depends on the install and the preferences of the person using the oven most.

there is no one correct answer to this question

Install will most likely be under counter - either under the counter top or under the cooktop.

IME as far away from the controller board as possible.

I had the same thought as Rococogurl. In my most recent oven hunt, I was scared of brands that had the vent right under the control panel. Been there, done that with a JennAir range once. The vent overheated the touch pad wires that were above it twice in less than 18 months. I think I might have the same concern right under the counter (depending on what it's made of) or especially under a cooktop, and would favor the bottom vent. JMO.

Well, "No Worries" with you new Ovens, Rhome410!

Everybody knows that Wolves "Vent" from their bottoms!!!

(I will "own uP to "this one")

Gary

Gary - cracking up with the Wolf puns.

So far I've found two ovens that vent from the bottom - Bosch 500 (old version was top/this one says bottom) and Turbo Chef (out of the budget!). So I'll add Wolf. Seems like every manual I look at the venting is at the top.

The counter top is soapstone. Still haven't decided if we put the oven under the cooktop or in the cabinet next to it. The cooktop will be induction.

I'm not sure where the Wolf's vent, but is certainly worth checking on any oven.From research I have done, double ovens versus single ovens, it is even more important in double ovens as, at least from the research I did, the ovens I did check, Miele, Elux for example, the posters that I saw tended to give the double ovens lower scores, mainly due to "Electronic problems" especially after baking with high temps and/or running the self cleaning.

To me that makes sense since you have a lot more "Metal Mass" to cool with a double oven and you have 2 ovens generating the heat that "May" head for that Electronic Circuit board.

Hopefully none of the ovens would allow you to self clean both, at the same time, as that could be "Hairy Carey" for the oven.

Mine is a single oven but after reading many many posts about failures after cleaning (Most, but NOT ALL KA's), I wont self clean mine till it becomes an "Absolute Necessity"

Let me say, "Congradulations Rhome410 on your "new acquisition" We know there is "None Better" to judge how they perform!!!

Gary

Makes sense on the dbl ovens - and I've noticed in the manuals that I have read that you can't self clean them both at the same time.

We are looking at single ovens.

How about Fisher and Paykel or DCS? My F&Ps vented at the bottom....or should I say from underneath? The Bosch 500 seems like a reasonable choice for what's out there. It was hanging in there with Electrolux for the more affordable choice when I decided to jump for the Wolf for hopefully more assurance of lack of problems. (Did that make sense?)

And yes, Gary, even Wolf ovens vent from their bottoms. ;-)

We actually looked at a F&P at the Sears outlet this weekend. I went back today to check it again and it had been sold already. The Lowes here still has the older model on display (but they didn't know it was the older model). I haven't seen the new glass version. I'm also hoping to track down a black Bosch on display somewhere. We can go either SS or black and still match OK with the rest of what we have now. There is a lot of love/hate for either (or any!) so it is hard to know! The list is getting smaller though with the bottom venting requirement.

When I remodel, my husband wants me to get an oven with no electronics.

This not appear to be possible.

He is adamant that electronics + heat = bad.

To aid my mated pair of wall Wolves' electronics, I drilled interior vent holes in the cabinet structure so air could flow upward behind them into the "soffit" space above the cabinet. These holes have those aluminum vents in them that are available from hardware stores for, I think, exterior soffit venting. Air should be able to rise from the bottom drawer upward and out of the cabinet.

kas

I'm very happy with my Miele single perfect-clean oven, which vents out the bottom. After a buy-back due to cooked electronics I wasn't going with any top-venting oven.

Recently there have been complaints about Miele self-cleans though those posters haven't returned for updates so perhaps they were resolved. But the Miele singles are installed in a variety of locations in modern kitchens I've seen.

I was one with issues on my Self Clean Miele Masterchef. Finally had it replaced with a new oven. Sad to say that the new oven also has problems. Temps still off by about 35 degrees on most settings and the probe on the new oven is off by 25 degrees. Called Miele again and the phone tech had me check voltage and (believe it or not) instructed me to change it from 240V to 220V. Needless to say this just made matters worse. 240V should be the standard single-family residential voltage in the US. Pretty bad when their own people don't know what the proper voltage should be! NUMEROUS posts around the internet (not from me, really) of their Miele oven temps being off as well. It's not just a voltage thing with them. My advice is to stay far away from their ovens. Stick with Miele dishwashers and vacuums. I should've taken them up on their buyback and bought the Wolf (which now do vent from the bottom). Oh well....

Just returned from a day of oven shopping. The adventure is a whole other topic for posting but....one of the places I visited had the Wolf and other models as well. The rep I talked to actually owned the Wolf at home.

He said with the venting at the bottom he does get condensation and that it does slightly drip on to the cabinetry and eventually down to the floor. He uses a paper towel while he is cooking. Obviously, this varies based on what is cooking. In our case, this would be small amounts of water dripping to the hardwood floor with a bottom venting oven. Or, water on controls for top venting ovens. Outside the heating of controls issue. I'm still leaning towards bottom venting but is the condensation a big issue?

Yikes, baver. Glad you checked back in.

Been doing a "Study", yep another one, comparing top vent ovens with bottom ones.

This is a bit difficult as you can compare "reviews & problems" on sites like AJMadison, Sears, Home Depot etc etc (Many etc's) and get a pretty idea of the # of reviewers that have had problems. This seems to work for the Mieles too, but not for the Wolf's as reviews of Wolf ovens are scarce on those sites, (Probably due to the fact that "Most" or Many? Wolf's are sold thru Wolf Dealerships ---Ya think?

So we do a search for Wolf Oven reviews or Wolf Oven Problems----(Yea I know, that's "asking" for trouble)but we havta "ferret out the info somehow"?

Anyway after all this research there is little evidence that the ovens that vent below have fewer failures of the "Control Boards".

If one compared the "Problem Reviews" with the number of Ovens sold, the high end ovens would appear to actually have a higher failure rate---it's not hard to find "Problem reviews" yet the number of these ovens is considerable less than the "More Friendly priced Brands"

I have tried, "every way I know" to find numbers of the ovens sold by each manyfacturer, as I think then it would be easier to make a Wag or a Swag as to what your likelyhood would be of having a control board failure with "XX Oven".-----Maybe some of you "Appliance Gurus" can give us a "Basic Idea" of the market % of each manufacturer?

Anyway, after spending all this time, I think the best insurance to keep from burning out control boards is to use the approach Kaseki did,---before you build it in, use some kind of venting system (Possibly even with a fan), and at least to me, (an electronic techie), I think you will see less control board failures----remember that little "factory ven"t in the oven, just cools down the area of the circuit board (and "possibly" the interior of the oven) but ya still got that mass of metal (Oven case) etc, ready, willing and able to throw heat back into where ya don't want it!!!!

Gary

My Dacor oven vents from the bottom. It's under my cooktop and I wondered if it would be uncomfortable standing at the cooktop but I've never noticed any heat.