Ultra-high-end kitchen smarts from the GE Monogram French Door Wall Oven

LOS ANGELES — GE unveiled its newest Monogram appliance at the Dwell on Design trade show today, introducing consumers to a new, ultra-high-end French door wall oven that promises sophistication and smarts, too. Like the GE Profile wall oven we reviewed earlier this year, you’ll have full remote control over temperature and cooking time through GE’s Brillion app, available for Android and iOS devices.

Smarts and sophistication tend to add up to a hefty price tag, and in this case, it’s as hefty a price tag as we’ve ever seen for a single wall oven from GE. At an MSRP of $4,699, the new Monogram French Door Wall Oven, due out in early 2015, will cost over a thousand dollars more than the most expensive single wall oven the company currently offers in its high-end Monogram series. (There’s no word yet on when it’ll be available internationally, or how much it’ll sell for. We’ll update this article with that information when it becomes available.)

GE justifies the price by pointing out the oven’s luxurious, chef-inspired design, as well as “cooking features fit for the pros but designed for the home.” That might be borrowing a recent page from the Samsung playbook, as the Korean company is currently betting big on a new line of “Chef Collection” kitchen appliances designed using input from world-class chefs and aimed at the upper end of the market. GE’s price point aims even higher — almost $2,000 higher than the Chef Collection’s $2,900 slide-in gas range.

Of course, GE is keeping smart features in the mix, while Samsung’s Chef Collection, interestingly enough, is not. These features include basic remote functionality through the GE Brillion app, which impressed us when we played around with it earlier this year. With Brillion, you’ll be able to do things like program custom cooking cycles or set the oven to start preheating before you get home from work.

Those sorts of smarts are similar to what you’ll get with other app-enabled appliances, such as the LG Smart ThinQ oven, but Brillion’s app still manages to stand out for its design and ease of use.

Something else that sets Brillion apart is the fact that it charges for add-on smart features, which include video cooking tutorials, an Auto Sabbath Mode, and customizable cook cycles. This is an interesting approach, since it keeps the base app (a free download) relatively uncluttered, then lets the user pick which extra features actually appeal to them.

Many might wish that all of these add-ons came free of charge (some do, most don’t), but this seems like a pretty minor quibble when you’re already plunking down close to five grand.

Smarts aside, the stainless steel GE Monogram French Door Wall Oven boasts true, European-style convection (the convection fan has a built-in heating element of its own), along with a roomy capacity of five cubic feet. The French door configuration means that the oven requires less clearance to open, similar to a side-by-side refrigerator. GE also tells us that both doors will open together when you’re opening just one, making it easier to juggle piping hot dishes in and out.

GE’s new wall oven is tentatively scheduled to hit stores in the US in February 2015, shortly after the arrival of new Monogram series refrigerators, dishwashers, and induction cooktops.