Building a Home Appliances Design Dilemma

Stacked or side-by-side wall ovens and help with kitchen layout.

3 years ago

My partner and I are in the early stages of designing our kitchen layout for a new build. We have two questions and welcome any overall advice or critiques.

Overall question: Better to stack the two ovens listed below and keep some counter-space or have them side-by-side for better overall oven access?

1. Would stacking the Miele XXL steam oven (24H by 20W ) over the Miele 6880-2 BP (28H by 30W) regular oven place the bottom oven too low? Of course you can buy double ovens that come stacked about this size, but they don't have to include the space for a second display bar that moves the bottom oven even lower. We did look at the Thermador option for a double oven steam and convection oven combo built together, but we prefer the Miele option for a plumbed-in steam oven. Stacking the ovens would allow us to keep 2.5 to 3 ft of counter-space, which we are relatively short on, but I would not like to do this at the expense of having a wall oven that is almost a range. However, we anticipate that we will use the combi-steam oven as our main oven and the regular one less often, so perhaps this will not be a big issue? (The 2.5 to 3 ft range comes from the fact that we can still move one of the doors in the kitchen 6" at this point).

2. If we do not have the combi-steam oven and regular oven stacked and instead have them side-by-side, should we put them between our two fridges or on one side? We are purchasing a 36" fridge and a 30" wine fridge and had originally planned to have them beside one another, but thought that it might look more balanced to have the ovens in the centre since the ovens will both be black/stainless steel and the fridges will have cabinet covers. Plus, the ovens (or at least the combi-steam oven) will be used much more than the wine fridge.

Ovens stacked (Note: Considering moving door to pantry 6" towards exterior wall if we do stacked ovens to increase counter-space to 3'.)

In not stacked, would you recommend option A or B?

Option A

Option B

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Comments (7)

Louise Smith
3 years ago
It depends. I'm short so stacking the ovens isn't good for me because the top one is too high and the bottom one is usually at an awkward height. This is especially true for regular "oven door opening down" type. I prefer the side opening door ovens. So I can stand in front of the oven and just pull things out. So, I wouldn't stack.
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anj_p
3 years ago
You should have landing space next to your fridge, which you wouldn't have with stacked ovens. Also consider if you ever go from cooktop to oven when you cook - I do this all the time, so I would hate to have to carry pans across the kitchen to put in the oven. You may want to either consider a range with a second oven, or put one of your ovens next to your range for ease of access. If you don't cook that way it won't matter to you but it might to a future buyer.

Also, this wasn't your question, but you may want to consider switching your cooktop to the space opposite the sink. Hard to tell the layout of the rest of your space, but it's better to keep the fridge accessible to other people and out of the way of the prep/cooking space (sink/island and cooktop, in your case).
HU-837966453 thanked anj_p
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chispa
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
I would do an under counter wine fridge and get that counter space back. Unless wine is that important for your cooking. How did previous generations survive without wine fridges! Move the wine fridge to a pantry?

Do a 36" range to get the second, less used, oven. Place the Miele CSO at the best height for daily use.

I just gained 60" of counter space for you.
HU-837966453
Original Author
3 years ago
Thank you for the input. We will look at getting a professional opinion.
HU-6868130
3 years ago
I have some similar elements that you are navigating so I can tell you what I decided on. I too was short on counter space (though you seem to have a lot). I agree w/ whoever said to talk to a designer. I actually also got the Miele XXL plumbed combo steam oven and 30" M-Touch Oven. I put the 30" oven under the 36" cooktop, figuring I would use the steam oven most of the time and that the bigger oven would be for more rare big gatherings. I put a full size drawer below the steam oven and had the steam oven end about 42" AFF (6" above counter height so I could do a coffee maker above that w/ a cabinet at 5' AFF). I was able to do more of the typical triangle w/ my layout, not sure how you would do that but don't love the cooktop being off on its own.

I did cooktop above oven in center. 24" of countertops on either side w/ drawers below and then on one side the steam oven, followed by a 24" full size wine fridge and on the opp side a 30" fridge followed by 18" freezer. This allowed same 48" on either side for symetry, as well as functionality. Across from all of this is an island (like your idea) w/ the sink facing the oven, etc. The counter space is less than ideal but w/ a big island right there there is plenty of work space btw the two.

Good luck.
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Martin Halliday
3 years ago
I put the bottom of my XL CSO 42" off the floor and I would say that I got it exactly right. It still left room for another appliance below it, the control panel is very easy to use, and I can get heavy things or things containing lots of liquid safely in and out of the CSO.

I think that if the CSO was any higher some things would be quite hard to get in and out of the oven (I am 5'9" tall) and if it was any lower then the control panel would be harder to use.