I am on east coast and as much as I would love to visit Seattle, it is a wee but far :)

That being said, I don't have to see and touch one
(although that would be nice) - pictures and some descriptions from anyone who has used one would be helpful.

Trevor - you there? Have you used one in your store yet?

Not to hijack your thread, Muskokascp, but I hope Crnw_sbrooks checks back, because I would like to know who in the Seattle area has a Capital oven on display. I shopped for a new oven late last fall, and none of the appliance dealers in the Seattle area seemed to have one nor mentioned Capital as an option. After reading about these ovens, I was disappointed to have missed seeing and finding out about them earlier. I'm not altogether thrilled with the one I ended up with, so am still considering a change.

No worries on the hijack rhome - I think we both want the same thing. If you happen to find one to play with IRL please report back to me!!

bump^^^

we now have one live in the cooking school now, everything seems fine so far, really nice fit and finish as you would expect from Capital, seems easy to use and understand.

I have asked the chefs to use it for 2 weeks then report back.

I want the chefs to use all the features before I give my honest opinion.

Thanks Trevor,
I'll look for the follow up report.

Trevor, will your chef try artisan breads and pizza? I am having trouble with my current oven keeping up with baking pizzas...At high heat on a well-preheated stone, but opening the door to change pizzas every 7 or 8 minutes, the oven seems to have trouble maintaining an even temp and guaranteeing a good result. Sometimes burnt crust, sometimes white. Sometimes, according to an oven thermometer, the temp is low in one area and way high in another. I have photos that show the vastly uneven result...Pizza white on one side and way brown on the other half. There is no mention of pizza, other than frozen, in the Maestro oven manual, so I'm wondering particularly about it's suitability for that task, as well as doing well at convection, etc.

Do you know how many temperature sensors are in each oven cavity and where they are/it is?

From the manual, also, I don't think the roast convection starts high and adjusts down like some? It's a nice feature, but not necessary...Just nice to know for sure if it does it or not.

I wish they offered a non-rotisserie, less-expensive version like in the range...I just want to find a high quality oven, that has excellent baking performance and build quality...that doesn't cost an absolute fortune. So far, that seems to be too much to ask.

rhome
The other oven I am considering is a Gaggenau - have you looked at them as well?

I would LOVE to have a Gaggenau, and at this point, with all the oven headaches I've gone through, I'd go straight for it ...if only I had that much money to spend.

From what I've read and read and read, about all different kinds of ovens (other than the Capital of which there is nothing to read), it looks like Gaggenau is the best bet at getting an oven that is built and engineered at it should be...That works as it should...every time...for years on end.

Very few people have the Gagg ovens, hence few posts.

I would expect that anyone that has purchased one to "Rave About It", less they be lumped into the MMTB Syndrome Group!

Really not enough info to make such a conclusion about its "Superiority".

We can agree, it is the most expensive, but we have been around here long nuff to know that "High Price does not necessairly = the best performance or reliability.

As an example, I just renewed my online subscription to Consumer Reports. I went to the reliability reports about built in Fridges, SZ did manage to finally get off the bottom of the reliability list (2 up) ((GE and I forget the other one at the bottom)) Jenn-Air like in 2004-2005 still at the top (Built in's and SXS).

So please don't "Pine Away" because you don't have the budget or aren't willing to pay the ticket, I really doubt they are any better performance wise or reliability wise.

When I see a lot of post about it, I might change by mind, but compare the # of "Happy user posts say ---- comparing the number of Elux to Gag Oven reviews---lot more folks have the Elux than the Gags and seem quite satisfied, but do the comparison #'s of posts of any oven you choose,against the Gagg; again the numbers will "Blow the doors off the Gagg"!!!!

Gary

I didn't research only here, but other places on the web and in forums where bakers hang out. The opinions here on the appliance forum are from people who use their ovens in all different ways (some barely at all) and I wanted the opinions of prolific/avid bakers. I also was very interested in things like engineering and build quality...It seems to be common knowledge that the German designed and built Gagg does have its own well-deserved and long-standing reputation for excellence and nearly pinpoint accuracy. They have more sensors than other ovens and a forum member who is a physical scientist/engineer did some very careful studies on oven performance a few years ago and found Gagg to be above the rest in accuracy and temperature consistency/recovery, but also didn't choose it for herself because of price. So, I do believe there is a difference between the Gagg and many other ovens, but maybe not enough performance difference for the price, especially if I don't have the money. I love and respect you, Gary, but you're the most vocal about loving your Elux, and have admitted that you don't bake like I do. :-) I bet my Monogram would work fine for a lot of people, but for the amount and types of baking I do, it's not suiting my purposes.

Dacor and Electrolux are not off my radar, and I would like to know more about the Capital. It does too much, which bothers me, but if they are as in tune to consumers' needs as they claim, it could be a good one at the more basic functions. Miele is hard to turn away from completely, but some recent posts regarding bad experiences with customer service leave me cold on that one. I'm pretty sure if someone spent $7K+ on an oven like the Gagg and had problems with it, they'd want to post and complain. I know there are Gagg owners here, but they're not complaining... ;)

Rhome410

"Gary, but you're the most vocal about loving your Elux, and have admitted that you don't bake like I do. :-)"

Ya got me there, I suspects you could outbake me with your Monogram.

We do enchiladas, Spaghetti Pies, Lasagna, I even did 2 meatloafs and "Dressed them up"--I keep getting request from the "Boss" to do another one. We do bake a lotta brownies too, but no cakes or pies or any the fancy stuff.
All come out to "My Expectations" (following recipes and suggested time/temp Settings).

I just used Elux as the example as that is what I'm familiar with, but we could have chosen most any oven as
was suggested.

My point for the post was just to "Point out" that there is more than "One Game" in town and if you haven't drawn 5 Aces or your "Boat hasn't come in" You can still "Play" and be happy, I certainly am (But ya know that)! I just hope the Op is as happy with their decision.

I can "TRULY SAY", I "Lust" over no other appliances and cept for my first mess up (fancy cooktop)& the downdraft) ((didn't know about GW)) in 2005 I really can't complain bout my Luck.

Now Folks got YOU and a ton of experts here so they don't do the stumblin' around I did.!!

PS I did not know about that post about the temp measurements of the Gagg---was it compared to an Elux
(Dodge Runs and Hides)

Gary

I'm not sure if the Electrolux was on the playing field when she did her testing. It was just before I started hanging out around here and the Elec ICON was the new guy in town at the time.

It's on buns/rolls, pies, some types of cookies...more delicate and finicky items...,as well as high temp baking for pizza and artisan breads where the problems show with my oven. It can do meatloaves, lasagna, and such. Like I said, some wouldn't have a problem with it, but the baking everything from scratch, baking everyday, and baking in large quantities seem to magnify weaknesses and I see inconsistencies and problems in my results.

Trevor, I know I'm being impatient, but any feedback on the wall oven yet? I emailed Mr Kalsi to see if he thought it would meet my particular needs (outlined in the message), but I didn't hear back...So I'm awaiting your chef's critique.

^^^^bump

We are nearly done with the testing of this wall oven.

so far
Roasting
broiling
cakes
cookies

about another week and the chefs should be able to talk to me about what they think.

Well, I'm looking around on all these other forums at different wall ovens but I wonder if I will regret changing from the Gagg. One person mentioned that people don't really complain about them, and I love mine but, if I had to mention one thing, there are a few issues.

They really are as great as they say, but I have observed one obnoxious thing- one of my two ovens cooks very slightly unevenly. It really bugs me since it's the top oven, which I use more but it's supposedly not a flaw. I made Gaggenau come out and test it extensively because after dropping that kind of cash, I didn't want to move baked goods around. Seriously, they tested the whole damn oven and could not prove it was uneven. It's really slight but it does bug me. (REALLY bugs me, wish it didn't) I use the pizza stone and try to bake really delicate stuff in the lower one. I actually leave the stone in all the time since we bake quite a bit. It works on all manner of breads and baked things. Very nice.

We do cook constantly and bake consistently and we've tried every damn feature, including the dough rise (which is awesome, btw) the only thing i don't love is the rotisserie, my husband loves it but it DESTROYS the oven. Such a MESS. I don't think it's worth it. Self clean doesn't seem to get it off and my husband won't let me run a full cycle since he thinks it's going to burn the house down. It gets SO hot. So that is the only other downfall, besides price. Burning down the house with the awesome kitchen= FAIL.

So loving these like I do, maybe I answered my own question about switching from Gagg to something else. Maybe someone has done it and didn't mind. I'd be curious, Capital seems to be getting quite the buzz and BS seems (at least freestanding, not sure about ovens) to be something people are talking about.

I've used a commercial oven but not since switching to Gaggenau. It baked so evenly that this little uneven issue drives me nuts. It's even installed correctly, I checked.

I'd love to hear from someone who has had the chance to try a bunch of ovens. My MIL has a Miele oven which I love but I almost hate the matching cooktop. The 5 burners don't do it for me and the lighting feature/safety thing is more annoying than my GAGG one, which is pretty annoying at times. I do kind of want the range to match the oven though. probably stupid but the Gagg ovens looks SO different that everything else I would not want that in the kitchen with non Gagg stuff. That aluminum finish is really different. So if I want a new range, i have to look at all these other ovens...

thanks for any input.

Trevor,

Any updates from your chefs?

Thanks!

I'm interested to hear the reviews as well.

Also, are there any plans to offer them in colors like the ranges?

Trevor,

it has been a good while. can you post the results? I just saw a Capital Maestro on ebay and would like to consider your information.
Sandy

Trevor, yes please do tell. You've made a promise, now it's time to prove you are unlike the average salesman.

KC

Sconway.... If you give me a call I will let you know what we think of the wall oven in more detail.

KC..... I have nothing to prove to you or anyone else, my record and dedicated web sites speak for themselves.....

I waited awhile for the report, and even emailed the Capital president. After nothing from either, I couldn't wait longer to fill the hole in my kitchen where an oven should be. I checked with a local dealer who said he could offer no solid info because Capital had not done an electric wall oven before, and it has different features than their gas ovens...So there was really no way to know if they had a good one, or if it might be a 'first attempt' that wouldn't be up to par with others in their price range. He carried the ranges, but didn't have a wall oven in the store yet. They're not in stores to see, and emails go unanswered, so it doesn't seem like these ovens are a priority to Capital...Maybe that's incorrect, but that's the impression they left with this consumer. With what I had to go on, I sure wasn't willing to gamble that kind of money.

on Thu, Oct 14, 10 at 12:12

"We are nearly done with the testing of this wall oven.
so far
Roasting
broiling
cakes
cookies

about another week and the chefs should be able to talk to me about what they think."

Hmmmmmm, testing would be done about October 21'st 2010.
Now it's January 2011, and the only way we can get the results????? is a "Personal Call" To Trevor????

Old saying (Yep, Yet another one!
Some times (Maybe!!!!!) "It's what ya don't say, that speakes louder than what ya do say"

Being a Native Californian, I wish Capital "All The Best",
but based upon info so far, should my Trusty Elux Oven take a dump (Unlikely) (based on info "so far"), I would buy another Elux.

Gary

Trevor, why so defensive? YOU made a claim that testing was being done at your shop. Either it was done and you have results or not. You made a promise -- you are under no obligation to keep it, however it would seem to be in the interests of your reputation if you honored it. And yes, you do have something to prove�that you are a man of your word.

KC.

I did ask our exec chef where her official report was and she told me she would have it this week or Monday, she did evaluate the wall oven but never came back with a report due to the time or year. In Novemeber /December we have approximately 800 people thru the cooking school in classes and corporate parties, once I have it i will post it.

Well, Monday has come and gone. Where's the report?

KC.

Wow. Nice approach.

Dan, it's called a bump. The message had fallen down 4 pages, and since Trevor has promised on multiple occasions to provide the information, and by a particular day, I don't see the harm in asking him to keep him promise.

KC.

The Capital Wall oven is a great piece of equipment.
I have used the perfect convection for all types of cookie baking. Chocolate chip, oatmeal and trail mix cookies bake evenly and have a nice golden brown color with a chewy texture. I did have to rotate the bottom pan to the top if you bake two sheets of cookies at a time, as the ones on the lower rack will be darker on the bottom if not rotated up. Sugar cut out cookies will bake nicely at 325 on the middle shelf for 10-12 minutes. I like to glaze them with lemon juice and confectionary sugar as soon as they come out and then transfer the cookies to a cooling rack.
Brownies bake very evenly on the middle shelf at 350 on the Bake dial. If you use perfect convection for the brownies the top will be a little crispy but will take 5 minutes less time to bake. Allow to cool in the pan before cutting.
I have also baked 8 - 8 inch cakes at one time at 350 degrees. I did need to rotate for even baking. If baking 1-3 cakes on the middle rack there is no need to rotate the cakes. The oven bakes cakes beautifully and in the 20 minute range.
Pizza at 500 degrees on Bake with a pizza stone comes out great! I put the pizza stone in the cold oven and then turned it on to 500 degrees for 1 hour to heat up the stone. Then I slid my homemade pizza from my peel on to the stone. I tried using the moisture control but it made the pizza crust chewy. Without the moisture control the crust came out nice and crispy, the way I personally like my pizza!
Cr�me Brule at 325 degrees on Bake works very well. It takes about 30-40 minutes until the cr�me Brule has just a slight giggle in the middle.
Homemade Puff pastry bakes beautifully in this Capital oven at 400 degrees. Make sure the oven is up to temperature before putting the cold pastry into the hot oven. For Palmiers I bake them about 10 minutes and then flip the pastries over and finish baking 3-5 minutes until golden brown. I always bake them on the middle shelf.
French bread with 400 degrees on the bake dial with the moisture control on gives a nice crispy and chewy baguette. No need to spray the oven with water as the moisture control does it for you. Bake the baguette until the outside has a golden brown color and the loaf sounds hollow when tapped. You can also check the internal temperature which should be 185 degrees.

Today I cooked a 7 pound 4 ounce whole organic Chicken. I set up the rotisserie for the Capital Maestro wall oven. Wash the bird and then season well inside and out with salt, pepper and herbs de Provence. Truss the bird so the legs don�t flop around while cooking. Then skewer the chicken right through the middle and place it on the rotisserie attachment in the corner of the oven. Place a drip pan on the bottom of the oven to catch any grease. Turn the broil dial on and then push the rotisserie button to rotate the rotisserie. Do not use bake or roast dials as these dials use bottom heat and will only heat the drip pan and not cook the bird.
After 1 hour and 20 minutes check the temperature of the Chicken. I take it out at 165 degrees when inserted into the thick part of the leg of the bird. The Chicken has a beautiful golden brown color and is very juicy. It smells fantastic and the neighbors from the plaza are stopping by to have a taste of this rotisserie cooked bird. There is about 1 cup of fat in the drip pan but the bird is still very moist. This is good thing as it makes the chicken healthier and we add this to our healthy cooking class menu for our upcoming classes.
If there is any of the rotisserie chicken left after Nick from next door stops by I will make a great chicken salad tomorrow and I use the carcass to make a roasted chicken stock for soups and stews.
Today I am roasting three, 4 pound Top Round beef roasts. I am going to use three different methods. First the "roast dial", second the "probe method" and last the roast dial with the "moisture control" button turned on.
I season the beef with salt, pepper and drizzle a little olive oil. I could also stud it with cloves of garlic for more flavors. I place it on a rack on top of a roasting pan and put it into the 400 degree preheated Capital wall oven. It is going to cook for 1 hour and about 40 minutes until the temperature is 120 degrees on an instant read thermometer. After about 1 hour and 30 minutes the roast looks richly browned in color and smells like Sunday dinner at Mom�s! The temperature is 110 degrees so I will leave it in about 10 minutes more and then take the temperature again. After 10 minutes it is at 120 and I take it out and allow it to rest for 20 minutes before slicing and tasting the roast.
After the rest period slice it and taste the meat. It is cooked perfectly to medium rare. It is juicy and moist and ready to be eaten.
The next roast will be prepared the same as the first but I am going to use the probe attachment this time. The probe allows the oven to monitor the temperature of the roast as it cooks. It will automatically stop the cooking when the meat is done. When it is done the mode changes to hold for 2 hours.
To use the probe first I set my rack position which is the middle rack.
Then I set the roasting dial and set the temperature to 400 degrees.
The oven must preheat to 4oo degrees before putting the probe and roast into the oven.
Put the probe into the roast and then into the oven.
Press the probe button and set the internal temperature of the meat to 120 degrees.

At first the temperature will register 95 degrees until the meat warms up beyond that temperature. When the roast reaches 120 degrees the oven will go into hold mode for 2 hours. I take the meat out when it reaches 120 which took about 1 hour and 12 minutes and allow it to rest for 20 minutes before carving. I could allow the roast to stay in the oven for another hour to rest but the staff and neighbors are anxious to try the next Top round of beef roast.
After resting the roast for 20 minutes I carve the beast and it is again moist tender and delicious. The outside is a little more well done than the center but still medium to medium rare. This will make great BBQ beef sandwiches for lunch tomorrow.

The last Top round roast is ready to go. I have the oven set to 400 degrees on roast with the moisture setting on. I prepare the meat the same as the other to roasts and put it on a rack in place it into the preheated oven with the moisture setting on. Throughout the cooking this roast seems to have more spitting and crackling sounds going on. It looks browned and moister earlier in the cooking session. The smells are delicious and the end product I browner and richer looking. It takes about 1hour and 30 minutes to reach an internal temperature of 120 degrees. After allowing it to rest for 20 minutes I cut into the meat and it is much juicier and tender texture than the other two roasts. This one will be eaten immediately so no need to hold it for tomorrow�s lunch. Slice it and serve it with your favorite Yorkshire pudding, vegetables, mashed potatoes and gravy.
Today I am going to use the broiling unit to cook my spicy skewered shrimp. Turn the broil dial on to high. I have made a spicy marinate for my shrimp with chipotle peppers, garlic, lime juice a pinch of brown sugar, smoked paprika and olive oil. I marinated the shrimp for 15 minutes and then placed them a metal skewer. Put them on a broiling pan and place under the heated broiler for3- 5 minutes until the shrimp turn pink. Turn the skewers over and cook another 3 minutes until the shrimp or cooked through. Do not overcook the shrimp or they will be though and rubbery. Put the shrimp into a corn tortilla with some chipotle sauce and chopped lettuce on top. A quick and delicious meal!

Over all the Capital Maestro Wall oven works fantastically for all my cooking and especially my baking needs. I love to bake, especially pizza and finding an oven that does everything well is not easy. For me this unit by Capital is one of the best ovens I have used in homes and at Eurostoves it seems to cover all bases. I would highly recommend the Capital Maestro Series to anyone who is serious about cooking and baking. I can�t wait for Trevor to have one installed in my home someday!!!

I have uploaded the above info onto the Culinarian website (under the tab "Maestro Wall Oven") with pictures so you can see the results, I will be adding to this web page as an when Liz has time to redo the baked goods as noted above.

One mistake in her report above..... she mentions 8 x 8" cakes at one time, in fact it should read 6 x 8" cakes at one time.

Trevor, thank you for posting the thorough review.

KC.

Trevor,

I do not understand the need to rotate the cookie sheets of cake pans when using convection. Shouldn't convection, if working properly, eliminate the need to rotate or move pans/sheets? At least that is what I have read on these forums in regard to true convection.

Todds, not all convection is created equal... I saw this is a problem when reading the report, too...And one that would keep me from spending that kind of money for that oven. After my 4-oven experience I found that roasting meat is easy, but I think it's that kind of baking result that tells the story about heat distribution in the oven. If it's not even, what's the point of the convection? I could do multi rack baking in my 1998 GE Profile range that didn't have convection if I swapped racks and turned pans. It's not a terrible thing to have to do in a range that cost $800, and didn't promise convection results...

Todd

I don't know the answer, I must say that when bake Walnut and oatmeal cookies I uses Perfect Convection and never turn the trays and mine look good enough to give to customers, maybe it's the type of cookies Liz makes or maybe its just what she has always done in pro kitchens so she does it without thinking. As I say I don't really know.

What I tried to do here is not to influence her report in any way, All i asked her to do is to use it and let me know what she did and how it worked out, then I just pasted the report to the GW. I could have edited the report to be more of a sales pitch but that's not what we do.

I did speak to Bob (Service Director) and asked if he had and reports back about uneven Perfect Convection cooking, has said not that he can recall.

Further when I cook the same cookies in the Culinarian range I set the temp at 300 with regular convection on and they are also good enough for store customers, which is 25 degrees lower than the Perfect Convection in the wall oven.

I have been thinking about this,

I think Liz may not have used the Perfect Convection setting for the cookies, I don't see how you can get a darker base on the bottom rack when you use perfect convection that does not use bottom heat. I will get her to run this test again.

Trevor,

I wouldn't want you to alter it in any way. Just figured Liz would have done the test 1st with perfect convection (without turning) and then with turning or vice versa for comparison. This would show what happens when baking the same item in both scenarios, just like the roast.

Todd

That was the instruction I gave her, I fear that was lost on the baking side of the report, the roasting was as I asked 3 different tests using the 3 different settings, Roast, Probe Roast and Moist Roast (BTW I am sick of roast beef sandwiches and beef stir fry.....lol)

It is not my intention to change anything on the report, I just want to make sure she used the right setting as stated in her report. I sent her an email asking if she has time next week to redo the cookie baking tests. We have 3 options for baking. the report will stand or be revised depending on the results.

Perfect Convection
Delicate Bake
Bake

The report will stand or be revised depending on what happens next week.

Trevor,

Just if she re-does the baking test that nothing should be moved or rotated for the Perfect Convection test. If not instructed she may do it out of habit.

OK I made some of our store cookies today on Perfect Convection 6 on each cookie sheet. I did not rotate the cookie sheets or change racks locations. I am now convinced that the report in this aspect was wrong, as you see from the pictures we have even tops and bases of the cookies

The results look great. I've placed my order. Let's hope manufacturing quality control is good.

KC.

kucinaclassica - when do you expect delivery of the ovens?
Please let us all know how they perform for you. I am still on the fence about my oven choices..

I'm a little perplexed about 6 cookies per sheet...How might the results compare to 15 to 24 per sheet as home bakers would do? I guess this was on 2 racks... Is that the most Capital recommends or will it do a convection bake on 3 racks? (I've had ovens that recommend using only 2 racks and ovens that ok 3 rack baking, so I'm just curious.)

rhome .... I have never used 3 racks but I don't see it would make any difference, as for why 6 cookies per sheet that's just what I did, our cookies tend to be about 4" wide so that was the way I spaced them.

Muskokascp,

Apparently they have to be made on an order by order basis. I am purchasing multiple singles rather than the double. Unfortunately they will not be installed until April.

KC.

Does anybody know what the interior capacity of these ovens is? Can't seem to find that info on the Capital website.

Where is the vent on the door? Is it on the interior face of the door or on the top edge? The reason I'm interested in this is because I'm concerned that spills and grains can get in the vents and become trapped between the door glass.

Also would love to see a photo of the interior. The one on the website is not very clear.

bickybee,

Based on my emails with Capital, the interior usable space is 4.15 cubic feet.

Not sure about vent location.

KC.

I've just usually found that cookies that utilize the whole pan in standard home sizes (3"?) mean that there are cookies down the center and cookies nearer the edge than 6 on a pan would be. And that's when uneven baking is more likely to show itself? Doesn't really matter to me, but thought people considering this oven might want to think about it. Didn't want anyone missing that the 6-cookie-per-pan method might be different than theirs.

And........were they installed in April and do you love them or hate them??

Thanks!

KC,
I'm doing a kitchen reno and am thinking of getting the culinarian 36"rangetop with the maestro wall oven. Could you let me know how you like your wall oven?
Thx