In just a very quick look at the use and care manuals, there are a few differences in function. The cooking modes are a little different. Thermador has a pure convection mode that is supposed to be helpful when your oven is very full but I have an Electrolux oven and it bakes very evenly without it. I do have it on a Wolf oven (36 inch) and have never needed to use it, but it does have dual fans.
The Thermador has a built in program that allows you to put in the type of food and doneness level and it will figure it out for you. I would never use that but others might like it. The Electrolux has the ability to program multistage cooking. You could start a roast at 400 degrees for 20 minutes and then back it down to 225 for 4 hours if you wanted to. I would read both manuals online. Baking modes bring more heat from the bottom and roasting modes bring more heat from the top but I would be curious what the pizza mode and speed convection actually do. None of the modes are explained very well in either manual. Thermador says that preheating is not necessary in certain modes but this would be true of any oven. My Electrolux oven has a little light that indicates what element is on during the various modes. It also will heat to 350 degrees in about 7-8 minutes without using the fast preheat button.

Aside from looking at the ovens on paper, it would be hard to find someone who has used both ovens to be able to compare them. I would be most concerned about how evenly they bake, how many problems they have and how those problems are resolved by the manufacturer. Many posters on this board have been happy with their Electrolux ovens and found the company to be responsive to their issues. There is not as much written about Thermador. On the topic page of the appliance forum, there is a search box at the bottom of the page if you want to find what has been written about Electrolux and Thermador or ovens in general.

These ovens both have a lot of electronics so I would buy an extended warranty.

I guess we could call the Electrolux convection,
"Convection Plus".

I watch those "Little Lights" you mentioned,(thanks for that I never noticed them till you mentioned them), wekick, and in the convection mode, the oven cycles through all the burner elements, IE (the one around the fan, and then the bottom, & then the top elements). I'm sure Electrolux does that to be sure that the oven/ovens are heated extremely evenly during convection baking.

Think about it, would it not have been far easier, and cheaper just to turn the element around the fan on/off as needed and not bother with the top/bottom elements when using convection? Apparently like Wolf, Elux was not satisfied with just "Straight" (European) Convection performance---Hence the wolf with 2 fans, and the Elux with the extra circuitry to enhance performance of Convection baking---Ya Thinks?

Like "Most" here, we have been very satisfied with our single Electrolux's performance and features, as well as it's reliability---nary a problem in the almost 7 years we've had it now. The fully extending glide racks work just as smoothly as brand new. We love the large display and controls (Reading glasses not requires, and the fact that the display/controls disappear if not used for a couple minutes.

I checked out the broil this AM whilst doing some toast.
It has a temp range of 400-550 F. Elux is one of the few new ovens that one can broil with the door open (If desired). I checked for (air blowing out the front) whilst I had the broiler on, warm air, (No where near hot) comes out of the oven, just below the display, and if all is quiet in the kitchen, (faucet not running, wife not whispering, cats not purring, etc etc, and I really listen for it, I can hear the fan--but----I think you get the idea, the fan is very quiet.

We like the way the oven is well lit too.

Sorry I know nothing about the Thermador ovens except we do not see many negative reviews on them, here in Garden Web, (as best that I recall, anyway).

Good luck with your pending decision!

Gary

I also have E'lux double ovens, going on two years now. I'm very happy with them, they bake evenly, are easy to use and I really like the roll out racks. The fan on mine is not as quiet as on Gary's, but it's not obnoxious and it's not an issue.
Cj

I haven't been happy with my Electrolux since we bought it. Now, it appears to be 'dead' after 2 yrs of minimum use. Could I have a lemon--maybe. Mine never heated evenly, the timer is barely loud enough to hear, I never use most of the 'bells and whistles' on this oven. I'd think carefully about your life style and how you plan on using your oven.

> Now, it appears to be 'dead' after 2 yrs of minimum use.

You recently posted that your oven was not working after a power outage/power surge. That is no evidence of a bad product - it could happen to any brand with electronic controls - and it has nothing to do with how little you used the oven.

As to the uneven heating, which is so different from others' experience, you were advised to get a service person to look at that almost a year and a half ago; did you ever do that?

Thanks everyone. We really appreciate your thoughtful replies.

We did try and compare the manuals the other day, but they really did not mean anything to us. As wekick points out, they indicate a number of features without really explaining what they do or how they work.

Thanks for the replies. We kind of feel like we cannot go wrong with either.

Frogster

Gosh PeterH2, you must have some amazing memory ! and yes, to answer your question, I DID have someone come out and look at it. He said it acted like 'they all do'. I had another tech come back a few months ago because I can't believe that 'all' ovens are uneven, and everyone here seems to comment on how nice and even the baking is. He said the same thing, even when I made cookies to show him the unevenness. He said to work around it..since they weren't 'burned' I actually hate the fact that you can't lay foil or a protective layer down to catch drips, but all the ovens are like that now--a big deal to me. I'm kinda anal about a clean and working oven. I still say I will look at Jenn-air or Therm before getting another 'Lux again though.

They all *don't*! I've been very impressed with the even baking in my 'lux. And if a service tech ever had the gall to tell me to 'work around' something that was clearly not working right, he'd be out on his ear and I'd be insisting that they send someone else. That's really rude. I'm sorry you've had trouble with yours, and such poor service afterwards.

Cj