Whats a good oven to buy ?

[JDarvall]

Gas, or electric. Anything useful. What not to buy. How to save money sort of stuff. Haven't a clue really.

The wife wants a new oven. Actually, a new kitchen. But the oven should keep her happy for a while. So maybe a free standing one I can install now, and I can build new cubboards around it sometime in the future.

Thanks.

[Burnsy]

My mother was a home economics teacher and is an absolute wiz in the kitchen. She always told me that the best ovens are electric (fan forced) and best cooktops are gas. We just put a stand alone electric oven/gas cooktop oven in our new place and my wife loves it. It is one of those 900mm ones and you can fit alot in them. It is not a top of the range one and I think we paid around $1200 for it, Teknica is the brand.

Check out the cattledogs for the best prices or one of those exdemo/runout stores

[JDarvall]

Thanks Burnsy. I'll mention that to the misses.

[manoftalent]

As a chef of more than 30yrs, I can tell you that you would waste your time and money with anything electric ...gas stoves/ovens .....win hands down ....even better if its fan forced, as it helps to minimise hot spots ....being from a professional background I would prefer stainless steel.....top, bottom, and all over .....sure its going to cost a lot more than a standard baked enamel job ....but it will last a lot longer ....maybe you might like looking at the "Kenwood" range .....or lookup a commercial showroom and go have a sticky beak....in the long run its the better option....you dont wanna be building cupboards etc, around a stove and 4-5 yrs later have to redo them all over to fit " a new stove" in again.

[Burnsy]

No worries, reasoning behind it is that apparently electric elements give a more precise and even heat for an oven - better regulated than gas and the gas is instant, heat on/heat off for cooking in a pan.

Edit - I am not a chef so manoftalent is probably more the expert

[Cliff Rogers]

the best ovens are electric (fan forced) and best cooktops are gas.

Seconded.

If you can afford it, get a double oven rather than a super large one.
That way you can have a roast going in one & a batch of biscuits or pudding or cake going in the other.

We had saved up some serious dollars for our kitchen so we have a St. George electric double oven & 3 gas 1 electric hob.
We don't use the electric hot plate much but there are a few things that need very low heat that gas won't do.
We have since found a 'spacer' thing with small holes in it that works as a diffuser for gas hot plates & it works well for very low heat but it is a cheap junk thing that is always rusty.

[journeyman Mick]

Jake,
I'd second what Burnsey said. Fan forced is best for ovens and as far as I know not acailable in gas. Gas is best for cooking on (you won't find any electric cooktops in a commercial kitchen) So you want a "dual fuel" cooker, either that or an underbench electric oven with a gas cook top.

Mick

[markharrison]

We have a Technika cooker (gas cooktop and electric oven) which came with the house. It's not bad but the oven is a little touchy.

In our last house, I bought an Ilve double electric oven. Given a choice, I would buy an Ilve anything again in a heartbeat.

[manoftalent]

as a footnote ...it appears that after some checking, that electric ovens have come out that acctually do cook ok, thats the responce I got from several chef type mates of mine, there are several points to remember though ...electricity costs are forever increasing,electric ovens still take ages to cool down when either turned down or off, electric ovens produce a "dry" heat, gas produces a "moist heat", baking pastries and breads are not such a good idea in electric, you wont get the same results......and need to add moisture to compensate ....bowl of water in the bottom ....more liquid in the mix ....etc...you may like the idea of a split unit ......but it may end up like owning a rollsroyce ....nice to look at .....but costs an arm and a leg to drive .....so my advice is ...go to showrooms ....have a look .....ask questions ......then go to commercial repairers ....ask them questions .....like parts available, item most likely to breakdown ..you would be suprised at what you learn from the guys that fix them ..

[Bleedin Thumb]

One more vote for the electric oven gas top. I'll add make it 900mm wide the flexibility that it offers is far superior than mucking around with a 600.
Also go cast iron trivetts.... and stainless steel

I went through the big shopping dilemma a couple of years ago..

I decided :

That the self cleaning claims were pretty dubious so didn't waste the money.
Meile and smeg where just overpriced for the brand conscious consumer (I am not one...except for my beer... )
Most salespeople wouldn't have a clue because they don't own new stoves.
Most ovens come from the same couple of factories and are branded for their clients and after a while you can recognise that the cheapy is identical the branded one in the other shop.
Wait for them to go on special we paid $1800 for a stove that usually retails for $2400. Its called a Euromaid but I have seen the same one with at least 2 different names on it.
Got it from Hardly Normal and am very happy with it.

good luck.

[bitingmidge]

A Weber is a good oven and you don't have to worry about fitting cupboards round it.

Cheap too, compared to those other ones.

P

[journeyman Mick]

A Weber is a good oven and you don't have to worry about fitting cupboards round it.

Cheap too, compared to those other ones.

P

Yeah, but the pre-heat time is a bit of a killer.

Mick

[jags]

After two reno's and my own place i have to agree with the rest of you .
Gas cook top and Electric fan forced oven .
Electric cooktops suck they do not desplace the heat as good as gas ones (imo )
I have just brought an Ariston cook top 900cm with wok burner and inbuilt cast iron griller $800 and a Ariston oven $690 for my current reno which i will be living in so wanted something special .Shop around and you can get a good price i got mine for a Harvey Norman sale and saved about a grand .Also as people have mentioned do your reseach visit some review websites i almost brought a Ariston dishwasher as well but was glad i did not when i read the reviews about them .(there shockers )

i think there is a major difference in what you buy for a reno to sell or rent and what you buy for yourself .Seeing that it is for your own use i would buy what you want not the cheap option as you will be using it a every day .
( that statement all depends on how much takeaway you eat )

two things two remenber are that gas oven are alot more expensive than eletric ovens from my research ( I got a electric oven for a reno in an apartment and then realised that to wire it in would cost thousands so had to get a gas one insted )
And i believe all new installed gas ovens in W.A must be flued . Which can cause major headaches.

rob

[SilentButDeadly]

We are in the oven buying department at the moment....

The Westinghouse/Electrolux product assembled in South Australia seems to be the best value in terms of size versus dollars in the standard oven size.

We are looking only at 600mm ovens because having had a 900mm oven I've found them a waste........one pizza in a whopping great oven is just stupid and our current old Chef 600mm fits a full roast and veges just fine. How often would you really need a monster oven? Or do you just want to impress your friends?

Most of the Euro made 600mm ovens are much smaller than the Oz made (sic) Electrolux etal. I say sic because while the box is made here none of the electronics is.

Of the Euro's.........Bosch is the best rated bang for buck by Choice, followed by Miele....with Electrolux bringing up the rear. Neff isn't such a bad brand either...

Us? We still have noooooooooooooooooooo idea. Why should it be this hard and so stupidly expensive to select a steel box that gets hot????

[craigb]

Just bought an AEG fan forced electric oven for the kitchen reno.

It's absolutely brilliant.

I don't agree with Bleeding on the self cleaning though (at least not on ours) the pyroelectric cleaning works a treat. The oven heats up to 500 C and just vaporises any crud. In all honesty I was a bit dubious about it but it really does work.

The last oven was a gas under bench and it sucked.

No doubt a pro oven would be different though.