Does anybody have any experience with “steam ovens”? I am remodeling a kitchen and I have an out-sized budget for the kitchen appliances. I have been dreaming of an oven that could provide the steam at the beginning of the bake for decades. Is this my chance? Dacor has an oven that has a “steam bake” option. Half a dozen other brands do also. Do any of them work? Has anybody used any one? Please share your experience! Thanks.
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I have no such experience, but I now have a serious case of oven envy.
me too lol
@zarnuk You might check out the info in this thread. If you @ someone with a question they’ll get a notification.
A dear friend and fellow bread enthusiast went through a kitchen remodel just last year. I tried to entice her into being the guinea pig. Alas! My trickery failed! She chickened out. 
By the way… there seems to be serious disruption of all distribution channels during the pandemic, especially anything that crosses international borders. The local appliance store was carrying Miele until just last week! I will have to negotiate with them to see if I can persuade them to participate in product maintenance / warranty support when the pandemic finally ends.
Bummer, and now you’re the guinea pig lol
International supply chains do indeed seem to be less predictable if not cut off. Fingers crossed for some return to normalcy in the coming months…year… 
The local appliance store is still selling and supporting Wolf. I see that Wolf offers some convection-steam ovens, but I have no idea how well the work for bread baking. Does anybody have a recommendation for places to look for reviews? Thanks.
I have a Wolf range. This one:
https://www.subzero-wolf.com/wolf/ranges/dual-fuel/30-inch-dual-fuel-range-4-burners
Unfortunately, it’s not a steaming one, so I can’t speak to that part, but I can say that it is pretty great all around and for baking bread in particular. Wolf stuff seems a bit over-priced, but I can’t fault the quality at all.
I have had a Wolf steam oven for 5 years and I LOVE it! There is no better way to reheat leftovers, particularly meat, pasta and rice. They reheat evenly, don’t “cook” and nothing dries out. It can do everything a regular oven does - bake, roast, convection, as well as steam and humid cooking. For example, cooking lasagna on convection humid keeps it from drying out on the top.
Baking bread is easier because it does not require a preheated pot - put the dough in either in a loaf pan or on cookie sheet, select auto steam bake and set the time. There is an artisan bread setting which I use for loaves that aren’t in a container. They come out beautifully browned and perfectly baked.
The only “problem” is that those free form loaves, although beautiful, do not come out as risen as I would like. It might be because the first phase is the steam phase and the bread is put into a cold oven. If you preheat the oven, you might miss all or most of the steam phase. I want to try putting one in a clay container without the lid to see if that gives it enough support around the bottom. I’m just trying to decide whether it is worth investing $50 for my experiment because I am not sure that is the issue.
If you are remodeling and it works with your budget, I definitely recommend it.
Hello,
I have a Gaggenau Combi-steam oven and love it! It’s programmable with several percentages of steam and heat, as well as offering a manual on-demand pulse injection. It is one of my most favourite appliances now after we recently remodelled our gourmet kitchen.
Second to that, is the Irinox shock freezer and blast chiller and next is the large Gaggenau Convection oven with the extra large baking stone with its own element directly under the stone. Temperature is adjustable up to 572 degrees F. Awesome bread is much easier now!
The steam oven does amazing things to bread and it produces the absolute best croissants I’ve ever baked. Unlike some steam ovens, the Gaggenau combo-steam oven is fully customisable to suit your needs. It also offers standard fan-forced heated air and a top mounted grill element for the ultimate in versatility.
My model is plumbed for incoming water (filtered through a super premium BMT (German) Bestmax Protect water filter) and for drain water. This is my first steam oven and I would not be without one ever again…
Cheers!