What do i need to know about purchasing an oven?

[Pandora]

we got a wall oven when we built our house so that the kids couldnt reach it as easily (esp while crawling) and becuase Im tall and didnt want to have to bend as much.

Im regretting it for 2 main reaons:

1) its too small - heaps of our tras do not fit in it - though that could be the brand. My mum has a westinghouse wall oven and she likes it. Ours is technika.

2) its next to the fridge which is not the best plan. Your oven should not be next to the fridge as this will make the fridge have to work harder so it uses more power.

Depending on brand you could easily get a 900mm freestanding cooker for that price range, well within it actually.

Technika are the worst brand I have had the misfortune to have.

Westinghouse are fine and would be well within your price range.
St George are awesome but crazily expensive

[feeb]

We had to replace our oven about 5 years ago. (under bench oven and seperate cooktop)

We have a blanco under bench oven electric and blanco stove top gas.

Blanco has been good only thing I dont like is with stove top only 1 good large burner other 3 are small and crappy. We also got cast iron umm things that go on top sorry cant think of name.

I much prefer gas cook top hate cooking on electric top. However love electric oven.

I think its personal preference. Good luck

[Laranna]

I guess the main things to look at are how big it will be and where it will fit in your kitchen. Will all your trays fit in it, etc?

I have a 900mm Smeg freestanding. It was already in the kitchen when we bought this house and compared to the ovens in previous houses I've lived in, this Smeg has been great. I like it because it's wide. I can fit big roasting pans in and baking trays. Great for cooking for a crowd. The oven is electric and the hob is gas. I prefer gas hobs over electric because they heat faster and more evenly.

[nic]

Myboys, have you checked the CHOICE website for reviews? I know they had at least 1 review, but not sure if it was for paid members??

We have been looking at ovens lately. One thing i did read was, if you can, take your trays/dishes that you use the most, or are the biggest, and see if they fit in any display models at the shops.

We looked at a Bosch that i was totally in love with, but when i pulled the shelves out, they made a horrible screeching sound so checking too see how different models slide, might be useful if you think it could annoy you.

We have a wall oven, and for us it is perfect. I love not having to bend down to check on stuff while its cooking. Our current oven is probably 25 years old, and it has a door that slides in under the oven when you open it. You could always go for one that has a door that hinges on the side instead of the bottom. But that would only work if you had the space to be able to swing that door out.

Buttons on the front. Can they be pushed in, (flush with the oven face) so little hand can't play with them? or some sort of similar design? My parents have a new oven and DS loves to play with the buttons and turn the hot plates on. Open plan living, means we can't block it off and keep him away.

Grills. Check to see if you can use the grill as another shelf for the oven. I'm sure the Bosch one we looked at had the option of turning the grill of therefore giving you another shelf to cook in the oven..if that makes sense?? It would give you that extra shelf for cooking if you don't use the grill a lot.

We are having the same problem with finding the ovens seem to be a whole lot smaller than our current one. We can actually fit a Bosch double oven in the space where our current one is.

goodluck searching.. If i can think of anything else I'll come back...we are all a little unwell here ATM, so am not thinking all that straight.

[*EJ*]

Thanks ladies that is really helpful. I think -like it has been mentioned- i really need to go and look at more in-store. Open doors, pull out wire racks and take my trays in (although i'd be a bit ashamed of them, they aren't as clean as they used to be )

I am one who prefers to pay more and get a better quality product. (Not sure this is always how it works though).

We currently have a westinghouse Ultimate One. I have no idea how old it is but it's brown so i'm guessing pretty old. The oven and microwave are wall mounted all with in the same unit, one on top of the other. I think it would have been pretty good in it's time. Both work fantasticly still but won't go with the new kitchen.

Nic -I did try looking on the choice website but couldn't get much information out of it. I think i had to be a paid member to get any realy info. But i did look on Product review and was able to read about heaps of different brands and models and pros on cons on each. It was here that i got a bit overwhelmed.

From what i read on product review there were a few ovens of well known brands that had trouble with hinges and seals, cooking evenly... The only brand i found on this website with pretty much faultless reviews was Miele but we'd be paying more for the oven alone before we even begin to look at gas tops

Feeb i'll be looking for a good size gas top also, currently we have a Miele Combiset (which is two burners and a bbq grill, already here when be bought). We don't use the grill at all because it is too messy and just smokes out the house. Cooking with only 2 burners so close together is really difficult . Really looking forward to having some space on the gas top.

So with the freestanding ovens or mounted low does the 'triple safety glass' (or whatever it is called) work? Does it not heat up? I have young children so it will be a concern?

Must get the little one into bed, i will be back if i think of any more questions. Thanks so much for the replies.

[StrawberryMumma]

I agree, most ovens look so tiny these days!!

Pandora, would you be able to share what else is wrong with your technika? Thanks! (sorry bit OT MyBoys!).

[Pandora]

Pandora, would you be able to share what else is wrong with your technika? Thanks! (sorry bit OT MyBoys!).

It doesnt heat evenly, im pretty sure its not even at the temperatures that the dials say it should be at. Its completely useless for baking of any kind.
I dont think its fully sealing either. I should see whether this is all covered by warranty, but i don't want another one.

We also have a technika dishwasher. its worse than the oven. Honestly if Id thought of it I would have upgraded both when we built the house. My work are acutioning their miele dishwashers soon so I'm waiting to see what they go for..

Who said Smeg? I LOVE Smeg, too pricey for us though

[nickle730]

Ooohh... I'm getting a new kitchen too! We bought all our appliances last weekend. I chose a free-standing 900mm Omega oven and matching rangehood. The cooktop is gas and the oven is electric (my preferred combo, but everyone is different )

I looked EVERYWHERE and did heaps of research, eventually narrowed it down to the Smeg or the Omega. Interestingly, someone told me that the two brands are manufactured in the same factory (Omega is owned by Smeg or something??) Don't know if that's true! Anyway , I preferred the look of the Omega (not a big fan of the Smeg knobs) and it was on sale... $1500 cheaper than the Smeg. The Smeg had one extra cooking function... which I'm sure I would never use!!

One of the things which made these two brands my preference was the cooking capacity. There are many different 900mm ovens, but these two had a larger capacity ie. the actual inside cooking area of the oven is larger than standard. If you go for a larger cooking capacity, make sure you buy a decent brand as it is important that the oven is properly insulated.

Good luck!