Thank you for your thoughtful response! I do think I'll end up going with the Wolf pro series. It's clean looking, SS all the way around, with pro style handles and no knobs to match. Good to know that the water reservoir is so big. And I did see that SS interior, which put the chipping fear to rest.

For anyone else with similar questions, I also posted this question in the appliance forum and will be posting my oven stack updates there.

Thank you, this is v helpful. I looked at several and ordered the Wolf. It was larger and appeared to have more function for every day use, as well as vendor support vs Thermador. I wish it had a broiler but oh well. Will be our daily oven, I suspect. Also purchased double ESeries wall ovens, hoping there is no chipping issue. I raised it with Wolf and Clarke, the distributor. They assured me it is no longer an issue. If it is, they said they will make it right. Hoping I didn't place too much faith in their commitment. Cannot say enough how valuable these discussions have been!

glad to help. I really really like my CSO, so glad to help answer any questions people have and spread the word.

I've been playing with sous vide eggs with it recently using the steam function, and the results are wonderful. The best hard boiled, soft boiled, onsen tamago and ni tamago I've ever had, much less made. There's some trial and error, but even the errors usually come out decent.

Hi Janejanel, yummy! do you mind sharing how you sous vide the eggs in the combi? Want to try once my installed. Thank you!

BTW, Clarke posted the Wolf CSO cookbook to their site, http://t.hsms06.com/e1t/c/W7KFw9t2_7B4PW8Qn1N36C__cd0/W3WxdjW6c0KwWW1nxnnq5KvmxS0/5/f18dQhb0SnGV9jNpDgW6KcgTg5N0pCGW5klwjt4LS1VGVRqVF264DbVMV4hbtL8m0gjwW6X_V4M8gX_CKW6YmS_M4zVKmcW3fmdtP7lhwvRW88rXjm86t6mSW28vb_y5MGHfpW6wT8-Z4c2Y2zW30V2HF31qBJDN3ZbykFtft_mW56RzcF2P2THPN2MTPSyKng6qW1Wg4bj4Q2XMBW4dTsRv8VZt3lN27QJ1tNfj-qN1nj43nM_Q_HW5wLd185vLZfpW6tQVSY64QZb6W8rvGX41pNBPWVphC7_8sYvvlW5tGks29kMVMvW5RlSdT5xNCj8W8mGgzn313MGDW5t66Wt5QWgB1W3Jx35l5CxXNkN2Z3Tkz_sPJwN18WyJrY8NxyW8rzQjK32xjHWW3jmNJP5Ps8ptW3zc-GT5Mry0kMYxLkdK8yV-VFkVb_3gq__HW8t_DzN6p_DxvW5NXFDq3-cD6hW8d4T2T1BgLjvW6rKDG473QsnmW1d5pgb5vydhyW1V3HDm7ld8DQW24Zss16vGptVW3-4JFG5qv4fvW7hWL_D6q7yH8W44GXms4LJhCLW1M4Ndh6-QthSW7b3WFB8MxZbRW3y19vC3wqsnkf9hdZy411

Normally if I am doing onsen tamago, I will do steam 165 for about 20-25min. When I crack those, the whites will be like a very delicate white custard, and the yolk will be just solidified, but still the same color of runny yolk. That is my favorite yolk personally - it's like a intensified yolk flavor with the rich texture of ganache. I usually crack that into bowl, and there will be some loose white that cooked onto the inside of the shell that I scrape out with a small spoon (don't like to waste!) though you can skip those bits if you want prettier presentation. Put it in some tsuyu sauce (dashi broth based sauce), sprinkle in some nori, maybe some thinly sliced scallions, some tempura flakes, and it's a beautiful light Japanese appetizer with barely any work. Best, it can be served hot or cold, so the steaming can be done in advance with a whole carton of eggs if you like, and in no time you can have 12 elegant summer appetizers done if entertaining. It looks a lot like this:

http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/izakaya-kou-san-francisco?select=WbzEL9huH-nRXxwYOxEeww

But you can adapt this to lots of things. If you like poached eggs, you can cook at lower temps for longer - check out this link:

http://www.seriouseats.com/2013/10/sous-vide-101-all-about-eggs.html

I'm working on a variation of hard-boiled eggs simmered in tea right now, that won't have horribly overcooked yolks and rubbery whites the way traditional ones often end up. I will probably flash steam at 210, shock with cold and then send it back in to finish the cooking at lower. I haven't got the timing down right and over cooked the yolk beyond my perfect yolk to the color of a normal hard boiled yolk, but it was actually still tender and moist tasting, not the chalky texture I associated with hard boiled eggs that I hated growing up.

Wow! Thank you for sharing this, how yummy. If you want to share as you try, I'd love to read about what you are cooking. I cannot wait for my reno to be completed and start using mine!

I would appreciate any updates the authors above may have on their CSOs. I am leaning toward specifying a Gaggenau because I believe it is the only one currently on the market with self-cleaning capability. If this becomes the main oven(and why wouldn't it be for a couple with grown kids) I would think the cleaning function would be very important.

Axel, we love the new Wolf steam oven so far. Fish is incredible. Haven't tried bread or many other things. Roasted chicken did make a mess. Self cleaning would be nice but with de-scaling not sure if it is truly practical? Not sure how it works. Can't imagine Gaggenau isn't a great product. The Wolf for the price and performance value along with local on site distributor support if needed was a fine decision for us. Good luck! Janejanel and others, any other recipes to share? Got ours recently installed.

While I have not seen it in use, my understanding of the cleaning function on the Gaggenau is more like a rinsing feature. Because it is a plumbed appliance the additional water needed drains away. Extremely cool, but of course you pay for that.

Yes, the cleaning function of the Gaggenau is a 'steam clean'/rinse feature. It's great and definitely keeps the dirt factor down, but if the oven gets really dirty (ie from cooking fatty roasts, which it does brilliantly), it still needs to be manually cleaned.

We don't have the Wolf ovens in Australia (though I have heard a rumour that may be changing!), but from what I know of their specs I'd still select the Gaggenau. I might be biased having worked with the brand for a long time though. ;)

Also, htc2015 if you are after recipes, at the risk of self promotion I have a website specifically for combi steam/steam oven recipes. It's early days but I put up a post a week (or try to!), so eventually there'll be a lot of info there. Feel free to have a look here: www.steamandbake.com

i'd been going over several discussions abt the Wolf combi, & i think i'll go for it with our complete kitchen reno. thanks for the cso recipe website, Steam and Bake!