I notice a little smell on occasion, but I almost never wipe it down, and the smell is usually gone by the next day. Since mine is unplumbed, if I ran just the steamer, say for steamed shrimp ( with Old Bay of course) you are supposed to put a solid tray under the perforated tray to catch the water . Sometimes I do, sometimes I forget, but it is pretty simple to just use a sponge to mop up the water from the bottom of the oven once it cools down. In general, I don't notice a problem with smells, and that concern would not hold me back.

There are food smells and then there are horrible gunk smells. If you leave standing water, you can grow all kinds of nasty gunk. Gaggenau has a drying mode. Mine is plumbed, and I don't use the drying mode, and haven't had a problem, but it's there. I certainly would dump and dry the reservoir in unplumbed if it were going to be sitting for awhile, and do a quick wipe of the floor and other surfaces, including the recess that the reservoir goes into. Why leave pools of water in a warm, air/moisture tight environment? Doesn't that sound like a recipe for pond scum?

Have the Wolf CSO and I have never had any smells in it. If you follow the directions on the Wolf you are supposed to leave the door open until the unit cools off and the fan shuts off from the cooling cycle. This has almost always taken care of any water that is left. If there are large puddles left I will wipe them up during the drying cycle (while still warm) and it has never been an issue.

Honestly, to me, this is a non-issue, just keep your appliance clean and wipe it out often and it won't be something you really worry about.

Phil

Glad to hear this is a non-issue for the non-plumbed versions. Thanks for the input.

Mine is plumbed, but I pretty much always give it a quick wipe out after use, and leave the door open to dry totally. Sometimes I bake it dry minutes after wiping; 0% humidity just until it heats up to maybe 300F.