Look at the installation manuals for these units. They have minimum clearances for the lower edge of the lower door.

Seems to me the only real constraint is the thickness of whatever material the upper oven is sitting on. But look at the manuals to figure it out.

If you want more explanation call Miele Tech Support.

This should have been discussed with your CABINET company, with the firm specs and installation requirements for each oven , in hand . You need the help line and the entire Library Manual, proud or flush installation etc.

sampling below. It could be anything.....he is doing or not.

All Jan just said. There are always install specs that need to be followed and what you see in a picture is not always possible with your stuff.

Based on the two-oven installation drawing and page 106 of the installation instructions, it appears that the distance between the ovens can be as little as 3/16". This is accomplished, I think, by recessing the front of the shelf that supports the upper oven so that the top of the lower-oven's door hides the upper-oven's shelf. This allows the ovens to be very close together. Your installer didn't do this which is why you see the edge of the upper-oven's shelf.

@wdccruise - I saw this as well and this was my hunch. I couldn't tell, though, how far it was allowed to recess the shelf that supports the upper oven. (e.g. can that shelf go all the way down to the top of the lower oven? I have reached out to Miele as well but if anyone here has already figured this out w/ Miele, would love to hear that.

I looked at the manual for a Miele steam oven (not necessarily your model) and the minimum clearance under the lower edge of the door was 7 mm. Presumably that is too allow the door to open.

Might be different for your model of oven.

You can look at your oven, open and close the door, see how much clearance is required. You can also consult the manual for your model of oven. You also don’t want to have the absolute minimum clearance, but rather to have a little extra. Instead of 1/4”, maybe 3/8” or 1/2”.

"What I can't figure out is how deep I can recess the top shelf into the bottom oven"

You are recessing the shelf that supports the upper oven. It has to be recessed enough to allow the upper oven's door to open (shown in the lower circle drawing on page 106) but not so far as it doesn't support longer foot that supports the oven (main.drawing on page 106).

Is it worth ripping apart the installation to make this change? Nope, I'd just paint the front of the shelf that supports the upper oven black.

At this point in the project, decreasing the gap between the oven will increase the gap between the top of the top oven and the bottom of the door. Six of one/ half dozen of another.

What you have looks fine. I wouldn't risk damaging stuff with backtracking.

You could use a strip of brushed stainless steel to cover the gap, making the two units look more like one unit. Not sure how you could adhere the metal strip and not have it come unglued because of oven heat. Best to leave it alone & focus on a real problem, IMO.

This is the kind of thing that "disappears" after a week of kitchen use.

You didn't have enough due diligence at the start , with the specs for both ovens, with your cabinet source.

Leave well enough alone, or risk the cabinetry.

For the life of me, I can’t understand why this is bugging you so.

This is my son’s very new kitchen, while still in progress. See his Miele stacked steam oven and speed oven on the right? This is a very high end kitchen. Even here, there is a narrow space between the two appliances where a piece of the appliance cabinet face shows.

There has to be some space between the two, otherwise the speed oven door wouldn’t open. Also, the there is support for the steam oven in that space.

As long as what you’re seeing is a piece of cabinetry stained like eveything else, why should it matter if it shows?

JAN MOYER: "You didn't have enough due diligence at the start"

Remember that the installation manual doesn't show how to install stacked ovens. It doesn't even mention that the ovens can be stacked, only that "More installation drawings are available on the Miele website" (but we're not going to tell you where or which drawing applies to your appliances). The installation instructions just show you how to install one oven and the installer has to really analyze the text-free drawings to recognize their significance for a stacked-oven setup.

I think you can probably mount the ovens close enough to have only a 3/8” space. However, I don’t think it’s worth fussing over. Paint the offending strip of wood between the ovens black and call it a day.

Kitchens Are For Cooking. They Are Not Art.

If you had the room, you could have them side by side. I love that look, and it's practical--no bending down to the lower oven.