I find dual fuel to be mostly a marketing gimmick and not really relevant in practical use. I cook and bake in both gas and electric ovens, and it is easy to adjust for both. Gas is naturally drier, as the oven has to have a vent. But that can easily be compensated for by putting the food into an enclosed container (e.g. a Dutch oven). Electric ovens are naturally higher humidity, but not really enough to make a big difference. On the other hand, the CSO has very precise control for humidity over a very large range; and it also has very precise temperature control, which is great for things like sous-vide cooking, yeast proofing, yoghurt making, ... Also, the CSO has a stainless steel interior, so it doesn't suffer from the issues with flaking glass bits that lots of other electric ovens seem to experience, no matter the manufacturer. I personally love our combination of the best-in-class Bluestar gas range, and the best-in-class Miele CSO. These two appliances are very different and thus complement each other perfectly.

I have a 30” Miele convection oven/XL CSO/Speed Oven. The Speed oven was a splurge as I am not a big microwave person and thought the Speed Oven would be useful as 2nd small or 3rd oven. I have not regretted spending the extra $$$ for the speed oven over a built in microwave as I use it mainly as a second small oven or a 3rd oven when I need all three. The XXL CSO was not available when we were building but if I had to do it again I would get the extra height as you could more easily bake on two racks simultaneously and it would likely accommodate a larger turkey. I had to live without my 30” oven for 5 months this year (another long story). For my husband and myself it was fine. One downside of the MIele CSO/Speed oven is the ability to keep it clean. Neither are self clean and the perfect clean is not as easy to clean as Miele claims. I do not cook messy foods such as roasted meats in either oven (we grill outside most of our meats/poultry/pork/fish) or I use my 30” oven. Other than the cleaning - I would see if the width is limiting for you. I can get a jelly roll pan, 9X13 pans, and quarter sheet pans in the CSO/Speed oven with appropriate side clearance. Neither my half sheet nor my Williams Sonoma cookie sheets fit. I suggest taking some of you favorite large baking pans to a Miele dealer and see if they fit in the CSO/Speed oven if you want to go that route. I have not found the broiler power a concern and like you I am not a big broiler user. I usually only broil peppers/tomatoes etc or use it as a top brown. The CSO is my favorite oven and definitely needs to find a home in your kitchen.

> The Miele CSO manual says we shouldn't use the stainless steel pans for high temperature cooking, which also means that combi-steam cooking would be out of the question. I looked and do not see that stated in the manual for the CSO oven I have, a model from the 6705/6805 series. I believe the trays are the same as the new, latest models. But no matter I have not and would not cook -- i.e., bake, broil or roast -- something in one of the perforated trays simply because I would not want fat or other drippings to get on the floor of the oven. Drippings from steaming food, yes sure the oven is designed for that. Two suggestions for you, -Get to a Miele experience center and attend two of the training sessions they have, there will be one for 'new to steam cooking' and a second one for 'how to CSO.' The sessions and the people doing the training are very good. I'd specifically avoid any training from an appliance dealer, the miele staff people are night and day different (better) than applicance dealers. -Look thru and ask your question in the Miele CSO oven owner's thread. That thread is a great resource, on a level with the training at Miele experience centers, and the thread goes much deeper on many topics. I have five different Miele CSO cookbooks in PDF format (some 450 pages long), two I got from training sessions, and the rest from links in the CSO owners thread. And there are two or three really good websites linked in the thread, steamandbake.com etc.

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.