Have you considered the Wolf CSO (Convection Steam Oven)? I own that, and the Wolf L-series wall oven and we love both of them. But we, by far, use the CSO way more than the full size oven. It is our favorite new appliance in our kitchen after the remodel. It was a splurge, but we are so happy we did it.

Phil

Hi Phil,

I did look at the Wolf and was interested especially because it will compliment our Wolf Range and Subzero fridge, however a couple of features that I liked about the Miele was that it has a broiler which I believe the Wolf version does not and that the Miele can manually set the Steam amount etc.

How do you find your Wolf CSO for doing meat, do things get browned?

Thanks
Detox

Detox, I have the Gaggenau, so can't fully answer your questions. That said:

1. If you own one do you use it enough to warrant the $6000 price tag?

If you're asking, probably not. You can achieve much the same effect for baking and roasting by putting a ramekin of water in your regular oven. In fact, I've recently started baking crusty breads and rather than wrangling them into the combi-steam, I put them in my big oven on my big pizza stone with a ramekin of water on a shelf (the usual, is a smaller pizza stone on a rack with a pan of water below). The same method works for roasts, or whatever you want to keep moist.

The big difference is in blanching, steaming and poaching. I despise blanching and steaming on the stove. It works perfectly well with a pot and steamer insert, a bamboo steamer box in a wok or big pan, or a flower style folding steamer in a regular pot. It works in the microwave, either with just a spoonful of water in the bottom of the pot, or with an MW flower steamer. Or, that did work well until I was making a lot of veg for company and my favorite Pyrex pot broke from repeated thermal shocks.

If $6000 is worth it to you to not have to do any of this the old fashioned way, it's worth it. If you'd rather have money than convenience, it's not. I should say that mine is fully plumbed. If I had to bother with a tank, I might think it wasn't worth it. Some people do the blanching/steaming/poaching in the steam oven not from laziness, like me, but to clear the cooktop for other tasks. Again, you can pay yourself for a lot of extra cooking hours to get it all done for quite some time with the money you'd save from the oven. But if you want it, ah, that's another story.

It's not a fad. It's that technology caught up with the way people like to cook. Steaming is a classic technique. The steam oven removes some of the onus. But if it just seems like a clever toy to you, rather than the most beloved thing you could have in your kitchen, then it is. The worth is entirely in personal perception. I can't think of one thing I can make in my combi-steam that I couldn't contrive by conventional means. It's just a lot easier.

1. If you own one do you use it enough to warrant the $6000 price tag?

>>I use it basically every day. It's not $6,000 US though. Totally worth it IMO. It does a great job with steam cooking and convection baking. It heats up quickly too. I haven't done anything combi... yet. I installed it above a Miele convection oven and never thought I'd use both at the same time but it seems to happen about once/week.

2. Is it easy to use and clean up afterwards?

>>Yep. It runs a 10 minute program after steam cooking. It eliminates any funky buildup. Ours is spotless except for a couple of water dots.

3. Do you feel like you couldn't live without it now that you have it, or is it more of a novelty appliance,.

>> Couldn't live without it. Because it's smaller and more efficient I use it as much as possible, which is several times each week, but it's not a 100% replacement for a larger convection oven that could handle big stuff. No 24" oven this size would be though.

Hi,
We have the Wolf combi steam and absolutely love it, well worth the money. We use it a great deal and is our go to oven. You can't beat it for breads, slow roasting meats, fish, reheating food, etc. I do a lot of canning and sterilize my jars in the steam oven.
MJ

The Wolf has 3 convection modes, straight convection, convection humid (doesn't vent the moisture from cooking) and convection steam. In conv. steam mode you can control the amount of steam used by turning it on and off as needed. It also has full on steam mode. Other than not having a broiler I think it's pretty comparable to the other steam oven offerings. I have a 36" BS range w/a nice broiler and an e series below the CSO that has a decent broiler so don't really miss one in the steam oven. We definitely use the steam oven more than the other 2, probably like 6-7:1. Only limited by your imagination. We even use it to make rice and pasta anymore, it's just so handy to set it and forget it. The only thing we've found it lacking for is a high enough temp for pizza or bread making (445 deg. max), it'll do it but the BS cranks beyond 500 and makes nicer crusts.

Hi Mistman,
I haven't used the oven for rice or pasta. Can you share the "recipe" to make those items in the combi steam?
Thanks,
MJ

I just put the rice and water uncovered in the oven on steam mode for 45 minutes or so, same w/the pasta but you have to check it occasionally depending on what type your doing (wont take an as long as rice). When doing fresh pasta I just use water on the stove but for like a pasta salad or if I need a lot of pasta I'll just throw it in the oven. I made choco chip cookies in it last night. I only make cookies as needed (nothing like 'em right out of the oven) and store the dough in the fridge. The 24" oven takes about 5 minutes to heat up so in less than 20 minutes I can have warm cookies and milk every night :)