Miele, Wolf, and JennAir wall ovens all have automatic cooking programs.
The idea is you input the food item and how you want it cooked. The oven will calculate the time and temperature to cook perfectly.
But do they work?
Before spending $6,000 - $9,000 on a Miele, Wolf, or JennAir wall oven, you want to understand how they work and how they compare to each other.
In this article, you will learn how the Wolf, JennAir, and Miele guided cooking programs work by our food tests.
First, we will test cooking lamb, then potatoes, and, lastly, we’ll finish testing with classic chocolate chip cookies.
Let’s get started.
How Do the Wolf, Miele, and JennAir Culinary Wall Ovens Work?
Wolf SO30PM/S/PH Wall Oven with Wolf Gourmet - $5,780
The Wolf M series single wall oven offers 50 preset food selections with their Gourmet guided cooking feature. It’s simple to use, from making prime rib to apple pie.
Wolf’s Gourmet feature will guide you through each step from what rack to put your food on to its ideal timing and temperature, depending on your selections.
Miele H6780-2BP Wall Oven with Miele MasterChef - $8,899
Miele’s wall oven MasterChef program is similar to the Wolf Gourmet. However, it has more recipes and 15 extensive bread baking options.
Miele’s one-touch controls are easy to use with hundreds of items and automatic recipes to choose from. All you need to do is select the food item you’re making, how you want it prepared, and then hit start.
JennAir JJW3830DS Wall Oven with Jenn-Air® Culinary Center - $5,499
This JennAir wall oven is simple to operate with a full-color LCD. Like Miele and Wolf wall ovens, you can easily browse through all of JennAir’s automatic cooking programs with their Jenn-Air® Culinary Center.
JennAir’s full-color LCD will show you pictures of the finished item you’re cooking before cooking it. This way, you can select how you would like your food to be cooked.
Lastly, some of JennAir’s functions can be controlled remotely from your phone. It’s great for preheating your oven early.
Read More: Best Wall Ovens
Miele MasterChef Vs. Wolf Gourmet Vs. Jenn-Air Culinary Wall Ovens
Lamb and Potatoes Test Using Miele, Wolf, and JennAir Culinary Wall Ovens
For the first test, I made a boneless leg of lamb roast with potatoes.
Miele
The Miele Masterchef gave me two default temperatures, one for the temperature probe to reach 140 degrees and the other as the oven temp of convection 375 F.
This included a searing phase at the beginning of cooking the lamb leg roast. No preheating was required for this.
I thought 140 F for an internal temperature was too high, especially since carryover cooking would continue once the lamb was pulled out of the oven. I reset the probe temperature to 135 F for a medium-cooked lamb.
The lamb’s exterior from the Miele oven had the best color, and the fat was rendered the most. The potatoes that were sitting under the lamb also cooked the best in this oven temperature.
Miele's Wall Oven Results
- Default probe temperature: 140 F
- Probe temperature set to: 135 F
- Default oven temperature: 375 F with a searing phase
Miele MasterChef Wall Oven Test With Lamb and Vegetables
Miele MasterChef Wall Oven Test with Lamb and Vegetables - Exterior Results
Wolf
Wolf Gourmet gave me a probe temperature of 145 F. Again, I thought this was too high and set it to 135 F. Wolf also gave me the lowest oven temperature of the three ovens at convection 325 F with no preheating required.
I was surprised to see this because the lamb roast had a significant amount of fat that has to be rendered to give a nice caramelized crust on the outside.
Once this roast had achieved its internal temperature using a temperature probe, it was only slightly cooked on the outside.
I would recommend searing it on the stovetop before placing it in the oven with Wolf Gourmet or manually adjusting the heat to a higher temperature to allow the fat to be rendered properly.
Additionally, the potatoes in this lamb dish had not been cooked all the way through. They needed more time in the Wolf oven at a higher temperature to thoroughly tenderize.
Wolf's Wall Oven Results
- Default probe temperature: 145 F
- Probe temperature set to: 135 F
- Default oven temperature: 325 F
Wolf Gourmet Wall Oven Test With Lamb and Vegetables
Wolf Gourmet Wall Oven Test with Lamb and Vegetables - Exterior Results
Jenn-Air
The JennAir V2 has a Culinary Center with several menu options. However, the Probe Cook category in the main menu was best for the lamb roast.
JennAir offered three different probe temperatures for the lamb roast: Medium Rare at 135 F, Medium at 140 F, and Medium Well at 145 F.
I selected Medium Rare at 135 F, and the default oven temperature in this program was convection 350 F, with no preheating required.
The fat did manage to render slightly better than in the Wolf, and the roast’s internal look was perfect. However, the vegetables didn’t fully tenderize at this temperature and time either.
JennAir's Wall Oven Results
- Default probe temperature: 135 F
- Probe temperature set to: 135 F
- Default oven temperature: 350 F
JennAir Culinary Center Wall Oven Test With Lamb and Vegetables
JennAir Culinary Center Wall Oven Test with Lamb and Vegetables - Exterior Results
Overall Results
The roasts managed to cook all the way through but varied in doneness because of the different oven temperatures.
You can see the difference in the exterior color and how much caramelization was achieved at different temperatures.
The Miele was most significantly affected here.
Although the high temperature gave a beautiful sear on the outside, the inside was cooked a little more than I wanted it to be.
The Wolf internal coloring was beautiful, but the outside didn’t get much of a crust at all.
The JennAir was my favorite of the three because the internal color was the most consistent throughout the roast, and the outside achieved a good amount of browning.
Although the vegetables needed more time in the oven, you can easily solve this by roasting them separately ahead of time.
Classic Chocolate Chip Cookie Test Using Miele, Wolf, and JennAir Culinary Wall Ovens
In addition to roasting the lamb, I also tested the baked goods options in the guided cooking programs.
I was able to test all three ovens, and what I found interesting is different temperatures and modes were recommended.
Miele and Wolf Cookie Test Results
For Miele and Wolf, I selected the single tray option, which gave a default temperature of 350 F and no convection. Both ovens also recommended rack position 3 for this.
There is no way for the oven to set a timer, so that part is up to you.
Wolf Gourmet Wall Oven Cookie Test Results
Miele MasterChef Wall Oven Cookie Test Results
I was conservative with my timing for the frozen cookie dough, but both ended up taking around 20 minutes with great color all over, including the bottom of the cookie.
JennAir Cookie Test Results
JennAir Culinary Center Wall Oven Cookie Test Results
The JennAir Culinary Center allowed me to select the cookie option and then asked me what kind of tray I would use.
JennAir's tray options were:
- A shiny tray (convection 350 F).
- Dark tray (convection 325 F).
- An insulated tray (convection 350 F)
I opted for the dark tray with the oven set at 325 F on convection.
The oven then recommended the rack position and a default cook time of 15 minutes.
I added on an extra 5 minutes for the frozen cookie dough, so it did end up taking about the same amount of time as the other two ovens, and the results were very close.
Miele MasterChef Vs. Wolf Gourmet Vs. Jenn-Air Culinary Center: Key Takeaways
From left to right, JennAir, Wolf, and Miele Wall Oven Test Results Using Guided Cooking Modes
I think the guided cooking programs help you in certain applications because the oven will recommend the temperature and rack placement to cook those particular items.
However, the probe is necessary when doing so to know when the internal temperature has been reached.
If you don’t use a probe, there is no way to know if the protein has been cooked or overcooked.
The recommended temperature for the baked cookies is pretty standard. It’s also something that can be manually programmed, saving you a couple of steps at the beginning.
This also depends on your comfort level in the kitchen.
It’s a great way to learn and understand timing and temperature for certain foods, but once you have figured it out, all of this can be done manually as well.
Additional Resources
Confused about Wall Ovens? Get the Yale Wall Oven Buying Guide with updated features, specs, and detailed profiles of the best brands like Miele, Wolf, Viking, Bosch, Thermador, and more. Over 680,000 people have read a Yale Guide.
Related Articles
Why Should You Trust Us?
It seems that every appliance review has nothing but glowing comments about almost every product, yet you read customer reviews and they are almost universally bad.
We are here to fill in the disconnect. We'll give you the best features, and the drawbacks as well, including reliability based on over 37,000 calls performed by our service team just last year. Our goal is to give you ALL the information so you know what's right for you.
Please consider subscribing or adding to the conversation in the comments below. We appreciate you stopping by.
A Note About Pricing
Pricing on this blog is for reference only and may include time sensitive rebates. We make every attempt to provide accurate pricing at time of publishing. Please call the stores for most accurate price.
Topics:
