Here are my comments. Miele Combi Steam/Convection Oven - great choice. I would stay away from ANYTHING Thermador makes - expensive to repair, frequent repairs and poor customer service. I don't have experience with Electrolux, but the micro/oven combo I like is the GE Profile Advantium upper with a 30" convection lower (Combo is about $4,000). That Advantium oven does a MUCH better job than a regular microwave. Would not buy Viking, period, for the same reasons as Thermidor above. Viking took over the old Amana refrigerator plant. They are a great marketing company, but a poor product and service company. I'd suggest a KitchenAid 22CF panel-ready French-door cabinet depth R/F or possibly a GE Profile similar model if you're not going to put in a built-in refrigerator (SubZ et al). Miele dishwashers are great as are Bosch and KitchenAid, who now have the same type of filter system as Miele and Bosch do (they got rid of the built-in garbage disposals which make dishwashers much noisier). BlueStar Rangetop is fine. Personally I like Capital Culinarian - 25K Btu on 5 of the 6 burners and I think a 12K Btu simmer burner. Getting back to your oven situation, i'm in a remodel now where I'm putting in a 6-burner Capital Culinarian all-gas range with a Miele XXL Combi-Steam oven. No need for a 30" convection wall oven or a built-in microwave. Our microwave (which we just use to reheat beverages primarily) will be an under cabinet GE Profile model (cheap - $350). the Combi-Steam oven does a much better job of re-heating leftovers than microwaves do and it's great for steaming, roasting, baking bread, etc.

rule of thumb is the platform of microwave is best situated approx 3 in below your shoulder. A pull down model may be slightly different-but the fiddling/stirring/grabbing hot item occurs at the bottome of unit-getting to the handle and opening should not trump what happens once you get the door open. As far as the controls-it becomes 2nd nature using them in a short time. ...it's still the retrieval and mixing/stirring/etc that are the demanding functions. It sounds okay.....do you have counter landing next to it? that's important since it's in a stack.Make sure it's in a good spot overall in your layout for various people getting at it-sometimes off to the side is better/out of the way of the cook when she is busy.

I went to see the Miele CSO and oven last Friday, and I really like the CSO especially it being plumbed the the XL is big enough. The interface is great, perfect for anyone that's new to steam ovens. The regular oven is pretty much just fine. However, I still like the Wolf's look more, Miele is more modern clean look while Wolf has more rounded edges and the warmth feeling to it...I know that's so superficial LOL! One thing I am curious is, the sales guys at either Pacific Sales or Pirch all told me they would recommend Wolf, even though Miele is a superior product. I wonder if they get a lot more commission when they sell Wolf?? Also, the sales guy said if I get Miele, it's best to get the Miele installation because Miele will double the warranty makes it 2 years instead of 1. Did you get that too?

NEVER buy a combo unit any good appliance store will tell you MWs do not last as long as ovens . I guess it depends on what you want from the MW my last one lasted for 15 yrs with daily use so what is it you think the Bosch will not provide. I am not seeing those poor reviews for the MWs from Bosch. There are now new choices that you might want to check out but IMO I would go with Bosch if you just want a plain old MW