I did consider the Advantium initially. But was told by appliance salespeople that the Advantium still cooks with the halogen light even when used without the microwave. The KitchenAid speed oven also uses some kind of light I believe. So I don't consider that to be a "regular" oven. Now, beeing honest, there is no specific information that I am aware of that would make it to be "bad for you" to cook with the lights. But I don't feel completely comfortable with it just yet for some reason. annab6

We have a stack of a Miele CSO and a Miele SpeedOven in a tall cabinet. The SpeedOven is at about eye level. I love the combination and would absolutely recommend it, if you have the space and the budget. But I am sure I could easily adjust to having the SpeedOven under the counter. We have a traditional gas range, and it comes with an "undercounter" oven, of course. We use this oven quite frequently, because of its very powerful infrared broiler. And that requires close inspection of the food while it is in the oven. Only takes a couple of seconds to go from barely brown to catching on fire. If I can handle staring deep into my oven, I am sure I can handle a microwave at the same level. That placement is maybe not ideal, but every kitchen is an exercise in compromises; and this seems to be one of the less annoying ones.

If you really love cooking, I would recommend not do away with a traditional oven. You could get a counter-top combo steam oven, if you want to use that technology. Although my counter-top CSO is great for combi-steam cooking, it isn't a great "standard" convection oven.....it still is a little moist inside. Either it's the smaller size or the door seal.

Cleaning is pretty easy, as long as you don't expect the oven to ever look factory new. My oven cavity has a couple of minor but permanent stains. Doesn't bother me at all, but I just want to make sure to set the right expectations. As for plumbed vs non-plumbed, we deliberately chose the plumbed model and we are very happy with this choice. It makes it so much more likely that I'll add steam every single time, rather than skipping it, because I am too lazy to refill the water. Also, it allows me to cook things that take a long time. The CSO has very precise temperature control and thus makes for a very convenient alternative to an immersion boiler for sous vide cooking. But that can take many hours of cook time, and with a water container you have to worry about refilling ti. I do understand the concern about water leaks though. Realistically, it's no different from ice makers, dishwashers, and other appliances. These don't fail frequently, but they do occasionally spring leaks. And that's why we put a drain pan underneath the CSO. It drains into the same pipe that the oven drains into. Hopefully, we'll never need that feature. But it does give me peace of mind, and my contractor didn't think it was all that difficult to add into our cabinet.