing (aka variance or range) About Bosch Benchmark I am in the process of replacing my second Bosch Benchmark double wall oven. The top ovens had a swing of 93* and 73*, respectfully. The first oven performed beautifully for 6 months, the second for a few weeks. Faulty electronics were evident in my experience. Note: the first oven was version /01 (installed 12/15) the second version /04 (installed 2/2018). Bosch uses average temperature to determine if an oven operates within spec. Within 28 months, my ovens were operable for 9 months, inoperable for 19 months. **How many households with kids could keep their family on track with inoperable ovens?** Bosch, on their part, offered me a buyback this month. But it took a tremendous amount time and bird-dogging on my part. GE Ovens GE states on their website the acceptable swing is +/- 30* using a 350* temperature setting. Hence, your oven meets spec if it’s temperature ranges from 320* to 380* within a 20 minute cycle time. (Check out the GE Appliances site and search for ‘oven temperature variance.’) How Swing Effects Roasted/Baked Food Here are a few examples of how a high oven temperature swing effects food roasted/baked from tried-and-true recipes: - prime rib (shooting for MR) is well on the outside, bloody red around the bone - a tried and true family fruit cake recipe, baked for at least 70 years on all types of ovens, took much longer to bake, passed the tooth pick test, was sticky on the top center, and crumbled when sliced - a chicken and rice casserole never got done; I used the rice cooker to finish cooking the rice and the chicken was too tough to eat - two cake mix cakes, in which I adhered *exactly* to all directions, were baked using the shortest time indicated; they were full of tunnels, extremely dry, and tasteless How To Estimate Your Oven’s Swing 1. Position an oven thermometer in the center of the oven. (Cooks Illustrated recommends a CDN Oven Thermometer... of course Amazon has them.) - - - do not open the oven door until the test finishes - - - 2. Set your oven to 350*, and let it heat up for an hour. 3. Choose a start time. 4. Every 5 minutes (4 times in 20 minutes) note or take a pix of the oven thermometer. 5. The highest and lowest temperatures registered represent the oven swing. Note: technicians use a special tool to measure oven swing that is much more accurate. Phew! Time to return to my research!

Hi Mary, Are you considering the 30" slide-in ranges? There's some other discussions about the Bosch Benchmark vs GE (comments by some with the single oven, others by those with two ovens). A recent thread (begun in February, new posts are still being added) is here: [Induction Ranges[(https://www.houzz.com/discussions/induction-ranges-dsvw-vd~5623487). Both Bosch and GE have hobs for 6 and 11 inch pans, additionally, the GE has an 8" size whereas the Bosch has a 9". The 6" for the Bosch is in the front right, the GE has the 6" element in the back on the right. Some prefer the larger hob in the front so you don't have to lift a large pot of water further before removing it from the cook top. Presumably the 6" pot is lighter, even when filled, even though you may be using it every day or far more often than the 11" hob. The GE 30" slide-in (Cafe series) has knobs on the front (numbered but you can turn it to ANYwhere in between the numbers as well) whereas the Bosch is by touch control on top (I believe they have half-stops, giving you greater control). The Bosch configuration may put the elements a little further back than the GE hobs. It is true that if you inadvertently touch the oven control panel on the front of the GE, the panel will activate (unless you lock it), an inconvenience as you are reaching for a pot of the top of the stove. However, if you do nothing (instead of clicking 'cancel'), it will automatically turn back off or revert to an oven setting if you were also using the oven at the time. Bosch has a count-down timer for each hob along with a kitchen timer and a stop watch (count-up timer). The GE's two timers are not delegated to each hob, but act for the unit. They beep a warning at the one minute mark. They do not count in seconds. Only the GE has a warming hob (not induction). The cookware doesn't have to be the exact size of the hob, so a 9" pan would work on an 8" GE hob, as would a 10" or 12" pan work on the 11" hob. The cookware has to be reasonably close in size; I don't think you can use a 6" pot on the 11" hob. The current flexzone on the Bosch looks more flexible than the GE synchronized elements (I believe they are on the left for both companies). This may be a new innovation? I don't recall it being that flexible when I was looking for a range. Whether the (Bosch) flexzone or (GE) synchronization is worthwhile depends on whether you might be using a griddle or something considerably larger than one element. When I was trying to decide between them I made up a chart comparing some features, you can see that (from Nov. 2018) and the discussions that ensued here: [GE or Bosch Slide-In Range discussion[(https://www.houzz.com/discussions/ge-or-bosch-slide-in-induction-range-dsvw-vd~5548823). I found it very frustrating that I could not find either the Cafe or the Bosch on display to actually see for myself. However, you have great people here who own these and are able to answer specific questions. You can also try to get an idea from videos. Both have oven control panels with blue lighting that should be easy for you to see, however, you will have a better idea after seeing a video if you can't see one connected to electricity in person. There is one that shows the Bosch, cook top and oven controls and oven here Bosch Benchmark Induction and Over the Range Microwave (the first 3:40 of 5:19 pertain to the induction range). You should be able to find a similar video put out by GE showing the features of the Cafe or whatever one you are interested in. You might find it helpful to look through the specs and manuals for each. The Bosch manual is here: Bosch induction range instruction manual (800 series and Benchmark) and their spec sheet (showing locations of each size hob) is here: Bosch spec sheet. Also see the GE Cafe manual and GE Cafe specs. Keep reading and researching and hopefully you'll be able to narrow down which trade-offs are more important to you. Hope that helps some.

To those who asked: Yes….You can easily remove the copper cuff from the handle. We bought stainless Wolf/Sub-Zero/Cove appliances with “Pro“ handles for our kitchen, but wanted the amazing Cafe Advantium microwave (with Pro handles) for the coffee bar area in the kitchen. We do love the Advantium. However, we were disappointed the emblem/cuff was copper instead of stainless, and there isnt even a stainless cuff option available for special order. The company claims this copper cuff was intentionally designed & ”jewelry inspired”. The copper cuff clashed with our other Pro handles, so we removed the cuff in five minutes with two allen wrenches. Looks much better now and matches our other appliance handles. Monogram/Cafe should offer the option of a discrete stainless cuff. Not everyone wants ”jewelry” on their appliance handles.

I have Bosch double wall ovens, not French door but side swing. I’ve been happy with them. Have had them for a little over a year - through the holiday season - where I both baked and roasted quite a bit, without any issues (although to be honest I am a novice when it comes to convection mode). I have a counter depth French door refrigerator but not a cafe or Bosch (the Bosch was not yet on the market when I made my purchase or I would have strongly considered it). It’s been great. My old refrigerator is in the garage and I have utilized it for really large gatherings but most of the time the counter depth refrigerator is ample for my needs.