From a 333-Year-Old German Company, New Cooking Tech
An oven with royal lineage has the latest in sous vide and steam.
![The Gaggenau 400 Series Combi-Steam Oven](https://cdn.statically.io/img/reviewed-com-res.cloudinary.com/image/fetch/s--_3GwCA-c--/b_white,c_limit,cs_srgb,f_auto,fl_progressive.strip_profile,g_center,q_auto,w_972/https://reviewed-production.s3.amazonaws.com/1453161595000/Gaggenau-Hero.jpg)
Products are chosen independently by our editors. Purchases made through our links may earn us a commission.
Not many modern companies can trace their history directly back to a 17th century military ruler, but ultra-luxury home appliance manufacturer Gaggenau can.
Today at Design and Construction Week, the company is showing off two new products that blend the latest in cooking trends with a heritage that extends back 333 years.
The first, the 400 Series Combi-Steam Oven, takes advantage of two technologies popular at the forefront of cooking: steam, and sous-vide. The built-in wall oven also claims to have the world’s first self-cleaning function.
![400 Series Combi-Steam Oven built-in](https://reviewed-com-res.cloudinary.com/image/fetch/s--kiT3xqL9--/b_white,c_limit,cs_srgb,f_auto,fl_progressive.strip_profile,g_center,q_auto,w_792/https://reviewed-production.s3.amazonaws.com/attachment/12d951edf6d14a34/BS470_1.jpg)
The Gaggenau 400 Series Combi-Steam Oven can clean itself fully. It's also capable of steam cooking and sous-vide.
The second product is the AF210 range hood. Compatible with all Gaggenau cooktops, the visor-like hood automatically extends from beneath cabinetry to capture steam and odors.
![Gaggenau AF210 range hood with cooktop](https://reviewed-com-res.cloudinary.com/image/fetch/s--ECuvy0BO--/b_white,c_limit,cs_srgb,f_auto,fl_progressive.strip_profile,g_center,q_auto,w_792/https://reviewed-production.s3.amazonaws.com/attachment/78bb17a70cc4488a/AF210190_pstz.jpg)
The Gaggenau AF210 range hood is compatible with any of the company's cooktops.
Both products bear the name of the Black Forest town where Ludwig Wilhelm, Margrave of Baden-Baden, established an iron works in 1683. We’d be willing to bet that no other home appliance company can claim it was founded by a military commander of the Holy Roman Empire and the godson of Louis XIV of France.
![Ludwig Wilhelm Baden Markgraf 1655 1707 litho" by Unknown. Original published in Illustrated World History by Révai Brothers in Budapest, 1898—1905. Scanned version published Hungarian Electronic Library (MEK-OSZK).](https://reviewed-com-res.cloudinary.com/image/fetch/s--kFpNk5K3--/b_white,c_limit,cs_srgb,f_auto,fl_progressive.strip_profile,g_center,q_auto,w_792/https://reviewed-production.s3.amazonaws.com/attachment/02f58f82f85c424c/Ludwig_Wilhelm_Baden_Markgraf_1655_1707_litho.jpg)
Ludwig Wilhelm, Margrave of Baden-Baden, founded the company that would become Gaggenau in 1683.
{{amazon name="Germany and the Holy Roman Empire: Volume II: The Peace of Westphalia to the Dissolution of the Reich.", asin="B00GSCOPE6", align="left"}} Gaggenau eventually built bicycles, signs, and stoves through the 1930s, and in 1931, Gaggenau’s owner decided to focus on built-in appliances. The rest is modern history.
Today, Gaggenau sits at the peak of the high-end appliance market, manufacturing design-forward statement pieces in Germany. Forget your Wolf, Viking, and Thermador—this is such an exclusive brand that most folks haven’t even seen a kitchen outfitted with Gaggenau appliances—let alone cooked in one.