Do you have specific model numbers?

Both of these have an element in back. The fan itself while it is marketed as evening out the temperature because it mixes the air also can dry the surface of what you are cooking that sits in front of the fan so it browns faster on that side. These ovens deal with this in different ways. The GE has fans that reverse direction periodically. The KA uses baffles. Some of the GE ovens also have direct air that allows you to bring airflow from the top. Which ones are you asking about?

Thanks. We are looking at several models: GE Cafe CTD 70DP2NS1 and KitchenAid CTD70DP2NS1. I have to admit, I'm also intrigued by KitchenAid's new model with the inserts for a baking stone, steaming and grilling, but buying 1st generation of anything scares me.

This is the manual for the GE. Read p 13 and 14 for more about the convection modes.

https://products.geappliances.com/MarketingObjectRetrieval/Dispatcher?RequestType=PDF&Name=49-2000379.pdf

GE has a feature called Direct Air that brings the air from the convection fan from the top. This sounds like it without calling it “Direct Air”

Have you baked with convection before?

The KA model # is same as GE.

I'm sorry. The KA is KODE500E. I have baked with convection. The convection on my 16 yo Profile isn't great, to be honest, but I'm sure there have been a lot of advances since we bought it. GE is putting this Air Fry in most of their stoves and that is very appealing to my husband. I am more interested in which model has the best convection, meaning I can bake 2-3 rows of cookies and they'll cook evenly.

Thank you. This makes the decision so confusing. And I have to admit, I don't like the look of the Profile as much. It's interesting: both ovens say they have 10 cu ft of space but the sales person told us the Cafe doesn't really, because of the placement of its fan (which pulls some space from the back of the ovens). He also warned us that the digital display (basically an iPad) on the cafe can have reliability problems, but that doesn't seem to be an issue, per CR

The sizes of the oven interiors is given on the Cafe oven spec sheet. There are pictures of the Profile and Cafe oven interiors on the Home Depot webpages. They are identical.

The LG Studio LSWD307S has control knobs instead of a touch screen for some functions.

Ovens are very hard to figure out.

As far as the space in an oven, you have to measure the usable space on the rack and the height of the oven above the rack. Try your pans out. The listed cubic feet has little to do with it.

There are tremendous differences in what convection means. How it bakes depends on the number of fans and fan speed. I think the idea of the third element is a little over sold. You have a heating element around the fan that creates a blow torch effect so you have to have a way to diffuse the air currents with baffles or the reversing fan. I use a profile in a beach rental and the fan was much less than my Wolf or a Electrolux. That may not be a bad thing.

I have been happy with my Electrolux oven as far as the way it functions but it has had issues with blue enamel chipping and now with the computer board. I don’t know what color these ovens are on the inside but I would not buy anything with a cobalt blue liner. I also had Dacor and Wolf with blue chipping.

Does your oven you have bake evenly? I think it is very difficult to get an oven to bake evenly with 2, let alone three racks. Besides the pattern if the airflow, you have radiant heat, so more heat from all of the sides of the oven. I’m not a fan of the hidden bake element which seems to be the source of many oven problems.

Did you look at Bosch? .

Thanks for the insights. Pricewise, we're staying in the GE Cafe or KitchenAid range. My current GE Profile does not back evenly.