V-ZUG kitchen appliances

Thought I'd start this thread to help others looking at V-ZUG appliances, as there seems to be little on the web in the way of reviews.

Our little piece of the world is a 1993 Ross North built project home in the south-eastern suburbs of Perth. The original Westinghouse appliances are very long in the tooth and much in need of replacement, so my lovely wife cajoled me into attending a V-ZUG cooking demo on Saturday "just to see how a steam oven works" with the very attractive bait of "free gourmet food!" thrown in for good measure. So it's now Monday, I know a heap more about steam ovens that I ever wanted to ... and I'm $10k poorer. Free food my foot!

We did some concentrated last-minute research and made our decision in a hurry, which let us catch the last day of a very attractive deal ... buy the combination steam/convection oven and conventional oven at 15% off RRP and get both an induction cooktop of our choice for $1 and free 5 year extended warranty on the lot. Added a microwave to that so it all matches, plus the GourmetSteam cookbook and an extra baking tray to replace the oven rotisserie when it's not in use, and it came to a grand total of $10,080. So this is what we've ordered through Kitchen HQ in Osborne Park:

V-ZUG Combi-Steam XSL combination steam/convection oven
V-ZUG Combair SL conventional oven
V-ZUG Miwell SL microwave
V-ZUG Induction hob with faceted glass edge

All in the black glass finish; not the stainless shown on V-ZUG's website. The photo below is where it's all going ... will need to replace the stained timber trim around the enclosure with something a bit more modern; benchtops, cupboards, tiles etc are unfortunately what we're stuck with for the next couple of decades though. Not that they're terrible - just not what I'd have of choice. The microwave will go at the bottom with the conventional oven and steam oven stacked above.



As the combination steam oven was the 'major' purchase around which everything else swung, we concentrated our research on that. Had a look at Good Guys and Harvey Norman and were completely unimpressed with everything we saw there. Birco, Blanco, Ilve, Bosch, Smeg, NEFF, Sharp ... they were all just too small. They typically had the water jug on the right hand side of the oven enclosure, which impacted severely on the width of the oven space. Most of these were around 35L capacity, but some were down around the 23L mark. Even some of the premium brands like Siemens only had products in this size. The steam function in some others was just a sponge that sat at the base of the oven with a rotating circular screen above to control the rate at which the steam entered the cavity ... figured we may as well sit a wet sponge in the base of our existing oven as go down that route.

Moving towards the 'higher' end we looked at AEG, Miele and V-ZUG. I'm not a fan of AEG based on the performance of some of their products that I've witnessed, and wasn't impressed with the quality of the MaxiKlasse 26 ProCombi that we looked at. It did have a huge oven area at 74L but I was too turned off by the plasticy nature of it to want to go down that road. Didn't spend much time looking at it at all.

It was the V-ZUG Combi-Steam XSL and the Miele 5080 XL that really had us scratching our heads. Both look to be brilliant products, with the Miele having an edge in my mind because it allows you to create up to 20 custom user programs that link together various cycles - eg you can set one up to defrost for an hour, then cook at 180*C and 30% steam for 1.5 hours, then dry cook for 1 hour. That's pretty funky and is something we would have loved, and unfortunately despite the V-ZUG having the physical capability to do all of that, the programmers have been a bit lazy and not included that functionality.

The big 'cons' for me with respect to the Miele though were (1) the price, as the equivalent package in Miele would have cost $15k+ compared to the V-ZUG at $10k on special; (2) the looks - didn't really like the Miele fascias much and (3) the motorized fascia on the steam oven that provides access to the water jugs beneath. It sounded gnarly when operating on the demo install, and just looked like trouble waiting for a time to happen. Found a review on the web where a person had their oven replaced once and fixed three times for exactly that issue - problems with the motorized fascia. Would have been much more sensible to have a nice smooth manual hinge action IMO.

So all things considered, we ended up with the V-ZUG Combi-Steam XSL as the best compromise for our needs. 51L internal volume; water tank integrated into fascia; attractive finish; and loads of features. Will update once it arrives and I get it all installed!

With the other appliances, we went for the upper end conventional oven sans pyrolitic ... couldn't justify $1400 extra just to make cleaning the oven easier. Has rotisserie, meat thermometer, auto cooking modes and all the jazz you could want in a tricked up conventional oven.

The V-ZUG hob range is pretty limited and is induction only, and with our existing bench cut-out we only had one size option available. Our choices within that were either flush mount, stainless edge trim or bevelled glass edge. Flush mount is impractical with laminate benchtops as a hot pan pushing off the glass onto the laminate would cause damage to the benchtop; stainless edge trim is annoying to clean; so bevelled edge was the decision, and we'll just have to be very careful about not chipping the edges.

There were two choices of microwave - standard with grill, or convection with grill. We figured that two ovens was quite enough oven room, so just got the standard. Quartz grill is a nice addition though ... keeps cleaning to a minimum if just doing cheese on toast or similar.

Hi
interesting post - we have been to the home show in melb on the weekend and also attended the VZUG cooking demo's mainly with the combi steamer. We are about to start building our home and have already secured appliances (NEFF), but now are-thinking about adding a combi/steam oven.

Can I ask what led you to having BOTH a combi oven and a convention oven? Did you contemplate having just the combi/steamer?

thanks

Cooking space was the main concern. We occasionally have dinner parties where my wife will have the oven full, 4 burners going on the stove, and I'm outside with the Weber Genesis cranking too. Last time I even had to crank up the camping stove to have some lamb koftas ready at the right time. There's just no way we could work with a single 50L oven.

The second reason was that the V-ZUG deal was buy a combi oven + conventional oven = free induction hob. So that was a good incentive to go that way too

I understand too that there will be a few things for which the conventional oven might be better than the V-ZUG combi. One of the big differences that I didn't mention between the Miele and the V-ZUG is that the Miele 5080 XL is a conventional fan forced oven (separate top and bottom heat control) while the V-ZUG Combi-Steam XSL is a convection oven (heated air blown into chamber). Convection has pro's and con's ... one of the con's being cooking pies, for example, you can't up the bottom heat to get the thick base crispier without burning the top. That's where having the conventional oven alongside will come in useful, as we'll use it for those sorts of dishes.

On the flip side, convection apparently has some advantages over conventional fan-forced too though - such as more even cooking (no hot spots, except for possibly directly in front of the fan). Lots of people sing its praises for baking, though I understand that cooking time is often shorter than conventional so recipies can require some re-working to suit.

NEFF do have a large VarioSteam combi oven but we weren't able to find one on display anywhere, and our local Harvey Norman couldn't even find it in their catalogue. Couldn't find much about the VarioSteam function on the web either ... I did note though that the water reservoir (0.5L) is much smaller than on most steamers, so I'm not sure how effective it is over a longer cook.

We went with the V-Zug because the smooth interior is easier cleaning. The XLS and the
Full sized Pyro is sitting in the living area (delivered today), missing the kitchen which was supposed to be delivered today...

I had a quick look at the Neff vario-steam oven in a showroom, it lets you choose different levels of steam in many cooking functions but I don't think you can use steam only unless you buy the optional glass steam dish. Here's the link to the Neff UK site, they call it AquaAssist instead of VarioSteam: http://www.neff.co.uk/AquaAssist.html

Thanks all
We off to the NEFF cooking class this week for the steam will let you know how we go

Appliances arrived today - very nicely packaged and all apparently in good order. I'm a tad annoyed that the installation instructions specify brackets being required for stack installation when the agent (KHQ) explicitly stated that they just "stacked" on top of each other. Haven't ordered any but they look to just be 50x50EA so I'll buy some of that, slot drill it myself and install it with a couple of M12 Ankascrews each side.

Will be a couple of weeks before the electrical is done and the ovens / cooktop go in. Photos and update once they're done! =)

Is that for the V-Zug or the Neff? The cabinet maker had lots of fun fitting the V-Zug as you need brackets for both the top AND bottom ovens, otherwise the spacing is all wrong.

The electrician couldn't get the Combi-Steam XSL in initially (the larger pyro fitted into the space), fortunately whilst the cabinet maker was there doing more install, so had to go out and get a SS bracket for the Combi-Steam. Then the lower oven was sitting too high, and the door of the Combi-Steam was rubbing the top panel of the pyro... Ended up having to take that shelf out as well, and use brackets...

But now it's in, and having used it a few times, very happy with the money spent. Very even heating on the grill, very noticeable after a Smeg, no smells for the pyrolytic liners vs the previous catalytic liners.

I've actually found the steam function of the XSL more useful than I thought for reheating and steaming things. Still a lot to learn about the ovens.

I've seen a shelf used between two V Zug units in a column instead of the brackets and I could see a gap between the two units especially when they used a white shelf as the ovens are all black. Eventually they painted the front edge of that shelf black. So if a shelf is used instead of the brackets make sure the front edge is black so at least you won't see a big white gap between the two black ovens. Using the brackets is much easier as it reduces the gap and eliminates the need of that ugly (white) shelf. The brackets look like these ones from Ikea except the V Zug ones are in black.

Cheers for the responses guys.

Yeah they are going to be annoying to fit. My existing opening is pretty much exactly 1430H which is the sum of the three fascias (though I will scrimp a bit more by taking out the existing MDF microwave surround) so I really don't have much room to spare. The photo below is a view of my oven recess from above - kitchen fascia is top of frame.



So I have brickwork to one side of the opening and a 110mm wide recess to the other. The brick side is easy ... just 50x50x3 EA fixed to the brickwork with ankascrews; hopefully will be clearance for the bolt heads otherwise I'll just grind them back till they fit.

The recess side is a bit more challenging. I think I might ankascrew in a 50x50x3 EA vertical support at the front and back of the cavity that lets me bolt fix the horizontal brackets to it.

Either way everything's going to have to be spot on for me to be happy with the finished product. I foresee much fitting, removing and refitting of the ovens to get it right. Here's hoping no glass fascias get chipped...!

Random question - I have a gasfitter coming to quote on terminating the existing stove/oven outlets and installing some new ones for the BBQ and a new heater. Anyone know though if the regulator on that existing oven (shown in the pic above) is a stop valve as well? Not sure if I can pull the oven out and start measuring up before the gasfitter's been. My bro-in-law's doing the electrical so that's easy.

From experience, no it's not.

We ended up just getting some SS angles from Bunnings, as it was a last minute SNAFU moment, and all the trades were there ready to fit things in.

Thanks PHL ... that's a tad annoying re the gas regulator but not unexpected. Shouldn't create too many dramas though. Really keen to get this stuff installed now that it's sitting here! =)

New circuits run and terminated in JB's ready for connection ... existing gas clunkers out and ready for the tip ... gas plumber here terminating the existing gas lines and installing new points for our BBQ and gas heater. All happening! =)

Away this weekend with friends though, then in Sydney for a week on business, so will be a couple of weeks before I get to fitting the ovens. Cooktop is almost a drop-in though so may get keen this week with the jigsaw and get that fitted and wired up.

Oops ... just realised that I never posted an update to this thread. New ovens and cooktop are in and working like a charm. Still have to make up a surround for the ovens but that can wait until my new 7.5 x 5.5m kit shed is up ... priorities =)

Was:


Now:


Built the frame out of 75x50x2 RHS uprights bolted top and bottom to the brickwork, with 50x50x3 EA horizontal brackets to sit the ovens on. Sounds like overkill because it is, but there wasn't any easy way of doing anything less bulky.

At the moment I'm planning on using 75x8 flat mild steel for the surround, welded and linished to form a perfectly smooth surface that will then be painted satin black. I think it will match the modern look of the ovens without being too 'out there'. I've installed the oven glass 6mm proud of the brickwork so it'll be 2mm recessed behind the surround.

Next on the list is a new fridge and freezer, which are located in a recess immediately to the left of the ovens. The recess is 1215w x 600d so could fit a Miele or Liebherr pigeon pair if they weren't insanely expensive lol ... so at the moment we're deciding between a Westinghouse WRM3700WF (370L fridge) / WFM3000WF (300L freezer) pigeon pair or a Westinghouse WSE7000WF (450L fridge / 250L freezer) side by side. Going for a white finish because stainless tends not to be too scratch resistant and the fridge opens onto the main entry walkway to the kitchen.

Hi integrity,

I am wondering how did you go with the V-Zug steamer. We are thinking of buying one.

Thanks,

Jellofish

Looking at the photos, Integrity's unit is the Neff.

We have the V-Zug Combi-Steam XSL, over a year now, and it has been great. We use it much more than the full sized pyro.

Hi PHL,

Thanks for your response. I am building my new house and am in the market for new appliances - wall ovens, cooktop, etc etc.

I do a lot of oriental cooking - mainly stir-fry and steaming. I am looking at getting the V-Zug Combi Steam XSL but looking at the price tag of $6,000, I find it hard to justify if I only use it for steaming and occasional roasting. What other functions does V-Zug Steam Combi do?

I am looking at Bosch Steam-Combi as well and it is considerably cheaper than V-Zug. Not sure how good it is though

Because the XSL is larger on the inside than the normal combi-steam, being just shorter than a normal oven, you'll find that you'd use it for just about everything you'd use an oven for. The Regeneration function is also useful to reheat food (you can do quite a lot at once vs using a microwave) and revive stale bread.

You can book into the free V-Zug demo session (they were free when we were looking), and check out the functions, and get lunch.

Both the V-Zug & Miele Combi ovens have the best internal capacity... both are the highest recommended products of their kind (both steam oven & their 'regular' ovens with moisture plus functions).
I would not consider any other brand for a combi steam oven.

The combi steam oven can be used just like a normal oven - only it has MORE functions than a regular oven.