Very interesting about the Benchmark line. Thanks for the info! Strange, I thought the Bosch 800 NGM8654UC had a 17K BTU center burner because that's what it says on ajmadison, but now I see 18K everywhere else. It looks like the 36" cooktop will be around $1550 which is not too much more than the 800 series MSRP $1300, but the single wall ovens will be closer to $3K, which might be too much additional $$. Do you think there will be rebates or sales after the Benchmarks come out in April (on Benchmarks on on Bosch in general)? I'm now leaning towards Bosch for cooktop, dishwasher, and single wall oven. Built-in refrigerator too, if I'm convinced about paying a premium for built-in vs a counter depth (Kitchenaid, for example). I'm also not sure how to avoid a Bosch microwave while avoiding a strange mix in the wall oven cabinet (if in the wall). We had a convection microwave before, and while I reheat things in it all the time, I never used it as an oven, so a cheap microwave seems like the best idea. I'm at a loss where to put the MW, though.

Disclosure: I am a grandmother, consumer, non-techie, and considering a move into the Consumer Advocate arena. The sections of this post include: - About Bosch Benchmark - GE Ovens - How Swing Effects Roasted/Baked Food - How to Estimate Your Oven’s Swing (aka variance or range) About Bosch Benchmark I am in the process of replacing my second Bosch Benchmark double wall oven. The top ovens had a swing of 93* and 73*, respectfully. The first oven performed beautifully for 6 months, the second for a few weeks. Faulty electronics were evident in my experience. Note: the first oven was version /01 (installed 12/15) the second version /04 (installed 2/2018). Bosch uses average temperature to determine if an oven operates within spec. Within 28 months, my ovens were operable for 9 months, inoperable for 19 months. **How many households with kids could keep their family on track with inoperable ovens?** Bosch, on their part, offered me a buyback this month. But it took a tremendous amount time and bird-dogging on my part. GE Ovens GE states on their website the acceptable swing is +/- 30* using a 350* temperature setting. Hence, your oven meets spec if it’s temperature ranges from 320* to 380* within a 20 minute cycle time. (Check out the GE Appliances site and search for ‘oven temperature variance.’) How Swing Effects Roasted/Baked Food Here are a few examples of how a high oven temperature swing effects food roasted/baked from tried-and-true recipes: - prime rib (shooting for MR) is well on the outside, bloody red around the bone - a tried and true family fruit cake recipe, baked for at least 70 years on all types of ovens, took much longer to bake, passed the tooth pick test, was sticky on the top center, and crumbled when sliced - a chicken and rice casserole never got done; I used the rice cooker to finish cooking the rice and the chicken was too tough to eat - two cake mix cakes, in which I adhered *exactly* to all directions, were baked using the shortest time indicated; they were full of tunnels, extremely dry, and tasteless How To Estimate Your Oven’s Swing 1. Position an oven thermometer in the center of the oven. (Cooks Illustrated recommends a CDN Oven Thermometer... of course Amazon has them.) - - - do not open the oven door until the test finishes - - - 2. Set your oven to 350*, and let it heat up for an hour. 3. Choose a start time. 4. Every 5 minutes (4 times in 20 minutes) note or take a pix of the oven thermometer. 5. The highest and lowest temperatures registered represent the oven swing. Note: technicians use a special tool to measure oven swing that is much more accurate. Phew! Time to return to my research!

@Amy Cantu We've been in our house for 6 mo now and I really like the GE Monogram oven. I haven't actually used the speed oven functionality of the speed oven. Just the microwave. And even then, we just use the add 30 sec option. I need to sit down with the manual and experiment with it. Unfortunately, using the speed oven is not as simple as just turning it on. It's pretty complex. I remember when I tried the speed oven at my friend's house it was really hard, and I thought I'd need to dedicate some serious experimentation to getting it to work for me, and doubted that I would ever bother using it as an oven except for Thanksgiving, which hasn't happened yet. My motivation to learn how to use it has been even less than I expected, so I'm sorry to say I can't report back. I also haven't tried using the oven probe functionality for the oven (haven't cooked a roast yet). Need to find the oven probe along with the speed oven manual! But I have done a ton of baking and roasting of vegetables and have been pleased. We were living in a rental house with a viking range and the GE monogram oven is 1000x better than whatever model of viking oven came with the range in the rental. Much more even. I've done two cakes side by side and they came out beautifully without the need to rotate. With a sheet of cookies I notice that sometimes a corner might brown a little quicker than another corner, but not so much that I really need to worry about rotating the pan halfway through. Broiler also works great--I've been making a lot of toast to go with steak tartare and an entire pan filled with toast toast 100% evenly under the broiler--hooray!

If they still have the blue interior, I would not go with Wolf, especially with the corner fans. Wolf and their sales people always say it was just a few ovens or it was fixed long ago but several posters here have gone through several ovens. The are some threads entitled along the lines of “Are there any Wolf ovens that haven’t chipped?” There are class action lawsuits where the plaintiffs went through many ovens. The M oven was actually developed to deal with this issue with the removable bottom and the DF range was just redesigned to incorporate the elements of the M oven. Someone also posted here recently that Wolf told her they would only consider this damage cosmetic and would only fix it for the first 60 days. Yes it is probably caused by the shrinking and expanding of the metal but who designed the oven? How is this the customer misusing it? If the self clean is a misuse, they should not be marketing it as a benefit. I’ve used self clean ovens, cheap ovens haha, all my life with no issues. The condos we stay in at the beach, use the self clean every time the condos turn. Aside from that some Wolf ovens have had the chipping without using the self clean. This is why GE ditched the blue enamel. They told me when mine chipped that I must have put foil on it or done something to it. What? I could not get mine fixed. It was out of warranty at 4.5 years old and very lightly used. They would not tell me how much to fix it only that it would start at $800 and would only be guaranteed for a year. I just use it with covered dishes and no convection. The enamel is glass flakes so it isn’t good to have that flying around. I like the way the Cafe is designed but not sure about durability. I haven’t seen one I like better though. Some here like the Monogram. My range is 36” and I actually prefer an add on griddle to the built in especially being it is 36”. it leaves me the flexibility of still using the burners. I can use an aluminum overlay for great heat transfer, a nonstick aluminum or steel. The 2 burner overlay I use has about 50% more cooking area than a built in. You have a lot more heat available with two burners @15-18K each. The built in is 15K BTUs total. There are people who stir fry on these. I have picked up what I am cooking on the griddle and put it in the oven griddle and all. The bare aluminum will season over time. I am adding a nonstick though when we get back to having people over. This disadvantage to an add on would be that with a built in you can turn it to a certain setting and always get a repeatable temperature. I have a 15”x23” like this. They are a heavy thickness of aluminum. The steel weighs a lot more and the heat transfer properties aren’t as good making more of a zoned heat surface. http://royalindustriesinc.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=4_22_48 These are the steel overlays. They have a 4 burner but I looked at it at a restaurant supply and I couldn’t lift it! https://www.dvorsons.com/ChefKing/Griddles.htm