Most people have space constraints and budget constraints that restrict their choices. Without a layout and your budget, your question can't be answered.

I'll confuse you even more! If you are going to have 2 ovens, make one of them a Convection Steam Oven (CSO). I have a 48" range, but mostly use my Miele CSO XXL that is installed under the counter in my island. Love the CSO. I was lucky not to have budget constraints at this point in life, but I did have space constraints as we were not expanding the space or moving walls. I also have an under counter microwave drawer.

Absolutely, 100 percent agree ^^^^ I have a range with two ovens and a CSO. Best. Thing. Ever.

We have a 30" gas range, a Miele CSO, and a Miele SpeedOven. During the planning phase, I played through lots of different scenarios. But given our space constraints, that was really the best option, and I am very happy with how it turned out.

What brand of CSO do you have? What do you use it for? Thank you. Our space is fairly large but I can’t go all out on my budget. The stove area is constrained to 36” probably. I have room for 30” double ovens and a separate under the counter microwave drawer.

Well, how do you feel about cooking with a range? How many cooks do you have in the kitchen simultaneously? For us, those were the deciding factors against a range. I don't like having the heat from an oven at my legs, and it's not at all uncommon for my husband to be cooking on the stove while I'm getting something out of the oven (or vice versa), so a range would have been quite inconvenient for our workflow. For us double ovens with a cooktop and a separate microwave make the most sense. In our new build, the ovens will be Miele and the top will be a CSO, with a Sharp microwave drawer in the island.

Oh, we also wanted a 36" induction cooktop, which is only available in range form from Wolf, at a fairly cost-prohibitive price.

I have a Miele CSO, XXL, under counter as well. I would sacrifice a lot of things in my kitchen in order to have a CSO. It is truly the best thing about my kitchen, functionally.

I’m really learning a lot about kitchen appliances lol. Thx! I like the idea of a rangetop rather than a cooktop for the looks and the knobs being located off the top surface. I saw that wolf and Thermador have a 36” rangetop with 4 burners and a griddle in the middle location. That appeals but I wonder if I would miss the extra burners.

I cook every day and rarely use more than 2-3 burners. Happy with one convection wall oven. Depends on whether you u are cooking for 4 or 40, I suppose. Best...

Also have you looked into induction cooking?

Stephanie,

There are so many ways to arrange a kitchen.

live_wire_oak was right to ask about your lay out and sort of a ball park estimate on your budget. We could make all kinds of recommendations that might be great for some but not for you. There is a lot of collective knowledge here. There are people on the kitchen forum that can help you get a lot of functionality out of your kitchen and others can help with appliances. There is no one best arrangement, because we all have different priorities. There are often trade offs to be made in our choices. It might help to know how many you cook for, what type of cooking do you do, what type of cookware you have or like,how do you use your oven and what do you cook on now and what type of oven do you have?

There are are advantages to picking out a rangetop/cooktop and wall ovens. You can pick each component as best for your needs. If you have a 36” range, then you have a 36” oven, which can take longer to preheat and longer to stabilize. This is more expensive but 2 separate wall ovens have the advantage over double ovens, if one has a catastrophe with the mother board, it doesn’t take both down.

I have a 36” range and one wall oven. I definitely wish I had a rangetop and two wall ovens. I know people love them but I would not choose a CSO because I need the room of two full ovens. I sometimes wish for a third oven now. The CSO doesn’t offer me enough real benefit to justify giving up my full sized ovens. Some people like it to reheat, but I’m good with a microwave for a moist reheat. It is steam too. I‘m not big on steamed veggies, but occasionally I’ll do a little steamed asparagus in a pan with a lid. Anytime you put a lid on something, you are steaming it.

Most people don’t really think about these things but just reading some of the use and care manuals for CSOs will give you an idea what humidities are used in what situations. If you have an electric oven, you have a fair amount of humidity already depending on what you are cooking. Gas ovens have bigger vents so moisture is constantly vented out. I was surprised to learn from one CSO manual that a cake baking provides 30% humidity. You can imagine if you have a roaster with visible steam coming off your well close to 100%.

Many people will tell you that the CSO is the most used oven. It does function as a regular oven so for some, maybe 95% of the food cooked might not need steam but could be done in that oven. Others rely on more steam added applications but both could make that statement. It is smaller so quicker to heat and use.

In my own kitchen, I can modify humidity in the few cases I need to by adding a hot pan of water. You can create bursts of steam by preheating lava rocks in a cast iron skillet and adding water to that If you need it for bread baking. If I need less humidity, which is the other side of the coin nobody mentions, turn on the convection fan and open the door briefly.

What are the unique things are that the CSO can do?

The best ones can conveniently give you control of the humidity levels by sensing what they are and adding or reducing moisture. You won’t have to think about it.

The CSOs are also built to handle a lot of steam. Most electric ovens are controlled with computer boards and they may not tolerate all the steam If you used it a lot. I have seen a few manuals for electric ovens say not to steam in them.

A question for those with CSOs.

What is the usable size of the racks in your ovens? What is the usable height above the lowest rack?

With a 36” rangetop, consider an add on griddle. They have the advantage of being put away if you need the burners, you can get heavy aluminum for very even heat or rolled steel. The two burner size is a lot bigger than a built in one. You can move it around. You can buy the aluminum ones in nonstick if you like. Steel seasons like cast iron. Aluminum will season too but takes awhile. You can have twice the heat or more. Most built ins are limited to 15K BTUs.

The built ins can be very different too. Some are steel, some aluminum. Some of them are removable. Some are thicker than other. Most have a thermostatic control. You can set it to the same temperature that you used yesterday for bacon and eggs. Wolf has a infrared burner underneath it. The heating is more even that way. There are few that have a nonstick coating. Find out what it takes to replace it and how many $$$.

Some people are happy with plug in tabletop griddles too.

Not to add more to the confusion but have you considered what type of burners you would like.........

Some people are happy with plug in tabletop griddles too.

That would be me. I did not want to permanently use up two burners for a griddle - whether built-in or add-on. Also, what I like to use a griddle for is breakfast - pancakes, eggs. For that I do not need super high heat, and I do want nonstick (actually the only time I use a nonstick surface is breakfast). Most plug-in electric griddles have a nonstick surface. Not only do I free up burners with a separate electric griddle, but in the summer I can take it outside, and we can have breakfast outside. Or, if I am having a lot of people for breakfast, I can use both the plug-in griddle and pans on my burners to get a whole lot done at once. Note that a plug-in electric griddle is not enough heat for steak or stir fry or similar. For those things I use cast iron pans on my burners (and crank the hood on high).

I’ll just add a little detail if that is helpful: I’m cooking for 6 kids and my husband every day. Most meals are pretty simple but I also like to bake and can see myself doing more cooking as I get older- making bread, branching out with my dinners, etc. we have family over for holidays (not a giant extended family though). That’s why I think a second oven might be required. The other thing is that we’re gutting our kitchen and starting over somewhat. It will be a u shaped design with the stove on one end and I thought a nice rage would be a good focal point (36”). I have a decent budget but I want to spend relatively more on the cabinetry and possibly a sub zero fridge. Hope this helps...

wekick wrote-

What is the usable size of the racks in your ovens? What is the usable height above the lowest rack?

I'm not at home currently so can't measure but will say that the lowest rack sits about 1.5" off the oven floor.

From Wolfs site-

• Height: 8 ¾” inches from top of bottom rack to ceiling
• Width: 16”
• Depth: 14”

I can fit 2 smaller baking sheets in it to make cookies. I've fit 3 cast iron skillets in it at a time. Easily space for roasting birds, I've done a smaller turkey (12lbs) in it. There is a larger space between the 2 lower rack slots and the 2 upper slots which helps. Since it's all stainless as well as the racks I just put a rack on the floor of the oven to gain a little more height if needed between racks, there's still a good air gap between the floor and the rack. I've never put anything in it so tall it wouldn't fit from the bottom rack to the top of the oven. But then if that were going to be an issue I would look at one of my other ovens 1st.

Plug in electric griddles have they're place for sure. Even though I rarely use one anymore there's still one in the pantry. Outside is a great place to use it.