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tak712

Advice on double wall oven

11 years ago

Apologies if this was double posted. I think the posting got screwed up.


I'm currently looking at replacing a 13 year old Jenn-Air electric double oven in my new house. I had a new KitchenAid single oven that I was quite happy with in the previous house. I do all sorts of baking ranging from pizza and bread to meats and vegetables. I'm becoming more of an avid cook so I'm trying to use the oven even more.


That being said I'm just very confused about what double oven to get. There are all sorts of options that range from very expensive (Wolf, Miele) down to middle-high (Thermador, Dacor) and then cheaper like Bosch, GE, Fridigaire, etc.


The proof option on some of the higher end ovens look cool and I might use that, but I'm not sure if I need 14 or 17 cooking modes. I don't do much broiling but I do like baking and also using convection. Will I be able to tell a difference going with Wolf or Miele, or should I save my money entirely and go with a cheaper Bosch or GE? I don't mind spending the money if it'll be worth it. Reliability seems like a crap shoot with almost any brand, so I am wondering if it's worth it gambling with an expensive set.


Any advice on what I should be looking at?

Comments (14)

  • 11 years ago

    Did you try this over on Appliances? I just saw it. I love my Electrolux non-icon Wave Touch double wall oven. I have self-cleaned it several times, no problem. It's 4 years old, knock on wood. A far as as the various settings, I have used Bake. Broil, Proof, Convection Bake, Convection Roast, Perfect Turkey. It does make a perfect turkey!

  • 11 years ago

    This question interests me, too, tak. Even though there is an appliance forum, and I do check it, I think this forum gets more traffic, so I'm always happy to see this type of question here, and looking forward to seeing more responses. It seems so often when anyone asks a general question about appliances, people automatically send the OP over to the appliance forum. Then we search the appliance forum to see if it was posted there. While that's obviously the forum for troubleshooting help and specific questions, I think this is a great place for this type of question.

    Ginny, your response is so helpful to me. I'm definitely going to keep your oven in mind.

  • 11 years ago

    Glad I could help, Lynne!

    I forgot to mention the Keep Warm setting, which I use a lot. It's kind of like having a warming drawer, only it's an oven the rest of the time.

    One piece of advice I would give is to consider french doors or side-opening doors. They weren't available in my price range in 2011. My old wall oven had french doors, and they are ergonomically superior. So much easier to reach in the oven, remove pans from racks, etc. As it was, I opted for an oven that had easy-glide racks that came out as far as possible - I measured how far the racks extended in various models.

    Also make sure your oven is installed at a height that suits you. I'm only 5'3", and my contractor almost put the ovens 6" too high until I reminded him of my specific request.

  • 11 years ago

    Thanks for the replies! I started looking at the electrolux icon wave touch oven. I also started looking at the bosch benchmark with the side opening doors. Anyone have experience with the bosch?

  • 11 years ago

    Whichever brand you look at, crap shoot is right. Even Wolf ovens had enamel issues at one time. What other appliances do you have? You can have a kitchen full of mid range appliances and go for a high end oven, but I don't see the point, really. I would look seriously at KitchenAid, GE profile, and even Kenmore Pro lines.

  • PRO
    11 years ago

    The Bosch ovens are well made and well reviewed. We recommend them very frequently over pricier items. Compared to a Wolf or Dacor they are very close in features and construction.

    Miele is interesting because their ovens have a few unique features that MAY justify the price. First their racks are self clean safe. Second they have a water line hookup for the moisture plus system. This allows you to add up to 3 bursts of humidity during cooking. This can be especially useful when baking breads because it will help when trying to get a nice crisp crust. Third their master chef menu is pretty robust.


  • 11 years ago

    eam44: thanks for the reply. I currently have mostly jenn-air appliances here with a double oven, four burner downdraft system, a whirlpool gold microwave and a subzero built in. I just bought the place and wasn't sure what to think of it all. I hate the drop in burners. The grates are awful and Downdraft seems like it won't work well for heavy duty cooking but I haven't tested it yet. I rarely use the microwave so I don't really care about that one. I used a sharp convection oven in my other place that I liked a lot but that was because I didn't have a double oven.


    Maim definitely not looking for package dead right now as my current goal is to replace as needed. I'm still really concerned about the cooktop but it works fine. I used to have a dacor six burner cooktop and a kitchen aid oven for reference.


    I care about how well it cooks and consistency rather than total aesthetics. Of course I don't want an eyesore in the kitchen :)

  • 11 years ago
    last modified: 11 years ago

    Ideally if you replaced the cooktop, you'd put in an overhead range hood as well, but if that isn't practical/affordable then I'd replace with a cooktop and separate telescopic downdraft.

    Why do you want to replace your current oven? Broken, or just functions poorly?

  • 11 years ago

    Like you, tak712, I use my double wall ovens a lot. When I did my kitchen (and chose appliances about 2 years ago), there were many hours of research involved on the ovens. The Electrolux Icons were everything I wanted, and I can say that after using them for a year and a half, I could not be more pleased with them. They come up to temp quickly, hold evenly, and perform every function equally well. The gliding racks are great, extend fully, and reconfigure very easily. They each bake with or without convection, broil with or without convection, proof breads, slow-cook like a crockpot, keep warm like a warming drawer, even work as dehydrators, and self-clean. Each oven will also accept up to three "favorites" multi-stage programs. For example, I can put in a frozen item in the morning, tell the oven to come on at a specific time in the afternoon, bake for X hours/minutes, then turn its on the broiler on to brown the top, and then turn itself into a warming drawer and keep the item ready until I turn it off. Each oven operates independently, and all the racks are moveable, so for dehydrating you can just run one oven with all the racks in it. I don't know if those Icon models are still available, but if so, they are worth considering. I've been very happy with them. (Also put the Miele steam oven in another part of the kitchen, and like it, too, but it's a more specialized appliance, also great but not as versatile as the Electrolux ovens.)

  • 11 years ago

    Hvtech I don't have enough counter depth to do a telescopic vent behind the range. So I'm not sure what to do a out the range yet. I can live with it for now but I'd love to replace the whole thing with a 36" cooktop plus a vent overhead. It's just more work than I wanted to do right now

  • 11 years ago

    Smiley thanks for that review!!! I definitely want to look into that

  • 11 years ago

    So, you already have a mix of high and mid range appliances. While my kitchen is out of commission I'm cooking at my sister's house. She has Thermador ovens, but the vented, older models, a SZ fridge, and a Bosch dw. They all play well together. I love the Thermador oven.

  • 11 years ago
    last modified: 11 years ago

    Count me as another one who loves pre-Bosch Thermador ovens!

    As for Electrolux Icon, the "designer style" ovens with the curved handle have been discontinued. The "pro style" are temporarily unavailable. Their factory in Quebec closed last summer and they seem to be having delays getting some of the models transferred over to the new one in Memphis. There may be some of the old model left (E30EW85GPS). Or, you may be able to put in a pre-order for the new one (E30EW85PPS). The closest equivalent new model in the non-Icon Electrolux line which has been sold for a while now is EW30EW65PS. It has *most* of the Icon's features, including all the same cooking modes as well as the multistage cooking.

    Any of the 3 models I mentioned above, or Bosch will be your "best value" wall oven choices.