We have a total of three ovens, as we decided to keep our all-gas range after the remodel. This wasn't what we had planned originally, but in hindsight I am so happy about this decision.

We have the XL CSO and a SpeedOven that is the same size. We use these small ovens all the time. Very happy with the decision to get the smaller capacity. It preheats much faster, and extra capacity is rarely needed. On the other hand, we have more than one oven in use all the time.

It takes a few months to fully realize all the options you now have available. Ovens aren't just for baking and roasting. The CSO also does proofing and sous-vide. The infrared broiler in the big oven makes great steak or even just wonderful toast. And all of the ovens can be used as impromptu warming drawers, or for slow cooking food that would otherwise simmer on the stove top. Having more small ovens is great, if that fits your space and budget.

We use the XL CSO most of the time. But I love the big oven for its broiler. Nothing beats Bluestar in that department. And with the big oven I worry less about inevitable splatter from roasts. Whereas with the CSO, I try to avoid more splattery foods; doing so means that it is mostly self-cleaning because of the high humidity and the stainless cavity.

In other words, different tools for different tasks.

What I was told on one of my visits to the MIele experience center by the chef doing the cooking demo on the cso is that because of the cleaning limitations, she does things which spatter fat and grease in the regular oven.

From what I have seen, and I could stand corrected, many Miele owners here use it for all roasting and cooking.

Obviously a lot depends on your personal style of cooking and how large your family is and if you entertain a lot. Personally I could not manage with only one oven.

However, another "thinking out the box" option is to have the one oven and smaller countertop appliances and incorporate appliance garages in your design so that you don't land up with countertop clutter. I love my air fryer ovens and use those on a daily basis so that might work for you as a second oven.

I think you could go with your idea of having the option of your cabinetry and make the decision later. but you need to think about retrofitting and that the cso is 24 inches wide and most ovens are 30 inches wide. Would you house them in one column and have filler panels for the cso? What would you put in that oven ready cabinet in the meantime. Have a gaping hole there? or put doors on it and use it for extra storage now? Factors to be taken into consideration are, are your cabinets custom or stock. Do you have someone who would retrofit it for you. Are all ovens the same cutout dimensions?

I think you both have convinced me to stick with the second oven. We currently have a 30" convection oven in our Viking range which works like a champ, albeit it runs quite hot. We primarily use our countertop Breville convection toaster oven for everything except full size sheets (kale chips, big squash, the odd year roast turkey), which I thought could translate into the cso pans. It makes sense to have that overflow cooking space. Thank you!

Waverly6, we originally had the ovens stacked, but as I am only 5"1" in the showroom I realized the right height for the top oven would push the oven beneath quite low. We split them so they're both undercounter on ajacent cabinet runs. If we'd just put in the "spaceholder", we would have put doors on the cabinet space and used it for storage.

Now to reconsider the xl or xxl...

san64

The two ovens we decided on are the Miele XXL CSO and the Speed oven to use as a second oven with its convection/microwave capabilities. Sorry that I can’t write about our experiences with either as we’re waiting for our home to be rebuilt after the Thomas Fire. Best of luck on your decision!! SAN

Anyone have experience with a CSO under-counter? From what I understand it’s not ideal but wondering if it might be acceptable in cases with space limitations

When i was researchingthe Miele, one of the things that pushed me towards the XXL was a comment from someone here ( possibly M who gives wonderful advice) was that if you are doing taller casserole dishes it was harder to fit 3 in the XL Also, from what I understood, the heat up time was not much different so I decided that big was good and bigger was better.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Miele and my comments are gleaned from research. After researching for 15 months and loving the Miele, I found a never used showroom model Thermador on closeout at such a ridiculously low price that they were almost giving it away. No brainer to take that.

So, Martin Halliday, do you only have CSO as your sole oven? Am I reading correctly? If so, do you ever use the broiler? With what results? Issues? Thanks

Yes, after installing the CSO I found that I never used the conventional over again. I was just storing baking tins in the old oven, so I removed it and filled the gap with some heavy duty drawers for pots and pans - much better.

I do use the CSO broiler, usually as the final cooking stage to brown the top. I also have a small counter top toaster oven that I use for toasting/broiling. The CSO broiler works well enough and has two power levels. but there is nothing special about it.

Thanks for the quick answer. I'm still not quite understanding something though...When do you find that you use the CSO broiler as your final step in browning and when do you go to the toaster oven for that? What I'm really trying to get a grasp of is whether you would be perfectly happy if the CSO's broiler were your only broiling option. Thanks again!

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

That answers soooo much! Thanks!

An example of using the broiler as the final step of cooking would be a Sheppard's pie, where you want to brown and crisp the potato on top of the pie for the last few minutes of the cooking program.

I can live with CSO as my only broiler as I don't broil that much. For a lot of things that some people use the broiler for, I prefer to use a grill.

If you want a powerful broiler/salamander then the CSO broiler will probably not work for you.

Thanks. I generally use a grill, too but on occasion I resort to a broiler. Decisions, decisions, decisions.... 😱