Wow, what a happy occasion it must be for your family and friends to rec. Christmas cookies from you!

I know that positive suggestions can be most helpful, nevertheless, w/my horrendous experience w/Dacor (I still don't know if I had a lemon of a dual-fuel or just a routine awful Dacor) I'd have to say, steer clear. In fact, I wish I had a positive recommendation for you; unfortunately, I don't.

Are you considering an all gas convection or dual fuel? Take a look at repair records (in general) for dual-fuel.

Whatever you choose -- find out and take seriously all info you rec. on availability dates for your appliance purchase. I've been waiting since 9/11 of this year for delivery of a Kitchen aid all gas/convection range (posted just under yours) .. with still no reliable delivery date in site. Order your appliances as early as possible!!

I have a Miele oven and am extremely pleased with it. You could call the various modes "fancy" and there's no way it's a budget purchase.

There's a learning curve with it, as I've posted ad nauseum, but relatively few complaints and many raves, for very good reasons.

I really wasn't sure about it at first but thanks to folks on this forum who encouraged me I went with it and haven't a second thought.

It's a superb performer.

If you do a search on this forum for Miele ovens you'll turn up about 10 pages of threads. Might be worth your while to spend time with those as everything and anything you'd want to know is in there and it's all too long and detailed to repeat.

People do like their GEs and there are also the Wolfniks.

Be sure to also check out the Fisher & Paykel, and the GE Monograms (which have convection in both ovens). They also have many cooking modes, probes, and the time-bake features that you admired in the Miele, but at a lower price point. Of course the Miele has a few more like the rotisserie and the computerized stuff, but the F&P and Monogram are still fairly action packed.

Thank you for the repsonses to this point. I have been reading the posts, but will continue to search the past messages, as well as look more at GE.

The oven will be an electric wall oven. I stopped at the appliance store this evening on the way home from work and looked some at the combination microwave / convection ovens as a possible alternative to the second oven. I will probably not go that way, but am intrigued by the idea of saving the space a seperate microwave will take.

I have made an appointment to return on Saturday mnorning to speak with one of the store's chefs who can give me advice as to which bakes the best cookies, does the best dehydrating, etc.

I spoke with the salesman for a while who said he was not aware of Dacor reliability problems. (I am not surprised by that answer.) He said he would contact Dacro for me to ask. (What are the chances Dacor is going to say they have problems?)

My search goes on.

dcw,

"I spoke with the salesman for a while who said he was not aware of Dacor reliability problems. (I am not surprised by that answer.) He said he would contact Dacro for me to ask. (What are the chances Dacor is going to say they have problems?)"

You might want to expand on the salesman's input by searching the appliance archives here. You'll be surprised at how much info comes back just by typing a search for 'Dacor'. Maybe you want to narrow it w/"Dacor problems" or "Happy w/Dacor" and see what you get. Give the archives a go for the other brands that interest you - lots of helpful info. and you save gas too!

Hi...I've just bought the new thermador double oven.. MED272ES it's only been installed three days and they're still fiddling with the cabinet but so far [looks etc] I'm happy. I've only cooked a chicken so far so that's not much of a test.
I had a single Gaggenau before and minded losing it.I loved the side door and full convection. This time around they were just too pricey so I decided to go for a double as a bonus.

As I mentioned above I will be meeting with "Chef Steve" on Saturday morning to discuss ovens. Below are some questions I intend to ask. What else should I ask? Maybe the list of questions is too long; I may pare it down yet.(I have full hopes of walking out of the store with the oven decision MADE!!)

1. Which oven do you feel broils fish best and why?
2. Which oven bakes mutliple sheets of cookies the most evenly?
3. Which oven would you use to cook a roast?
4. Which oven do you feel is the easiet to clean?
5. Which oven truly preheats the fastest?
6. How low will each oven set its temperature? (Useful for using as a warming oven and proofing bread.)
7. Which oven is most effective to use to prepare dehydrated fruits / jerky?
8. Which oven do you have at home? Which would you buy if you were remodling your home kitchen?
9. Which, if any, convection / microwave oven would you buy?

10. Do you feel the bake "hidden element" feature is a disadvantage in any way?
11. Is the broil "hidden element" a disadvantage in any way?

Dcwesley, when you go on saturday, bring some of your favourite large pans with you and make sure they fit in whichever ovens you're considering. I would also recommend speaking with salespeople/chefs at several different appliance places. Everybody has their favourite choice and they'll push that one on you the most. However, just because it's their favourite, doesn't mean it'll be YOUR favourite. It helps to get several different opinions from different people.

I think your questions are good, in concept, but I'd like to offer some alternates.

1. Broiler -- type? open or concealed? how to clean? how close does a pan go from the topmost rack? How far across the oven does the broiler extend? What are the heat settings and temp range? Does it turn itself off?

2. Convection/baking system - How many fans? How many racks? Ease of inserting & removing racks? Evenness of browning? Exposed or concealed lower element?

3. Cleaning - Self? With or without racks? Cleaning area? What additional cleaning must be done? Length of cleaning cycle? Options? Max heat temp buildup in cabinet?

4. Controls - Knob or touchpad? Where does oven vent? Timer included or no? How many different settings? Convection only or convection & conventional bake? Most important: is control panel hot to the touch after oven has been on for 30 or 40 minutes?

5. Temperature range - lowest and highest. Preheat time.

6. Installation & waranty - anything special? How long? Parts?

7. Other features? What makes this oven unique?

Hope you don't mind me reworking the questions somewhat but the answers to these will cover all your cooking questions. The operation of the oven governs the cooking. Roasting just requires heat -- it is not precision cooking. But the questions about the broiler and evenness of the convection heat flow are important to the way your food will cooking the oven.

Some of us who have been around on this forum a long time and have seen folks post that they bought such and such because the salesman said, then have problems, do tend to shake our heads. Because the issues before and after you buy change dramatically.

Having owned an oven that vented at the top towards the electronics and made the control panel too hot to touch on Thanksgiving, you get a little picky. Also, having a clock in the oven that blew out 3 times ($200/pop for replacement) you tend to get grumpy. Anyone who had the beautiful blue enamel they fell in love with on the inside of the oven chip off, might just not worry about the way the next oven looked.

It's not fun to have problems after. Better to have fun baking and using the appliance happily. Therefore my suggestions of some questions to ask before.

If someone cannot answer those, it's important to find someone who can.

Do you care about noise? Some of the newer ovens have cooling & convection fans which can be quite irritating. You can't turn the fans off! I used to leave my F&P oven doors open after baking to get the fans to turn off faster.

I'm very happy with my - very quiet - Miele oven.

I second Alku05's suggestions to check out Fisher & Paykel and the new (new in Fall 2006) Monogram ovens. Not all dealers show the new Monogram, so be sure you find one. The quickest way to know is they have full-extension, ball-bearing glide racks that stay in while you self-clean. If memory serves me correctly, they are porcelain coated and the same gray color as the rest of the interior. The price is about 2/3 that of the Miele. I would have put Miele as my 'if price was no object' top choice, but since budget was a consideration, narrowed to F&P and the Monogram. I found an F&P on Ebay from a reliable dealer (an unbeatable $2100), so went that way. I don't have a further review, since it's still in the box...

Best wishes. I worked on the oven choice for months, but know I could have been happy with the performance, and from what I read here, the reliability and customer service, with any of my top 3 ovens.

I lived with a Dacor oven for about 10 years and hated it -- broke repeatedly and expensively. Had a Thermador for 5 years prior to remodel and had a great experience -- worked beautifully and never broke. In new kitchen, we've installed the new Thermador professional series. So far its been perfect and looks fantastic. Heats up quickly, temps are accurate, stays cool on the outside and the rotisserie is a bonus -- have only used it once so far, but a chicken came out great.

Have you looked into the Gaggenau double convection electric wall oven? There does not seem to be hardly any compaints about them. We just recently (after much searching) purchased one. Not installed yet. Side opening really nice idea. Also the Stainless exterior is covered with glass for ease of cleaning. Also we could only fit a 27 inch double wall oven. They also have a $500.00 dollar rebate this fall. They are also coming out with a 30 inch unit.