(Cross-posted in other Miele Steam Oven threads) We bought a Miele DGC 6800 Combination Steam Oven (non-plumbed) and a few months later on a whim descaled the unit. Right after the descaling process, my Miele steam oven gives me a 'Fault 20' whenever I try to do steam cooking. The regular convection cooking works fine. Wish I had something else! It's out of warranty even though we probably used it about 20 times. Now Miele is asking for $150 for a technician to come out and pay an additional $90/hr for labor + $ for parts!

(Cross-posted in other Miele Steam Oven threads) We bought a Miele DGC 6800 Combination Steam Oven (non-plumbed) and a few months later on a whim descaled the unit. Right after the descaling process, my Miele steam oven gives me a 'Fault 20' whenever I try to do steam cooking. The regular convection cooking works fine. Wish I had something else! It's out of warranty even though we probably used it about 20 times. Now Miele is asking for $150 for a technician to come out and pay an additional $90/hr for labor + $ for parts!

I went through the same question some years back. Miele has more features for the $$, so I originally wanted that, but at the time they didn't have a combi/convection steam oven that could take 208V (what I had), so I settled with the Wolf instead. And I must say, I've been really happy with it. It works, it's not fussy. Yes, it doesn't have the color swipey screen the Miele has, but I'm not convinced I miss that all that much. Would I like a broiler? I think so, as it is something I use, but I do have another big oven with the broiler (that unit almost always takes a backseat to the convection steam unit) and I can use that when I'm broiling something, so it's not too bad. I've kept tabs on the Miele, and I've discovered that considering that if you don't get a plumbed unit, the Wolf is more forgiving than the Miele on how much water is in the tank (I'm pretty lazy and never fill it up all the way, and the Wolf lets me still use it as long as I have enough water). If you really want to go into the details about adjusting settings, moisture level, turning on upper element broiler, you'll want the Miele, but if you just want to use it, I think you'd like the Wolf. I certainly don't regret having to "settle" for it at all.

I think you'll be absolutely fine with just a CSO. There certainly are advantages to having multiple (different) ovens. But it's not something you could do without. We are very fortunate to have three ovens in our kitchen: the CSO, the SpeedOven, and a 30" gas oven in the Bluestar range. While I don't use all of them all the time, having three ovens is extremely convenient when hosting large multi-course dinners. It's a game changer in making sure that every dish is ready on time. It's not unusual for me to have a dozen different dishes/sides, and time management gets complex when preparing all of these. But if that's not something you do on a regular basis, then obviously you wouldn't benefit from making this choice, and the space and money savings of only buying a single CSO can go to good use elsewhere. There are a few things that make me use our gas oven instead of the CSO. It has a much bigger cavity. This is rarely needed as I tend to debone all my roasts whenever possible and a deboned 20+ lbs turkey is so small, it would easily fit into the CSO. But when I do need this much space then it certainly is nice to be able to make use of it. Also, it has the most amazingly super-powerful broiler element. It's as close to a commerical salamander as you can get in a residential kitchen. We use it several times a week just for that. Can't get any better toasted bread any other way. Finally, while the CSO and the SpeedOven are a bit of a pain to keep clean, the gas oven doesn't show splatter as much nor does it get damaged by splatter (this is a little bit of a worry with all the complex components in a CSO; I don't want to clog the fan, the steam ports or the drain). So, whenever I prepare particularly splattery food (e.g. roasted pork belly or even just the aformentioned turkey), I prefer the gas oven. But that's mostly a question of using the best tool for the job, and with three different ovens I make a different choice from what you would make. You might just need to spend a little more elbow grease making sure your CSO gets cleaned thorough when cooking more challenging ingredients. On the other hand, there are cases that would make me strongly prefer the CSO over my gas oven. The most obvious one is any time that I am making smaller servings. The CSO preheats within a few minutes, whereas my big gas oven takes between 20 and 45min to be fully preheated. And of course, there are countless recipes where a CSO is the objectively superior tool, as steam injection is so incredibly useful. I am still discovering new uses on a regular basis (e.g. made haggis from scratch for Burns Night a few weeks ago). And I have favorites that I don't know how I ever managed without a CSO (e.g. making a big batch for fresh gnocchi). A downside with the CSO is that it doesn't cool down quickly. This can be confusing. If you are used to cook items by putting them into the cold oven, then cooking times will be very wrong if somebody used the CSO right before you. My family regularly makes boiled eggs in the CSO. Works amazingly well, fool-proof, and you can get the eggs to exactly the hardness that you like. But if the oven is still hot, this doesn't work the same. That's gotten me yelled at once or twice before :-)