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Our house was completely (and beautifully) renovated by the previous owners around 18 years ago and I think some of the bits and pieces are showing their age. One of which is the built-in oven, which has decided to go from 'a bit flaky' to 'Nothing works at all'. My amateur sleuthing reckons it's because the rotary dial cams have worn (or melted) after a hard, or at least long, life. A new dial mechanism seems to be about £50, or we could just get a new oven and start afresh...
However, looking at ovens online, it seems that there's a 1000% price range and they all appear to look and function the same. What's the difference between an Indesit at £280, a Bosch at £400 and a Neff at £2010 - apart from the expensive ones now seem to have wi-fi... And they're all rated A+ for energy...
I'm no cordon bleu, and we use the oven for heating pies and sweet potato fries, toasting cheese and doing the occasional stew and roast. We don't need to-the-second timing, or wifi...
So, before I pick the second cheapest on display, I know there's bound to be guidance out there in the STWverse
You want one where the numbers and symbols dont come off on a scourer. You’ll likely only find out after a month or two.
They're all slightly different sizes, no standards! Sounds familiar?
Don't bother with self cleaning or overly complicated touch screen displays.
The big difference in ovens is the finish, like most things.
I'd avoid smeg, other than that it's a personal choice.
Get the Dutch one.
One that holds the temperature it is meant to is a good start, also how evenly does it heat, nothing worse than some spots being hotter or cooler than others, not necessarily price related but some will be better than others so worth looking at some reviews. Size is also a consideration, how big does it need to be not just day to day but for cooking for others, if you do that. We ended up with a Hotpoint which was far from the most expensive, but was well reviewed on all the above.
We had a reasonably flash neff when we redid the kitchen in 2008. I don’t recall what it was cost but imagine equivalent to a £600+ now. It died in 2021. Apparently because I tried to clean it by following the instructions which was to get it really hot with a roasting tin of water in. It would short out whenever it was as switched on after this. The guy that came to look at it nearly got it going by removing the earth, and turning it in so that it got hot enough to dry the heater element which he told me gets pourous over time and had clearly got damp. He offered to take it away to his workshop and get it going but the cost of this was approaching the price of a new low end neff to go in its place so that’s what we did. £300 ish from ao dot com. The new one has less fancy functions but cooks a tray of oven chips the same. I shan’t be looking up how to run the self clean function!
They trays in the posher one were nicer and it had telescopic rails to pull them out on. Could be removed for cleaning individually too. Not sure that’s worth paying £300 for though.
Most are similar in depth and width, you can usually fit them with a wedge here and there, they connect the same and usually just need longer screws now and then for the securing points, you can get them off Amazon or anywhere.
Built in, built under or built under double? They are the 3 main different sizes of built in oven (there are more!).
Built in is biggest, mainly in tall units, double oven/door.
Built under is smallest, single door. Unit usually a drawer underneath for pans.
Built under double, middle size but with two doors, goes from plinth to under worktop in a single unit.
We need a new built under double, same usage as you, plus maybe a pizza setting. Bottom one with fan assist, top one with grille for some flexibility and maybe fancy self cleaning but not a deal breaker. So long as they make cold things hot I not sure you can go far wrong, pick a budget and find one you like the look of.
Guess who went to Curry's on Saturday to look at ovens?!
I spend my working days with my head in ovens, why am I reading this!:)
We have 2 Neff ovens which were put in 18 months ago. Combined cost was probably over 2k. Don't regret a penny. They are absolutely superb.
Self cleaning - brilliant
Slide and hide - yes please
Steam? Perfect salmon, amazing bread, succulent meat.
Sliding rails - very useful
Quiet operation, great lighting - two much underrated features
Wifi......erm yes total waste of time.
Oh and get a warming draw at the same time
I second Winstons view. 2 X neffs, Our second oven is a combo grill, oven and microwave, it's been great.
Self cleaning – brilliant
Slide and hide – yes please
Steam? Perfect salmon, amazing bread, succulent meat.
Self cleaning...agree, brilliant
Slide and hide....didn't, and still don't see the point
Steam....wish I'd done for this on one of mine
We inherited a built-in Miele oven when we bought the house. It consumed huge quantities of energy, warmed up painfully slowly, did a very good job of heating the kitchen but a poor job of cooking the food. When I changed the kitchen layout I replaced it with a little Rowenta oven that sits on a shelf and plugs into a normal socket - it warms up in no time and cooks great.
Whatever you do buy it’s worth picking up some of these non stick sheets (might need to check these ones are big enough) to stick on the bottom of the oven/grill sections. Makes cleaning them so much easier when you finally decide they need it.
https://amzn.eu/d/0jy3UZY <\a>
And for what it’s worth I put a mid range Bosch in about five years back now and have been very happy with it.
We had old, basic IKEA oven in our house. It worked. Meals were hot, but burnt near the door and underdone in the back. We could never get Yorkshire puddings to rise well.
However, we replaced it with a better AEG.
Oh wow, the fluffiest Yorkshires, the lightest cakes, evenly and quietly cooked.
Even simple steam - ours has a divot you just pour water in for steam. Really nice bread, croissants, pastry etc.
No advice other than check it doesn't have a fan that runs for 20 minutes after you turn it off. My Hotpoint does and it's really annoying
I’m no cordon bleu, and we use the oven for heating pies and sweet potato fries, toasting cheese and doing the occasional stew and roast
One word.
Air fryer
We have a 900mm electric Bosch - this I think ( https://www.bosch-home.com.au/productlist/cooking-and-baking/cookers-and-ovens/built-in-ovens/VBD578FS0#/Togglebox=manuals/Togglebox=accessoriesOthers/ )
It is a big improvement on the previous freestanding Delonghi (c.1998). More efficient, quieter, cooks more evenly.
Minor bugbear is that you can't change the volume of the alarm. It's way too quiet.
Self cleaning is brilliant.
However my Hotpoint has an annoying habit of turning off when you open the door to stir something when cooking and steam escapes and turns touch screen off. It will be changed when funds allow probably to a Neff
Posh ones heat up quicker, hold temp more evenly, can get to a higher temp.
However we wouldn’t be without a slow cooker and air fryer.
An air fryer is just a compact oven for cooking processed foods (and some none processed) quickly and much more cheaply.
So buy an oven (good brand), air fryer and slow cooker.
I would be inclined to fix what you have if it looks a straightforward job. Lots of online spares shops with handy videos too. Espares, ransom spares etc. It's only a metal box with a heating element, fan and some basic controls.
£100s saved, less landfill etc.
Bosch Siemens and Neff are the same company so they share technology like the hide and slide doors etc.
Ultimate Durability - Miele, expensive but they last
They vary massively. I have lived in rented accommodation with cheap ones that were rubbish.
I'm not sure if Neff is worth the price point but I had a Siemens one that was brilliant.
Self cleaning is 100% worth it.
One word.
Air fryer
yup. My mum bought me one, after initially being sceptical (another must have kitchen appliance that soon finds its way to the back of ‘that’ cupboard), I’m a total convert. Does the job brilliantly, and makes sense not to heat up a big box, when a little box does the job better / quicker / cheaper
so in answer to the original question, get a cheap oven for those days when you need the space
If you're just mainly just heating pies and grilling cheese on toast, a cheap oven will do the job just fine.
I got a Hisense double oven for £320 last year, from ElekDirect, my favourite appliance outlet.
It makes food hot and the food comes out evenly cooked. That's good enough for me.
Whatever you do buy it’s worth picking up some of these non stick sheets (might need to check these ones are big enough) to stick on the bottom of the oven/grill sections.
100% do this.
FWIW I recently hanged both dials in our oven (probably 15+ years old) as the mode selector one had started randomly switching from oven to grill to whatever - overall it took about 20 mins and cost about 30 quid. So if the oven is otherwise OK it might be worth having a go at fixing what you've got.
A basic Beko will do the job, cheap to fix too (£15 for an element). Considering how expensive it is to run an oven, splosh the massive savings on an air fryer for smaller loads.
It's not difficult to use a bit of oven cleaner once in a while. Get a kit with a bag, shove the wire shelves in, chuck in liquid, seal, shake and leave over night.
Another with a pair of matching Neff ovens here.
Kinda like the sliding door and the self cleaning was an absolute necessity.
Yes there are times when I/we use both but I do use the air frier for a fair bit of stuff now.
We just had this Hotpoint one fitted the other day in a new kitchen.
I wanted to have something that wasn't just the cheapest one available, but still at the lower end. Didn't need any of the multi-function things that the more expensive ones have, just a fan oven to keep it simple and a small grill/over up top.
Things like self-cleaning would have been nice but I couldn't justify the cost increase. And also we tend to use the air fryer for a lot of stuff that would have previously gone in the oven these days.
You get what you pay for to a point.
My mum always had a Neff because the circotherm makes for really even baking.
I've had from a budget frestanding electric oven/hob in rentals, an electrolux in my first house, to a mid-range Siemens in my current house. The freestander was rubbish, the electrolux not much better(just had a nice glass and stainless steel door instead of a white enameled one), uneven heat and the grill was useless, whereas the Siemens heats evenely so you get a whole tray of mince pies or cupcakes browned evenly. on max heat ( highest temp on the knob is 250C but it goes several clicks past that) it'll cook a homemade pizza in 4-5 minutes, which my wife swears is as good as one cooked in a proper pizza oven. The Grill is unreal, its BBQ hot, Its the only electric grill I've ever used that I've had to use at less than max power.
The door seal on the Siemens is almost too good, If I'm cooking a recipe that needs to dry/crisp I'll have to crack the door open a couple of times during cooking so that its stops steaming and starts roasting/crisping.
Our Siemens is self cleaning on the rear wall, when it needs replaced I'll definitely upgrade to the fully self-cleaning version.
We have a Samsung one with two interesting features. It has a removable divider and a split door so it can be one big oven, one small one or two small ones. It saves a bit of energy as the smaller one is a little more efficient.
The other feature is what they call hot blast - the element is in the back and a fan blows hot air onto the food quite strongly, more so than a not al fan oven; so it actually cooks stuff more quickly, or at a lower temp. It's optional of course but we use it nearly all the time.
Wouldn't hesitate to recommend Neff aswell - we have a roughly 12 year old double under, and for 2 people its nice to have the slightly smaller fan oven which heats up quick. Upper oven is useful if you have a bigger meal on the go, and is good if you want to run two temps. Its a self cleaner too, which is great. Looks like the roughly equivalent N50 in the current range is about £1100.
If you can, check how easy it is to change the (usually incandescent) bulb. The one in our Neff built-in blew years ago and we haven't changed it yet because the oven needs removing from the cabinet to do so.
Whatever you buy do not buy a Hotpoint one or any brand that forces you to use Domestic and General for cover/repairs.
Hotpoint wash their hands of it and won't accept their product is flawed and D&G are useless incompetent cretins of the highest order. You'll also have to wait weeks for a repair.
We're on our second Hotpoint oven now and the heating element has failed about 6 times already within a few years. I'm expecting it to fail again any day now. Last failure was halfway through cooking a Sunday roast. That was fun.
The original oven was replaced under warranty after multiple failures within the first year. One of the many issues was that If the power went off the oven went into a fault mode and couldn't be used. And the appliance that tripped the fuse and switched the electric off? Yep, the oven itself.
It was over £300 new which in the grand scheme isn't dear but not a cheapo one either.
We just had this Hotpoint one fitted the other day in a new kitchen.
I wanted to have something that wasn’t just the cheapest one available, but still at the lower end. Didn’t need any of the multi-function things that the more expensive ones have, just a fan oven to keep it simple and a small grill/over up top.
Things like self-cleaning would have been nice but I couldn’t justify the cost increase. And also we tend to use the air fryer for a lot of stuff that would have previously gone in the oven these days.
Oh dear. Best of luck with that. You'll need it.
Take my advice and don't bother to insure it with D&G, just save the £10 a month and hopefully it'll last long enough for you to have saved a decent amount to put towards a new oven.
Another vote for Neff and their silly hot grills!
We inherited ours when we moved in 13 years ago, so far it's had a new oven door seal, grill element and new oven door hinges.
FWIW I recently hanged both dials in our oven (probably 15+ years old) as the mode selector one had started randomly switching from oven to grill to whatever – overall it took about 20 mins and cost about 30 quid. So if the oven is otherwise OK it might be worth having a go at fixing what you’ve got.
Very much this. Neff/Bosch/Siemens are well supported so you should be able to find the right part.
The one in our Neff built-in blew years ago and we haven’t changed it yet because the oven needs removing from the cabinet to do so.
Our Neff doesn't necesitate removing it from the unit but it's a waste of time as it just blows after a couple of uses anyway. Honestly don't miss it.
you shouldn't buy a Hotpoint (or associated brand, Haier, Whirlpool etc) [I]anything[/I], the build quality is absolute garbage & according to Which? magazine they are the appliance brand most likely to catch fire 😂 Hoover are also complete shit obviously.Whatever you buy do not buy a Hotpoint
yeah we inherited a Neff when we moved a few years back, so much nicer to use (controls, slidey trays, quick heating) then any of the cheapo ovens which is all I'd ever used before! Not saying it cooks a tastier roast or anything though (although it probably [I]does[/I] have more even/accurate temp than a crap oven).Another vote for Neff
Also, until this one I'd only ever had (what thanks to a previous post I now know is called) built-[I]under[/I] which it turns out is really crap compared to what we now have (built-[I]in[/I])! Never thought about it before but who wants to have to keep bending down to use the oven?!
Mid to high end Bosch at home. Self cleaning is effective but in these high energy cost times, I’m not sure I’d pay extra to have it now.
We were in an air b&b last year which had a generic cheapo oven. Did pizzas no trouble but a full roast dinner was beyond it. It seemed like it just didn’t have the oomf to cook a big chicken.
Oh dear. Best of luck with that. You’ll need it.
you shouldn’t buy a Hotpoint
Uh oh! A bit late now so we'll see how it goes.
Our hotpoint washer/drier (rarely used on drier) has lasted 5 years of almost daily abuse so let's hope it's from the same vein as the one and not the element-failing-setting-itself-on-fire group.
Take my advice and don’t bother to insure it with D&G
I never do any of that addition warranty type stuff. If I added up the total of what it would have been for every electrical appliance we had I could probably afford a new appliance every couple of months on a rolling basis!
What a response! Thanks for all of the advice and anecdotes 🙂
To 'hopefully, clarify it's a 60 x 60 (x60) electric oven that's built into a unit. I can probably get the top off the unit to access the top of the oven, so my first job is going to be to whip that off and see how melty/worn the main switch is.
In terms of brands and features, I'm still not convinced that there's much difference between mid-range and the fancy ones - apart from self cleaning and some slidey drawers...